or accident, with but one opportunity in a lifetime! In the cerebrum,
the intellect and the affections; in the cerebellum, the senses and the
motor forces; in the medulla oblongata, control of the diaphragm. In
these two latter lie all the essentials of simple existence. The
cerebrum is merely an adornment; that is to say, reason and the
affections are almost purely ornamental. I have already proved it. My
dog, with its cerebrum removed, was idiotic, but it retained its
physical senses to a certain degree."

While thus ruminating he made careful preparations. He moved the couch,
replaced the operating-table under the skylight, selected a number of
surgical instruments, prepared certain drug-mixtures, and arranged
water, towels, and all the accessories of a tedious surgical operation.
Suddenly he burst into laughter.

"Poor fool!" he exclaimed. "Paid me five thousand dollars to kill him!
Didn't have the courage to snuff his own candle! Singular, singular,
the queer freaks these madmen have! You thought you were dying, poor
idiot! Allow me to inform you, sir, that you are as much alive at this
moment as ever you were in your life. But it will be all the same to
you. You shall never be more conscious than you are now; and for all
practical purposes, so far as they concern you, you are dead
henceforth, though you shall live. By the way, how should you feel
_without a head_? Ha, ha, ha!... But that's a sorry joke."

He lifted the unconscious form from the lounge and laid it upon the
operating-table.

* * * * *

About three years afterwards the following conversation was held
between a captain of police and a detective:

"She may be insane," suggested the captain.

"I think she is."

"And yet you credit her story!"

"I do."

"Singular!"

"Not at all. I myself have learned something."

"What!"

"Much, in one sense; little, in another. You have heard those queer
stories of her husband. Well, they are all nonsensical--probably with
one exception. He is generally a harmless old fellow, but peculiar. He
has performed some wonderful surgical operations. The people in his
neighborhood are ignorant, and they fear him and wish to be rid of him;
hence they tell a great many lies about him, and they come to believe
their own stories. The one important thing that I have learned is that
he is almost insanely enthusiastic on the subject of surgery--especially
experimental surgery; a