was this which the pickaxe had penetrated. This layer being removed, beneath it was discovered an excavation about four and a half feet long and three and a half feet deep. Lying at the bottom of this excavation could be seen a skeleton with a cord around its neck. The teeth and hair were perfectly preserved, and a gold ring still encircled one of the fingers. "It is evident," said M. Orfila, " that this body was originally covered with quicklime, but they forgot to throw in the water. So the lime, instead of consuming the body, as was doubtless intended, has only served to preserve it. The flesh has disappeared, but the skeleton is complete. Well, my dear magistrate, is this the subject? What do you wish us to do with your antiquity?" "It is necessary, gentlemen," replied the procureur, addressing the dean, the anato mist, and two new-comers, Dr. Marc, and Dr. Bois de Loury, — " it is necessary for you to accomplish a miracle: to reconstruct this body, decomposed by time, and to tell me who this skeleton was. You must first de termine whether these scattered bones be longed to one individual. Then you must further state the sex and the age of the un fortunate being who was buried here, and tell me how many years have passed since the body was placed in this resting-place." "Nothing could be easier for my col leagues," replied Dumoutier, " and it would not have been necessary to call me to their aid if I could not do more than that. I can tell you, for example, by simply inspecting this head, what were the thoughts, the habits, the passions, the virtues, and the vices of the soul which animated it." The doctors exchanged a smile of incre dulity at these words of the anatomist. Du moutier was one of the most distinguished adepts in that new science invented by Gall and developed by Spurzheim, — a science which at that time had its warm adherents and its bitter foes. The bones taken from the excavation were carefully transported to the dining-room and
there placed upon a table; the lime and earth were deposited in the large pine box, and the medical gentlemen at once set to work before the eyes of the magistrate and the two men so carefully guarded. After a rapid examination the savants recognized that they had before them the skeleton of a woman. This woman must have been about four feet eight inches in height, and the condition of the bones indi cated that she was of an advanced age. The hair was short and yellowish-white in color. The teeth were long, and during life must have been very long. The nails, which were found intact, showed evidence of hard work. The hands were singularly small. A bourgeoise, about seventy years of age, four feet eight inches in height, with short yellowish-gray hair, formerly red, long teeth, and small hands, — such was the general description of the subject. At each of these deductions, the result of careful scientific observation, the eyes of the procureur du roi flashed. An archaeologist reconstructing piece by piece the mummy of a Pharaoh could not have felt a more intense joy than that which animated the breast of the magistrate. "It is not sufficient, gentlemen," he said, "to determine the age of the deceased; I must know the date of her death." "That is a more difficult question to an swer," replied M. Bois de Loury. " Two or three years ago I should have said that it was impossible to state accurately, but recent ex periments permit a proximate solution of the question." The conclusion of the four doctors was that death had taken place ten or twelve years before. "The cause of the death," they added, "is easily determined, since the verte brae of the neck are still surrounded by six turns of the cord. The cause was strangu lation. Any idea of suicide is inadmissible; for the turns of the cord have one direction, from the front to the back and from above to below, which indicates the intervention of another's hand, finally, in the excavation,
