Joseph Balsamo (75 page)
“No, it is not too much,” said Balsamo ; “it is not even enough.”
” However, I am satisfied with it. Twenty years of war,
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of a bloody, mortal, incessant strife ; let me see I put down that at two hundred thousand dead each year. That is not too high a calculation, considering that there will be fighting at the same time in Germany, Italy, Spain, and Heaven knows where else ! Two hundred thousand men a year, in twenty years make four millions. Allowing each man seventeen pounds of blood, which is nearly the natural quantity, that will make seventeen multiplied by four let me see that will make sixty-eight millions of pounds of blood, shed for the attainment of your object. I, for my part, ask but three drops. Say, now, which of us is mad ? which of us is the savage ? which of us the cannibal ? Well, you do not answer ?”
” Yes, master, I do answer, that three drops of blood would be nothing were you sure of success ‘
“And you, who would shed sixty-eight millions of pounds, are you sure of success ? Speak. If you be sure, lay your hand on your heart and say, ‘ Master, for these four millions of dead I guarantee the happiness of the human race !”
” Master,” said Balsamo, evading a direct reply, “in the name of Heaven, seek for some other means than this ! “
” Ah, you dare not answer me ! ” You dare not answer me ! ” exclaimed Althotas, triumphantly.
“You are deceived, master, about the efficacy of the means it is impossible.”
” Aye ? So you give advice, so you contradict me, so you give me the lie, do you ?” said Althotas, rolling his gray eyes from beneath his white and shaggy eyebrows with an expression of concentrated anger.
“No, master but I cannot help reflecting on the difficulties in your way I, who am brought every day into contact with the world, in opposition to men who have to struggle against princes, and who do not live like you, secluded in a corner, indifferent to all that passes around you, and careless whether your actions are forbidden or authorized by the laws a pure abstraction, in short, of the savant and the scholar. I, in short, who see the difficulties, warn you of them. That is all.”
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” You could easily set aside all those difficulties if you chose.”
” Say, rather, if I believed that you were in the right.”
“‘You do not believe so, then ?”
” No,” said Balsamo.
” You are only tempting me ! ” cried Althotas.
” No ; 1 merely express my doubts.”
” Well, come ; do you believe in death ?”
” I believe in what is. Now, death is.”
Althotas shrugged his shoulders.
” Death is,” continued Balsamo ; ” that is one point which you will not contest.”
” No, it is incontestable. It is omnipresent, invincible, too is it not ? ” added the old man, with a smile which made his adept shudder.
” Oh, yes, master; omnipresent, and, above all invincible.”
11 And when you see a corpse, the cold sweat bedews your forehead, regret pierces your heart ? “
” No, the cold sweat does not bedew my forehead, because I am familiar with every form of human misery ; grief does not pierce my heart, because I attach little value to life. I only say in the presence of a corpse : Death ! Death ! thou art as powerful as God. Thou reignest as a sovereign, oh, Death, and none can prevail against thee I “
Althotas listened to Balsamo in silence, giving no other sign of impatience than that of turning a scalpel eagerly in his fingers ; but when the pupil had ended his painful and solemn invocation, the master looked around him with a smile, and his piercing eyes, which seemed to penetrate nature’s most hidden secrets, rested on a poor black dog, wdich lay trembling in a corner of the room on a little heap of straw. It was the last of three animals of the same species which Althotas had demanded for his experiments, and which Balsamo had procured for him.
” Take that dog,” said Althotas, “and place it on the table.”
Balsamo obeyed
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The creature, which seemed to have a presentiment of its fate, and which had, no doubt, already been in the hands of the experimenter, began to tremble, struggle, and howl, as soon as it felt the contact of the marble table.
“And so,” said Althotas, “you believe in life, do you not, since you believe in death ‘
” Certainly.”
” There is a dog which appears to me quite alive. What do you think ? “
” He is alive, assuredly, because he howls, struggles, is terrified.”
” How ugly black dogs are ! By the bye, remember the first opportunity to get me some white ones.”
” I will endeavor to do so.”
” Well, you say this one is alive ? Bark, my little fellow, bark ! ” said the old man, with his frightful laugh ; ” we must convince my Lord Acharat that you are alive.” And he touched the dog on a certain muscle, which made him bark, or, rather, howl immediately.
