in a discarnate state, and that it reincarnates into the body of an
infant, shortly after birth. But the Statisticalists cannot accept the
idea of discarnate consciousness, since they conceive of consciousness
purely as a function of the physical brain. So they postulate an
unconscious discarnate personality, or, as you put it, one in a
somnambulistic state. They have to concede memory to this discarnate
personality, since it was by recovery of memories of previous
reincarnations that discarnate existence and reincarnation were proven
to be facts. So they picture the discarnate individuality as a
material object, or physical event, of negligible but actual mass, in
which an indefinite number of memories can be stored as electronic
charges. And they picture it as being drawn irresistibly to the body
of the nearest non-incarnated infant. Curiously enough, the
reincarnation vehicle chosen is almost always of the same sex as the
vehicle of the previous reincarnation, the exceptions being cases of
persons who had a previous history of psychological sex-inversion."

Dr. Harnosh remembered the unlighted pipe in his hand, thrust it into
his mouth, and lit it. For a moment, he sat with it jutting out of his
black beard, until it was drawing to his satisfaction. "This belief in
immediate reincarnation leads the Statisticalists, when they fight
duels or perform voluntary discarnation, to do so in the neighborhood
of maternity hospitals," he added. "I know, personally, of one
reincarnation memory-recall, in which the subject, a Statisticalist,
voluntarily discarnated by lethal-gas inhaler in a private room at one
of our local maternity hospitals, and reincarnated twenty years later
in the city of Jeddul, three thousand miles away." The square black
beard jiggled as the scientist laughed.

"Now, as to the political implications of these contradictory