Among those who had lived in seclusion seven out of the ten had lost their hair and the freshness of their complexion, both of which with us are highly valued.  They were very sallow, and their figures betrayed the incipient decrepitude of old age, though for our world they were but in the prime of life, if not of early manhood.  Besides which they had formed contracted notions on many subjects, some of them being what is called eccentric.

On the other hand, the collected works of the ten men who had profited by contact with the world and its amusements were equal in all respects, and indeed superior in some, to those of the “seclusionists.”  They were for the most part large and liberal minded.  There was but one who might be called narrow-minded and eccentric, but his exceptional state was greatly owing to the fact that the origin of this tendency had not been attended to in childhood.  He had, indeed, been educated under the old system and consequently before the establishment of the office of Character-divers.  This man was the only one who was subject, though partially, to the physical accidents which had affected the “Seclusionists.”  The remaining nine “Society-sympathisers” remained fresh, vigorous, and gay.

What, however, satisfied my wise men the most was, that the works of the learned men who had lived in contact with the world were actually in many respects superior to the works of the Seclusionists, although these also were more than remarkable.

In requiring learned men to mix with the world, I did not forbid frequent solitude and retirement for meditation.  I only objected to the passion being indulged in to the exclusion of the refreshing sympathies developed by a contact with society.

The result of the experiment I have referred to seemed to satisfy even the ten Seclusionists, who at least changed their habits in obedience to my law, The effects of the seclusion on some of the ten were, however, not got rid of, until a certain time had elapsed, and, but for increased knowledge of the malady of monomania, these effects on one of the ten Seclusionists would have been even far more serious than they fortunately proved to be.

THE MONOMANIAC.

This man, eminent in the highest degree, believed that another learned man, his friend and greatest admirer, was his bitter enemy.  All efforts to convince him to the contrary were fruitless, for although remarkably clear-sighted on most other subjects, he obstinately refused on this to listen to the truth.  Indeed, the remonstrances of his friends had the effect of strengthening his conviction that the reptile, as he called the supposed enemy, assumed the appearance of friendship, the better to mask his infamous designs.

This delusion went on for some time, but did not show itself beyond words, and even those were never addressed to the supposed enemy, whose designs he said “he would meet with simulation and the reptile’s own insidious weapons.”  Greatly as all this was to be regretted, the man was so venerated, and was usually so calm, that none suspected any tendency to a deranged intellect.  His strong feelings were ascribed to mistaken impressions, until a very disagreeable occurrence opened our eyes to his real state.