from the MS
"O, Science, what crimes are committed in thy name!" -- Gilbert Highet
That same evening the lone house held two living occupants. One the cold, calculating scientific enthusiast, the other, the innocent little babe that, in the name of Science, had been stolen. The man was in ecstacies, the child in terror and tears. The man rubbed his hands in glee and murmured to himself: 'So easily accomplished. Now I am in the way of serving scientific humanity.' The innocent held up its little hands and sobbed 'Where is mama? Take me to mama! mama! mama! The the man of science seized the babe as so often before he had grasped an inanimate human limb. The delicate garments, made by the loving mother's hands, were stripped from the tender child as though the monster were shucking an ear of Indian corn. If he heard its pleading cries, he gave no indication of the fact. He placed the struggling innocent on the table, and clamped each tiny limb into position. The head was held firmly, immovably, by a band over the forehead, a gag was in the mouth, the babe was motionless, it could only breathe and quiver. 'Now for its life, the spirit of the religionist, the vital force of the scientist. The spirit that man worships shall become the servant of science. I must begin at the extremities first and search carefully to the heart,' he cooly muttered. The wrapped man of science stood upright and stroked his beautiful, glossy beard in complacent satisfaction. He was happy. 'I will yet teach the world by my skill,' he murmured, 'it is for the good of humanity.' He grasped his instruments and began his feast of unpitying scientific provings. He carved the helpless living infant slice by slice, he gave no heed to the delicate, quivering fragments of flesh, 'Science, like nature has no charity for individuals. The warm blood trickled over his marble table. 'The child's flesh has the appearance of veal; it is so tender that it does not need to be cooked. Ha, Ha,' he laughed: 'The mother eats veal, Did man ever see a mother who was not fond of veal? She has no mercy on the offspring of others. She swallows the oyster alive, she eats the vitalized lucious bit while life exists therein, Ha-Ha: it is altogether a matter of education and my education is higher,' he sarcastically observed for my morsel is the most precious, it would prove the sweetest --"
* * * * * *
Critical edition of
The Excised Portion of Etidorhpa:
It seems obvious that the parchment version is copied from the typescript. I have printed that version above, but have preserved the changes JUL made before arriving at this version. It is obvious he wished to preserve this macabre paragraph, but deleted it from the book at the suggestion of Prof. Venable. By giving both versions with his changes it is possible to gain some idea of the way JUL worked, and the way he made changes -- something he constantly does in all his MSS.
All handwritten additions are in brackets. Words crossed out by JUL are struck through. Words which appear in the manuscript parchment version (labelled MS, but not in the typescript, are in italics. The underlined word is not cancelled in the typescript, but does not appear in the MS.
Some remarks of my own follow the critical version.
That same evening the lone house held two living occupants. One the cold, calculating scientific enthusiast, the other, the innocent little babe that, in the name of Science [
??] had [been] stolen. The man was in ecstacies, the child in [terror and added in MS] tears. The man rubbed his hands in glee and murmured to himself: 'So easily accomplished. Now I am in the way of serving [scientific] humanity.' The [other] innocent held up its little hands and sobbed 'Where is mama? Take me to mama! mama! mama! The the man of science seized the babe as so often before he had grasped an inanimate human limb. The delicate garments, made by the loving mother's hands, were stripped from the tender child as though [the /scientific - omitted in MS/monster] were shucking an ear of [indian] corn. If [he] heard its [pleading] cries, he gave no indication of the fact. He placed the struggling innocent on the table, and clamped each [tiney (sic)] limb into position. The head was held back firmly, [immovably] by a band over the forehead, a gag was in the mouth, the babe was motionless, it could only breathe and quiver. 'Now for its life, the spirit within [of the religionist,] the vital force [of the scientist]. [The God (spirit in the MS) that man worships shall become the servant of science.] I must begin at the extremities first and search carefully to the heart,' [he cooly muttered]. The (wrapped added in MS) man of science stood upright and stroked his (beautiful, glossy added in MS) beard in complacent satisfaction. [He was happy.] 