I, Doctor Nosidy, scientist, mesmerist, thought-reader, and electrician, felt that evening that I stood upon the threshold of some grand discovery. The thought thrilled me as it did Columbus when he came in sight of the long-sought land, or Bernard Palissy when he discovered the true mode of firing his beautiful pottery-ware, or Galileo when he discovered the movement of the earth. I felt the sensations of these and other discoverers rolled into one; moreover, it was my conviction that I was about to find something by the side of which their discoveries would appear insignificant indeed. Setting my apparatus in order, I commenced work by unrolling the head of the mummy; carefully stripping off the multitudinous layers of cerecloth, which were permeated quite through with a dark, brittle gum or resin of some kind. By and by I came to the leathery and gum-covered visage, wrinkled, emaciated, and black with the dry atmosphere of thirty centuries. Dark curly hair still adhered to the skull, and was not so brittle but that, after bathing the compressed locks, I could lift them with the blade of a spatula quite away from the cranium without damage. The whole head was a very fine one--the nose prominent and hawk-like, the eyes cavernous, and the mouth excessively broad and grinning; the lips were so dried and compressed that they were flat with the face. The teeth were still white and glossy, and the entire absence of any signs of decay proclaimed the fact that the owner was young at his decease. All these features I noticed as I worked away upon my subject, and having at length uncovered the whole head, I made a small hole through the apex of the cranium with a brad-awl. This done, I inserted, into the space once occupied by the brain, the ends of the wires connected with a certain electric instrument. Into the mouthpiece of the machine I spoke, asking, “Do you hear me?” I listened, but of course no reply came. How could it? I had been much too eager to commence my work, and of a certainty, this my first attempt could but end in one way--in absolute failure, and that from three causes. 1st. The brain of a deceased Egyptian was removed through the nostrils when the embalming took place. 2nd. Even if the brain-ether still tenanted the cranium the lips could form no answer to my query, as they were so dry and parched as to have no power of movement. 3rd. If the conditions of brain and lips were favourable, and I really obtained a sound, it would certainly be in the dead Egyptian tongue, which to me would be quite unintelligible. What should I do? My defunct monarch, or whoever he might be, was suddenly transformed into a useless incumbrance, instead of a scientific help. Instead of hugging him for joy I could now have beaten him as a scientific fraud. There was nothing for it but to take a day or two and think the matter out in an intelligent and calm manner.