had inserted a wedge so that he could open it at will. He made
examination of the contents, but came to the conclusion that the glass
objects were unsuitable. They were too light for testing weight, and
they were so frail as to be dangerous to send to such a height.

So he looked around for something more solid with which to experiment.
His eye caught sight of an object which at once attracted him. This was
a small copy of one of the ancient Egyptian gods--that of Bes, who
represented the destructive power of nature. It was so bizarre and
mysterious as to commend itself to his mad humour. In lifting it from
the cabinet, he was struck by its great weight in proportion to its size.
He made accurate examination of it by the aid of some instruments, and
came to the conclusion that it was carved from a lump of lodestone. He
remembered that he had read somewhere of an ancient Egyptian god cut from
a similar substance, and, thinking it over, he came to the conclusion
that he must have read it in Sir Thomas Brown's _Popular Errors_, a book
of the seventeenth century. He got the book from the library, and looked
out the passage:

"A great example we have from the observation of our learned friend Mr.
Graves, in an AEgyptian idol cut out of Loadstone and found among the
Mummies; which still retains its attraction, though probably taken out of
the mine about two thousand years ago."

The strangeness of the figure, and its being so close akin to his own
nature, attracted him. He made from thin wood a large circular runner,
and in front of it placed the weighty god, sending it up to the flying
kite along the throbbing cord.