On January 1, 1884, the young doctor Federico Olóriz began to obsessively write down everything he did every day in Madrid, absolutely everything, measured in quarters of an hour. With careful English handwriting, he wrote in his diary: “At the Faculty, examining the brain of a young idiot. Eight quarters of an hour. […] Prison: examination of two pedophiles. Twelve quarters of an hour. […] I come back at night and read Torment, Pérez Galdós's latest novel. “Eight quarters of an hour.” On Wednesday, April 2, Olóriz notes the death of one of his sons, Ricardito. "Colding little by little and with very painful agony, the poor child resists until eight in the morning, at which time, or a few minutes before, he dies with me present." That same day, after burying his son, he notes: “Total work: 26 quarters of an hour.”
