Take
them both, and use them discreetly."
Atterley quitted the cell, and waited with feverish expectation for
the termination of the allotted two hours, when, to his inexpressible
delight, he found, on re-entering the cell, that not only did the
Brahmin breathe, but that he slept soundly; and, in the course of an
hour, he awoke, almost restored to health. This event, however, was
the occasion of a more early disclosure of the Brahmin's important
secret, but not until he had recovered his ordinary health and
vigour:--
"I have already told you, my dear Atterley, that I was born and
educated at Benares, and that science is there more thoroughly
understood and taught than the people of the west are aware of. We
have, for many thousands of years, been good astronomers, chymists,
mathematicians, and philosophers. We had discovered the secret of
gunpowder, the magnetic attraction, the properties of electricity,
long before they were heard of in Europe. We know more than we have
revealed, and much of our knowledge is deposited in the archives of
the castle to which I belong, but, for want of language generally
understood and easily learnt, (for these records are always written in
the Sanscrit, that is no longer a spoken language,) and the diffusion
which is given by the art of printing, these secrets of science are
communicated only to a few, and sometimes even sleep with their
authors, until a subsequent discovery, under more favourable
circumstances, brings them again to light.
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