Zadig, Mentor and William F. Hoyt, MD

Abstract

Inspired by the French translation of “One thousand and one nights”, Voltaire (François Marie Arouet, 1694–1778), wrote a series of “philosophical tales,” sometimes just apologies, with a concluding morale. One of his characters, Zadig, despite being young andwealthy, knew how to control his passions. He never bragged and did not always want to be right. He understood the weaknesses of his fellow men and was generous, even to the ungrateful. Aggravated by the injustice of men and disenchanted with life by sundry domestic misadventures, Zadig withdrew from the turmoil of Babylon to a secluded retreat on the banks of the Euphrates, where he beguiled his solitude by the study of nature. The manifold wonders of the world of life had a particular attraction for the lonely student; incessant and patient observation of the plants and animals about him sharpened his naturally good powers of observation and of reasoning; until, at length, he acquired a sagacity which enabled him to perceive endless minute differences among objects which, to the untutored eye, appeared absolutely alike. In chapter III “The dog and the horse”, Zadig’s powers of observation were highlighted. ... by observing subtle clues unnoticed to others, left on the soil by the passage of the King’s horse and the Queen’s bitch, he was able to describe both animals in full detail although he never actually saw them. «One day, walking near a little wood, he saw, hastening that way, one of the Queen’s chief eunuchs, followed by a troop of officials, who appeared to be in the greatest anxiety, running hither and thither like men distraught, in search of some lost treasure. “Young man,” cried the eunuch, “have you seen the Queen’s dog?” Zadig answered modestly, “A bitch, I think, not a dog.” “Quite right,” replied the eunuch; and Zadig continued, “A very small spaniel who has lately had puppies; she limps with the left foreleg, and has very long ears.” “Ah! you have seen her then,” said the breathless eunuch. “No,” answered Zadig, “I have not seen her; and I really was not aware that theQueen possessed a spaniel.” By an odd coincidence, at the very same time, the handsomest horse in the King’s stables broke away from his groom in the Babylonian plain. The grand huntsman and all his staff were seeking the horse with as much anxiety as the eunuch and his people the spaniel; and the grand huntsman asked Zadig if he had not seen the King’s horse go that way. “A first-rate galloper, small-hoofed, five feet high; tail three feet and a half long; cheek pieces of the bit of twenty-three carat gold; shoes silver?” said Zadig. “Which way did he go? Where is he?” cried the grand huntsman. “I have not seen anything of the horse, and I never heard of him before,” replied Zadig. The grand huntsman and the chief eunuch were sure that Zadig had stolen both the King’s horse and the Queen’s spaniel, so they hauled him before the High Court of Desterham, which at once condemned him to the knout, and transportation for life to Siberia. But the sentence was hardly pronounced when the lost horse and spaniel were found. So the judges were under the painful necessity of reconsidering their decision: but they fined Zadig four hundred ounces of gold for saying he had seen that which he had not seen. The first thing was to pay the fine; afterwards Zadig was permitted to open his defence to the court, which he did in the following terms: “Stars of justice, abysses of knowledge, mirrors of truth, whose gravity is as that of lead, whose inflexibility is as that of iron, who rival the diamond in clearness, and possess no little affinity with gold; since I am permitted to address your august assembly, I swear by Ormuzd that I have never seen the respectable lady dog of the Queen, nor beheld the sacrosanct horse of the King of Kings. “This is what happened. I was taking a walk towards the little wood near which I subsequently had the honour to meet the venerable chief eunuch and the most illustrious grand huntsman. I noticed the track of an animal in the sand, and it was easy NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGY 2019, VOL. 43, NO. 3, 136–138 https://doi.org/10.1080/01658107.2019.1610294