'I will [yet] teach the world by my science [skill],' he murmured, 'it is for the good of humanity.' He grasped his instruments and began his feast of unpitying scientific provings. As (omitted in MS) he carved the helpless living infant slice by slice, from time to time he ate of [changed to: he gave no heed to in MS] the delicate, quivering fragments of flesh. [So science {[still] added even later} feeds on humanities most cherished](in the MS this is replaced with: 'Science, like nature has no charity for individuals.') "The warm blood is as gravy," he muttered. It trickled over his glossy beard; (in the MS he has: The warm blood trickled over his marble table.) "the child (in the MS: the child's flesh)has the flavor of veal; it looks like veal it is so tender that it does not need to be cooked. Ha, Ha,' he laughed: 'The mother eats veal, [Did man ever see a mother who was not fond of veal?] She has no mercy on the offspring of others. She swallows the oyster alive, she eats the vitalized [lucious] bit while life exists [therein], Ha-Ha: it is altogether a matter of education and my education is higher," he sarcastically observed "for my morsel is [the most precious,] the sweetest --"
The excised portion of Etidorhpa was omitted from chapter 29: "Beware of Biology, the Science of the Life of Man." Following in parentheses: "The old man related a story as an object lesson.)" Lloyd has prefixed an asterisk to the title with the note: "The reader is invited to skip this chapter of horrors.--J.U.L." (EA, edition 7, 1897, page 186, in edition 11 this is chapter 51, and the excised portion is omitted from page 309 with an elipsis and with out the explanation which follows.) The omitted portion is replaced with a bracketed insertion which reads: It will be seen, by referring to the epilogue, that Mr. Drury agreed to mutilate part of the book. This I have gladly done, excising the heart-rending passages that follow. To use the words of Prof. Venable, they do not "comport with the general delicacy of the book."--J.U.L. (ed. 7, page 190.)
At least one writer on Etidorhpa has offered the opinion that this portion was never actually written. As you can see it was written, not just omitted, but its omission made a condition for the publishing of the book. Further, Lloyd took the trouble of writing the whole thing from the typescript onto crumpled parchment in the terrible handwriting of I-AM-THE-MAN (which only I can read, having once been a teacher!) He must have considered it important enough to preserve and draw attention to, even if one had to seek the MS which he carefully preserved among the papers of the Lloyd Library.
I think the time in which he was writing was too early to publish the fragment, but that time has now come. The dire warning has come to pass. We live in the days when abortion on demand and fetal research have become a reality. And though more than half the population of the country disagree with both things "science" has been allowed to convince judges, law-makers, and the makers of opinion that conception is not sacred, that life begins when "we" say it does, and that infant life is not something to be protected by society. At this time Lloyd would approve of publishing this warning. It would have been more effective in 1895 when such things were very uncommon; now everyone has heard so many horror stories they are bored with them. It is significant that, though Lloyd did not write the portion effectively -- the whole thing seems contrived and unreal -- he did see even then the path down which "science" under the name of biology was tending to. I think we should realize we have already gone down that path as far as we can, and the next step is infanticide and (so-called) mercy-killing. At that point whose life can be safe?
In one of his many books Professor Gilbert Highet, of Columbia University tells the story of a scientist who destroyed the nest of a bowerbird to see what would happen. The bird rebuilt; the man -- in the name of science -- destroyed it. This happened many times. At last the bird began to mourn. The Professor's comment was: "O, Science, what crimes are committed in thy name!" Many people who would be horrified at the treatment of the animal would yawn at the fate of the child. I predict the time when "scientists" who have committed such crimes and advocated them will stand in the dock as surely as any war criminal. If Eichman was culpable for directing others to kill, a biology professor who assures others that life begins at birth is as guilty as the actual killer of the child. This is the meaning of the excised portion of Lloyd's book. I think it shows the wisdom of the man to see where the "science of life" was headed a hundred years before it got there.