It appears that we have upon the top of our heads an exceedingly thick crust." "Who told you that, Porthos ?" "The doctor.

A sort of dome which would bear Notre-Dame, at Paris." "Bah!" "Yes, it seems that our skulls are made in that manner." "Speak for yourself, my dear fellow, it is your own skull that is made in that manner, and not the skulls of other people." "Well, that may be so," said Porthos, conceitedly, "so much, however, was that the case, in my instance, that no soon did the luster fall upon the dome which we have at the top of our head, than there was a report like a cannon, the crystal was broken to pieces, and I fell, covered from head to foot." "With blood, poor Porthos!" "Not at all; with perfumes, which smelled like rich creams; it was delicious, but the odor was too strong, and I felt quite giddy from it; perhaps you have experienced it sometimes yourself, D'Artagnan ?" "Yes, in inhaling the scent of the lily of the valley; so that, my poor friend, you were knocked over by the shock and overpowered by the odor ?" "Yes; but what is very remarkable, for the doctor told me he had never seen anything like it--" "You had a bump on your head, I suppose ?" interrupted D'Artagnan.
"I had five." "Why five ?" "I will tell you; the luster had, at its lower extremity, five gilt ornaments, excessively sharp." "Oh!" "Well, these five ornaments penetrated my hair, which, as you see, I wear very thick." "Fortunately so." "And they made a mark on my skin.

But just notice the singularity of it, these things seem really only to happen to me! Instead of making indentations, they made bumps.

The doctor could never succeed in explaining that to me satisfactorily." "Well, then, I will explain it to you." "You will do me a great service if you will," said Porthos, winking his eyes, which, with him, was a sign of profoundest attention.
"Since you have been employing your brain in studies of an exalted character, in important calculations, and so on, the head has gained a certain advantage, so that your head is now too full of science." "Do you think so ?" "I am sure of it.

The result is, that, instead of allowing any foreign matter to penetrate the interior of the head, your bony box or skull, which is already too full, avails itself of the openings which are made in it, allowing this excess to escape." "Ah!" said Porthos, to whom this explanation appeared clearer than that of the doctor.
"The five protuberances, caused by the five ornaments of the luster, must certainly have been scientific masses, brought to the surface by the force of circumstances." "In fact," said Porthos, "the real truth is, that I felt far worse outside my head than inside.