Brave New World By Aldous Leonard Huxley http://www.idph.net 18demaiode2002 2 IDPH Sumário One 5 Two 15 Three 23 Four 39 Five 49 Six 59 Seven 73 Eight 83 Nine 95 Ten 99 Eleven 103 Twelve 115 Thirteen 125 3 4 IDPH Fourteen 135 Fifteen 143 Sixteen 149 Seventeen 157 Eighteen 165 http://www.idph.net One ASQUATgreybuildingofonlythirty-fourstories. Overthemainentrancethe words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State’s motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABI- LITY. The enormous room on the ground floor faced towards the north. Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, aharshthinlightglaredthroughthewindows,hungrilyseekingsomedraped layfigure,somepallidshapeofacademicgoose-flesh,butfindingonlytheglass andnickelandbleaklyshiningporcelainofalaboratory. Wintrinessresponded towintriness. Theoverallsoftheworkerswerewhite,theirhandsglovedwith apalecorpse-colouredrubber. Thelightwasfrozen,dead,aghost. Onlyfrom the yellow barrels of the microscopes did it borrow a certain rich and living substance,lyingalongthepolishedtubeslikebutter,streakafterlusciousstreak inlongrecessiondowntheworktables. “Andthis,”saidtheDirectoropeningthedoor,“istheFertilizingRoom.” Bentovertheirinstruments,threehundredFertilizerswereplunged,astheDi- rector of Hatcheries and Conditioning entered the room, in the scarcely bre- athing silence, the absent-minded, soliloquizing hum or whistle, of absorbed concentration. Atroopofnewlyarrivedstudents,veryyoung,pinkandcallow, followednervously,ratherabjectly,attheDirector’sheels. Eachofthemcarried anotebook,inwhich,wheneverthegreatmanspoke,hedesperatelyscribbled. Straightfromthehorse’smouth.Itwasarareprivilege.TheD.H.C.forCentral Londonalwaysmadeapointofpersonallyconductinghisnewstudentsround thevariousdepartments. “Justtogiveyouageneralidea,”hewouldexplaintothem. Forofcoursesome sortofgeneralideatheymusthave,iftheyweretodotheirworkintelligently- thoughaslittleofone,iftheyweretobegoodandhappymembersofsociety,as possible. Forparticulars,aseveryoneknows,makeforvirtureandhappiness; generalitiesareintellectuallynecessaryevils. Notphilosophersbutfretsawyers 5 6 IDPH andstampcollectorscomposethebackboneofsociety. “To-morrow,”hewouldadd,smilingatthemwithaslightlymenacinggeniality, “you’llbesettlingdowntoseriouswork. Youwon’thavetimeforgeneralities. Meanwhile.” Meanwhile,itwasaprivilege. Straightfromthehorse’smouthintothenotebo- ok. Theboysscribbledlikemad. Tallandratherthinbutupright,theDirectoradvancedintotheroom. Hehada longchinandbigratherprominentteeth,justcovered,whenhewasnottalking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five? It was hardtosay. Andanyhowthequestiondidn’tarise;inthisyearofstability,A.F. 632,itdidn’toccurtoyoutoaskit. “Ishallbeginatthebeginning,”saidtheD.H.C.andthemorezealousstudents recorded his intention in their notebooks: Begin at the beginning. “These,” he waved his hand, “are the incubators.” And opening an insulated door he showed them racks upon racks of numbered test-tubes. “The week’s supply of ova. Kept,” he explained, “at blood heat; whereas the male gametes,” and here he opened another door, “they have to be kept at thirty- five instead of thirty-seven. Fullbloodheatsterilizes.” Ramswrappedintheremogenebeget nolambs. Stillleaningagainsttheincubatorshegavethem,whilethepencilsscurriedil- legibly across the pages, a brief description of the modern fertilizing process; spokefirst,ofcourse,ofitssurgicalintroduction-“theoperationundergonevo- luntarilyforthegoodofSociety,nottomentionthefactthatitcarriesabonus amounting to six months’ salary”; continued with some account of the tech- nique for preserving the excised ovary alive and actively developing; passed on to a consideration of optimum temperature, salinity, viscosity; referred to theliquorinwhichthedetachedandripenedeggswerekept;and,leadinghis charges to the work tables, actually showed them how this liquor was drawn offfromthetest-tubes;howitwasletoutdropbydropontothespeciallywar- medslidesofthemicroscopes;howtheeggswhichitcontainedwereinspected forabnormalities,countedandtransferredtoaporousreceptacle;how(andhe nowtookthemtowatchtheoperation)thisreceptaclewasimmersedinawarm bouillon containing free-swimming spermatozoa-at a minimum concentration ofonehundredthousandpercubiccentimetre, heinsisted; andhow, afterten minutes,thecontainerwasliftedoutoftheliquoranditscontentsre-examined; how, if any of the eggs remained unfertilized, it was again immersed, and, if