scarce. You
went so far as to imagine a great many products----"

"Yes!" said James, gazing afar off in the absorption of his imagination.
"Yes--there were eggs, and oysters, and poultry, and mushrooms, and----"

"Ah!--the very things I've been reflecting about. Well, I've been
dreaming that, at the period of which I speak, when all the commodities
were becoming scarce, your human beings would agree to make poisonous
artificial articles of consumption with which to poison themselves by
degrees, and thus reduce the population to convenient limits."

"No!" cried James, pondering deeply. "Their idea would be to poison not
_themselves_, but _each other_!"

[Illustration: "POISON."]

"Ah! I see. Then they would make some sort of effort to prevent
themselves being poisoned?"

"Oh, yes; they would pass Adulteration Acts for the purpose."

"I see; and any creature who did not wish to be poisoned could take
advantage of these Acts to protect himself?"

"Certainly. The Acts would be very stringent. Let us suppose, for
example, that a certain man suspected that the butter supplied to him
was not butter at all, but a deleterious compound--well, all he would
have to do would be to go to the shop, accompanied by a guardian of the
peace, and, standing on one leg, with both hands on the counter and one
eye shut, order a pound of the butter in certain words prescribed by the
Act. He would then say to the tradesman, 'I am about to divide this
pound of butter into three equal portions for the purposes of analysis';
and, taking the butter-man's knife in his left hand, and passing it to
his right, would cut the butter into three portions exactly equal.

"After this, hermetically sealing the three portions in three jars
provided for the purpose, he would hand one jar to the tradesman, the
second to the guardian of the peace, and retain the third. Then he would
bring an action; and (provided that all the conditions had been
accurately fulfilled, without the slightest flaw) the erring tradesman
would be told by the Court not to do it again; while the complainant
would have to pay all costs, and possibly a fine; and would be sneered
at by the magistrate as a fussy idiot and a common informer.

"If, on the other hand, the complainant should omit to secure the
company of a custodian of the peace, or fail to stand on one leg with
both hands on the counter, or take the knife in his right hand first, or
should leave out the prescribed wo