{"id":"01KG8AM80DWFCF5R8SZPFVJN35","cid":"bafkreia5zx5h76kcvn2fyoewyi3uic2pbjp4p4dvds5erdsnfspkcrnlzm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3217,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":3142,"text":"just regaining an even keel, when the last signal, the preconcerted dumb\r\none, was given. At the same moment it chanced that the vapoury fleece\r\nhanging low in the east, was shot through with a soft glory as of the\r\nfleece of the Lamb of God seen in mystical vision, and simultaneously\r\ntherewith, watched by the wedged mass of upturned faces, Billy ascended;\r\nand ascending, took the full rose of the dawn.\r\n\r\nIn the pinioned figure, arrived at the yard-end, to the wonder of all,\r\nno motion was apparent save that created by the slow roll of the hull,\r\nin moderate weather so majestic in a great ship heavy-cannoned.\r\n\r\n\r\n                              A DIGRESSION\r\n\r\nWhen some days afterwards in reference to the singularity just\r\nmentioned, the purser, a rather ruddy, rotund person, more accurate as\r\nan accountant than profound as a philosopher, said at mess to the\r\nsurgeon, ‘What testimony to the force lodged in will-power,’ the latter,\r\nspare and tall, one in whom a discreet causticity went along with a\r\nmanner less genial than polite, replied, ‘Your pardon, Mr. Purser. In a\r\nhanging scientifically conducted--and under special orders I myself\r\ndirected how Budd’s was to be effected--any movement following the\r\ncompleted suspension and originating in the body suspended, such\r\nmovement indicates mechanical spasm in the muscular system. Hence the\r\nabsence of that is no more attributable to will-power, as you call it,\r\nthan to horse-power--begging your pardon.’\r\n\r\n‘But this muscular spasm you speak of, is not that in a degree more or\r\nless invariable in these cases?’\r\n\r\n‘Assuredly so, Mr. Purser.’\r\n\r\n‘How then, my good sir, do you account for its absence in this\r\ninstance?’\r\n\r\n‘Mr. Purser, it is clear that your sense of the singularity in this\r\nmatter equals not mine. You account for it by what you call will-power,\r\na term not yet included in the lexicon of science. For me I do not with\r\nmy present knowledge pretend to account for it at all. Even should one\r\nassume the hypothesis that at the first touch of the halyards the action\r\nof Budd’s heart, intensified by extraordinary emotion at its climax,\r\nabruptly stopped--much like a watch when in carelessly winding it up you\r\nstrain at the finish, thus snapping the chain--even under that\r\nhypothesis how account for the phenomenon that followed?’\r\n\r\n‘You admit, then, that the absence of spasmodic movement was\r\nphenomenal?’\r\n\r\n‘It was phenomenal, Mr. Purser, in the sense that it was an appearance,\r\nthe cause of which is not immediately to be assigned.’\r\n\r\n‘But tell me, my dear sir,’ pertinaciously continued the other, ‘was the\r\nman’s death effected by the halter, or was it a species of euthanasia?’\r\n\r\n‘_Euthanasia_, Mr. Purser, is something like your will-power; I doubt\r\nits authenticity as a scientific term--begging your pardon again. It is\r\nat once imaginative and metaphysical--in short, Greek. But,’ abruptly\r\nchanging his tone, ‘there is a case in the sick-bay that I do not care\r\nto leave to my assistants. Beg your pardon, but excuse me.’ And rising\r\nfrom the mess he formally withdrew.\r\n\r\n-----\r\n\r\nFootnote 8:\r\n\r\n  Written in pencil above this ‘one,’ an ‘eight,’ allowing a choice of\r\n  readings.\r\n\r\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n                                 XXIII\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVQ8CPX6QJ952XD3PA4T","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM80C8HHSNCSB2HW3T3PE","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM80H1YCGMRKHV0TYTGSJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.733Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.450Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}