Page:Bergson - Laughter (1911).djvu/68

 body, and equally laughable. Numerous are the examples of this on the stage. Without entering into details of the variations executed on this theme, let us quote two or three passages in which the theme itself is set forth in all its simplicity. "You are only bound to treat people according to form," says Doctor Diafoirus in the Malade imaginaire. Again, says Doctor Bahis, in L'Amour médecin: "It is better to die through following the rules than to recover through violating them." In the same play, Desfonandrès had previously said: "We must always observe the formalities of professional etiquette, whatever may happen." And the reason is given by Tomès, his colleague: "A dead man is but a dead man, but the non-observance of a formality causes a notable prejudice to the whole faculty." Brid'oison's words, though embodying a rather different idea, are none the less significant: "F-form, mind you, f-form. A man laughs at a judge in a morning coat, and yet he would quake with dread at the mere sight of an attorney in his gown. F-form, all a matter of f-form."