1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:07,280 A dead Finger by Sabine bearing gold. Why the National Gallery should not attract 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:12,599 so many visitors as say the British Museum, I cannot explain. The latter 3 00:00:12,679 --> 00:00:16,800 does not contain much that one would suppose appeals to the interest of the ordinary 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:24,359 sightseer. What knows such of prehistoric flints and scratched bones of a Syrian sculpture, 5 00:00:24,679 --> 00:00:29,600 of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Greek and Roman statuary is cold and dead. 6 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,719 The paintings in the National Gallery glow with color and are instinct with life. 7 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:41,000 Yet somehow a few listless wanderers saunter yawning through the National Gallery, whereas swarms 8 00:00:41,079 --> 00:00:45,039 port through the halls of the British Museum and talk in past remarks about the 9 00:00:45,039 --> 00:00:48,679 objects they are exposed, of the date and meaning of which they have not 10 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:54,520 the faintest conception. I was thinking of this problem and endeavoring to unravel it 11 00:00:54,719 --> 00:00:58,600 one morning, whilst sitting in the room for English Masters at the Great Collection 12 00:00:58,759 --> 00:01:03,200 in Trofulgar's Square. At the same time, another thought forced itself upon me. 13 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:07,879 I had been through the rooms devoted to foreign schools, and had then 14 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:14,879 come into that given over Reynolds Moreland Gainsborough, Constable and Hogarth. The morning 15 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:19,879 had been for a while propitious, but towards noon a dense, umber tinted 16 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,959 fog had come on, making it all but impossible to see the pictures, 17 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,840 and quite impossible to do them justice. I was tired, and so seated 18 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:32,799 up myself on one of the chairs, and fell into the consideration, first 19 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,599 of all, of why the National Gallery is not as popular as it should 20 00:01:36,599 --> 00:01:41,959 be, and secondly how it was that the British school had no beginnings like 21 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:46,000 those of Italy and the Netherlands. We can see the art of the painter 22 00:01:46,159 --> 00:01:52,400 from its first initiation in the Italian peninsula and among the Flemings. It starts 23 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,519 on its progress like a child, and we can trace every stage of its 24 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,200 growth. Not so with English art. It springs to life in full and 25 00:02:00,239 --> 00:02:07,040 splendid maturity. Who were there before Reynolds and Gainsboro and Hogarth. The names 26 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,960 of those portrait and subject painters who have left their canvasses upon the walls of 27 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:15,520 our country houses were those of foreigners. Holbein, Nuller van Dyke and Lily 28 00:02:15,599 --> 00:02:23,360 for portraits, and Moneyer for flower and fruit pieces. Landscapes figure subjects were 29 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:29,199 all importations none homegrown? How came that about? Was there no limmur that 30 00:02:29,479 --> 00:02:34,639 was native? Was it that fashion trampled on homegrown pictorial beginnings as it flouted 31 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:39,560 and spurned native music? Here was food for contemplation, dreaming in the brown 32 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:46,479 fog, looking through it without seeing its beauties at Hogarth's painting of Lavinia Fenton 33 00:02:46,599 --> 00:02:51,599 as Polly Peachum, without wondering how so indifferent a beauty could have captivated the 34 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,719 Duke of Bolton and held him for thirty years. I was recalled to myself 35 00:02:54,719 --> 00:02:59,520 and my surroundings by the strange conduct of a lady who had seated herself on 36 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:04,120 the shared next to me, also discouraged by the fog and awaiting its dispersion. 37 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:07,759 I had not noticed her, particularly at the present moment. I do 38 00:03:07,879 --> 00:03:13,319 not remember particularly what she was like, So far as I can recollect, 39 00:03:13,439 --> 00:03:17,039 she was middle aged and quietly yet well dressed. It was not her face 40 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:21,919 nor her dress that attracted my attention and disturbed the current of my thoughts. 41 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:27,280 The effect I speak of was produced by her strange movements and behavior. She 42 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,560 was sitting listless, probably thinking of nothing at all, or nothing in particular, 43 00:03:31,039 --> 00:03:34,680 when in turning her eyes round, and, finding that she could see 44 00:03:34,719 --> 00:03:38,039 nothing of the paintings, she began to study me. This did concern me 45 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:43,560 greatly. A cat may look at the king, but to be contemplated by 46 00:03:43,599 --> 00:03:47,479 a lady is a compliment sufficient to please any gentleman. It was not gratified 47 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:53,080 vanity that troubled my thoughts, but the consciousness that my appearance produced, first 48 00:03:53,120 --> 00:04:00,080 of all startled surprise, then undisguised alarm, and finally indescribable horror. A 49 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,800 man can sit quietly, leaning on the head of his umbrella and glow internally 50 00:04:03,159 --> 00:04:08,919 warmed and illumined by the consciousness that he is being surveyed with admiration by a 51 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,199 lovely woman, even when he is middle aged and not fashionably dressed. But 52 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,439 no man can maintain his composure when he discovers himself to be an object of 53 00:04:16,439 --> 00:04:21,000 aversion and terror. What was it? I passed my hand over my chin 54 00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:25,480 and upper lip, thinking it not impossible that I might have forgotten to shave 55 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,560 that morning, and in my confusion, not considering that the fog would prevent 56 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:33,040 the lady from discovering neglect in this particular had it occurred, which had not. 57 00:04:33,759 --> 00:04:36,920 I am a little careless, perhaps about shaving when in the country, 58 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:43,000 but wood in town. Never. The next idea that occurred to me was 59 00:04:43,199 --> 00:04:47,040 a smut. Had a London black curdled in that dense pea soup atmosphere descended 60 00:04:47,079 --> 00:04:50,959 on my nose and blackened it. I hastily drew my silk handkerchief from my 61 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:56,040 pocket, moistened it, and passed it over my nose and then each cheek. 62 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,759 I then turned my eyes into the corners and looked at the lady to 63 00:04:59,759 --> 00:05:02,319 see whether by this means I had got rid of what was objectionable in my 64 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:08,160 personal appearance. Then I saw that her eyes, dilated with horror, were 65 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,439 riveted not on my face, but on my leg, my leg. What 66 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,680 on earth could that harmless member have in it so terrifying? The morning had 67 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,920 been dull, there had been rain in the night, and I admit that, 68 00:05:18,959 --> 00:05:23,120 on leaving my hotel, I had turned up the bottoms of my trousers. 