Produced by Al Haines
The Eye of Osiris
A Detective Story by
R. Austin Freeman
Second Series
P. F. Collier & Son Company - New York
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
The school of St. Margaret's Hospital was fortunate in its lecturer onMedical Jurisprudence, or Forensic Medicine, as it is sometimesdescribed. At some schools the lecturer on this subject is appointedapparently for the reason that he lacks the qualifications to lectureon any other. But with us it was very different: John Thorndyke wasnot only an enthusiast, a man of profound learning and greatreputation, but he was an exceptional teacher, lively and fascinatingin style and of endless resources. Every remarkable case that had everbeen reported he appeared to have at his fingers' ends; everyfact—chemical, physical, biological, or even historical—that could inany way be twisted into a medico-legal significance, was pressed intohis service; and his own varied and curious experiences seemed asinexhaustible as the widow's curse. One of his favorite devices forgiving life and interest to a rather dry subject was that of analyzingand commenting upon contemporary cases as reported in the papers(always, of course, with a due regard to the legal and socialproprieties); and it was in this way that I first became introduced tothe astonishing series of events that was destined to exercise so greatan influence on my own life.
The lecture which had just been concluded had dealt with the ratherunsatisfactory subject of survivorship. Most of the students had leftthe theater, and the remainder had gathered round the lecturer's tableto listen to the informal comments that Dr. Thorndyke was wont todeliver on these occasions in an easy, conversational manner, leaningagainst the edge of the table and apparently addressing his remarks toa stick of blackboard chalk that he held in his fingers.
"The problem of survivorship," he was saying, in reply to a questionput by one of the students, "ordinarily occurs in cases where thebodies of the parties are producible, or where, at any rate, theoccurrence of death and its approximate time are actually known. Butan analogous difficulty may arise in a case where the body of one ofthe parties is not forthcoming, and the fact of death may have to beassumed on collateral evidence.
"Here, of course, the vital question to be settled is, what is thelatest instant at which it is certain that this person was alive? Andthe settlement of that question may turn on some circumstance of themost trivial and insignificant kind. There is a ca