“Well, good-night!”
No, my curiosity was not satisfied, but I realized that that was so without being able to fix the points which my uncle had not made clear, for my awful experience overwhelmed me with anguish, and the Circeean operation left me impregnated with ether, whose penetrating vapors upset in me the man’s understanding and the bull’s stomach.
CHAPTER XI
IN THE PADDOCK
During the eight days of my convalescence in the laboratory, nursed and kept quiet, and treated with drugs, I underwent the alternation of great sorrows; fits of despair each followed by a collapse. Every time I slept I thought I had dreamt this calamity.
Now, it must be observed that the sensations at my awakening confirmed me in this error, which was, however, immediately dissipated.
It is well known that those who have had a limb amputated, suffer a great deal, and refer their suffering to the extreme periphery of the severed nerves, that is to say, to the limb which they have lost, and which they think they still possess.
The severed limb, or arm, hurts them. If one reflects that I had had my whole body cut off, one will understand that I suffered in all its parts—in my distant hands, in my human feet; and that this pain seemed proof positive of the possession of that of which I had been deprived.
This phenomenon grew gradually less distinct, and finally disappeared.