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

transmigration, while living in the disguise of a pigeon, a world-renowned scientist in Germany removed sections of my brain, and afterward published an intensely inter- esting essay on the localization of the cerebral functions. Of course, it follows from such experimentations that the brain construction of birds and mankind is identical. You indulge in a sneer at the medical knowledge possessed by the Egyptians; yet, my people were learned in anat- omy, physiology, pathology, and therapeutics—for they constantly opened the bodies of the dead and carefully studied the removed viscera, thus gaining a perfect un- derstanding of the formation of vital organs, besides be- coming very familiar with the pathological changes wrought by disease. As for anatomy, particularly oste- ology, the deserts of Egypt were vast charnel-houses, on which lay exposed the bleached remains of animals, birds, and men. I, myself, wrote on anatomy, physiology, path- ology, and medicine, many centuries before that wise physician, Hippocrates, was born. Herodotus has truly stated that the Egyptians hated dissection, and often stoned our embalmers. This horror of dissection still exists among moderns, and very few families at the pres- ent day will permit post-mortems on relatives. The world is unchanged in this respect. You are, no doubt, aware that Pliny admits that the Egyptian kings allowed autopsies, that physicians might verify their diagnoses; and that, under many rulers, notably the Ftolomics, anat- omy, physiology, and pathology were well understood. It is even asserted that human beings were opened and examined while yet alive. The medical men of Egypt were endowed with clairvoyant power, and were wonder- ful mind-readers. Come! Doctor Paulua Androcydes, and acknowledge that, even after viewing the interior of