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

evident curiosity. "Methought music was but little un- derstood in the first years of the world." " Mothers sang lullabies to the first babes of hu- manity," answered Athothis. " The origin of melody dates back to the very dawn of creation, and all nature then as now was filled with delicious sounds. As regards my ability in the performing line, know, mortal, that I have sung as a nightingale in Persia, as a canary in Ger- many, as a mocking-bird in America." " I suppose you have met some of the earlier poets and singers during your many transmigrations !" quoth Paulus Androcydes, indulging in a vein of spiritual sar- casm. " Yes," replied Athothis, seriously. " I met Solomon about five centuries since; he was croaking in a frog concert given for the Benefit of the Queen of Sheba, in a lotus pond near the great pyramid. As for King David, I saw him about twenty years ago in the Zoological Gar- den at Hamburg. He was a captive parrot, serenading Uriah's wife, who was a brown Brazilian monkey, confined in an adjoining cage." " Can it be possible that Solomon and David are still transmigrating ?" queried Paulus Androcydes. " Even so," responded Athothis. " They are still liv- ing and striving to master the music of the future." " Yours is a strange doctrine," said Paulus Androcy- des, laughingly. " Perhaps Shakespeare was a believer, since he wrote— " 'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.' " "His was a master mind!" exclaimed Athothis, in