Poe, Edgar Allen - The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

by Volume 01-05 (lit)

  columnar, or perpendicular, inscription, in phonetic hieroglyphics, giving

  again his name and titles, and the names and titles of his relations.

  Around the neck thus ensheathed, was a collar of cylindrical glass beads,

  diverse in color, and so arranged as to form images of deities, of the

  scarabaeus, etc, with the winged globe. Around the small of the waist was

  a similar collar or belt.

  Stripping off the papyrus, we found the flesh in excellent preservation,

  with no perceptible odor. The color was reddish. The skin was hard,

  smooth, and glossy. The teeth and hair were in good condition. The eyes

  (it seemed) had been removed, and glass ones substituted, which were very

  beautiful and wonderfully life-like, with the exception of somewhat too

  determined a stare. The fingers and the nails were brilliantly gilded.

  Mr. Gliddon was of opinion, from the redness of the epidermis, that the

  embalmment had been effected altogether by asphaltum; but, on scraping the

  surface with a steel instrument, and throwing into the fire some of the

  powder thus obtained, the flavor of camphor and other sweet-scented gums

  became apparent.

  We searched the corpse very carefully for the usual openings through which

  the entrails are extracted, but, to our surprise, we could discover none.

  No member of the party was at that period aware that entire or unopened

  mummies are not infrequently met. The brain it was customary to withdraw

  through the nose; the intestines through an incision in the side; the body

  was then shaved, washed, and salted; then laid aside for several weeks,

  when the operation of embalming, properly so called, began.

  As no trace of an opening could be found, Doctor Ponnonner was preparing

  his instruments for dissection, when I observed that it was then past two

  o'clock. Hereupon it was agreed to postpone the internal examination until

  the next evening; and we were about to separate for the present, when some

  one suggested an experiment or two with the Voltaic pile.

  The application of electricity to a mummy three or four thousand years old

  at the least, was an idea, if not very sage, still sufficiently original,

  and we all caught it at once. About one-tenth in earnest and nine-tenths

  in jest, we arranged a battery in the Doctor's study, and conveyed thither

  the Egyptian.

  It was only after much trouble that we succeeded in laying bare some

  portions of the temporal muscle which appeared of less stony rigidity than

  other parts of the frame, but which, as we had anticipated, of course,

  gave no indication of galvanic susceptibility when brought in contact with

  the wire. This, the first trial, indeed, seemed decisive, and, with a

  hearty laugh at our own absurdity, we were bidding each other good night,

  when my eyes, happening to fall upon those of the Mummy, were there

  immediately riveted in amazement. My brief glance, in fact, had sufficed

  to assure me that the orbs which we had all supposed to be glass, and

  which were originally noticeable for a certain wild stare, were now so far

  covered by the lids, that only a small portion of the _tunica albuginea_

  remained visible.

  With a shout I called attention to the fact, and it became immediately

  obvious to all.

  I cannot say that I was alarmed at the phenomenon, because "alarmed" is,

  in my case, not exactly the word. It is possible, however, that, but for

  the Brown Stout, I might have been a little nervous. As for the rest of

  the company, they really made no attempt at concealing the downright

  fright which possessed them. Doctor Ponnonner was a man to be pitied. Mr.

  Gliddon, by some peculiar process, rendered himself invisible. Mr. Silk

  Buckingham, I fancy, will scarcely be so bold as to deny that he made his

  way, upon all fours, under the table.

  After the first shock of astonishment, however, we resolved, as a matter

  of course, upon further experiment forthwith. Our operations were now

  directed against the great toe of the right foot. We made an incision over

  the outside of the exterior _os sesamoideum pollicis pedis,_ and thus got

  at the root of the abductor muscle. Readjusting the battery, we now

  applied the fluid to the bisected nerves -- when, with a movement of

  exceeding life-likeness, the Mummy first drew up its right knee so as to

  bring it nearly in contact with the abdomen, and then, straightening the

  limb with inconceivable force, bestowed a kick upon Doctor Ponnonner,

  which had the effect of discharging that gentleman, like an arrow from a

  catapult, through a window into the street below.

  We rushed out _en masse_ to bring in the mangled remains of the victim,

  but had the happiness to meet him upon the staircase, coming up in an

  unaccountable hurry, brimful of the most ardent philosophy, and more than

  ever impressed with the necessity of prosecuting our experiment with vigor

  and with zeal.

  It was by his advice, accordingly, that we made, upon the spot, a profound

  incision into the tip of the subject's nose, while the Doctor himself,

  laying violent hands upon it, pulled it into vehement contact with the

  wire.

