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

tervals, while the once bright, laughing, blue eyes were now unlighted, set, and glazing. " Notice the cocoon hanging against the open window- sill ! See ! it is moving," said Athothis. " I do !" exclaimed Paulus Androcydes, in amazement, as a vapory form seemed to issue from the child's body and, contracting almost instantly into a minute spark of light, flashed across the room and disappeared in the cocoon. At the same instant a beautiful white moth burst forth from its covering, and floated away on the golden mists of the evening, growing smaller, smaller, and smaller, until lost from sight in the fading sunset. " Is this a first transmigration ?" asked Paulus An- drocydes, as a great awe fell over his spiritual being. " It is!" replied Athothis, solemnly, " and a sight vouchsafed only to a few mortals—the initiated in the Circle of Thrice-Chosen Seers of Memphis." " My child ! my darling ! Oh ! my poor baby is dead !" moaned the grief-stricken mother, holding the empty earthly casket, and kissing the inanimate features. " If she only knew !" continued the Egyptian, in a gentle tone of pity. " But soon she, too, will pass from the first degree and enter the mysteries; for, has it not been written,' Oh! death, where is thy sting ? Oh! grave, where is thy victory ?'" "Do you believe in spiritualism?" demanded Paulus Androcydes, eyeing Athothis with eager curiosity. " Can I doubt my present state ?" responded the Egyptian. " If you but knew ! But seek not to know too much of the future—enjoy the present, forget the sorrows of the past." "I can take you to a spiritual seance this very even-