For them, the idea of the man is not separated from the idea of darkness. The night is called la sorgue ; man, l’orgue . Man is a derivative of the night.

They have taken up the practice of considering society in the light of an atmosphere which kills them, of a fatal force, and they speak of their liberty as one would speak of his health. A man under arrest is a “sick man;” one who is condemned is a “dead man.”