alls into ill
health, or catches any disorder, or fails bodily in any way before he is
seventy years old, he is tried before a jury of his countrymen, and if
convicted is held up to public scorn and sentenced more or less severely
as the case may be. There are subdivisions of illnesses into crimes and
misdemeanours as with offences amongst ourselves--a man being punished
very heavily for serious illness, while failure of eyes or hearing in one
over sixty-five who has had good health hitherto is dealt with by fine
only, or imprisonment in default of payment.

But if a man forges a cheque, sets his house on fire, robs with violence
from the person, or does any other such things as are criminal in our own
country, he is either taken to a hospital and most carefully tended at
the public expense, or if he is in good circumstances, he lets it be
known to all his friends that he is suffering from a severe fit of
immorality, just as we do when we are ill, and they come and visit him
with great solicitude, and inquire with interest how it all came about,
what symptoms first showed themselves, and so forth,--questions which he
will answer with perfect unreserve; for bad conduct, though considered no
less deplorable than illness with ourselves, and as unquestionably
indicating something wrong with the individual who misbehaves, is
nevertheless held to be the result of either pre-natal or post-natal
misfortune. I should add that under certain circumstances poverty and
ill luck are also considered criminal.

Accordingly, there exists a class of men trained in soul-craft, whom they
call straighteners, as nearly as I can translate a word which literally
means "one who bendeth back the crooked." These men practise much as
medical men in England, and receive a quasi-surreptitious fee on every
visit. They are treated with the same unreserve and obeyed just as
readily as our own doctors--that is to say, on the whole
sufficiently--because people know that it is their interest to get well
as soon as they can, and that they will not be scouted as they would be
if their bodies were out of order, even though they may have to undergo a
very painful course of treatment.

When I say that they will not be scouted, I do not mean that an
Erewhonian offender will suffer no social inconvenience. Friends will
fall away from him because of his being less pleasant company, just as we
ourselves are disclined to make companions of those who are eith