ilament from the spinal column of the amphioxus to the
cerebral hemisphere of the mammifer. Now I disclosed the ramifying
canals in the vast system of circulation, mounting from the spongy
network of the mollusk and the sluggish lymphatic of the reptile to
the brilliant, bounding arteries of the double-hearted vertebrates.
And always, beyond the last disclosure, after the most complete
revelation, I hinted at something yet to come, some higher, unveiled
mystery, to which all this grand series was but the prelude. As a
priest who volubly initiates the neophytes into the service of the
temple, but points in silence to the inner court containing the Deity
for whom the service is performed, so I, after the most magnificent
display of animal life, silently indicated a concealed hereafter, a
culmination in the human body, hitherto withheld from our curious
gaze. I thus strove to suggest an ideal, left for a time incomplete;
to foster an impetuous impatience, that, stimulated by the great
acquisitions of the past, should reach forward irresistibly for the
greater prize of the future. I trusted that among all my auditors
would be found one that should divine the cipher, and quicken over its
subtle secret--one intellect, that, carried unconsciously along the
current of my thought, should finally arrive at my unrevealed goal.

Among the most constant attendants on the lectures, I had long noticed
one young man of about twenty-two years old, who always occupied the
same seat close to my operating-table. He was thin, shabbily dressed,
with full, intense forehead, ravenous face, and brilliant eyes. His
poverty was indicated not only by his toilette, and that special form
of unfed expression peculiar to the studious hungry, but also by his
absence from all the private classes, and redoubled assiduity at the
public lectures. His intelligence was evident from the absorbed
attention with which he followed the experiments, and from his manner
of taking notes,--not at random, like most of the students, but at
well-chosen points perceptible only to a person already in possession
of a commanding view of the whole subject. By a little stratagem, I
contrived one day to get hold of his note-book, and was surprised at
the accurate observations, the acute suggestions, and range of
information indicated by the marginal queries. Those who have ever
experienced the delight of discovering an intellect--discovery more
precious than that of a gold min