necessary,yetagain;howthefertilizedovawentbacktotheincubators;where theAlphasandBetasremaineduntildefinitelybottled;whiletheGammas,Del- tasandEpsilonswerebroughtoutagain,afteronlythirty-sixhours,toundergo Bokanovsky’sProcess. http://www.idph.net IDPH 7 “Bokanovsky’sProcess,”repeatedtheDirector,andthestudentsunderlinedthe wordsintheirlittlenotebooks. Oneegg,oneembryo,oneadult-normality. Butabokanovskifiedeggwillbud, willproliferate,willdivide. Fromeighttoninety-sixbuds,andeverybudwill growintoaperfectlyformedembryo,andeveryembryointoafull-sizedadult. Makingninety-sixhumanbeingsgrowwhereonlyonegrewbefore. Progress. “Essentially,” the D.H.C. concluded, “bokanovskification consists of a series of arrests of development. We check the normal growth and, paradoxically enough,theeggrespondsbybudding.” Respondsbybudding. Thepencilswerebusy. He pointed. On a very slowly moving band a rack-full of test-tubes was en- tering a large metal box, another, rack-full was emerging. Machinery faintly purred. Ittookeightminutesforthetubestogothrough, hetoldthem. Eight minutesofhardX-raysbeingaboutasmuchasaneggcanstand. Afewdied; oftherest,theleastsusceptibledividedintotwo;mostputoutfourbuds;some eight; all were returned to the incubators, where the buds began to develop; then, after two days, were suddenly chilled, chilled and checked. Two, four, eight, the buds in their turn budded; and having budded were dosed almost todeathwithalcohol;consequentlyburgeonedagainandhavingbudded-bud outofbudoutofbud-werethereafter-furtherarrestbeinggenerallyfatal-leftto developinpeace. Bywhichtimetheoriginaleggwasinafairwaytobecoming anything from eight to ninety- six embryos- a prodigious improvement, you will agree, on nature. Identical twins-but not in piddling twos and threes as intheoldviviparousdays,whenaneggwouldsometimesaccidentallydivide; actuallybydozens,byscoresatatime. “Scores,”theDirectorrepeatedandflungouthisarms,asthoughheweredis- tributinglargesse. “Scores.” Butoneofthestudentswasfoolenoughtoaskwheretheadvantagelay. “Mygoodboy!” TheDirectorwheeledsharplyroundonhim. “Can’tyousee? Can’tyousee?” Heraisedahand; hisexpressionwassolemn. “Bokanovsky’s Processisoneofthemajorinstrumentsofsocialstability!” Majorinstrumentsofsocialstability. Standard men and women; in uniform batches. The whole of a small factory staffedwiththeproductsofasinglebokanovskifiedegg. “Ninety-sixidenticaltwinsworkingninety-sixidenticalmachines!” Thevoice wasalmosttremulouswithenthusiasm. “Youreallyknowwhereyouare. For the first time in history.” He quoted the planetary motto. “Community, Iden- tity,Stability.” Grandwords. “Ifwecouldbokanovskifyindefinitelythewhole http://www.idph.net 8 IDPH problemwouldbesolved.” SolvedbystandardGammas,unvaryingDeltas,uniformEpsilons. Millionsof identicaltwins. Theprincipleofmassproductionatlastappliedtobiology. “But,alas,”theDirectorshookhishead,“wecan’tbokanovskifyindefinitely.” Ninety-six seemed to be the limit; seventy-two a good average. From the sa- meovaryandwithgametesofthesamemaletomanufactureasmanybatches of identical twins as possible-that was the best (sadly a second best) that they coulddo. Andeventhatwasdifficult. “Forinnatureittakesthirtyyearsfortwohundredeggstoreachmaturity. But ourbusinessistostabilizethepopulationatthismoment,hereandnow. Drib- blingouttwinsoveraquarterofacentury-whatwouldbetheuseofthat?” Obviously, nouseatall. ButPodsnap’sTechniquehadimmenselyaccelerated the process of ripening. They could make sure of at least a hundred and fifty matureeggswithintwoyears. Fertilizeandbokanovskify-inotherwords,mul- tiplybyseventy-two-andyougetanaverageofnearlyeleventhousandbrothers andsistersinahundredandfiftybatchesofidenticaltwins,allwithintwoyears ofthesameage. “Andinexceptionalcaseswecanmakeoneovaryyieldusoverfifteenthousand adultindividuals.” Beckoning to a fair-haired, ruddy young man who happened to be passing at themoment. “Mr. Foster,”hecalled. Theruddyyoungmanapproached. “Can youtellustherecordforasingleovary,Mr. Foster?” “SixteenthousandandtwelveinthisCentre,”Mr. Fosterrepliedwithouthesi- tation. He spoke very quickly, had a vivacious blue eye, and took an evident pleasure in quoting figures. “Sixteen thousand and twelve; in one hundred andeighty-ninebatchesofidenticals. Butofcoursethey’vedonemuchbetter,” he rattled on, “in some of the tropical Centres. Singapore has often produced over sixteen thousand five hundred; and Mombasa has actually touched the seventeenthousandmark. Butthentheyhaveunfairadvantages. Youshould see the way a negro ovary responds