69 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,680 That is a proceeding not so uncommon, not so outrageous as to account 70 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,240 for the stony stare of the woman's eyes. If that were all, I 71 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,360 would turn my trousers down. Then I saw her shrink from the chair on 72 00:05:34,399 --> 00:05:38,920 which She sat to one further removed from me, but still with her eyes 73 00:05:38,959 --> 00:05:43,199 fixed on my leg about the level of my knee. She had let fall 74 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,759 her umbrella and was grasping the seat of her chair with both hands as she 75 00:05:46,879 --> 00:05:50,399 backed for me. I need hardly say that I was greatly disturbed in mind 76 00:05:50,399 --> 00:05:55,240 and feelings, and forgot all about the origin of the English schools and painters 77 00:05:55,519 --> 00:05:59,160 in the question why the British Museum is more popular than the National Gallery. 78 00:05:59,519 --> 00:06:02,839 Thinking that I might have been spattered by a handsome whilst crossing Oxford Street, 79 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:08,000 I passed my hand down my side hastily with a sense of annoyance, and 80 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,160 all at once touched something cold, clammy that sent a thrill to my heart 81 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,079 and made me start and take a step forward. At the same moment, 82 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,480 the lady, with a cry of horror, sprang to her feet and with 83 00:06:18,639 --> 00:06:23,079 raised hands, fled from the room, leaving her umbrella where I had fallen. 84 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,680 There were other visitors to the picture gallery besides ourselves, who had been 85 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,600 passing through the saloon, and they turned at her cry and looked in surprise. 86 00:06:30,639 --> 00:06:34,959 After her. The policeman stationed in the room came to me and asked 87 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,519 what had happened. I was in such agitation that I hardly knew what to 88 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,639 answer. I told him that I could explain what had occurred little better than 89 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,920 himself. I had noticed that the lady had worn an odd expression and had 90 00:06:46,959 --> 00:06:51,279 behaved in most extraordinary fashion, and that he had best take charge of her 91 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:57,360 umbrella and wait for her return to claim it. This questioning by the official 92 00:06:57,439 --> 00:07:00,360 was vexing, as it prevented me from, at once and on the spot, 93 00:07:00,399 --> 00:07:03,199 investigating the cause of her alarm and mind hers at something she must have 94 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,600 seen on my leg, and mine at something I had distinctly felt creeping up 95 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,759 my leg. The numbing and sickening effect on me of the touch of the 96 00:07:11,839 --> 00:07:15,079 object I had not seen was not to be shaken off at once. Indeed, 97 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:18,639 I felt as though my hand were contaminated, and that I could have 98 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:23,839 no rest till I had thoroughly washed the hand and, if possible, washed 99 00:07:23,839 --> 00:07:27,279 away the feeling that had been produced. I looked on the floor, I 100 00:07:27,319 --> 00:07:30,519 examined my leg, but saw nothing. As I wore my overcoat, it 101 00:07:30,639 --> 00:07:33,879 was probable that in rising from my seat, the skirt had fallen over my 102 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:39,839 trousers and hidden the thing. Whatever it was. I therefore hastily removed my 103 00:07:39,879 --> 00:07:43,879 overcoat and shook it, then looked at my trousers. There was nothing whatever 104 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,920 on my leg, and nothing fell from my overcoat when shaken accordingly. I 105 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:53,879 reinvested myself and hastily left the gallery. Then took my way as speedily as 106 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:58,560 I could without actually running, to the Charing Cross station and down the narrow 107 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:03,199 way leading to the Metropo, where I went into Faulkner's bath and hair dressing 108 00:08:03,279 --> 00:08:07,560 establishment and asked for hot water to thoroughly wash my hand and well soap it. 109 00:08:07,279 --> 00:08:11,480 I bathed my hand in water as hot as I could endure it, 110 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:15,759 employed carbolic soap, and then, after having a good brush down, especially 111 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,800 on my left side, where my hand had encountered the object that had so 112 00:08:18,879 --> 00:08:22,839 affected me, I left. I had entertained the intention of going to the 113 00:08:22,879 --> 00:08:26,879 Princess's Theater that evening, and of securing a ticket in the morning, But 114 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,199 all thought of theater going was gone for me. I could not free my 115 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,480 heart from the sense of nausea and cold that had been produced by the touch. 116 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:37,440 I went into Gattis to have lunch and ordered something I forget what, 117 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:41,799 but when served I found that my appetite was gone. I could eat nothing. 118 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,559 The food inspired me with disgust. I thrust it from me, untasted, 119 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,159 and after drinking a couple of glasses of claret, left the restaurant and 120 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:54,120 returned to my hotel. Feeling sick and faint, I threw my overcoat over 121 00:08:54,159 --> 00:08:58,279 the sofa back and cast myself on my bed. I do not know that 122 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,000 there was any particular reason for my doing so. But as I lay my 123 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:05,399 eyes around my great coat, the density of the fog has passed away, 124 00:09:05,879 --> 00:09:09,200 and there was light again, not a first quality, but sufficient for a 125 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,120 Londoner to swear by, so that I could see everything in my room through 126 00:09:13,159 --> 00:09:18,559 a veil darkly. I do not think my mind is occupied in any way 127 00:09:18,279 --> 00:09:22,600 about. The only occasions on which, to my knowledge my mind is actually 128 00:09:22,639 --> 00:09:26,360 passive or inert is when crossing the channel in the foam from Dover to Calais, 129 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:33,159 when I am always in every weather objectly seasick and thoughtless. But as 130 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,720 I now lay on my bed, uncomfortable, squeamish, without knowing why, 131 00:09:37,279 --> 00:09:39,480 I was in the same inact of mental condition, but not for long, 132 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:45,679 I saw something that startled me. First it appeared to me as if the 133 00:09:45,759 --> 00:09:48,919 lappet of my overcoat pocket were in movement being raised. I did not pay 134 00:09:50,039 --> 00:09:52,720 much attention to this, as I suppose that the garment was sliding down onto 135 00:09:52,759 --> 00:09:56,559 the seat of the sofa from the back, and that this displacement of gravity 136 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:01,200 caused movement. I observed this I soon saw was not the case. That 137 00:10:01,279 --> 00:10:05,320 which moved the la pet was something in the pocket that was struggling to get 138 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:07,679 out. I could see now that it was working its way up the inside, 139 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:11,039 and that when it reached the opening, it lost balance and fell down 140 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:16,440 again. I can make this out by the projections and indentations in the cloth. 