” Very well ; now bring forward the air-pump, and put the dog under the receiver. But I forgot to ask you in which death you have the firmest belief.”
“I do not know what you mean, master ; death is death.”
” Very just ; that is my opinion also. Then, since death is death, make a vacuum, Acharat.”
Balsamo turned a handle, and the air, which was inclosed with the dog in the receiver, rushed out by means of a tube with a sharp whistling sound. The little dog seemed at first restless, then looked around, sniffed the air uneasily, raised its head, breathed noisily and hurriedly, and at last sunk down suffocated, swollen, senseless.
“Now, the dog is dead of apoplexy, is he not ?” said Althotas ; ” a very good kind of death, as it does not cause much suffering.”
” Yes.”
” Is he really dead ? “
” Certainly he is.”
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” You do not seem quite convinced Acharat.”
” Yes, I assure you I am.”
” Oh, you know my resources, do you not ? You suppose that I have discovered the art of insufflation, do you not that other problem which consists in restoring life by making the vital air circulate in a body which has not been wounded, as in a bladder, which has not been pierced ? “
” No ; I suppose nothing. I simply believe that the dog is dead.”
” However, for greater security, we shall kill him twice. Lift up the receiver, Acharat.”
Acharat raised the glass shade. The dog did not stir ; his eyelids were closed, and his heart had ceased to beat.
” Take this scalpel, and, without wounding the larynx, divide the vertebral column.”
” I do so only to satisfy you.”
” And also to put an end to the poor animal in case it should not be quite dead,” replied Althotas, smiling with that kind of obstinate pertinacity peculiar to the aged.
Balsamo made an incision with the keen blade, which divided the vertebral column about two inches below the brain, and laid bare a large, bloody wound. The animal, or, rather, the dead body of the animal, remained motionless.
” Ha ! by my faith, he was quite dead,” said Althotas. ” See, not a fiber moves, not a muscle stirs ; not one atom of his flesh recoils at this second attempt.”
” I shall acknowledge all that, as often as you like,” said Balsamo, impatiently.
” Then you are certain that you behold an animal, in-ert, cold, forever incapable of motion. Nothing can prevail against death, you say. No power can restore life, or even the semblance of life to this poor creature ?”
” No power, except that of God.”
“Yes, but God turns not aside from His established laws. When God kills, as He is supreme wisdom, He has a reason for doing so ; some benefit is to result from it. An assassin, I forget his name, said that once, and it was
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well said. Nature has an interest in Death. Then yon see before you a dog as dead as it is possible to be. Na-ture has taken possession of her rights over him.”
Althotas fixed his piercing eye on Balsamo, who, wearied by the old man’s dotage, only bowed in reply.
” Well ‘ continued Althotas, ” what would yon say if this dog opened his eye and looked at you ? “
” I should be very much surprised, master.”
“You would be surprised ? Ha ! I am delighted to hear it.” On uttering these words with his dreary, hollow laugh, the old man drew near the dog a machine composed of plates of metal separated by clampers of cloth : the center of this apparatus was swimming in a mixture of acidulated water, the two extremities, or poles, as they are called, projecting from the trough.
” Which eye do you wish him to open, Acharat ? ” asked the old man.
” The right.”
He placed the two poles of the machine in juxtaposi-tion, separated, however, from each other by a small piece of silk, and fixed them on the muscle in the neck. . Instantly the dog opened the right eye and looked steadily at Balsamo, who recoiled with horror.
” Shall we now pass to the jaws ? ” said Althotas.
Balsamo made no reply ; he was overpowered with astonishment. Another muscle was touched ; and the eye having closed, the jaws opened, showing the sharp, white teeth, and below them the gums red and quivering apparently with life.
“This is, in truth, strange ” murmured Balsamo, un-able to conceal his agitation.
“You see that death is not so powerful, after all,” said Althotas, triumphing at the discomfiture of his pupil, t since a poor old man like me, who must soon be its prey, can turn it the inexorable one from its path.” Then, with a sharp, ringing laugh, he suddenly added : ” Take care, Acharat, the dog who just now seemed as if he would bite you, is going to give you chase. Take care ! “
And, in fact, the dog, with its neck laid open, its gap-
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ing mouth and quivering eye, rose suddenly on its four legs, and staggered for a moment, its head hanging down hideously. Balsamo felt his hair stand on end, and he recoiled to the wall of the apartment, uncertain whether to fly or remain.