  Morally and physically -- figuratively and literally -- was the effect

  electric. In the first place, the corpse opened its eyes and winked very

  rapidly for several minutes, as does Mr. Barnes in the pantomime, in the

  second place, it sneezed; in the third, it sat upon end; in the fourth, it

  shook its fist in Doctor Ponnonner's face; in the fifth, turning to

  Messieurs Gliddon and Buckingham, it addressed them, in very capital

  Egyptian, thus:

  "I must say, gentlemen, that I am as much surprised as I am mortified at

  your behavior. Of Doctor Ponnonner nothing better was to be expected. He

  is a poor little fat fool who knows no better. I pity and forgive him. But

  you, Mr. Gliddon- and you, Silk -- who have travelled and resided in Egypt

  until one might imagine you to the manner born -- you, I say who have been

  so much among us that you speak Egyptian fully as well, I think, as you

  write your mother tongue -- you, whom I have always been led to regard as

  the firm friend of the mummies -- I really did anticipate more gentlemanly

  conduct from you. What am I to think of your standing quietly by and

  seeing me thus unhandsomely used? What am I to suppose by your permitting

  Tom, Dick, and Harry to strip me of my coffins, and my clothes, in this

  wretchedly cold climate? In what light (to come to the point) am I to

  regard your aiding and abetting that miserable little villain, Doctor

  Ponnonner, in pulling me by the nose?"

  It will be taken for granted, no doubt, that upon hearing this speech

  under the circumstances, we all either made for the door, or fell into

  violent hysterics, or went off in a general swoon. One of these three

  things was, I say, to be expected. Indeed each and all of these lines of

  conduct might have been very plausibly pursued. And, upon my word, I am at

  a loss to know how or why it was that we pursued neither the one nor the

  other. But, perhaps, the true reason is to be sought in the spirit of the

  age, which proceeds by the rule
of contraries altogether, and is now

  usually admitted as the solution of every thing in the way of paradox and

  impossibility. Or, perhaps, after all, it was only the Mummy's exceedingly

  natural and matter-of-course air that divested his words of the terrible.

  However this may be, the facts are clear, and no member of our party

  betrayed any very particular trepidation, or seemed to consider that any

  thing had gone very especially wrong.

  For my part I was convinced it was all right, and merely stepped aside,

  out of the range of the Egyptian's fist. Doctor Ponnonner thrust his hands

  into his breeches' pockets, looked hard at the Mummy, and grew excessively

  red in the face. Mr. Glidden stroked his whiskers and drew up the collar

  of his shirt. Mr. Buckingham hung down his head, and put his right thumb

  into the left corner of his mouth.

  The Egyptian regarded him with a severe countenance for some minutes and

  at length, with a sneer, said:

  "Why don't you speak, Mr. Buckingham? Did you hear what I asked you, or

  not? Do take your thumb out of your mouth!"

  Mr. Buckingham, hereupon, gave a slight start, took his right thumb out of

  the left corner of his mouth, and, by way of indemnification inserted his

  left thumb in the right corner of the aperture above-mentioned.

  Not being able to get an answer from Mr. B., the figure turned peevishly

  to Mr. Gliddon, and, in a peremptory tone, demanded in general terms what

  we all meant.

  Mr. Gliddon replied at great length, in phonetics; and but for the

  deficiency of American printing-offices in hieroglyphical type, it would

  afford me much pleasure to record here, in the original, the whole of his

  very excellent speech.

  I may as well take this occasion to remark, that all the subsequent

  conversation in which the Mummy took a part, was carried on in primitive

  Egyptian, through the medium (so far as concerned myself and other

  untravelled members of the company) -- through the medium, I say, of

  Messieurs Gliddon and Buckingham, as interpreters. These gentlemen spoke

  the mother tongue of the Mummy with inimitable fluency and grace; but I

  could not help observing that (owing, no doubt, to the introduction of

  images entirely modern, and, of course, entirely novel to the stranger)

  the two travellers were reduced, occasionally, to the employment of

  sensible forms for the purpose of conveying a particular meaning. Mr.

  Gliddon, at one period, for example, could not make the Egyptian

  comprehend the term "politics," until he sketched upon the wall, with a

  bit of charcoal a little carbuncle-nosed gentleman, out at elbows,

  standing upon a stump, with his left leg drawn back, right arm thrown

  forward, with his fist shut, the eyes rolled up toward Heaven, and the

  mouth open at an angle of ninety degrees. Just in the same way Mr.

  Buckingham failed to convey the absolutely modern idea "wig," until (at

  Doctor Ponnonner's suggestion) he grew very pale in the face, and

  consented to take off his own.

  It will be readily understood that Mr. Gliddon's discourse turned chiefly

  upon the vast benefits accruing to science from the unrolling and

  disembowelling of mummies; apologizing, upon this score, for any

  disturbance that might have been occasioned him, in particular, the

  individual Mummy called Allamistakeo; and concluding with a mere hint (for

  it could scarcely be considered more) that, as these little matters were

  now explained, it might be as well to proceed with the investigation

  intended. Here Doctor Ponnonner made ready his instruments.

