As the strong man exults in his physical ability, delighting in such exercises as call his muscles into action,(1) so glories the analyst in that moral activity which disentangles. He derives pleasure from even the most trivial occupations bringing his talent into play. He is fond of enigmas, of conundrums, of hieroglyphics; exhibiting in his solutions of each{b} a degree of acumen{c} which appears to the ordinary apprehension præternatural.

There is also a story, still sometimes told by stage comedians, about a barber's pet monkey who, in the absence of his master from the shop, essayed to shave a customer with disastrous results.

Voltaire's Zadig