to pituitary! It’s quite astonishing, when you’reusedtoworkingwithEuropeanmaterial. Still,”headded,withalaugh (butthelightofcombatwasinhiseyesandtheliftofhischinwaschallenging), “still,wemeantobeatthemifwecan.I’mworkingonawonderfulDelta-Minus ovary at this moment. Only just eighteen months old. Over twelve thousand sevenhundredchildrenalready,eitherdecantedorinembryo. Andstillgoing strong. We’llbeatthemyet.” “That’s the spirit I like!” cried the Director, and clapped Mr. Foster on the shouder. “Comealongwithus,andgivetheseboysthebenefitofyourexpert http://www.idph.net IDPH 9 knowledge.” Mr. Fostersmiledmodestly. “Withpleasure.” Theywent. IntheBottlingRoomallwasharmoniousbustleandorderedactivity. Flapsof freshsow’speritoneumreadycuttothepropersizecameshootingupinlittle liftsfromtheOrganStoreinthesub-basement. Whizzandthen,click! thelift- hatcheshewopen; thebottle-linerhadonlytoreachoutahand, taketheflap, insert, smooth-down, andbeforethelinedbottlehadhadtimetotraveloutof reachalongtheendlessband,whizz,click!anotherflapofperitoneumhadshot upfromthedepths,readytobeslippedintoyetanotherbottle,thenextofthat slowinterminableprocessionontheband. Next to the Liners stood the Matriculators. The procession advanced; one by onetheeggsweretransferredfromtheirtest-tubestothelargercontainers;def- tlytheperitonealliningwasslit, themoruladroppedintoplace, thesalineso- lutionpouredin. andalreadythebottlehadpassed,anditwastheturnofthe labellers. Heredity, date of fertilization, membership of Bokanovsky Group- details were transferred from test-tube to bottle. No longer anonymous, but named, identified, the procession marched slowly on; on through an opening inthewall,slowlyonintotheSocialPredestinationRoom. “Eighty-eightcubicmetresofcard-index,” saidMr. Fosterwithrelish, asthey entered. “Containingalltherelevantinformation,”addedtheDirector. “Broughtuptodateeverymorning.” “Andco-ordinatedeveryafternoon.” “Onthebasisofwhichtheymaketheircalculations.” “Somanyindividuals,ofsuchandsuchquality,”saidMr. Foster. “Distributedinsuchandsuchquantities.” “TheoptimumDecantingRateatanygivenmoment.” “Unforeseenwastagespromptlymadegood.” “Promptly,”repeatedMr. Foster. “IfyouknewtheamountofovertimeIhadto put in after the last Japanese earthquake!” He laughed goodhumouredly and shookhishead. “ThePredestinatorssendintheirfigurestotheFertilizers.” “Whogivethemtheembryostheyaskfor.” “Andthebottlescomeinheretobepredestinedindetail.” http://www.idph.net 10 IDPH “AfterwhichtheyaresentdowntotheEmbryoStore.” “Wherewenowproceedourselves.” AndopeningadoorMr. Fosterledthewaydownastaircaseintothebasement. Thetemperaturewasstilltropical. Theydescendedintoathickeningtwilight. Two doors and a passage with a double turn insured the cellar against any possibleinfiltrationoftheday. “Embryos are like photographfilm,” said Mr. Foster waggishly, as he pushed opentheseconddoor. “Theycanonlystandredlight.” Andineffectthesultrydarknessintowhichthestudentsnowfollowedhimwas visibleandcrimson,likethedarknessofclosedeyesonasummer’safternoon. Thebulgingflanksofrowonrecedingrowandtierabovetierofbottlesglinted withinnumerablerubies,andamongtherubiesmovedthedimredspectresof men and women with purple eyes and all the symptoms of lupus. The hum andrattleofmachineryfaintlystirredtheair. “Givethema fewfigures, Mr. Foster,” saidtheDirector, whowastiredof tal- king. Mr. Fosterwasonlytoohappytogivethemafewfigures. Twohundredandtwentymetreslong,twohundredwide,tenhigh.Hepointed upwards. Like chickens drinking, the students lifted their eyes towards the distantceiling. Threetiersofracks: groundfloorlevel,firstgallery,secondgallery. Thespiderysteel-workofgalleryabovegalleryfadedawayinalldirectionsinto thedark. Nearthemthreeredghostswerebusilyunloadingdemijohnsfroma movingstaircase. TheescalatorfromtheSocialPredestinationRoom. Each bottle could be placed on one of fifteen racks, each rack, though you couldn’t see it, was a conveyor traveling at the rate of thirty-three and a third centimetresanhour. Twohundredandsixty-sevendaysateightmetresaday. Twothousandonehundredandthirty-sixmetresinall. Onecircuitofthecellar atgroundlevel,oneonthefirstgallery,halfonthesecond,andonthetwohun- dredandsixty-seventhmorning,daylightintheDecantingRoom.Independent existence-socalled. “Butintheinterval,”Mr.Fosterconcluded,“we’vemanagedtodoalottothem. Oh,averygreatdeal.” Hislaughwasknowingandtriumphant. “That’sthespiritIlike,”saidtheDirectoroncemore. “Let’swalkaround. You tellthemeverything,Mr. Foster.” http://www.idph.net