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252 "though this be madness,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
, • . „ Turned Abl Si Army X Months Poss...
the inedical art , "but tliat I cannot accord to you the same infallibility in respect of mechanics . " A reply which silenced the
excellent medical man ! Now M . Trelat was acquainted with M . Arago , whom he
accordingly sought at the Observatory , and asked if he would kindly ive his assistance in persuading the monomaniac that his favorite
scheme g was a delusion ; for at that time M . Trelat believed that such a cure was possible . M . Arago agreed to do his best ; and
the next morning the Doctor attacked his patient with " Well , sir , "will accept an opinion of which you cannot doubt the weight ?
. . Have you you faith in M . Arago ? Do you think he possesses sufficient scientific _knowledg-e to induce you to confide in him ? " " Yes ,
Doctor . " " You will give in to him , then ? " " Yes , Doctor . " " I don't want to take you by surprise ; think well about it before
you promise , and give me your answer before I leave the asylum . " At the end of the daily visit the atient came and assured him
that he would entirely yield to the p enlightened decision of M . _Arag-o . On the morrow , therefore , M . Trelat took Ms patient to
the Observatory , and arrived there just at the moment when M . Arago , having given his lecture on astronomy in the
amphitheatre , had re-entered his own room in company with Humboldt , then in Paris , and following his friend ' s course . There the poor
inventor was received by the two great savans , _aj ) pearing nowise discomposed at their _presencebtit entering respectfully into the
conversation which they held with , the greatest kindness and condescension . After listening patiently and at length to the discourse addressed
to him by the j _> _atient , M . Arago replied , " There can be no motion without a moving power , sir . Whether you seek this moving
power in the mind , in running water , in the tension of a spring , or in the condensation of steam , or other change in the volume
of bodies , it is certain that you can never do without it . Either you must depend on the arm of man , animated by the life
which flows from God , or on the motion communicated by agents _equallset in movement by Divine Power . You will never turn
a wheel y by the help of stagnant water . You have agreed to abide by my opinion ; I have expressed it . Believe the three people
here assembled , who are all absolutely of the same mind . I assure that you are deceived . " "While listening to these
latter words you , the patient suddenly melted into tears . Arago and Uumboldt were deeply touched , and M . Trelat felt hopeful that a
real impression had been made upon the monomaniac . But hardly was the latter thirty paces from the Observatory tlian his tears
were dried , and his pride restored . Stamping on the ground , he exclaimed" NeverthelessM . Arago is deceived . I do not require
, , a moving power—my wheel turns by itself—it revolves in stagnant water ! " Bessie _Raynee Parkes .
( To be concluded in the next Number . )
252 "Though This Be Madness,
252 " though this be madness ,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1862, page 252, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061862/page/36/
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