26 



originates in his country. So we come to this, that 

 the original disease is only to be found, like Mr. 

 Grimes in (t the Water Babies/' at the other end 

 of nowhere. Well, it is a very old story. Every 

 country wants to shift the balance on to its neigh- 

 bour's shoulders, like a set of school boys, " Please, 

 " sir, I didn't do it, sir ; he did it, sir, please, sir." 



Again, in Oliver Twist, " Yer did it, Charlotte," 

 said Noah Claypole, when they were detected after 

 robbing a till. " Yer did it, Charlotte 5 yer know 

 "yer did." 



But after all, the best explanation of this ten- 

 dency amongst half-cultivated people to deny spon- 

 taneous disease, is this. A. has the cholera. Doctor 

 B. comes and says, A. caught it from C. In this 

 way he escapes, having to tell the truth, which is, 

 that he does not understand why A. has got the 

 cholera; for to say, "I don't understand," is a 

 thing the human soul as a rule abhors. But even 

 supposing A. has caught the malady from C., the 

 mystery is only removed on to the next peg* j there 

 it is yet. Still it is taken away from Doctor B.'s 

 eyes, and he is satisfied. But sending a puzzle 

 into the next room does not solve it. It is the same 

 with some of the shallower men of science. They 

 remove the first cause a long way back, and then 

 think they understand everything, when in fact they 

 understand no more than they did before ; or not 

 so much, for probably before, they at any rate 

 understood that they understood nothing. So again 



