And hence there were no judicial Decrees of hers during her Administration of Justice, which were not confirmed and applauded by the High Court of Justice at _Potu_, the Capital of the Empire: Therefore the Institution in Favour of the weaker Sex, which at first View I had condemn’d, had nothing absurd in it upon a more accurate Review. Bless me! thought I, what if the Wife of our Mayor of _Bergen_ were to sit in Judgment instead of her Husband? What if the Daughter of Counsellor _Severini_, that all-accomplish’d young Lady, were to plead at the Bar instead of her stupid Father? Our Laws would never receive the least Dishonour from them, nor would Justice be so often violated. Moreover, I was of Opinion, since in the _European_ Courts of Law, Causes were so soon determin’d, that such sudden and hasty Determinations, were they to undergo a strict Scrutiny, would by no Means pass without Censure. To proceed to explain some other Things. The Reason of the _Venæ-section_ or Letting Blood, I understood to be this: When any one was convicted of a Crime, instead of whipping, maiming, or capital Punishments, he was condemned to the _Venæ-section_, that is, to have a Vein open’d, by which it should appear, whether his Crime proceeded from Malice, or from the vitiated Blood, and whether by such an Operation he could be cur’d. So that these Courts of Justice regarded the Amendment, rather than the Punishment of the Offender. Yet the very Method of Amendment had a Sort of Punishment in it, because it was a Mark of Ignominy to undergo this Operation by judicial Sentence. If any one fell a second Time into the same Crime, he was deem’d an unworthy Member of the State, and as such was to be _banish’d to the Firmament_, where all were receiv’d without Distinction. But of this sort of Exile we shall enlarge hereafter. Then as to the Reason why upon the Opening of my Vein the Chirurgeon was so astonish’d at the Sight of my Blood, it was this, namely, that the Natives of this Globe had a white fluid Juice in their Veins. And the whiter this was, so much the greater Mark it bore of Innocence and Probity. All these Things, when I had perfectly learn’d the subterranean Tongue, I thoroughly understood, and thenceforward began to form a milder Judgment of a People I had too hastily censur’d. And tho’ at first I was of Opinion that these Trees were excessively stupid and brutish, yet I soon found Reason to think that they were not altogether destitute of Humanity, and that therefore I was in no Danger of my Life. And what confirm’d me in this was, that twice a Day I saw my Food duly brought me. This Food consisted of Fruits, Herbs, and Pulse, and my Drink was a Liquor the most delicious and grateful I ever tasted.