Chapter 25 Diagnosis of Bookworm (2)

Twenty years later Mr. Rice, learning of the value of these rare booklets, sent them to London to have them rebound in Francis Bedford's best style—"crimson embossed Moroccan wrinkled leather, In perfect Glorieresque style".Bedford charged a total of seventy-five dollars, and Mr. Rice paid out seventy-five dollars and twenty-five cents, together with the original cost of the two booklets. When Mr. Rice's collection was auctioned off in 1870, these two eccentric, rare, and beautiful little volumes fetched an astonishingly high price: $7,050. Rice's collection totaled about 5,000 volumes, and auctioned off more than $72,000.Rice often told me that for a long time he could not make up his mind to part with his books.His health was so bad, however, that he eventually found himself compelled to retire from his career in order to concentrate on the long journeys.Considerations like these finally induced him to part with his precious books. "I have never regretted selling these books," he said, "two years after selling them, the Great Chicago Fire Returning, more than 17,000 houses were destroyed. In order to escape the fire, thousands of Chicagoans fled to the shore of Lake Michigan in panic. Some people jumped into the lake because they were worried that the fire would burn all the way here. Ended up being drowned.] Happened. Had I kept them there would undoubtedly be nothing left."

Mrs. Rice shares her husband's love of books.Whenever a new shipment arrived, the couple would lock themselves inside, get on their knees on the floor, unpack, take out their treasures, and stare greedily at them together.noble lady!She was the kind of wife any good man would be proud of.They were very happy in this earthly friendship with each other, and they were my closest old friends.Rice stepped forward and left.But their parting was short-lived.Once again they will come together forever and share in the vastness of eternal joy.There such joy awaits all lovers of good books.There they would meet when the comment of virtue was at last sadly signed on the last copyright page of their lives.

Although Rice lived on for twenty-six years after selling his remarkable collection, he did not amass such a collection (what he liked to call a library).His first collection was so extraordinary that he preferred to enjoy the fame it brought and stop there.Perhaps, he is wise.But why are few such collectors following his example? As for myself, I believe with absolute certainty that if my library were destroyed by fire or water tonight, I would start another collection tomorrow.Or (if I hadn't) just lay down and die.For how can I go on living without this friendship to which I have grown accustomed, which is as precious to me as life itself?

Whenever Judge Methuen was in the mood for a good laugh and was willing to tease me, he would ask me if I remember that time when I suddenly had a newfound energy and signed a solemn contract in the name of God. The oath: never buy a book again.Victor Hugo said that ridicule is the malice of the good.Judge Methuen didn't mean any harm when he remembered my weakness--a weakness I've had throughout my career. No, I haven't forgotten that one time.I recall it with a shudder of terror, when, at that distant period, if I had carried out the plan I devised, it would have been the most miserable event in my life.

Dr. Orel has an interesting theory, which you can find documented in the published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Volume 34, p. 216).Or (if you don't have access to a copy of this literature), you may be able to get to the conclusions of your doctor.The doctor's conclusion is: A bookworm is not worthy of being called a "bookworm" before showing the second stage of clinical symptoms.There is no known cure for the second phase of bookworms, and the few reported cases of cured cases are undoubtedly not bookworms at all, or at least, we can call them fake bookworms or weak bookworms.

"False pedophilia," said Dr. Aurel, "is the beginning of madness—no more than the front porch leading to the main building—and the usual symptoms are: flushing, bright eyes, rapid pulse, rapid breathing. Such It is not uncommon for a period of exaltation to be followed by a prostration, in which we find the patient pale, pulseless, and depressed. He is haunted and tormented by imaginary horrors, he reproaches himself for vain sins, he Wretchedly begging to relieve that imaginary danger. The patient is still in a precarious state, unless his case is managed wisely, and then he will pass from madly sweet to emotionally depressed healing, and , it is destined that this life will be completely useless."

"Nevertheless," went on Dr. Aurel, "with proper treatment and special care (if his psyche requires it), he can be safely brought out of this stage of exhaustion into a state of heightened excitement, which is A true (or second-order) nerd. For this kind of condition, there is no precedent for a cure in humans.” Even though I don't know from personal experience whether this is true, I should trust Dr. Aurel's judgment in this matter.Dr. Aurel is the most eminent authority on pedophilia and its ilk.It was he (whom the boy ventured to reveal at the risk of unprofessional ethics) who discovered the bookworm bacteria, and, more important and to his greater credit, the invention of an ingenious reagents.This reagent is now used by colleagues everywhere as a diagnostic method where the presence of bookworm bacteria (or bookworm bacteria, in other words) is suspected.

I have acted like a scientist and injected a milligram of this agent into the femoral artery of Miss Susan's cat.Within an hour, for the first time in his life, this precocious beast had slipped into my study and was nibbling on the cover of my beloved edition of Rabelais.This confirmed the validity of the diagnosis, and must have satisfied Dr. Orel, as well as Judge Methuen, who had always thought that Rabelais was an old rat.