141 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:18,960 These moved as the creature or whatever it was, worked its way up 142 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,200 to the lining. A mouse, I said, and forgot my seediness. 143 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:28,679 I was interested the little rascal, however, did it? He concrived to 144 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,600 seat himself in my pocket, and I have worn that overcoat all morning. 145 00:10:33,159 --> 00:10:35,759 But no, it was not a mouse. I saw something white poke its 146 00:10:35,799 --> 00:10:39,200 way out from under the la pet, and in another moment an object was 147 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:43,679 revealed that, though revealed, I could not understand, nor could I distinguish 148 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:50,120 what it was. Now Roused by curiosity, I raised myself on my elbow. 149 00:10:50,399 --> 00:10:54,559 In doing this, I made some noise. The bed creaked instantly. 150 00:10:54,639 --> 00:10:58,120 The something dropped to the floor, lay outstretched for a moment to recover itself, 151 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:03,080 then began with the motions of a maggot to run along the floor. 152 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:07,440 There is a caterpillar called the measurer because when it advances, it draws its 153 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:11,120 tail up to where its head is, and then throws forward its full length, 154 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:16,200 and again draws up its extremity, forming at each time a loop, 155 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:20,039 and with each step measuring its total length. The object I now saw on 156 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,600 the floor was advancing precisely like the measuring caterpillar. It had the color of 157 00:11:24,639 --> 00:11:28,120 a cheese maggot, and in length was about three and a half inches. 158 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,639 It was not, however, like a caterpillar, which is flexible throughout its 159 00:11:33,799 --> 00:11:37,200 entire length. But this was, as it seemed to me, jointed in 160 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:41,360 two places, one joint being more conspicuous than the other. For some moments, 161 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:46,360 I was so completely paralyzed by the astonishment that I remained motionless, looking 162 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:50,919 at the thing as it crawled along the carpet, a dull green carpet with 163 00:11:50,039 --> 00:11:54,399 darker green, almost black flowers in it. It had as it seemed to 164 00:11:54,440 --> 00:12:00,360 me a glossy head distinctly marked, but as the light was not really I 165 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,840 could not make out very clearly, and moreover, the rapid movements prevented close 166 00:12:03,919 --> 00:12:09,000 scrutiny. Presently, with a shock still more startling than it produced by its 167 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:13,159 apparition, at the opening of the pocket of my greatcoat. But became convinced 168 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,879 that what I saw was a finger, a human forefinger, and that the 169 00:12:16,919 --> 00:12:22,360 glossy head was no other than the nail. The finger did not seem to 170 00:12:22,399 --> 00:12:26,840 have been amputated. There was no sign of blood or laceration where the knuckle 171 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:31,320 should be, but the extremity of the finger or root rather faded away to 172 00:12:31,399 --> 00:12:33,960 indistinctness, and I was unable to make out the root of the finger. 173 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:39,080 I could see no hand, no body behind this finger, nothing whatever, 174 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:43,159 except a finger that had little token of warm life in it, no coloration 175 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:48,039 as through blood circulated in it. And this finger was an active motion, 176 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:52,320 creeping along the carpet towards a wardrobe that stood against the wall by the fireplace. 177 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:56,320 I sprang off the bed and pursued it. Evidently the finger was alarmed, 178 00:12:56,639 --> 00:13:01,559 for it redoubled its pace reached the wardrobe and went under it. By 179 00:13:01,639 --> 00:13:05,000 the time I had arrived at the article of furniture, it had disappeared. 180 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,000 I lit a vesta match and held it beneath the wardrobe that was raised above 181 00:13:09,039 --> 00:13:13,039 the carpet by about two inches on turned feet, but I could see nothing 182 00:13:13,039 --> 00:13:16,039 more of the finger. I got my umbrella and thrust it beneath and raked 183 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:20,519 forwards and backwards, right and left, and raked out flew and nothing more 184 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:26,799 solid. I packed my poormanteau next day and returned to my home in the 185 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:31,320 country. All desire for amusement in town was gone, and the faculty to 186 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,559 transact business had departed as well. A linger in qualms had come over me, 187 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,960 and my head was in a maze. I was unable to fix my 188 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:43,639 thoughts on anything. At times I was disposed to believe that my wits were 189 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:48,679 deserting me, at others that I was on the verge of a severe illness. 190 00:13:48,159 --> 00:13:52,240 Anyhow, whether likely to go off my head or not, or to 191 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:56,480 take my bed home was the only place for me, and homeward I sped 192 00:13:56,519 --> 00:14:01,799 accordingly. On reaching my country habitation, my servant, as usual, took 193 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:05,240 my pormanteau to my bedroom unstrapped it, but did not unpack it. I 194 00:14:05,279 --> 00:14:09,200 object to his throwing out the contents of my gladstone bag, not that there 195 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,799 is anything that he may not see. That he puts my things where I 196 00:14:13,799 --> 00:14:16,440 cannot find him again. My clothes, he is welcome to place them where 197 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:20,039 he likes and where they belong. In this latter he knows better than I 198 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:24,639 do. But then I carry about with me other things in a dress, 199 00:14:24,679 --> 00:14:28,080 suit and changes of linen and flannel. There are letters, papers, books, 200 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:33,399 and the proper destinations of these are known only to myself. A servant 201 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:37,960 has a singular and evil knack of putting away literary matter and odd volumes in 202 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:41,360 such places that it takes the owner half a day to find them again. 