Page 187 - erewhon

desperate risk which they will run by indulging themselves
in that body with ‘sensible warm motion’ which they so
much desire; nevertheless, there are some to whom the en-
nui of a disembodied existence is so intolerable that they
will venture anything for a change; so they resolve to quit.
The conditions which they must accept are so uncertain,
that none but the most foolish of the unborn will consent
to them; and it is from these, and these only, that our own
ranks are recruited.
When they have finally made up their minds to leave,
they must go before the magistrate of the nearest town, and
sign an affidavit of their desire to quit their then existence.
On their having done this, the magistrate reads them the
conditions which they must accept, and which are so long
that I can only extract some of the principal points, which
are mainly the following:-
First, they must take a potion which will destroy their
memory and sense of identity; they must go into the world
helpless, and without a will of their own; they must draw lots
for their dispositions before they go, and take them, such as
they are, for better or worse—neither are they to be allowed
any choice in the matter of the body which they so much
desire; they are simply allotted by chance, and without ap-
peal, to two people whom it is their business to find and
pester until they adopt them. Who these are to be, whether
rich or poor, kind or unkind, healthy or diseased, there is
no knowing; they have, in fact, to entrust themselves for
many years to the care of those for whose good constitution
and good sense they have no sort of guarantee.

1 Erewhon