Malcolm realizes in this passage that the success of Tera's resurrection will shake the fundamental Christian belief of monotheism by proving that the religious principles of the Egyptians held merit and truth. Cowed by this perjurious thought, Malcolm reflexively cuts himself off, thinking, "I dared not follow it!”. However, the question of progression is immediately brought up again in Trelawny's equally unnerving theories on science. In particular, Trelawny posits that the Egyptians had discovered electricity and radioactivity long before nineteenth-century scientists. As Hebblethwaite explains, radioactivity had been recently discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie at the time of "The Jewel of Seven Stars"’ publication, and "electric light was just beginning to be widely used in domestic households…throughout Stoker’s novel, there runs an underlying sense of wonder at modern man’s ability to harness the power of electricity". In light of the fact that these scientific advancements were so recent, the idea that ancient Egyptians had been using this science centuries before is even more staggering.