203 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:46,200 Although I was uncomfortable and my head in a whirl, I opened and unpacked 204 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:50,799 my own pormanteau. As I was thus engaged, I saw something curled up 205 00:14:50,799 --> 00:14:54,279 in my collar box, the lid of which had gotten broken by a boot 206 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,519 heel and pinging on it. I had pulled off the damage cover to see 207 00:14:58,519 --> 00:15:01,879 if my callers had been spoiled, when something curled up inside suddenly rose on 208 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:07,200 end and left dressed like a cheese jumper out of the box, over the 209 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:09,840 edge of the gladstone bag, and scurried away across the floor in a manner 210 00:15:09,879 --> 00:15:15,039 already familiar to me. I could not doubt for a moment what it was. 211 00:15:15,399 --> 00:15:18,759 Here was the finger again. It had come with me from London to 212 00:15:18,799 --> 00:15:22,879 the country. Whither it went in its run over the floor, I do 213 00:15:22,039 --> 00:15:26,720 not know. I was too bewildered to observe. Somewhat later, towards evening, 214 00:15:26,919 --> 00:15:31,240 I seated myself in my easy chair, took up a book and tried 215 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,679 to read. I was tired with the journey, with a knocking about in 216 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:37,440 town, and the discomfort and alarm produced by the apparition of the finger. 217 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,320 I felt worn out. I was unable to give my attention to what I 218 00:15:41,399 --> 00:15:46,279 read, and before I was aware was asleep. Roused for an instant by 219 00:15:46,279 --> 00:15:50,519 the fall of a book from my hands, I speedily relapsed into unconsciousness. 220 00:15:50,039 --> 00:15:54,279 I am not sure that a doze in the armchair ever does good. It 221 00:15:54,399 --> 00:15:58,720 usually leaves me in a semi stupid condition and with a headache. Five minutes 222 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:03,240 in a horizontal position on my bed as worth thirty in a chair. That 223 00:16:03,399 --> 00:16:07,960 is my experience in sleeping in a sedentary position that the head is a difficulty. 224 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,279 It drops forward or lalls on one side of the other and has to 225 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,720 be brought back into a position in which the line to the center of gravity 226 00:16:14,799 --> 00:16:18,440 runs through the trunk. Otherwise the head carries the body over in a sort 227 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,639 of general capsize out of the chair onto the floor. I slept on the 228 00:16:22,639 --> 00:16:26,039 occasion of which I'm speaking pretty healthily, because deadly weary. But I was 229 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:30,480 brought to waking not by my head falling over the arm of the chair and 230 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,000 my trunk tumbling after it, but by a feeling of cold extending from my 231 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,320 throat to my heart. When I awoke, I was in a diagonal position, 232 00:16:37,399 --> 00:16:41,080 with my right ear resting on my right shoulder and exposing the left side 233 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:45,000 of my throat. And it was here where the jugular vein throbs, that 234 00:16:45,039 --> 00:16:48,039 I felt the greatest intensity of cold. At once I shrugged my left shoulder, 235 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,080 rubbing my neck with the collar of my coat, and so doing immediately 236 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:56,679 something fell off upon the floor, and again I saw the finger. My 237 00:16:56,799 --> 00:17:00,279 disgust horror were intensified when I perceived that it was dragging something after it, 238 00:17:00,759 --> 00:17:04,039 which might have been an old stalking in which I took a first glance for 239 00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:08,039 something of the sort. The evening sun shone in through my window in a 240 00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:12,799 brilliant gold ray that lighted the object as it scrambled. Along with this illumination, 241 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,279 I was able to distinguish what the object was. It was not easy 242 00:17:17,279 --> 00:17:19,480 to describe it, but I will make the attempt. The finger I saw 243 00:17:19,559 --> 00:17:22,880 was solid and material. What it drew after it was neither, or was 244 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:27,680 in a nebulous protoplasmic condition. The finger was attached to a hand that was 245 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:33,440 curdling into matter and in process of acquiring solidity. Attached to the hand was 246 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,680 an arm in a very filmy condition, and this arm belonged to a human 247 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,680 body in a still more vaporous immaterial condition. This was being dragged along the 248 00:17:41,759 --> 00:17:45,640 floor by the finger, just as a silkworm might pull after it the tangle 249 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:49,319 of its web. I could see legs and arms, and head and coat 250 00:17:49,319 --> 00:17:55,720 tail tumbling about and interlacing and disentangling again in a promiscuous manner. There were 251 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:59,359 no bone, no muscle, no substance in the figure. The members were 252 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:03,559 attached to the trunk, which was spineless, but they had evidently no functions 253 00:18:03,599 --> 00:18:06,759 and were wholly dependent on the finger, which pulled them along in a jumble 254 00:18:06,799 --> 00:18:11,400 of parts as it advanced in such confusion. Did the whole vaporous matter seem 255 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,319 that? I think? I cannot say for certain it was so, But 256 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:18,279 the impression left on my mind was that one of the eyeballs was looking out 257 00:18:18,319 --> 00:18:21,359 at a nostril, and the tongue lolling out of one of the ears. 258 00:18:21,799 --> 00:18:25,000 Was, however, only for a moment that I saw this germ body. 259 00:18:25,279 --> 00:18:27,839 I can not call by another name, that which had not more substance than 260 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:33,079 smoke. I saw it only so long as it was being dragged athwart the 261 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,119 ray of sunlight. The moment it was pulled jerkily out of the beam into 262 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,799 the shadow beyond, I could see nothing of it, only the crawling finger. 263 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:45,400 I had not sufficient moral energy or physical force in me to rise, 264 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,559 pursue and stamp on the finger, and grind it with my heel into the 265 00:18:48,559 --> 00:18:52,519 floor. Both seemed drained out of me, but became of the finger. 266 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,480 Whither it went. How it managed to discreet itself, I do not know. 267 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:00,240 I had lost the power to inquire. I sat in my chair, 268 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,079 chilled, staring before me into space. Please, sir, a voice said, 269 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:11,839 that's mister Square below electrical engineer. A I looked dreamily around my valet 270 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,880 was at the door. Please, sir, the gentleman would be glad to 271 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,480 be allowed to go over the house and see all the electrical apparatus is in 272 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:22,240 order. Oh, indeed, yes, show him up. I had recently 273 00:19:22,279 --> 00:19:26,880 placed the lighting of my house in the hands of an electrical engineer, a 274 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,640 very intelligent man, mister Square, for whom I had contracted a sincere friendship. 