Renfield is a mental patient of Dr. Seward (who, incidentally, is
currently battling a strange disease brought into this country by a
certain Count... Dracula, I believe that's his name...), and has been
characterized as zoophagous. It is solely to observe this odd condition
that I have invited him here to dine with me this evening. In order to
help appease my steadily increasing interest in psychologically troubled
individuals, I plan to carefully monitor what Renfield chooses to eat
tonight.
Instead of serving dinner in the usual "course form" (such as salad, then
soup, followed by the main dish, and then dessert), I have chosen to lay
out all of the meal at once. I am especially anxious to observe the
order in which Renfield chooses to eat his dinner, and whether or not the
size of the food to be eaten is an influence upon his selection process.
Besides having the usual bread and butter, I have laid out salt herring
and sardines, along with several larger carnivorous fish in order to
ascertain whether or not he always follows his reported pattern of eating
prey and then predator. (I have heard from the doctor that he is quite
partial to flies and spiders.) I have also prepared a salad composed
mainly of lettuce and carrots and a rabbit dish, so that I can observe
whether or not both "foods" must be of the animal kingdom. My findings
will help me immensely by contributing to my understanding of the
zoophagous mindset.
Ah, but you probably wonder what I shall do if he chooses not to dine
with me, am I correct? I am a few steps ahead of you, my friend, for I
have made sure to leave a dish of honey out for several days in order to
attract what is seemingly his favorite food: houseflies. I have also
ensured that there are plenty of spiders in the greenhouse adjacent to my
home so that Renfield may, as explained to me, gain the power of the
creatures by ingesting them in the proper order.
Hopefully, by studying Renfield tonight, I can fully observe his tendency
to eat his food in its "prey-predator" or "lesser-to-higher"
classification state. I am especially curious as to which he chooses to
eat first: the chicken or the egg?