Ambrose Bierce

“ By extending an arm any one of them could have touched the eighth man, who lay on the table, face upward, partly covered by a sheet, his arms at his sides, He was dead.
The man with the book was not reading aloud, and no one spoke; all seemed to be waiting for something to occur; the dead man only was without expectation. From the blank darkness outside came in, through the aperture that served for a window, all the ever unfamiliar noises of night in the wilderness—the long nameless note of a distant coyote; the stilly pulsing thrill of tireless insects in trees ”

“ There are sounds that we cannot hear. At either end of the scale are notes that stir no chord of that imperfect instrument, the human ear. They are too high or too grave. I have observed a flock of blackbirds occupying an entire tree-top—the tops of several trees—and all in full song, Suddenly in a moment—at absolutely the came instant—all spring into the air and fly away. How? They coud not all see one another—whole tree-tops intervened. At no point could a leader have been visible to all. ”

“ A Man Though Naked May Be in Rags
The coroner rose from his seat and stood beside the dead man, Lifting an edge of the sheet he pulled it away, exposing the entire body, altogther naked and showing in the candle-light a clay-like yellow. ”

“ They had, in trath, seen all this before; the only thing that was new to them being Harker's testimony.
"Gentlemen," the coroner said, "we have no more evidence, I think, Your duty has been already explained to you; if there is nothing you wish to ask you may go outside and consider your verdict."
The foreman rose—a tall, bearded man of sixty, coarsely clad.
"I should like to ask one question, Mr. Coroner," he said. "What asylum did this yer last witness escape from?"
"Mr, Harker," said the coroner gravely and tranguilly, "from what asylum did you last escape?" ”

“ In the diary of the late Hugh Morgan are certain interesting entries having possibly, a scientific value as suggestions. At the inquest upon his body the book was not put in evidence; possibly the coroner thought it not worth while to confuse the jury. The date of the first of the entries mentioned cannot be ascertained; the upper part of the leaf is torn away ”

“ At each end of the solar spectrum the chemist can detect the presence of what are known as 'actinic' rays. They represent colors—integral colors in the com-Position of light—which we are unable to discern. The human eye is an impe-fect instrument ”