John St. John

9.20. 10.08. JOHN ST. JOHN digestion), drink, other physical impulses, weather, and so on, and comparing them with the curve of mystic enthusiasm and attainment. Though it is perhaps true that perfect health and (Bien- étre are the bases of any true trance or rapture, it seems unlikely that mere exuberance of the former can excite the latter. In other words there is probably some first matter of the work which is not anything we know of as bodily. On my return to London, I must certainly put the matter before more experienced mathematicians, and if possible, get a graphic analysis of the kind in- dicated.] How difficult and expensive it is to get drunk, when one is doing magic ! Nothing exhilarates or otherwise affects one. Oh, the pathos and tragedy of those lines : Come where the booze is cheaper ! Come where the pots hold more! How I wish I had written them! Having drunk a citron presse and watched the poker game at the Dome for a little, I now return home. I thought to myself, “Let me chuck the whole thing overboard and be sensible, and get a good night’s rest"—and perceived that it would be impossible. I am so far into this Operation that pausing to cast one last glance back O’er the safe road—’twas gone !