May not these substances be traces
left within him of the passage of the electric fluid which is the
principle of all fertilization? Would not electricity manifest itself
by a greater variety of compounds in him than in any other animal?
Should not he have faculties above those of all other created beings
for the purpose of absorbing fuller portions of the Absolute
principle? and may he not assimilate that principle so as to produce,
in some more perfect mechanism, his force and his ideas? I think so.
Man is a retort. In my judgment, the brain of an idiot contains too
little phosphorous or other product of electro-magnetism, that of a
madman too much; the brain of an ordinary man has but little, while
that of a man of genius is saturated to its due degree. The man
constantly in love, the street-porter, the dancer, the large eater,
are the ones who disperse the force resulting from their electrical
apparatus. Consequently, our feelings--"
"Enough, Balthazar! you terrify me; you commit sacrilege. What, is my
love--"
"An ethereal matter disengaged, an emanation, the key of the Absolute.
Conceive if I--I, the first, should find it, find it, find it!"
As he uttered the words in three rising tones, the expression of his
face rose by degrees to inspiration. "I shall make metals," he cried;
"I shall make diamonds, I shall be a co-worker with Nature!"
"Will you be the happier?" she asked in despair.
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