isitely worked and studded with gems.
Taking it hastily to the shaded lamp upon a table at the extremity of
the chamber, he attempted to open it, but his attempts were vain.
Indeed, to all appearances, it was a solid block of ebony, and its
extreme heaviness, compared with its dimensions, seemed to favor the
idea.

"Well?" said the doctor, returning the casket, after a close scrutiny,
to the Nubian, who had followed him.

Ali took the casket, and instantly a portion of the top flew up,
disclosing within the centre of the cube of ebony a cavity lined with
crimson velvet, and a dazzling array of minute vials of crystal, each
filled with a fluid--pink, blue, green and yellow in hue, while the
contents of several were colorless. The Nubian had touched a spring
concealed in the carving, and known only to his master and himself.

The physician removed the minute vials one after another from their
receptacles, and held them up to the light; on each was a cipher, and on
no two was the same. Most of them were quite filled with the fluid
contained, but some were only half full, while one was nearly empty. Dr.
Orfila looked closely at the cipher upon each vial as he removed it from
the casket. He then held it to the light to determine its particular hue
or shade, and sometimes withdrew the crystal stopper ground into the
deep mouth, touching it cautiously and quickly to his nostril or the tip
of his tongue. "Morphia, cinchonia, quinia, lobelia, belladonna,
narcotina, bromine, arsenicum, strychnos colubrina, brucoea
ferruginea," muttered the savant, as he examined one vial after the
other and replaced it. "Brucoea ferruginea--ha! brucine! I thought as
much," exclaimed he, holding up the vial, which showed, by being nearly
empty, that its contents had been used more frequently than those of any
of the others.

"How many drops of this is the greatest number your master has ever
taken?" asked Dr. Orfila.

The Nubian, who, it will be remembered, was a mute, held up both hands
with the fingers outspread, and then two other fingers of one of his
hands.

"Twelve drops!" cried the astonished physician. "Impossible!"

Ali insisted on the assertion.

"And yet it must be so," the doctor added. "That would explain all."

Taking the vial and a minute crystal vessel, which he found in the
casket, he hastily but carefully dropped into the latter thirteen drops.
Then filling the vessel with water, he approached the patient, who still
s