DOCTOR. Shouldn't we postpone this conference until I have had the
honor of being introduced to the Captain?
LAURA. No! You must hear me before seeing him.
DOCTOR. It relates to him then?
LAURA. Yes, to him, my poor, dear husband.
DOCTOR. You alarm me, indeed, and believe me, I sympathize with
your misfortune.
LAURA [Taking out handkerchief]. My husband's mind is affected. Now
you know all, and may judge for yourself when you see him.
DOCTOR. What do you say? I have read the Captain's excellent
treatises on mineralogy with admiration, and have found that they
display a clear and powerful intellect.
LAURA. Really? How happy I should be if we should all prove to be
mistaken.
DOCTOR. But of course it is possible that his mind might be
affected in other directions.
LAURA. That is just what we fear, too. You see he has sometimes the
most extraordinary ideas which, of course, one might expect in a
learned man, if they did not have a disastrous effect on the
welfare of his whole family. For instance, one of his whims is
buying all kinds of things.
DOCTOR. That is serious; but what does he buy?
LAURA. Whole boxes of books that he never reads.
DOCTOR. There is nothing strange about a scholar's buying books.
LAURA. You don't believe what I am saying?
DOCTOR. Well, Madam, I am convinced that you believe what you are
saying.
LAURA. Tell me, is it reasonable to think that one can see what is
happening on another planet by looking through a microscope?
DOCTOR.
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