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Murder in the Rue Morgue
What
song
the
Syrens
sang
,
or
what
name
Achilles
assumed
when
he
hid
himself
among
women
,
although
puzzling
questions
are
not
beyond
all
conjecture
.
--
Sir
Thomas
Browne
,
Urn-Burial
.
The
mental
features
discoursed
of
as
the
analytical
,
are
,
in
themselves
,
but
little
susceptible
of
analysis
.
We
appreciate
them
only
in
their
effects
.
We
know
of
them
,
among
other
things
,
that
they
are
always
to
their
possessor
,
when
inordinately
possessed
,
a
source
of
the
liveliest
enjoyment
.
As
the
strong
man
exults
in
his
physical
ability
,
delighting
in
such
exercises
as
call
his
muscles
into
action
,
so
glories
the
analyst
in
that
moral
activity
which
disentangles
.
He
derives
pleasure
from
even
the
most
trivial
occupations
bringing
his
talents
into
play
.
He
is
fond
of
enigmas
,
of
conundrums
,
of
hieroglyphics
;
exhibiting
in
his
solutions
of
each
a
degree
of
acumen
which
appears
to
the
ordinary
apprehension
preternatural
.
His
results
,
brought
about
by
the
very
soul
and
essence
of
method
,
have
,
in
truth
,
the
whole
air
of
intuition
.
The
faculty
of
re-solution
is
possibly
much
invigorated
by
mathematical
study
,
and
especially
by
that
highest
branch
of
it
which
,
unjustly
,
and
merely
on
account
of
its
retrograde
operations
,
has
been
called
,
as
if
par
excellence
,
analysis
.
Yet
to
calculate
is
not
in
itself
to
analyze
.
A
chess-player
,
for
example
,
does
the
one
without
effort
at
the
other
.
It
follows
that
the
game
of
chess
,
in
its
effects
upon
mental
character
,
is
greatly
misunderstood
.
I
am
not
now
writing
a
treatise
,
but
simply
prefacing
a
somewhat
peculiar
narrative
by
observations
very
much
at
random
;
I
will
,
therefore
,
take
occasion
to
assert
that
the
higher
powers
of
the
reflective
intellect
are
more
decidedly
and
more
usefully
tasked
by
the
unostentatious
game
of
draughts
than
by
all
the
elaborate
frivolity
of
chess
.
In
this
latter
,
where
the
pieces
have
different
and
bizarre
motions
,
with
various
and
variable
values
,
what
is
only
complex
is
mistaken
(
a
not
unusual
error
)
for
what
is
profound
.
The
attention
is
here
called
powerfully
into
play
.
If
it
flag
for
an
instant
,
an
oversight
is
committed
,
resulting
in
injury
or
defeat
.
The
possible
moves
being
not
only
manifold
but
involute
,
the
chances
of
such
oversights
are
multiplied
;
and
in
nine
cases
out
of
ten
it
is
the
more
concentrative
rather
than
the
more
acute
player
who
conquers
.
In
draughts
,
on
the
contrary
,
where
the
moves
are
unique
and
have
but
little
variation
,
the
probabilities
of
inadvertence
are
diminished
,
and
the
mere
attention
being
left
comparatively
what
advantages
are
obtained
by
either
party
are
obtained
by
superior
acumen
.
To
be
less
abstract
--
Let
us
suppose
a
game
of
draughts
where
the
pieces
are
reduced
to
four
kings
,
and
where
,
of
course
,
no
oversight
is
to
be
expected
.
It
is
obvious
that
here
the
victory
can
be
decided
(
the
players
being
at
all
equal
)
only
by
some
recherche
movement
,
the
result
of
some
strong
exertion
of
the
intellect
.
Deprived
of
ordinary
resources
,
the
analyst
throws
himself
into
the
spirit
of
his
opponent
,
identifies
himself
therewith
,
and
not
unfrequently
sees
thus
,
at
a
glance
,
the
sole
methods
(
sometimes
indeed
absurdly
simple
ones
)
by
which
he
may
seduce
into
error
or
hurry
into
miscalculation
.
Whist
has
long
been
noted
for
its
influence
upon
what
is
termed
the
calculating
power
;
and
men
of
the
highest
order
of
intellect
have
been
known
to
take
an
apparently
unaccountable
delight
in
it
,
while
eschewing
chess
as
frivolous
.
Beyond
doubt
there
is
nothing
of
a
similar
nature
so
greatly
tasking
the
faculty
of
analysis
.
The
best
chess-player
in
Christendom
may
be
little
more
than
the
best
player
of
chess
;
but
proficiency
in
whist
implies
capacity
for
success
in
all
these
more
important
undertakings
where
mind
struggles
with
mind
.
When
I
say
proficiency
,
I
mean
that
perfection
in
the
game
which
includes
a
comprehension
of
all
the
sources
whence
legitimate
advantage
may
be
derived
.
These
are
not
only
manifold
but
multiform
,
and
lie
frequently
among
recesses
of
thought
altogether
inaccessible
to
the
ordinary
understanding
.
To
observe
attentively
is
to
remember
distinctly
;
and
,
so
far
,
the
concentrative
chess-player
will
do
very
well
at
whist
;
while
the
rules
of
Hoyle
(
themselves
based
upon
the
mere
mechanism
of
the
game
)
are
sufficiently
and
generally
comprehensible
.
Thus
to
have
a
retentive
memory
,
and
to
proceed
by
"
the
book
,
"
are
points
commonly
regarded
as
the
sum
total
of
good
playing
.
But
it
is
in
matters
beyond
the
limits
of
mere
rule
that
the
skill
of
the
analyst
is
evinced
.
He
makes
,
in
silence
,
a
host
of
observations
and
inferences
.
So
,
perhaps
,
do
his
companions
;
and
the
difference
in
the
extent
of
the
information
obtained
,
lies
not
so
much
in
the
validity
of
the
inference
as
in
the
quality
of
the
observation
.
The
necessary
knowledge
is
that
of
what
to
observe
.
Our
player
confines
himself
not
at
all
;
nor
,
because
the
game
is
the
object
,
does
he
reject
deductions
from
things
external
to
the
game
.
He
examines
the
countenance
of
his
partner
,
comparing
it
carefully
with
that
of
each
of
his
opponents
.
He
considers
the
mode
of
assorting
the
cards
in
each
hand
;
often
counting
trump
by
trump
,
and
honor
by
honor
,
through
the
glances
bestowed
by
their
holders
upon
each
.
He
notes
every
variation
of
face
as
the
play
progresses
,
gathering
a
fund
of
thought
from
the
differences
in
the
expression
of
certainty
,
of
surprise
,
of
triumph
,
or
chagrin
.
From
the
manner
of
gathering
up
a
trick
he
judges
whether
the
person
taking
it
can
make
another
in
the
suit
.
He
recognizes
what
is
played
through
feint
,
by
the
air
with
which
it
is
thrown
upon
the
table
.
A
casual
or
inadvertent
word
;
the
accidental
dropping
or
turning
of
a
card
,
with
the
accompanying
anxiety
or
carelessness
in
regard
to
its
concealment
;
the
counting
of
the
tricks
,
with
the
order
of
their
arrangement
;
embarrassment
,
hesitation
,
eagerness
or
trepidation
--
all
afford
,
to
his
apparently
intuitive
perception
,
indications
of
the
true
state
of
affairs
.
