Dracula

is complete, and
the theory proved. My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I
shall have to invent a new classification for him, and call him a
zoophagous (life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as
many lives as he can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a
cumulative way. He gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to
one bird, and then wanted a cat to eat the many birds. What would have
been his later steps? It would almost be worth while to complete the
experiment. It might be done if there were only a sufficient cause.
Men sneered at vivisection, and yet look at its results to-day! Why
not advance science in its most difficult and vital aspect- the
knowledge of the brain? Had I even the secret of one such mind- did
I hold the key to the fancy of even one lunatic- I might advance my
own branch of science to a pitch compared with which
Burdon-Sanderson's physiology or Ferrier's brain-knowledge would be as
nothing. If only there were a sufficient cause! I must not think too
much of this, or I may be tempted; a good cause might turn the scale
with me, for may not I too be of an exceptional brain, congenitally?
{CH06 ^paragraph 50}
How well the man reasoned; lunatics always do within their own
scope. I wonder at how many lives he values a man, or if at only
one. He has closed the account most accurately, and to-day begun a new
record. How many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives?
To me it seems only yesterday that my whole life ended with my new
hope, and that truly I began a new record. So it will be until the
Great Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a
balance to profit or loss. Oh, Lucy, Lucy, I cannot be angry with you'
nor can I be angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must
only wait on hopeless and work. Work! work!
If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend
there- a good, unselfish cause to make me work- that would be indeed
happiness.
-
-
Mina Murray's Journal
{CH06 ^paragraph 55}
-
26 July.- I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here; it
is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time. And
there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it
different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan.
I had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned;
but yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a
letter from him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said
the enclosed had just been received. It is only a line dated from
Castle Dracula, and says that he is