” Come, come, I do not wish to kill you with fright in trying to instruct you,” said Althotas, pushing aside the dead body and the machine. ” Enough of experiments like that.”
Immediately the body, ceasing to be in contact with the battery, fell down, stiff and motionless as before.
” Could you have believed that of death, Acharat ? Did you think it so kindly disposed ?”
“It is strange, in truth very strange I” replied Balsamo, drawing nearer.
” You see, my child, that we may arrive at what I seek, for the first step toward it is made. What is it to prolong life, when we have already succeeded in annihilating death?”
” But we must not assume that yet,” objected Balsamo ; ” for the life which you have just restored is only ficti-tious.”
” “With time we shall discover the real life. Have you not read in the Roman poets that Cassideeus restored life to dead bodies ? “
” Yes ; in the works of the poets.”
” Do not forget, my friend, that the Romans called poets vates.”
” But I have still an objection to offer.”
” Let me hear it ! Let me hear it ! “
“If your elixir of life were nmde,.and if you caused this dog to swallow some of it, he would live eternally ? “
” Without doubt.”
” But suppose he fell into the hands of an experimenter like you who cut his throat what then ? “
” Good ! good ! ” cried the old man, joyfully, and rubbing his hands together; “this is what I expected from you.”
” Well, if you expected it, reply to it.”
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” I ask no better.”
” Will your elixir prevent a chimney from falling on a man’s head, a pistol-ball from going through his heart, a horse from giving him a kick that shall destroy him ? “
Althotas looked at Balsamo with the eye of a bravo who feels that he has exposed himself to his adversary’s blow.
” No, no, no !” said he ; “you are a real logician, my dear Acharat. Ko, I cannot prevent the effects of the chimney, or of the ball, or of the horse, while there are houses, fire-arms, and horses.”
” However, you can bring the dead to life ?”
” Why, yes for a moment, not for an indefinite period. In order to do that, I must first discover the spot where the soul is lodged, and that may be rather tedious ; but I can prevent the soul from leaving the body by a wound.”
“How so?”
” By causing the wound to close up.”
” Even if an artery be divided ? “
” Certainly.”
” Ah ! I should like to see that done.”
“Very well look!” And before Balsamo could prevent him, the old man opened a vein in his left arm with a lancet. There was so little blood in his body, and it circulated so slowly, that it was some time before it issued from the wound, but at last it did flow abundantly.
” Great Heaven ! ” cried Balsamo.
” Well, what is the matter ?” said Althotas.
” You have wounded yourself seriously.”
” That is because you are so skeptical ; you must pee and touch before you will believe.”
He then took a little vial which he had placed near him, and poured a few drops of .its contents on the wound.
” Look ! ” said he.
At the touch of this magic fluid the blood ceased to flow, the flesh contracted, closing up the vein, and the wound became merely like the prick of a pin, too small an opening for the vital stream to issue from.
This time Balsamo gazed at the old man in amazement.
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” That is another of my discoveries, Acharat. “What do you think of it ?”
” Oh, master, you are the most learned of men ! “
” Yes ; acknowledge that if I have not conquered death, I have at least dealt it a blow from which it will not readily recover. The bones of the human body are easily broken ; I shall render them, my son, as hard as steel. It has blood which, when it is shed, carries life along with it. I shall prevent the blood from leaving the body. The flesh is soft and can be pierced without difficulty ; I shall make it invulnerable as that of the paladins of the Middle Ages, which blunted the edge of swords and axes. But to do all that it requires an Althotas who shall live three hundred years. “Well, give me, then, what I ask, and I shall lire one thousand. Oh, my dear Acharat, all depends on you. Give me back my youth ; give me back the vigor of my body ; give me back the freshness of my ideas ; and you shall see whether I fear the sword, the ball, the tottering wall, or the stupid beast which bites or kicks. In my fourth youth, Acharat, that is, before I have lived to the age of four men, I tell you I shall have renewed the face of the world I shall have made for myself and for a regenerated race of men a new world, without falling chimneys, without swords, without musket-balls, without kicking horses ; for men will then understand that it is better to live to help and love one another than to tear each other to pieces, and to destroy one another.”