865. Calluses in which elements savoring of deceit are mingled, as in those who had tried to cheat their neighbor, cannot readily be softened and dissolved, for which reason this is done by means of the punishment of being pulled apart by opposites, spoken about previously [404, 515]. The person is placed between two contrary actions, or spirits working at cross-purposes, unable to get away from them and so, is being pulled apart with the greatest of pain. The like happens to those, especially business people, who, without conscience and at every opportunity - when not prevented for various reasons, such as the laws, profit motives, etc. - try cunningly to take away their neighbors' goods, thinking that this does no harm to the conscience. There are also others having the same intention, who may not have carried it out, but had wanted to, and only place and circumstance had prevented them from proceeding to the act. 1748, 18 February.