275 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,400 He had built a shed with a dynamo out of sight and had entrusted 276 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:37,920 the laying of the wires to subordinates, as he had been busy with other 277 00:19:38,039 --> 00:19:41,960 orders and cannot personally watch every detail. But he was not the man to 278 00:19:42,039 --> 00:19:45,720 let anything pass unobserved, and he knew that electricity was not a force to 279 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:51,599 be played with. That or careless workmen will often insufficiently protect the wires or 280 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,200 neglect the insertion of the lead, which serves as a safety valve. In 281 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:59,440 the event of the current being too strong, houses may be set on fire, 282 00:19:59,839 --> 00:20:03,559 and beings fatally shocked by the neglect of a bad or slovenly workman. 283 00:20:03,519 --> 00:20:07,400 The apparatus for my mansion was just completed, but mister Square had come to 284 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,799 inspect it and make sure that it was all right. He was an enthusiast 285 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,599 in the matter of electricity, and saw for it a vast perspective, the 286 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:21,480 limits of which could not be predicted. All forces, said he, are 287 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,200 correlated. When you have force in one form, you may just turn it 288 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,480 into this or that as you like. In one form it is motive power, 289 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,640 in another, it is light in another heat. Now we have electricity 290 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,119 for illumination, we employ it, but not as freely as in the States. 291 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:41,240 For propelling vehicles, Why should we have horses drawing our buses? We 292 00:20:41,279 --> 00:20:45,319 should use only electric trams. Why do we burn coal to warm our shins? 293 00:20:45,759 --> 00:20:51,200 There is electricity which throws out no filthy smoke as does coal. Why 294 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:55,559 should we let the tides waste their energies in the Thames? In other estuaries 295 00:20:56,039 --> 00:21:00,079 there we have nature supplying us free gratis, and for nothing, with all 296 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:03,440 the force we want for propelling, for heating, for lighting. I will 297 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,000 tell you something more, my dear sir, said mister Square. I have 298 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:11,119 mentioned but three modes of force, and have incense but a limited number of 299 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,680 uses to which electricity may be turned. How is it with photography? Is 300 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:21,000 not electric light becoming an artistic agent? I bet you, said he, 301 00:21:21,559 --> 00:21:26,279 Before long it will become a therapeutic agent as well. Oh yes, I 302 00:21:26,319 --> 00:21:30,039 have heard of certain impostures with their life belts. Mister Square did not relish 303 00:21:30,079 --> 00:21:33,880 with this little deck I gave him. He winced, but returned to the 304 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,119 charge. We don't know how to direct it, all right, that is 305 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:41,599 all, said he. I haven't taken the matter up, but others will, 306 00:21:41,839 --> 00:21:45,319 I bet, and we shall have electricity used as freely as now we 307 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,079 use powders and pills. I don't believe in doctor's stuff myself. I hold 308 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,839 that disease lays hold of a man because he lacks physical force to resist it. 309 00:21:53,759 --> 00:21:56,759 Now, is it not obvious that you are beginning at the wrong end 310 00:21:56,759 --> 00:22:00,880 when you attack the disease. What you want is to supply force make up 311 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,359 for the lack of physical power. And force is force wherever you find it. 312 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,599 Here motive, they're illuminating, and so on. I don't see why 313 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:12,960 physicians should not utilize the tide rushing out under London Bridge for restoring the feeble 314 00:22:14,039 --> 00:22:17,799 vigor of all who are languid and a prey to disorder in the metropolis. 315 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,319 It will come to that, I bet. And that is not all. 316 00:22:21,559 --> 00:22:26,079 Force is force everywhere, political, moral force, physical force, dynamic force, 317 00:22:26,279 --> 00:22:29,680 heat, light, tidal ways and so on. All are one, 318 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,039 All is one. In time we shall know how to galvanize into aptitude and 319 00:22:33,039 --> 00:22:38,799 moral energy all the limp and crooked consciences and wills that need taking in hand, 320 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:44,160 and such there always will be in modern civilization. I don't know how 321 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:45,519 to do it. I don't know how it will be done. But in 322 00:22:45,559 --> 00:22:49,160 the future the priest as well as the doctor, will turn electricity hon as 323 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,720 his principle, nay, his only agent, and he can get his force 324 00:22:52,759 --> 00:22:56,839 anywhere, out of the running stream, out of the wind, out of 325 00:22:56,839 --> 00:23:00,599 the tidal wave. I'll give you an instance, continued mister Square, chuckling 326 00:23:00,599 --> 00:23:06,519 and rubbing his hands, to show you the great possibilities and electricity used in 327 00:23:06,519 --> 00:23:11,039 the crude fashion. In a certain great city far west in the States, 328 00:23:11,519 --> 00:23:15,640 a go had placed too, more so than New York. They had electric 329 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:18,759 trans all up and down and along the roads to everywhere. The union men 330 00:23:18,799 --> 00:23:23,079 working for the company demanded that the non unionists should be turned off, but 331 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:26,640 the company didn't see it. Instead, it turned off the union men. 332 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,680 It had up its sleeve a sufficiency of the others, and filled all places 333 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,480 at once. Union men didn't like it, and passed word that at a 334 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:38,079 given hour on a certain day, every wire was to be cut. The 335 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:42,000 company knew this by means of its spies, and turned on ready for them, 336 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:47,559 three times of power into all the wires at the fixed moment. Up 337 00:23:47,559 --> 00:23:51,359 the poles with the strikers to cut the cables, and down they came a 338 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:56,240 dozen times quicker than they went up. Then there came wires to the hospitals 339 00:23:56,279 --> 00:24:00,880 from all quarters for stretchers to carry off the disabled men. Some broken legs, 340 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,920 arms, ribs, two or three had their necks broken. I reckon. 341 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,079 The company was wonderfully merciful. It didn't put on sufficient force to make 342 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:12,279 cinders of them. Then in there possibly opinion might not have liked it. 343 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:18,319 Stopped the strike did that great moral effect. All dead by electricity. In 344 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,359 this manner, mister Square was wont to rattle on. He interested me, 345 00:24:22,839 --> 00:24:26,480 and I came to think that there might be something in what he said, 346 00:24:26,799 --> 00:24:30,920 that his suggestions were not mere nonsense. I was glad to see mister Square 347 00:24:30,039 --> 00:24:33,480 enter my room, shown in by my man. I did not rise from 348 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,559 my chair to shake his hand, for I had not sufficient energy to do 349 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,640 so. In a languid tone, I welcomed him and signed to him to 350 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,559 take a seat. Mister Square looked at me with some surprise. Why what's 351 00:24:45,559 --> 00:24:49,119 the matter, he said, you seem unwell. Knock out the flu have 352 00:24:49,279 --> 00:24:55,279 you? I beg your pardon the influenza. Every third person is crying out 353 00:24:55,279 --> 00:24:59,039 that he has it, And the sale of eucalyptus is enormous, not that 354 00:24:59,079 --> 00:25:03,519 eucalyptus is anyth good influenza microbes. Indeed, what cared they for eucalyptus? 