Athothis : a satire on modern medicine / by Thomas C. Minor.

early dawn—typifying the resurrection, the return of light from darkness. As the physician withdrew this emblem, a horrible cry of feline agony resounded through the room, and turning in terror he beheld his pet cat lying on the floor, frothing at the mouth in a frightful convulsion. The first impulse of Doctor Paulus Androcydes was to relieve the cat of pain, and running to the book-case he grasped a vial labeled chloroform, and quickly poured a quantity of this powerful anaesthetic on a sponge. While thus employed, Anubis seemed to revive, and dragged himself up to the mummy's side, where, resting his head on the embalmed remains, he moaned and wailed, while large tears rolled down his furry cheeks. The cat's grief seemed almost human. " The Egyptian author's words are true ! " gasped the physician—snatching up the papyrus and perusing it in- tently—"I shall apply the tests immediately." And with this he read aloud the directions laid down in the scroll of Athothis, which were as follows : " In order to restore life to its original habitation, it is absolutely necessary to incinerate that animal in which the divine essence has its present abode. " The ashes left after incineration must be for the most part collected and placed in the body of the mummy through the opening made by the evisceraters or embalm- ers, professionally known as Parachistes. At the first moment of incineration this incantation is to be solemnly pronounced: " ' Oh ! Ra, glorious God of the Sun ! Immortal Creator of fire ! In the name of Patah—thy divine father—I in- voke thy power! Drive out from this aggregation of