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The Sulphite brings a fresh eye to life.  He sees everything as if for the first time, and not through the blue glasses of convention.  As if he were a Martian newly come to earth, he sees things separated from their environment, tradition, precedent—­the dowager without her money, the politician without his power, the sage without his poverty; he sees men and women for himself.  He prefers his own observation to any a priori theories of society.  He knows how to work, but he knows, too (what the Bromide does never), how to play, and he plays with men and women for the joy of life, and his own particular game.  Though his view he eccentric it is his own view, and though you may avoid him, you can never forget or ignore him.

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And so, too, using an optical symbolism, we may speak of the Sulphite as being refractive—­every impression made upon him is split up into component rays of thought—­he sees beauty, humor, pathos, horror, and sublimity.  The Bromide is reflective, and the object is thrown back unchanged, unanalyzed; it is accepted without interrogation.  The mirrored bromidic mind gives back only what it has taken.  To use the phraseology of Harvard and Radcliffe, the Sulphite is connotative, the Bromide denotative.

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But the theory is constructive rather than destructive.  It makes for content, and peace.  By this philosophy one sees one’s friends revealed.  Though the Bromide will never say whether he prefers dark or white meat; though he inflict upon you the words, “Why, if two hundred years ago people had been told that you could talk through a wire they would have hanged the prophet for witchcraft!” though he repeats the point of his story, rolling it over on his tongue, seeking for a second laugh; though he says, “Dinner is my best meal”—­he cannot help it.  You know he is a Bromide, and you expect no more.

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You will notice, also, in discussing this theory with your friends, that the Bromide will take up, with interest, only the bromidic aspect of life.  The term will amuse him, and, never thinking that it should be applied to himself, he will use the word “Bromide” in season and out of it.  To the Sulphite, however, Sulphitism is a thing to be watched for, cultivated, and treasured.  He will search long for the needle in the haystack, and leave the bromidiom to be observed by the careless, thoughtless Bromide.  And, as the supreme test, it may be remarked that, should buttons be put on the market, bearing the names “Bromide” and “Sulphite” in blue and red, a few minutes’ reflection will convince the Sulphite that, before long, all the Bromides would be wearing the red Sulphite buttons, and all the Sulphites the blue Bromide.  Such is the rationale of the perverse.

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