after having walked some time by the side of a rivulet, we came into a beautiful and spacious meadow. it was enamelled with a thousand sorts of flowers, whose various colours were, at a distance, blended together and formed shining carpets, such as art has never woven. the meadow was bounded by a piece of rock, like a wall; against which grew a tree, like an espalier. it did not rise above a man’s height, but spread itself to the right and left, the length of the rock, above three hundred paces. its leaves were very thin and very narrow, but in such abundance, that it was not possible to see the least 260part, either of the trunk or of the branches, or of the surface of the rock.

thou seest, said the prefect, the product of the third and last kernel; we give it the name of the fantastical tree.

from this precious tree it is, that inventions, discoveries, arts and sciences take their original; and that by a mechanism, which will surprise thee.

thou knowest that the fibres of the leaves of a tree, are ranged uniformly on each of them; to see one, is to see all the rest. here, this uniformity has no place; each leaf has its fibres ranged in a particular manner; there are not two alike in the fantastical tree. but, 261what is most wonderful, the fibres, on each leaf, are ranged with symmetry, and represent distinctly a thousand sorts of objects; one while a colonnade, an obelisk, a decoration; another while mechanical instruments; here, geometrical diagrams, algebraical problems, astronomical systems; there, physical machines, chymical instruments, plans of all kinds of works, verse, prose, conversation, history, romances, songs, and the like.

these leaves do not fade. when come to perfection they grow by degrees prodigiously small, and roll themselves up in a thousand folds. in this state, they are so light, that the wind blows them away; and so small, that they enter through the pores of the skin. 262once admitted into the blood, they circulate with the humours, and generally stop at the brain, where they cause a singular malady, the progress of which is thus:

when one of the leaves is settled in the brain, it is imbibed, dilated, opened, becomes such as it was on the fantastical tree, and presents to the mind the images wherewith it is covered. during the operation, the patient appears with his eyes fixed, and a pensive air. he seems to hear and see what passes about him, but his thoughts are otherways employed. he walks sometimes at a great rate, and sometimes stands stock-still. he rubs his forehead, stamps with his foot, and bites his nails. they who have seen a geometrician 263upon the solution of a problem, or a naturalist on the first glimpse of a physical explication, must have observed these symptoms.

this violent state proceeds from the efforts of the soul, to discern what is traced on the leaf; it holds longer or shorter, according as the leaf takes up more or less time in displaying, and aptly presenting itself.

the abatement of the malady appears by light emanations from the brain, such as some ideas suddenly conceived, some designs hastily thrown upon paper, some scheme sketched in a hurry. the soul begins to discern the objects, and contemplate at leisure the fantastical leaf.

264these last symptoms declare an approaching crisis, which quickly shows itself in a general evacuation of all that has been transmitted to the brain. then verses flow, difficulties are cleared, problems are resolved, phenomena are explained, dissertations are multiplied, chapters are heaped upon chapters; and the whole takes the form of a book, and the patient is cured. of all the accidents which afflicted him, there only remains an immoderate affection for the offspring of his brain, of which he was delivered with so much pain.