355 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,039 We've gone down some steps of the latter of life since I last saw you, 356 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:11,880 Squire, how do you account for that? I hesitated about the mentioning 357 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:17,839 the extraordinary circumstances that had occurred. But Square was a man who would not 358 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,799 allow any beating about the bush. He was downright and straight, and in 359 00:25:21,839 --> 00:25:26,599 ten minutes he got the entire story out of me. Rather boisterous for your 360 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,079 nerves. That a crawling finger, he said he it's a queer story taken 361 00:25:30,079 --> 00:25:36,160 on end. Then he was silent, considering after a few minutes, he 362 00:25:36,279 --> 00:25:38,480 rose and said, I'll go and look at the fittings, and then I'll 363 00:25:38,519 --> 00:25:41,400 turn this little matter of yours over again and see if I can't knock the 364 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,880 bottom out of it. I'm kinder fond of those sort of things. Mister 365 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,359 Square was not a Yankee, but he had lived for some time in America 366 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:55,400 and affected to speak like an American. He used expressions terms of speech common 367 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,480 in the States, but had none of the Transatlantic twang. He was a 368 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,319 man absent, sally, without affection in every other particular. This was his 369 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:07,000 sole weakness, and it was harmless. The man was so thorough in all 370 00:26:07,079 --> 00:26:11,160 he did that I did not expect him to return immediately. He was certain 371 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:15,119 to examine every portion of the dynamo engine and all the connections and burners. 372 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,920 This would necessarily engage him for some hours. As the day was nearly done, 373 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,960 I knew he could not accomplish what he wanted that evening, and accordingly 374 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:26,440 gave orders that a room should be prepared for him. Then, as my 375 00:26:26,519 --> 00:26:30,319 head was full of pain and my skin was burning, I told my servant 376 00:26:30,319 --> 00:26:33,000 to apologize for my absence from dinner and tell mister Square that I was really 377 00:26:33,039 --> 00:26:37,240 forced to return to my bed by sickness, and that I believed I was 378 00:26:37,279 --> 00:26:41,200 about to be prostrated by an attack of influenza. The valet, a worthy 379 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:45,759 fellow who had been with me for six years, was concerned at my appearance 380 00:26:45,759 --> 00:26:48,200 and urged me to allow him to send for a doctor. I had no 381 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,240 confidence in the local practitioner, and if I sent for another from the nearest 382 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:56,119 town, I should offend him, and a row would perhaps ensue. So 383 00:26:56,200 --> 00:27:00,079 I declined, if I were really in for an Leuwenza attack, I knew 384 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,480 about as much as my any doctor how to deal with it. Quinny and 385 00:27:03,559 --> 00:27:07,559 quiney, that was all. I bade my man light a small lamp, 386 00:27:07,799 --> 00:27:11,720 lower it so as to give sufficient illumination to enable me to find some lime 387 00:27:11,759 --> 00:27:15,359 juice at my bed head and my pocket handkerchief, and to be able to 388 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,599 read my watch. When he had done this, I bade him leave me. 389 00:27:18,839 --> 00:27:22,759 I lay in bed, burning, racked with pain in my head and 390 00:27:22,799 --> 00:27:26,839 my eyeballs on fire. Whether I fell asleep or went off my head for 391 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:30,319 a while I cannot tell. I may have fainted. I have no recollection 392 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,480 of anything. After gone to bed and taking a sip of lime juice that 393 00:27:33,519 --> 00:27:37,039 tasted to me like soap, till I was roused by a sense of pain 394 00:27:37,079 --> 00:27:41,400 in my ribs, a slow, gnawing, torturing pain, waxing momentarily more 395 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:47,359 intense. In half consciousness, I was partly dreaming and partly aware of actual 396 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:51,079 suffering. The pain was real, but in my fancy I thought that a 397 00:27:51,079 --> 00:27:55,319 great maggot was working its way into my side between my roobs. I seemed 398 00:27:55,319 --> 00:27:59,279 to see it. It twisted itself half round, then reverted to its former 399 00:27:59,319 --> 00:28:03,880 position again, a twisting itself, moving like a brattle, not like a 400 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:08,359 gimlet, which latter forms a complete revolution. This obviously must have been a 401 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:14,240 dream hallucination only as I was lying on my back and my eyes were directed 402 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,119 towards the bottom of my bed, the coverlet and blankets, and she intervened 403 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:21,839 between my eyes and the side. But in fever one seized without eyes, 404 00:28:22,079 --> 00:28:26,480 and in every direction, and through all obstructions, roused thoroughly by an excruciating 405 00:28:26,519 --> 00:28:30,319 twinge, I tried to cry out, and succeeded in throwing myself over on 406 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,119 my right side, that which was in pain. At once I felt the 407 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,039 thing withdrawn that was all in If I may use the word in between my 408 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,960 ribs. And now I saw standing beside the bed a figure that had its 409 00:28:44,079 --> 00:28:48,160 arm under the bed clothes and was slowly removing it. The hand was leisurely 410 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:52,039 drawn from under the coverings and rested on the eider down coverlet, with the 411 00:28:52,039 --> 00:28:56,000 forefinger extended. The figure was that of a man in shabby clothes, with 412 00:28:56,079 --> 00:29:00,440 a sallow, mean face, a retreating forehead, and hair cut after the 413 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:07,000 French fashion, and a mustache. The draws and chin were covered with a 414 00:29:07,039 --> 00:29:11,559 bristly growth, as if shaving had been neglected for a fortnight. The figure 415 00:29:11,559 --> 00:29:15,160 did not appear to be thoroughly solid, but to be of the consistency of 416 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,160 curd, and the face was of the complexion of curd. As I looked 417 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:22,680 at this object, it withdrew, sliding backward an odd sort of manner, 418 00:29:22,079 --> 00:29:26,799 and as though overweighted by the hand, which was the most substantial, indeed 419 00:29:26,799 --> 00:29:30,799 the only substantial portion