ption, for the so-called sanitary laws of
Erewhon are very rigorous, and unless the straightener was satisfied that
his orders had been obeyed, the patient would have been taken to a
hospital (as the poor are), and would have been much worse off. Such at
least is the law, but it is never necessary to enforce it.

On a subsequent occasion I was present at an interview between Mr.
Nosnibor and the family straightener, who was considered competent to
watch the completion of the cure. I was struck with the delicacy with
which he avoided even the remotest semblance of inquiry after the
physical well-being of his patient, though there was a certain yellowness
about my host's eyes which argued a bilious habit of body. To have taken
notice of this would have been a gross breach of professional etiquette.
I am told that a straightener sometimes thinks it right to glance at the
possibility of some slight physical disorder if he finds it important in
order to assist him in his diagnosis; but the answers which he gets are
generally untrue or evasive, and he forms his own conclusions upon the
matter as well as he can.

Sensible men have been known to say that the straightener should in
strict confidence be told of every physical ailment that is likely to
bear upon the case; but people are naturally shy of doing this, for they
do not like lowering themselves in the opinion of the straightener, and
his ignorance of medical science is supreme. I heard of one lady however
who had the hardihood to confess that a furious outbreak of ill-humour
and extravagant fancies for which she was seeking advice was possibly the
result of indisposition. "You should resist that," said the
straightener, in a kind, but grave voice; "we can do nothing for the
bodies of our patients; such matters are beyond our province, and I
desire that I may hear no further particulars." The lady burst into
tears, promised faithfully that she would never be unwell again, and kept
her word.

To return however to Mr. Nosnibor. As the afternoon wore on many
carriages drove up with callers to inquire how he had stood his flogging.
It had been very severe, but the kind inquiries upon every side gave him
great pleasure, and he assured me that he felt almost tempted to do wrong
again by the solicitude with which his friends had treated him during his
recovery: in this I need hardly say that he was not serious.

During the remainder of my stay in the country Mr. Nosni