The Justice of a Body Snatcher
– a love story by renan goksin –
Episode Five: A River of Humanity
Herman always had to duck when entering Augustus’ study to avoid the tentacles of the octopus plaster hanging from the ceiling. It was much more than a doctor’s room. Upon entering, one was submerged into a river of humanity where the past and the present swirled around in myriads of artifacts and the phosphorescence of the future. Augustus disliked keeping things inside closed glass cabinets. Cabinets gave him an aura of insincerity. In Augustus’ study, everything was out in the open, floating at hand’s reach. He was not a collector; he was a gatherer. Burgen and the surrounding districts abounded with Celtic relics. The Doctor would also venture to the warehouses and forage for artifacts and specimens from as far away as the Kongo, which he could obtain from rowdy Portuguese merchants, sometimes in exchange for as little as a bag of raw opium.
Even with Alphonsina looming in his mind, Herman couldn’t help letting his eyes meander and breathe in the elixirious smell of sulphur and resin mixed with the muskiness of old paper and leather wafted from past centuries. On the walnut desk rested an exquisite miniature brass replica of Kepler’s five solids. A telescope was next to a microscope, and neither looked out of place side by side. Scattered around them were various eyepieces and achromatic lenses of different focal lengths. The French Encyclopedia’s first edition lay open on the desk. Next to it were the two volumes of Don Quixote and Orpheus and Eurydice. The wall-to-wall mahogany bookshelf was loaded with contemporary books and the classics, mixed in indiscriminately, but they were all there: Linnaeus, Harvey, Voltaire keeping company with Dante. Then, amongst jars and bottles, was an infected human hand, marked with brown lesions of syphilis, floating inside a yellowish solution of alcohol and mercury. Next to it, a mechanical model of the solar system, fossils, and then skulls of various sizes filled with sand. Yet nothing jarred; all blended harmoniously. Because all reflected the vision of one singular mind tracing his own footsteps.
“You don’t have children. What will happen to all this?” Herman had once asked, genuinely concerned. “I will leave them to you,” Augustus replied. He hadn’t smiled, but his eyes did.
Doctor Augustus felt a special bond with Herman. It was exceedingly rare for Augustus to maintain a long-term friendship with anyone. He recognised a touch of himself in Herman, especially of his less cynical self in the younger days. Both men shared the same empirical, fearlessly inquisitive outlook towards the world around them. Although Herman lacked Augustus’ cold, scalpel-like edge, he also possessed something Augustus missed: the fire of an inborn fury. Herman was furious at not being able to understand the world, furious at not being able to ease the suffering of others, furious at the transience of all things and ultimately furious for having been born. No rationality, no science, sufficed to appease him. Herman needed more. Dr. Augustus knew well that only those who still retained hope, even if somewhere as deep as in the marrow of their bones, could afford anger. Anger is longing for love.
to be continued…
next episode: 6- “How does one become oneself?”