had been imposed the heavy gift of intellectual power, such as a
strong man might have staggered under, and with it the necessity to
act upon the world?--in a word, not to multiply instances, what
better could be done for anybody who came within our magic circle than
to throw the spell of a tranquil spirit over him? And when it had
wrought its full effect, then we dismissed him, with but misty
reminiscences, as if he had been dreaming of us.

Were I to adopt a pet idea as so many people do, and fondle it in my
embraces to the exclusion of all others, it would be, that the great
want which mankind labors under at this present period is sleep. The
world should recline its vast head on the first convenient pillow and
take an age-long nap. It has gone distracted through a morbid
activity, and, while preternaturally wide awake, is nevertheless
tormented by visions that seem real to it now, but would assume their
true aspect and character were all things once set right by an
interval of sound repose. This is the only method of getting rid of
old delusions and avoiding new ones; of regenerating our race, so that
it might in due time awake as an infant out of dewy slumber; of
restoring to us the simple perception of what is right and the single-
hearted desire to achieve it, both of which have long been lost in
consequence of this weary activity of brain and torpor or passion of
the heart that now afflict the universe. Stimulants, the only mode of
treatment hitherto attempted, cannot quell the disease; they do but
heighten the delirium.

Let not the above paragraph ever be quoted against the author; for,
though tinctured with its modicum of truth, it is the result and
expression of what he knew, while he was writing, to be but a
distorted survey of the state and prospects of mankind. There were