CHAPTER VII.

A WIZARD'S TEACHING.

During the six months which followed, Leon advanced rapidly in his studies. His regular routine was to spend a specified number of hours each day in the magnificently appointed chemical laboratory; to accompany the Doctor upon many of his professional rounds, especially to hospital cases, and to the tenements of the poor; and in the evening it became usually their custom to spend an hour together, during which the Doctor gave his pupil oral instruction, rehea.r.s.ed him in what he had already learned, and set new tasks for him to master.

This hour was generally the last before bedtime. After dinner the Doctor's habit was to yield himself to the demands of his wife, who delighted to carry him off to social functions, or to the theatres.

Leon very rarely accompanied them. He remained at home to study, and was ready to meet his teacher at the appointed hour, which was seldom later than eleven o'clock. Dr. Medjora was a great disciplinarian, and had Leon been differently const.i.tuted, he might have rebelled at the amount of work which he was expected to accomplish each day. But he never uttered complaint of any sort. Indeed, he seemed to have an unlimited capacity for study, so that his a.s.siduity, coupled with a marvellous memory, rendered his progress very rapid. Nevertheless the Doctor was not satisfied. He was impatient to see the day arrive when Leon should reach the same pinnacle of knowledge which he himself had attained, in order that thereafter they might traverse the road to fame hand in hand, leaning upon and a.s.sisting one another.

At last the day, the hour, arrived, beyond which the Doctor had decided to pursue their sluggish method no further. He knew how to teach Leon in one year, all that he had learned by weary plodding throughout the greater part of his life. But it was essential to his scheme, that he should be able to hypnotize Leon, and in this he had made one trial which had failed. During the months which had pa.s.sed since then, he had matured a plan which he was sure would prove successful, and now he entered his pupil's presence prepared to carry it into execution.

Leon was reading, but instantly closed his book and laid it aside, greeting the Doctor, not as the foolish schoolboy afraid of his master, but as the ardent student eager for learning. The Doctor seated himself in a comfortable Turkish chair, and began as follows:

"Leon, are you tired? Could you prolong the hour a little to-night if I should not otherwise find time for what I wish to say?"

"I will gladly listen to you till morning, Doctor," replied Leon.

"You have been taking every night the draught which I prescribed?"

"Yes, sir. There on the table is the potion for to-night."

"You do not know what it is, Leon, and the time has not yet arrived when I can explain its decoction to you. Suffice it for me to tell you, that this colorless liquid is practically the Elixir of Life, for which the ancients sought in vain."

"The Elixir of Life? Why, that is a myth!" Leon almost smiled. But he did not quite, because the expression on the Doctor's face was too serious.

"I said that it is practically the magic fluid. It has the property of supplying the body in twenty-four hours, with the vital energy which it would otherwise need several days of rest and recreation to recover. That is why I prescribe it to you, while you are engaged so arduously upon your studies. Do you not find that you are less easily fatigued?"

"I do, indeed. It is certainly a wonderful invigorator!"

"Leon," said the Doctor, after a slight pause, "I believe that I have your confidence and trust?"

"Absolutely, Doctor!"

"Would you take any drug that I might administer, without knowing its effects, and without questioning my motive, so long as I a.s.sure you that you would be benefited?"

"I would!"

"I will put you to the test, but, in exchange for your trust, I will tell you in part what I mean to do." He took a small phial from his pocket, a tiny tube containing less than five minims of a clear colorless liquid. "In this little bottle, Leon, there is a medicine of frightful potency. One drop would suffice to destroy a human life. But mixed with your nightly draught, a new chemical compound is produced, which, though harmless, will so energize the brain-cells that the powers of recollection will be more than trebled. By this means, your progress can be very much enhanced, for instead of receiving what I offer to you each night, and a.s.similating a part of it, you will find in the future that all my words will be indelibly imprinted upon your mind."

"I would have taken the drug without your explanation, Doctor, but now I am eager for the experiment."

"This is no experiment, Leon. Beware of operating upon a human being when your knowledge is so meagre that you must resort to experimental tests." There was a touch of deep feeling in the Doctor's tones, as though he might at some time have made the error against which he admonished the lad. Leon, however, did not observe anything out of the common. He was intent upon what the Doctor was about to do. Dr.

Medjora carefully removed the tiny gla.s.s stopper from the phial, and, holding it in his left hand, took up the gla.s.s from the table with his right. Pausing a moment he exclaimed:

"Watch!"

Then with a quick movement he poured the contents of the phial into the liquid in the gla.s.s. Instantly there was a commotion. There was a sound of water boiling, and a sort of steam arose.

"The poisonous properties are thrown off, you see, in the form of gas," said the Doctor.

The liquid in the gla.s.s, from having been colorless, was now converted into a bright green, but as Leon watched he was astonished to see this emerald hue gradually fade, until within a minute it had disappeared, and the fluid was as colorless as before.

"Observe, Leon," said the Doctor, "how easily I could have administered the added drug without your knowledge, for just as you see no difference that the eye can detect, so also will your potion be as tasteless as before. Will you drink it?"

Leon took the gla.s.s and drank, without hesitation.

"I thank you for this evidence of your faith in me," said the Doctor, and pausing awhile, presently spoke again: "Leon, you were probably surprised when, as a part of your task for to-night, I told you to read a portion of the book of Genesis, in the Bible. I had a special purpose in view, which I will now explain. I have a sort of story to tell, which at first may seem entirely unconnected with our work, but bear with me, be closely attentive, and you will soon discover that all I shall say has an important bearing. The beginning of the Bible of the Jews should make all who study it pause to consider a singular circ.u.mstance. The creation of the world, and all that occurred up to the time of the Flood, is narrated in seven short chapters, the end of the seventh recording the Flood itself, and the almost total annihilation of all the creatures of the earth. But from the Flood up to the nativity of the Christ, we find the historian well stocked with facts, and hundreds of pages are filled with his narration."

