is destroyed, the participation of the mind with the outward
world must cease. Although a man may be an expert on the violin, he
cannot play if the strings are broken or out of tune. But the player,
his ideas, the art, still remain. In like manner the spirit remains,
although it can no longer play on the injured or discordant fibres of
the brain."

"You must read the whole book, father, and then those others there."

"But, Richard, you must not read books that rob man of all dignity."

"Of course not. I should do as the ostrich. When he is in danger, he
sticks his head into the bushes not to see the danger. A prudent plan.
But I cannot close my eyes to the light, even if that light should
destroy my human respect."

Greatly afflicted, Herr Frank returned to the doctor.

"Great God! in what a condition is my poor Richard!" said the oppressed
father.

"He will, I hope, be rescued. My stay at Frankenhoehe was to end with
the month of May; but I cannot forsake a young man whom I love, in this
helpless state of mental delirium."

"I do not understand the condition of my son; and your words give me
great anxiety. Have the goodness to tell me what is the matter with
Richard, and how it came about."

"It would be very difficult to make your son's condition clear to you.
In you there is only business, lucrative undertakings, speculative
combinations. The bustle of the money market is your world. You have no
idea of the power of an intellectual struggle. You know the thoughtful,
intellectual nature of your son; and here I begin. In the first place,
I will remind you that Richard wishes to be governed by the power of
deduction. With him fantasies and passions retreat before this force,
although usually in men of his years, and even in men with gray hair,
clearness of mind and keen penetration are often swept away by the
current of stormy passions. Richard's aversion to women is the result
of cool reflection and inevitable inference, and therefore on this
question I do not dispute his views. I know it would be useless, and I
know that the study of a pure feminine nature would overcome this
prejudice. The same force of logical inferences places Richard in this
unhappy condition. He read the writings of the materialist. There he
found the physiological proofs that man is a beast. From these proofs
Richard drew all the terrible consequences contained in those
destructive doctrines. As the intellectual life predominates in hi