4 A7i Appeal to the Yojing. 



sigh and a glass of sherry, then you will gradually 

 become used to these contrasts, and, the nature of 

 the beast favoring your endeavors, your sole idea 

 will be to lift yourself into the ranks of the pleasure- 

 seekers, so that you may never again find yourself 

 among the wretched. But if you are a man, if every 

 sentiment is translated in your case into an action of 

 the will ; if, in you, the beast has not crushed the in- 

 telligent being, then you will return home one day 

 saying to yourself, "No, it is unjust; this must not 

 go on so any longer. It is not enough to cure dis- 

 eases: we must prevent them. A little good living 

 and intellectual development would score off our lists 

 half the patients and half the diseases. Throw physic 

 to the dogs ? Air, good diet, less crushing toil — that 

 is how we must begin. Without this, the whole 

 profession of a doctor is nothing but trickery and 

 humbug." 



That very day you will understand socialism. You 

 will wish to know it thoroughly, and if altruism is 

 not a word devoid of significance for you, if you apply 

 to the study of the social question the rigid induction 

 of the natural philosopher, you will end by finding 

 yourself in our ranks, and you will work, as we work, 

 to bring about the social revolution. 



But perhaps you will say, " Mere practical business 

 may go to the devil ! I will devote myself to pure 

 science; I will be an astronomer, a physiologist, a 

 chemist. Such work as that always bears fruit, if 

 only for future generations." 



Let us first try to understand what you seek in de- 

 voting yourself to science. Is it only the pleasure — 

 doubtless immense — which we derive from the study 

 of nature and the exercise of our intellectual facul- 

 ties? In that case I ask you in what respect does 

 the philosopher, who pursues science in order that 

 he may pass life pleasantly to himself, difTer from 

 the drunkard, who only seeks the immediate gratifi- 

 cation that gin affords him ? The philosopher has, 



