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

ity in any of the Egyptian writer's statements; hence his condemnatory exclamation, " Transmigration ? non- sense ! " So he stood in front of the fire-place biting his lips in vexation that any doubt should still linger in his mind, until, attracted by an uncontrollable impulse, he again approached the table and taking up the manuscript reread the first passage that fell under his vision, which was as follows: "All atoms are eternal! " The earth is composed of an aggregation of atoms : it follows that man who is of the earth is likewise eternal. "Atoms may exist in a state of aggregation or segre- gation. " The aggregation of atoms is the result of the action of fire, air, and water. Their segregation is caused by the same forces. " Now, fire is Ra, the glorious Sun God ; the air is Shu, the son of Ra; the earth is Seb, the son of Shu; while the water is Osiris, the son of Seb. These four divini- ties, acting in unity, produce all living matter; but such action can not be induced save through Patah, the father of all the gods and creator of life; he alone is the divine essence. The divine essence is eternal. It may pass from one aggregation to another as it wills. "When present it is called life: when absent the atoms return to Seb, the earth which gave them. "Aggregations of atoms assume different forms; but the essence called life remains the same forever, although passing from one shape to another. The divine essence that existed centuries since in that form of aggregated atoms called man may exist to-day in the shape of a cat, that animal sacred to the Lunar deities. " It is only by the aid of Patah, father of all the gods,