  In regard to the latter suggestions of the orator, it appears that

  Allamistakeo had certain scruples of conscience, the nature of which I did

  not distinctly learn; but he expressed himself satisfied with the

  apologies tendered, and, getting down from the table, shook hands with the

  company all round.

  When this ceremony was at an end, we immediately busied ourselves in

  repairing the damages which our subject had sustained from the scalpel. We

  sewed up the wound in his temple, bandaged his foot, and applied a square

  inch of black plaster to the tip of his nose.

  It was now observed that the Count (this was the title, it seems, of

  Allamistakeo) had a slight fit of shivering -- no doubt from the cold. The

  Doctor immediately repaired to his wardrobe, and soon returned with a

  black dress coat, made in Jennings' best manner, a pair of sky-blue plaid

  pantaloons with straps, a pink gingham chemise, a flapped vest of brocade,

  a white sack overcoat, a walking cane with a hook, a hat with no brim,

  patent-leather boots, straw-colored kid gloves, an eye-glass, a pair of

  whiskers, and a waterfall cravat. Owing to the disparity of size between

  the Count and the doctor (the proportion being as two to one), there was

  some little difficulty in adjusting these habiliments upon the person of

  the Egyptian; but when all was arranged, he might have been said to be

  dressed. Mr. Gliddon, therefore, gave him his arm, and led him to a

  comfortable chair by the fire, while the Doctor rang the bell upon the

  spot and ordered a supply of cigars and wine.

  The conversation soon grew animated. Much curiosity was, of course,

  expressed in regard to the somewhat remarkable fact of Allamistakeo's

  still remaining alive.

  "I should have thought," observed Mr. Buckingham, "that it is high time

  you were dead."

  "Why," replied the Count, very much astonished, "I am little more than

  seven hundred years old! My father lived a thousand, and was by no means

  in his dotage when he died."

  Here ensued a brisk series of questions and computations, by means of

  which it became evident that the antiquity of the Mummy had been grossly

  misjudged. It had been five thousand and fifty years and some months since

  he had been consigned to the catacombs at Eleithias.

  "But my remark," resumed Mr. Buckingham, "had no reference to your age at

  the period of interment (I am willing to grant, in fact, that you are

  still a young man), and my illusion was to the immensity of time during

  which, by your own showing, you must have been done up in asphaltum."

  "In what?" said the Count.

  "In asphaltum," persisted Mr. B.

  "Ah, yes; I have some faint notion of what you mean; it might be made to

  answer, no doubt -- but in my time we employed scarcely any thing else

  than the Bichloride of Mercury."

  "But what we are especially at a loss to understand," said Doctor

  Ponnonner, "is how it happens that, having been dead and buried in Egypt

  five thousand years ago, you are here to-day all alive and looking so

  delightfully well."

  "Had I been, as you say, dead," replied the Count, "it is more than

  probable that dead, I should still be; for I perceive you are yet in the

  infancy of Calvanism, and cannot accomplish with it what was a common

  thing among us in the old days. But the fact is, I fell into catalepsy,

  and it was considered by my best friends that I was either dead or should

  be; they accordingly embalmed me at once -- I presume you are aware of the

  chief principle
of the embalming process?"

  "Why not altogether."

  "Why, I perceive -- a deplorable condition of ignorance! Well I cannot

  enter into details just now: but it is necessary to explain that to embalm

  (properly speaking), in Egypt, was to arrest indefinitely all the animal

  functions subjected to the process. I use the word 'animal' in its widest

  sense, as including the physical not more than the moral and vital being.

  I repeat that the leading principle of embalmment consisted, with us, in

  the immediately arresting, and holding in perpetual abeyance, all the

  animal functions subjected to the process. To be brief, in whatever

  condition the individual was, at the period of embalmment, in that

  condition he remained. Now, as it is my good fortune to be of the blood of

  the Scarabaeus, I was embalmed alive, as you see me at present."

  "The blood of the Scarabaeus!" exclaimed Doctor Ponnonner.

  "Yes. The Scarabaeus was the insignium or the 'arms,' of a very

  distinguished and very rare patrician family. To be 'of the blood of the

  Scarabaeus,' is merely to be one of that family of which the Scarabaeus is

  the insignium. I speak figuratively."

  "But what has this to do with you being alive?"

  "Why, it is the general custom in Egypt to deprive a corpse, before

  embalmment, of its bowels and brains; the race of the Scarabaei alone did

  not coincide with the custom. Had I not been a Scarabeus, therefore, I

  should have been without bowels and brains; and without either it is

  inconvenient to live."

  "I perceive that," said Mr. Buckingham, "and I presume that all the entire

  mummies that come to hand are of the race of Scarabaei."

  "Beyond doubt."

  "I thought," said Mr. Gliddon, very meekly, "that the Scarabaeus was one