"They need none," replied MacNair. "But this is something that must be learned further on." "Yes," interposed Iola. "You will doubtless find a very different system of treating human weakness from that which I understand is adopted in the outer world by the medical practitioners. In their system of healing they depend exclusively upon external appliances and ingredients, while we depend mainly upon arousing the internal powers of mind and spirit, which alone can exercise any absolute control over the human organism. Your system of treating the body is from without, while ours is from within, directly opposite to it." I did not at that time comprehend her meaning, neither did any of our crew. Its depth was beyond our grasp and we found that indeed this was something to be learned further on. But as she ceased speaking, Polaris called her to one side, and after a brief consultation with the nurses she said to Captain Ganoe: "The nurses report that it will require an hour or more to get the patients in proper condition for removal and that they want to be left alone with them, and will let us know when they are ready." With this, we all returned to the upper deck to await the pleasure of the nurses. Captain Battell, who had been an intensely interested listener, notwithstanding his retiring disposition, now moved to renew the conversation by turning to MacNair and saying: "My dear sir, did I understand you to say that the special business of Polaris and Dione is to look out for those who may be lost at sea and render assistance as occasion may require, and especially for such as may drift in from the outer world? Where are your men, that women are permitted to engage in these hazardous enterprises?" "Nothing strange about that," said MacNair. "As you well know, the women of the outer world take the lead in all humanitarian work, because they are naturally more sensitive and sympathetic than men. The women of this inner world are even more inclined to extend a helping hand to the distressed, and they are not handicapped by usages which restrict the influence of the woman of the outer world. Here, both sexes are placed upon terms of absolute equality, and every individual has an opportunity to find the place that is best suited to his or her inclinations. Men are also engaged in this work, but the women here, as in the outer world, are more sympathetic, and as there is nothing to prevent it, they have carried their humanitarian work to such perfection, that all the oppressive conditions which afflict humanity have been wellnigh removed. To this, more than to all other causes combined, do we attribute the existence of the ideal conditions which you will find throughout this inner world. You certainly cannot think that women are out of place when they are protecting their own offspring?"