of it. Though the finger retreated stooping, yet it 420 00:29:30,839 --> 00:29:34,920 was no longer huddled along by the finger, as if it had no material 421 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:41,079 existence. If the same, it had acquired a consistency in a solidity which 422 00:29:41,079 --> 00:29:45,400 it did not possess before. How it vanished. I do not know nor 423 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:49,279 whether it went. The door opened and Square came in. What he explained 424 00:29:49,279 --> 00:29:53,400 with cheery voice, influenza is it? I don't know. I think it's 425 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:59,559 that finger again. Now look here, said Square, I'm not going to 426 00:29:59,599 --> 00:30:03,319 have that cuss at its pranks anymore. Tell me about it. I was 427 00:30:03,359 --> 00:30:06,839 now so exhausted, so feeble, that I was not able to give a 428 00:30:06,839 --> 00:30:10,599 connected account of what had taken place. But Square to put me just a 429 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:15,119 few pointed questions and elicited the main facts. He pieced him together in his 430 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,359 own orderly mind, so as to form a connected whole. There is a 431 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,359 feature in the case, said he, that strikes me as remarkable and important. 432 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:27,000 At first a finger only, then a hand that a nebulous figure attached 433 00:30:27,039 --> 00:30:33,680 to the hand, without backbone, without consistency. Lastly a complete form with 434 00:30:33,799 --> 00:30:37,880 consistency and with backbone, but the latter in a gelatinous condition, and the 435 00:30:38,039 --> 00:30:42,759 entire figure overweighted by the hand, just as hand and figure were previously overweighted 436 00:30:42,839 --> 00:30:48,599 by the finger. Simultaneously, with this compacting and consolidating of the figure came 437 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,640 your degeneration and lost of vital force. And in a word of help, 438 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,920 what you lose, the object acquires, and what it acquires it gains by 439 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:02,640 contact with you. That's clear enough, is it not? I dare say 440 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:07,240 I don't know. I can't think. I suppose not. The faculty of 441 00:31:07,279 --> 00:31:10,680 thought is drained out of you. Very well, I must think for you, 442 00:31:10,839 --> 00:31:14,880 and I will force his force, and see if I can't deal with 443 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,720 your visitant in such a way as will prove just as truly a moral dissuasive 444 00:31:18,799 --> 00:31:22,759 that employed on the union men on striking. Never mind where it was, 445 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,240 that's not the point. Will you kindly give me some lime juice? I 446 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:32,359 entreated. I sipped the acid drought, but without relief. I listened to 447 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:36,480 Square, but without hope. I wanted to be left alone. I was 448 00:31:36,519 --> 00:31:40,799 wary of my pain, weary of everything, even of life. It was 449 00:31:40,839 --> 00:31:44,400 a matter of indifference to me whether I recovered or slipped out of its existence. 450 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,400 It will be here again, shortly, said the engineer, as the 451 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,359 French say, l'a pativia monjan. It has been at you thrice. It 452 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:56,559 won't be content without another peck, And if it does get another, I 453 00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,880 guess it will pretty well about finish you. Mister Square rubbed his chin and 454 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:05,920 then put his hands into his trousers pockets. That was also a trick acquired 455 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:08,599 in the States, and an elegant one. His hands, when not actively 456 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:14,880 occupied, went into his pockets. Inevitably they gravitated thither. Ladies did not 457 00:32:15,119 --> 00:32:17,240 like square. They said he was not a gentleman. But it was not 458 00:32:17,319 --> 00:32:21,839 that he said or did anything off color. Only he spoke to them, 459 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,359 looked at them, and walked with them, always with his hands in his 460 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:29,359 pockets. I've seen a lady turn her back on him deliberately because of this 461 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,880 trick. Standing now with his hands in his pockets, he studied my bed 462 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:38,480 and said, contemptuously, old fashioned and bad. Four poster oughtn't be allowed. 463 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:43,079 I guess, unwholesome all the way around. I was not in a 464 00:32:43,079 --> 00:32:46,000 condition to dispute this. I like a four poster with curtains at head and 465 00:32:46,039 --> 00:32:50,039 feet, not that I ever draw them, but it gives a sense of 466 00:32:50,039 --> 00:32:53,160 privacy, that is wanting in one of your half tester beds. If there 467 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:57,240 is a window at one's feet, one can lie in bed without the glaring 468 00:32:57,319 --> 00:33:01,000 one's eyes, and yet without darkening the room by drawing the blinds. There's 469 00:33:01,079 --> 00:33:05,079 much to be said for a four poster, but this is not the place 470 00:33:05,079 --> 00:33:07,680 in which you say it. Mister Square pulled his hands out of his pockets 471 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:12,240 and began fiddling with the electric point near the head of my bed. Attached 472 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,799 a wire, swept it in a semicircle along the floor, then thrust the 473 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,680 knob at the end into my hand in the bed. Keep your eye open, 474 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,000 he said, and your hand shut and covered. If that finger comes 475 00:33:23,039 --> 00:33:27,839 again tickling your ribs, try it with the point. I'll manage to switch 476 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,720 from behind the curtain. Then he disappeared. I was too indifferent in my 477 00:33:31,759 --> 00:33:36,599 misery to turn my head and observe where he was. I remained inert, 478 00:33:36,839 --> 00:33:39,200 with the knob in my hand and my eyes closed, suffering and thinking of 479 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:43,680 nothing, with the shooting pains through my head and the aches in my loins 480 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:49,000 and back and legs. Sometime probably elapsed before I felt the finger again at 481 00:33:49,039 --> 00:33:52,119 work at my ribs. It groped, but no longer bored. I now 482 00:33:52,119 --> 00:33:57,240 felt the entire hand, not a single finger, and the hand was substantial, 483 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,319 cold and clammy. I was aware, how I know not that if 484 00:34:00,319 --> 00:34:04,440 the finger point reached the region of my heart on the left side, that 485 00:34:04,559 --> 00:34:07,239 the hand would so to speak, sit down on it with the cold palm 486 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,480 over it. And then immediately my heart ceased to beat, and it would 487 00:34:10,519 --> 00:34:15,320 be a Square might express it gone coon with me. In self preservation, 488 00:34:15,559 --> 00:34:20,440 I brought up the knob of the electric wire against the hand against one of 489 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:22,639 the ringers, I think, and at once was aware of a rapping, 490 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:28,280 squealing noise. I turned my head languidly and saw the form, now more 491 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:32,840 substantial