eased his already
great possessions; but I never heard a whisper to the effect of his
having been indisposed a second time, or made money by other than the
most strictly honourable means. I did hear afterwards in confidence that
there had been reason to believe that his health had been not a little
affected by the straightener's treatment, but his friends did not choose
to be over-curious upon the subject, and on his return to his affairs it
was by common consent passed over as hardly criminal in one who was
otherwise so much afflicted. For they regard bodily ailments as the more
venial in proportion as they have been produced by causes independent of
the constitution. Thus if a person ruin his health by excessive
indulgence at the table or by drinking, they count it to be almost a part
of the mental disease which brought it about, and so it goes for little,
but they have no mercy on such illnesses as fevers or catarrhs or lung
diseases, which to us appear to be beyond the control of the individual.
They are only more lenient towards the diseases of the young--such as
measles, which they think to be like sowing one's wild oats--and look
over them as pardonable indiscretions if they have not been too serious,
and if they are atoned for by complete subsequent recovery.

It is hardly necessary to say that the office of straightener is one
which requires long and special training. It stands to reason that he
who would cure a moral ailment must be practically acquainted with it in
all its bearings. The student for the profession of straightener is
required to set apart certain seasons for the practice of each vice in
turn, as a religious duty. These seasons are called "fasts," and are
continued by the student until he finds that he really can subdue all the
more usual vices in his own person, and hence can advise his patients
from the results of his own experience.

Those who intend to be specialists, rather than general practitioners,
devote themselves more particularly to the branch in which their practice
will mainly lie. Some students have been obliged to continue their
exercises during their whole lives, and some devoted men have actually
died as martyrs to the drink, or gluttony, or whatever branch of vice
they may have chosen for their especial study. The greater number,
however, take no harm by the excursions into the various departments of
vice which it is incumbent upon them to study.

For the Erewhonians