"Was it not because Moses, or the author of the earlier books, had more data concerning the events following the Flood, than those which preceded it? Indeed, it is probable that the Flood itself obliterated the records of previous times."

"A good argument, my boy, if we consider the Bible as a mere history.

But does not the religious world claim that it is an inspired work? If the Creator actually revealed the past to Moses, then there was no reason why he could not have been as explicit about the occurrences before the Flood, as after? But your explanation is the true one. The author of Genesis did not have access to actual records, but could merely generalize from the legends then in existence. There are two events in the history of the world which stand out pre-eminently important. First, the Flood, which destroyed mankind, and second, the discovery of America, which restored a lost continent. That these two events have a very close relationship is suspected only by a few scientists."

"How are they connected? A great period of time separates them."

"True. But let me tell you the real story of the Flood, and you will comprehend my meaning. I shall not stop to give you arguments to substantiate what I say, because that would take too long, and would lead us away from what I am aiming at. However, while my own knowledge of the facts was received from other sources, when you have the time you will find the whole subject ably expounded in a work in my library, ent.i.tled _The Lost Histories of America_, by Blacket.

"At the time of the Flood, or just prior thereto, the highest civilization in the world existed in Mexico. There, a vast empire flourished. The arts and sciences had received much attention, and beautiful cities, populated by cultured people, abounded everywhere in the land. Navigation was well understood, and colonies from Mexico had made new homes for themselves on the western coast of Africa, in Ireland and England, along the Mediterranean, and, in the opposite direction, they had even penetrated Asia, crossing the vast Pacific.

Then came that great convulsion which all peoples, in all climes, remember to-day through legends of waters rising and submerging the whole surface of the earth. It is probable that a great tidal wave narrowed the continents of North and South America along both sh.o.r.es, eating away the central portion more extensively, the complete division of the two being prevented only by the mountainous character of the region. In South America, we find the southermost part narrowed to a point."

"Do you mean that South America was once wider?"

"The proof of my a.s.sertion lies in the ruins and monuments still to be found buried beneath the waves, hundreds of miles from the sh.o.r.e, though some were undoubtedly on islands which also sunk at this time.

What would be the first effects of a cataclysm of such magnitude? The ships at sea, if they escaped at all, would sail for home. Arriving where the original sh.o.r.es had been, and finding nothing for even fifty miles beyond, the survivors would imagine that the whole country had been lost, and so would turn towards those other sh.o.r.es which their race had colonized. They would carry with them the story of the Flood which had submerged the whole of the western continent, and from this account we would finally inherit our version of the awful event.

Having accepted the theory of the destruction of their home-land, and being thus compelled to adopt permanently their new abiding-places, would not these colonists immediately set about making their new home to resemble as much as possible the old? Undoubtedly! Hence we find them building the tower of Babel, in which project they were foiled by the confusion of tongues. Would it surprise you, however, to know that a similar legend is found in Central America?"

"I am ignorant, Doctor, of all that pertains to the subject.

Therefore, of course, I should be surprised, but I am deeply interested."

"The legend is still current among the natives dwelling near the pyramid of Cholula, to which it alludes, but I will give you a version of it which is recorded in a ma.n.u.script of Pedro de Los Rios. It is as follows:

"Before the great inundation, which took place four thousand eight hundred years after the creation of the World, the country of Anahuac was inhabited by giants. All those who did not perish were transformed into fishes, save seven, who fled into caverns. When the waters subsided, one of these giants, Xelhua, surnamed the Architect, went to Chollolan, where, as a memorial of the mountain Tlaloc, which had served for an asylum to himself and his six brethren, he built an artificial hill in form of a pyramid.... The G.o.ds beheld with wrath this edifice, the top of which was to reach the clouds.

Irritated at the daring attempt of Xelhua, they hurled fire [lightning?] on the pyramid. Numbers of the workmen perished; the work was discontinued."

"Indeed, Doctor, the two traditions are similar. How is that to be understood, since certainly from the time of the Flood, until the discovery by Columbus, there was no communication between the Old and the so-called New World?"

"Wherever, in two places devoid of communication, similar occurences are recorded, they have a common inspiration. So it was in this instance. The colonists built the temple to their G.o.d whom they had worshipped in Mexico. The Mexicans did likewise, moved to the action by the destruction of all their places of worship, because of the great inroad made by the sea, and the consequent narrowing of the land. In both instances, we can understand the desire to attain a great height, in order to have a place of safety if a second flood were to supervene. Now let me call your attention to a little coincidence. You observe in the Mexican story that seven giants were saved. This number seven has always been considered a numeral of great significance, by all the religionists of olden times. Thus the author of the book of Genesis so divided the beginning of his narration, that the creation of the world and all that occurred up to the Flood, is told in seven chapters. Depending upon legends for his facts about that period, which the Mexican story says covered forty-eight hundred years, he condenses it all into the mystic number of seven chapters."

"From all this, then, I am to believe that the story of the Flood is true in the main? I had always supposed that it was either a myth, or an exaggeration of some local inundation?"

"Undoubtedly the great Flood occurred. But now I come to the object which I had in telling you all this. The great pyramids in Mexico, or _teocali_ as they were called, were temples, places of worship consecrated to the G.o.d Tesculipoca. Would it surprise you to hear that this Mexican deity is no other than aesculapius, commonly called the father of medicine?"

"It would, indeed!"

"Yet it is true. Like many other of the mythological G.o.ds of Europe, he really existed in Mexico. The quickest manner of recognizing him, is by his name. Let us place the Mexican and the European, one under the other: