Besides the uncial writing on the convex side of the sherd at the top, painted in dull red, on what had once been the lip of the amphora, was the cartouche already mentioned as being on the scarabaeus, which we had also found in the casket.

Mathematics, counseled Thomas Bradwardine, should be allowed to exercise the authority which is its proper due. For it is, he claimed “the revelatrix of untainted truth, has brought to light every hidden secret, and carries the key to all subtle letters.”

Shake the test tube well, and the liquid should slowly clear.

The standing woman is overweight, with scraped-back and barretted bleach- blond hair and a jowly face of detonated capillaries.