They were proceeding through the narrow streets of Canton, bounded by the gloomy walls that shut out the houses from public view, experiencing some very disagreeable sensations, when they heard a violent altercation, and thought they distinguished voices familiar to them. They listened.
“Oh! oh! oh! This is not arguing logically. Oh! oh! This is demonstration without reason. Oh! oh! oh!” was heard amid a shower of blows.
“Oh! oh! you’re breaking my back—don’t you see! Ah! murder! help!” was shouted with similar accompaniments; and a door in the wall opening, out ran Fortyfolios and Tourniquet, making a desperate outcry, and vainly striving to save themselves from the thick sticks of half a dozen infuriated Chinese, who were belabouring them without mercy. Oriel, as soon as he saw the state of the case, rushed in amongst the attacking party; quickly deprived one of his weapon, and laid about him with such dexterity and vigour, that three out of the six were left senseless on the ground, and the rest had vanished before the philosophers discovered to whom they were indebted for their rescue.
“I am astonished that I should have found you in such a situation,” remarked the young merchant to the professor and his companion, who, with most rueful visages, were busily engaged in rubbing their legs, shoulders, arms, and backs.
“Why, I will explain it to you as logically as I can,” said Fortyfolios, moving his features and body into an abundance of contortions. “Oh, this pain! it certainly is a physical evil.”
“That I deny!” eagerly exclaimed the other, writhing from the effects of his beating. “Pain is a perception of the mind, and cannot exist independently of mental perceptions—don’t you see?”
“Impossible!” replied the professor, limping along as if every bone in his body was broken. “I maintain that it is a sensation purely corporeal, as there never yet was any pain where there was no body.”
“You know nothing about it,” sharply rejoined the doctor, cautiously feeling with his hands to discover his fractures. “There is mental anguish, in which the physical has no connection—don’t you see?”
“But, gentlemen, what has this argument to do with the information I required?” asked the young merchant.
“I was about to enter into the subject in a proper manner, when Doctor Tourniquet interrupted me,” observed Fortyfolios.