than before, capering in an ecstasy of pain, endeavoring fruitlessly to withdraw 492 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:37,360 its arm from under the bedclothes and the hand from the electric point. At 493 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,800 the same moment, Square stepped from behind the curtain with a dry laugh and 494 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:45,239 said, I thought we should fix him. He has the coil about him 495 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:49,400 and can't escape. Now let us drop to particulars. But I shan't let 496 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,320 you off until I know all about you. The last sentence was addressed not 497 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:57,880 to me, but to the apparition. Thereupon he bade me to take the 498 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,519 point away from the hand of the figure, being whatever it was, but 499 00:35:00,599 --> 00:35:05,639 to be ready with it at a moment's notice. He then proceeded to catchize 500 00:35:05,639 --> 00:35:08,000 my visitor, who moved restlessly within the circle of the wire, but could 501 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:12,599 not escape from it, it replied, in a thin, squealing voice that 502 00:35:12,679 --> 00:35:15,119 sounded as if to come from a distance, and had a querulous tone in 503 00:35:15,199 --> 00:35:20,679 it. I'd not pretend to give all that was said. I cannot recollect 504 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:24,039 everything that passed. My memory was affected by my illness as well as my 505 00:35:24,119 --> 00:35:29,400 body. Yet I prefer giving the scraps that I recollect to what Square told 506 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:34,840 me he had heard. Yes, I was unsuccessful. Always was nothing answered 507 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:37,960 with me. The world was against me, society was. I hate society. 508 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:43,159 I don't like work, neither never did. But I like agitating against 509 00:35:43,199 --> 00:35:46,280 what is established. I hate the royal family, the landed interest, the 510 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:51,480 parsons, everything that is except the people that is, the unemployed. I 511 00:35:51,519 --> 00:35:53,800 always did, I couldn't get work as suited me. When I died, 512 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:58,599 they buried me in a cheap coffin dirt cheap, and gave me a nasty 513 00:35:58,639 --> 00:36:02,559 grave cheap, and a service ratt away cheap, and no monument. Didn't 514 00:36:02,559 --> 00:36:07,159 want none. Oh, there are lots of us, all discontented. Discontent. 515 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:12,000 That's a passion it is. It gets into the veins, it fills 516 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,079 the brain, it occupies the heart. It's a sort of divine cancer that 517 00:36:15,119 --> 00:36:21,119 takes possession of the entire man and makes him dissatisfied with everything and hate everybody. 518 00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:23,679 But we must have our share of happiness at some time. We all 519 00:36:23,679 --> 00:36:28,280 crave for it in one way or other. Somethink is a future state of 520 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:30,480 blessedness, and so of hope, and look to attain it. For hope 521 00:36:30,559 --> 00:36:34,960 is a cable and anchor that attaches to what is real. But when you 522 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,079 have no hope of that sort, don't believe in any future state. You 523 00:36:37,159 --> 00:36:40,719 must look for happiness in life. Here we didn't get it when we were 524 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:45,280 alive, so we seek to procure it after we are dead. We can't 525 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:47,719 do it if we can get out of our cheap and nasty coffins, but 526 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:52,320 not till the greater part of us is molded away. If a finger or 527 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,639 two remains that can work its way up to the surface, those cheap deal 528 00:36:54,679 --> 00:36:59,599 coffins go to pieces quick enough, then the only solid part of us left 529 00:36:59,599 --> 00:37:01,000 can pull them. The rest of us that has gone to nothing after it. 530 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:05,960 Then we grow up about after the living, the well to do if 531 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:07,719 we can get at them, the honest, working poor. If we can't, 532 00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:12,679 we hate them too, because they are content and happy. If we 533 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:15,400 reach any of these and can touch them, then we can draw their vital 534 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:21,320 force out of them into ourselves and recuperate at their expense. That was about 535 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,719 what I was going to do with you, getting on famous, nearly solidified 536 00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:29,239 into a new man, and given another chance in life. But I've missed 537 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:32,880 it this time, just my luck. Miss everything always have, except misery 538 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:37,320 and disappointment. Get plenty of that. What are you all asked? Swear 539 00:37:38,159 --> 00:37:43,199 anarchists out of employee. Some of us go by that name, some by 540 00:37:43,199 --> 00:37:46,840 other designations, but we are all one and own allegiance to what one monarch 541 00:37:47,119 --> 00:37:52,519 sovereign discontent. We are bred to have a distaste for manual work, and 542 00:37:52,599 --> 00:37:55,639 we grow up loafers, grumbling at everything and quarreling with society that is around 543 00:37:55,719 --> 00:38:00,639 us and the providence that is above us. And what do you call yourselves? 544 00:38:00,679 --> 00:38:05,639 Now call ourselves nothing? We are the same in another condition. That 545 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:10,159 is all folk once called this anarchists, nihilists, socialists, levelers. Now 546 00:38:10,159 --> 00:38:15,079 they call us the influenza. The learned talk of microbes and baccali and bacteria, 547 00:38:15,639 --> 00:38:21,440 microbes backalie and bacteria be blowed. We are the influenza. We are 548 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,599 the social failures, the generally discontented, coming up out of our cheap and 549 00:38:24,679 --> 00:38:30,960 nasty graves in the form of physical disease. We are the influenza. There 550 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:35,039 you are, I guess, exclaimed Square triumphantly. Did I not say that 551 00:38:35,079 --> 00:38:39,519 all forces were correlated? If so, then all negations deficiencies of force are 552 00:38:39,559 --> 00:38:45,599 one in their several manifestations. Talk of divine discontent as a force impelling to 553 00:38:45,639 --> 00:38:51,000 progress rubbish. It is a paralysis of energy. It turns all it absorbs 554 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:55,000 into acid to envy, spite, gall It inspires nothing but rots the whole 555 00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:00,639 moral system. Here you have it moral, social, political desas content in 556 00:39:00,679 --> 00:39:05,440 another form, nay, aspect. That is all. What anarchism is the 557 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:08,599 body politic. The influenza is the body physical. Do you see that? 558 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:14,840 Yes, I believe, I answered, and dropped away into the land of 559 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:19,519 dreams. I recovered What Square did with the thing, I do not know, 560 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,199 but believe that he reduced it again to its former negative and self decomposing 561 00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:28,159 condition. End of a dead finger.