18 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. I. 



out the keyhole, unlocked the iron door and 

 passed through. This door I did not lock after 

 me, but left wide open. I tried to whistle as I 

 proceeded ; but it seemed a mockery to attempt 

 to make any sound heard amid the indescrib- 

 able crescendos and diminuendos which filled 

 that dismal access to the abodes of sickness 

 and death. And as I slowly proceeded my 

 mind became suddenly and at once occupied — 

 filled to the exclusion of every other idea — with 

 the scene I had witnessed for the first time that 

 morning. It came upon me so suddenly and dis- 

 tinctly that I involuntarily stopped : the picture 

 of the whole procedure, with those features that 

 had most appalled me, rose in hard outline before 

 my mind's eye, and I tried again to reason and 

 shake it off. " Men must be dissected," I said to 

 myself; but I wished I had never witnessed 

 those pallid collapsed features. I then believed 

 in ghosts, and three or four of the best authenti- 

 cated cases vividly recurred to me, and, as these 

 thoughts passed through my mind, every step I 

 took was rapidly bringing me nearer the entry 

 of that cold and dreary chamber, where — but 

 I wasn't going to think of that any more. 1 

 had unlocked the second iron grating, which 

 crossed the staircase, and, having passed the 

 dreaded chamber, was hastening on, when a 

 slight gleam of light from above made me 

 raise my head, and I saw at the next turn 



