Higgs, the central character of Samuel Butler’s Erewhon, finds himself in a country where criminality is regarded as a sign of ill-health, and illness as deserving of moral opprobrium. He attends the trial of a man charged with pulmonary consumption. The man’s incessant coughing counts against him, as does his previous conviction for aggravated bronchitis; he is convicted and sentenced to a lifetime of hard labour (Butler 1872, –101). At the end of the book Higgs, facing prosecution for catching measles, is forced to flee
