Oh no, not at all peculiar," replied the doctor. "There are
abundant analogies for it in our daily experience. From the accounts of
patients I infer that it is not different from one's sensations in
falling asleep while thinking of something. You know that we find
ourselves forgetting preceding links in the train of thought, and in
turning back to recall what went before, what came after is meanwhile
forgotten, the clue is lost, and we yield to a pleasing bewilderment
which is presently itself forgotten in sleep. The next morning we may or
may not recall the matter. The only difference is that after the deep
sleep which always follows the application of my process we never recall
it, that is, if the operation has been successful. It seems to involve no
more interference with the continuity of the normal physical and mental
functions than does an afternoon's nap."

"But the after-effects!" persisted Henry. "Patients must surely feel that
they have forgotten something, even if they do not know what it is. They
must feel that there is something gone out of their minds. I should think
this sensation would leave them in a painfully bewildered state."

"There seems to be a feeling of slight confusion," said the doctor; "but
it is not painful, not more pronounced, indeed, than that of persons who
are trying to bring back a dream which they remember having had without
being able to recall the first thing about what it was. Of course, the
patient subsequently finds shreds and fragments of ideas, as well as
facts in his external relations, which, having been connected with the
extirpated subject, are now unaccountable. About these the feeling is, I
suppose, like that of a man who, when he gets over a fit of drunkenness
or somnambulism, finds himself unable to account for things which he has
unconsciously said or done. The immediate effect of the operation, as I
intimated before, is to leave the patient very drowsy, and the first
desire is to sleep."

"Doctor," said Henry, "when you talk it all seems for the moment quite
reasonable, but you will pardon me for saying that, as soon as you stop,
the whole thing appears to be such an incredible piece of nonsense that I
have to pinch myself to be sure I am not dreaming."

The doctor smiled.

"Well," said he, "I have been so long engaged in the practical
application of the process that I confess I can't realize any element of
the strange or mysterious about it. To the eye of the ph