Chapter 2 Summary

The D.H.C. takes the students to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms in the Infant Nurseries, where nurses have set out bowls of rose petals and bright books. At the Director's instruction, the nurses bring in carts with eight-month-olds on stacked shelves and dressed in the khaki of Deltas. The babies are taken out of the carts and set on the floor. They crawl to the bowls and books, squealing with pleasure. As they start to finger the rose petals and the pages of the books, the Director gives a signal, and the Head Nurse presses a lever that sets an alarm shrieking. The children start to scream, and then the nurse throws another lever, which sends an electric shock along the floor. The tone of the babies' screaming turns to one of terror, while their little bodies twitch and stiffen.

The alarms...