Any child born in the valley which had any incurable disease, or any gross deformity, or which by its delicacy seemed likely to cause more pain than pleasure in the valley, was at once put out of existence. The gain to the inhabitants of the valley of this was in their eyes immense; for their sight was offended by no deformities, and the painful offices of attending to the sick had undergone a considerable diminution since this edict had been passed into law.
The important duty of deciding on the claims of every infant that was born to a painless extinction was confined to a band of inspectors, who stayed for a short time only in any one part of the valley, lest they should become biassed by personal acquaintance with the individuals for whose children their offices were called into requisition.
Passing on to the other great building, where the other wise men meet, it is right to describe what may be called the intellectual development—as the foregoing was the moral development of the valley. The course which the opinions of the thinkers in the valley had gone through was the following.
At first they had no clear ideas, but all manner of mere opinions and fancies. At last they apprehended certain general tendencies—such as that towards the centre of the valley, and they explained many inclinations which had before been puzzling to them by this. And stimulated by this great discovery they examined more and more closely. And they found many special tendencies like that towards the centre of the valley, which the king had called into existence, and which he let go on as a general rule, unless he wished the contrary. And they also succeeded in nearly isolating the simplest routines, and so practically could observe the type of the king’s plan.
They saw that one act A was succeeded by another act B. And not taking into account that one was pleasant the other painful, they measured the amount of sensation present in the two acts. And then they took the next pair of acts, namely, A and B over again, and measured the amount of sensation present in them; and they found that the amount of sensation gradually diminished. And at first they thought that sensation gradually came to a stop; but afterwards they noticed that other actions were started in the neighbourhood of the routine A B as that diminished in point of feeling.