The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-11-23

golden cover was removed, revealing
not the ordinary swathed and bandaped
mummy, but a naked body floating in
an oily substance which emitted an
aromatic smell. If l had expected re-
newed evidence of excitement from the
doctor, l was disappointed. His fea-
lures assumed II set expression, and he
bent over the body without uttering a
syllable.
"This liquid" 1 exclaimed exoitedly,
"is'-
Honey" replied the doctor. Then
he continued as if to himself: LAS | ex-
pected. Come! The ancients were not
all fools nor all liars. It is 1 O'Clock
a great day, a great dayI"
The body, as the mun,my case had
foretold, was that of a young man of
pleasing appearance and majestic fig
ure, the flesh still firm and plump,
with no evidences Of decay. The body
appeared to have been unmutilated by
the hands of the embulmers. There was
no incision on the flank to evidence the
removal o. the v~iscera, and the plump
ness of the closed eyelids led to the pre-
sumption that he eyes were still in
their sockets. There was positively no
evidence Of death about the body, un-
less it were n certain rightly, but 9TH
erwise it might have been mistaken for
the person of some expert swimmer
sleeping on the surface of his bath.
Send your men for some food, a
half dozen bottles Of wine and plenty
OF water and towels" said tho doctor
i'll an unnatural voice.
T boI pyo,l,nl,l tln cooA lA
past dinner time and hastened to give
the necessary orders to my men, though
what tho doctor wanted of towels 1
cou \ not imagine. The required arti-
oles were soon brought.
Nov dismiss all your men," CON
tinued tho doctor in tho same strained
tone of voice.
l obeyod as unquestioningly as tho
wedding guest obeyed the Ancient Mari
ner, and tho men, after depositing q
number of lighted torches about tho
chamber, retired. After their footsteps
had died away in the long corridors,
the doctor began to pace slowly up and
down the room. Finally ho spoke:
How many kinds Of mummies have
you found in your discoveries?"
"Why," l replied, three kinds, if
you mean the manner of their prepara-
ton"
"And they were?"
why, the first class have all the
viscera and the brains removed, the
cavities filled with resins and spices,
and have been stepped in natron for q
long time. The second have only the
brains removed and the viscera injected
with oil Of cedar. These were also
stepped in natron, as we suppose. The
third kind were apparently just sailed
down for a certain length of time. These
are all the kinds l am familiar WITH
"And have you found ard seen no
other kind?"
"No."
"Wcll, there was a fourth kind. 1t is
SO written in the book of Manetho. 1
have always believed it to be n lie of
the priests. We are about to see whether
1T was such i'll fact or not. The priests
claimed to have "A process by which
they could arrest animation indefinite
ly, and that they could, after the lapse
of ages, restore life to q body in which
existence had been suspended by the
use of u certain liquor, if the body were
kept from external injury. The only
thing that has seemed to substantiate
this claim has been the fact that q few
bodies have been discovered at widely
different times which bore none Of tho
ordinary marks of cmbalming, from
which the viscera and brain had not
been removed and which were neverthe-
less in Il better state of preservation
than mummies which lad been care
fully embalmcd. ! say such bodies have
been discovered. should say, rather,
that 1t is claimed that they have been
discovered, but as l never saw one or
any one who had | have been inclined
to doubt the fact. This body settles the
matter. l doubt no more"
Il remember now that | have heard
something to the same effect" / re-
Piled, but | do not see that this sub
stimulates the claim of the priests to be
able to suspend animation and to re-
store 1t after the lapse of ages"
There are none SO blind as those
who will not see," he replied testify.
do you not perceive that tho reason
that these bodies have never been re.
stored to life Is either that the knowl-
30 hSi 'NotihS IIhCcS HIS DGen
lost In the lapse of ages or that the
recipe by which they were to be revived
has been forgottcn?"
'Well?' I said stupidity.
well, is there anything more proba-
bic tnan that this is one Of those bodies
and that the contents of this vase Ia the
medicine by which it can be restored to
life?"
l stared at my companion in amaze
ment. His words sounded like nonsense,
but his manner was calm-unusually
calm-and after all tho idea was not
wholly absurd. There are more things
dE5I==if1 VT
| !EH6@5g5HH
/ S14)