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

contortions—their bodies changing colors like iridescent opals, while their ruby eyes flashed like myriads of scar- let sparks. Overhead, in place of the ceiling, appeared what seemed to be the firmament of heaven, in whose center shone the dog-star, Sirius, with its sparkling, diamond-like rays. For a moment, but only for a moment, Doctor Paulus Androcydes stood in amazement, then realizing that time was precious, he read aloud the incantation. The music increased in volume; the chatter of the monkeys became deafening; while the odor of flowers grew as dense as the fragrance of a hundred censers. A perfect mental calmness now succeeded the physi- cian's previous nervous agitation, and all unmindful of the strangeness of the manifestations occurring, he con- tinued to read the directions of the papyrus. "After the incineration of the animal has been perfectly accomplished and the incantation duly performed, the sacred sepulchral vases or canopi, found in the sarco- phagus, are to be removed and placed in a row at the mummy's right side. These canopi are to be arranged in the following order : first, the urn representing a man's head, which contains the stomach and large intestine belonging to the remains; this urn is guarded by the genius Amset; next, the urn in the form of the head of a cynocephalus ape, which contains the small intestine; this urn is watched over by the genius Hapis; next in order, the urn shaped like a jackal's head, which holds the heart and lungs; this urn is protected by the genius Snouf; finally, the urn in the likeness of a hawk's head, which contains the mummy's liver and gall bladder; this urn is defended by the genius Kebhousnouf. Having 2