How to Analyze People on Sight

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Such people seem to him to be cold, unfeeling, almost dead. So he steers
clear of them. It was surely a Thoracic who first called these people
"sticks." But the reason for their acting like sticks will be apparent
in another chapter.


His Pet Aversions

Whereas the Alimentive avoids people he does not care for, the
Thoracic is inclined to betray his aversions. He occasionally delights
to put people he dislikes at a disadvantage by his wit or satire. The
stony individual who walks through life like an Ionian pillar is a
complete mystery to the Thoracic; and the pillar returns the compliment.
We do not like anything we do not understand and we seldom understand
anything that differs decidedly from ourselves.

Thus we distrust and dislike foreigners, and to a greater or lesser