THE MICROBE OF DEATH.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXVI, Issue 1319, 28 July 1899, Page 7

THE MICROBE OF DEATH.

By Rudolph de Cordova. (Concluded.) I have a laboratory storked with ali the apparatus required for research in this field, where I cultivate* germs of al! sorts and examine them under the miscroscope. One day while examining a solution containing germs derived from a sheep that had died of anthrax — splenic fever, as it is commonly called — the idea came towards the carrying oufc of which I bent all my energy, directed every thought. The anthrax bacillus is undoubtedly one of the most potent in its eflect — perhaps that is the reason why it is so common in every laboratory ; it is a standard article and can be kept dried for months and years, as potent to revive as if used fresh. Yes Scratch a needle upon the medium upon which it has been kept — a piece of gelatin — stick that needie into a guinea-pig — the animal specially designed by natnre for the scientist's slaughter — or inject a drop or two of a solution containing anthrax germs, and the disease breaks forth with undiminished virulence, and in a few hours the animal is dead. I made the experiment dozens of times, always with success from my point of view. Science is selfish in its contemplation. It looks only on one side of the picture, it hears only one side of the argument ; we shut our ears and eyes to the guinea-pigs's objections. In time I came across a sheep suffering with the disease in the most virulent form I had ever seen it. It seemed as if fate were working for me — with m°. I took a few drops of the blood, mixed thpm with solutions of gelatin in test-tubes, and allowed them to develop under the most favourable conditions. ■ I watched them with loving interest as the feathery thread spread onwards in the mass and formed a filmy scum upon its surface. A little solid jeelly in a tube, a whitish substance on the top. No more. It looked so insignificant. Yet death lurked within a scrap of tbat insignificant looking scum — not death whose gentle fingers soothe and carress the weary, spirit-broken frame until the worn-out child of earth sinks on her ample breast and finds sleep and rest — peaceful, long hoped for, too long delayed — nofc death whose clarion call rings loud above the battle's thunder, stirring the blood, stimulating the heart, until man rushes on, proud, defiant, with head erect, impetuous, eager to meet the grizzly foe, and from the bony hands receive a crown of glory as he falls — but death with swift hurrying footsteps, death remorseless, agonising, grim, who terrifies the watchers with a numbing sense of impotence, of impossibility of escape from his all-conquering presence, even though he delays upon the load to shoot an arrow now on this side, now on that. And yet men boast of all their power. What is tbeir vaunting worth when something infinitesiraally small, iodiscetnible as a distinct object, except with powerful glasses, can lay thafc power in the dust ? I dried some of the blood itself on microscope slides, and put them away carefully, as a sort of reserve fund in case of need. The time was approaching. From one of the tubes I removed a minute, quantity of the developed virus and injected it into a rabbit. I Of course the animal died ; more ' rapidly, too, than any of the others on which I had before experimented. I took a needle and rubbed the point upon the gelatin' ; then I stuck it into another rabbit's ear. It died even more quickly than in the. former case. One day I started for a walk, and took with me a piece of the gelatin, on which grew a whole colony of anthrax germs frora the direct cultivation of thafc blood drop. The gelatin I put into a carefully closed little box to preserve its precious inhabitants from harm. I was walking with an army in my waistcoat pocket, an army powerful for action as any furnished with the deadly weapons of to day, as numerous, perhaps, as the combined soldiers of any country. I was going to make an experiment on a larger scale than ever before at another man's expense — whose I neither knew nor cared. Passing by a shop, I noticed a fine large, strong horse standing in a cart in front of the door. Crowds were hurrying on ; men and women jostling, elbowing their way along, intent on tbeir business ; some resenting the passage of the few, moving more rapidly in their endeavour to force a pathway through the closed ranks ; most following in the slow, steady stream, gazing at the wares exhibited in the windows. Where could a better opportunity occur 1 Whpre is one less observed than in a crowd 1 In an instant came the thought : 1 Try your needle prick "On one of these ; make your experiment on a human subject and be sure of the effect.' This thought, which sprang fullarmed from my brain like Minerva — for I had already drawn the needle

rm i r-i-rir'ir ilm*, im umi , \«\t i i- aa»»»faa*MMw in i over the scrap of gelatin — I killed it in its birth. What had any of the crowd done to me that I should bring sorrow in their families 1 In that moment I held in my hand a god-like power, the power to destroy — a power as potent as the thunderbolt of the heathen Jove himself forged by misshapen Vulcan, and yet so slight. A little needle, a uny bar. of polished steel devised for the most inoffensive use, yet in my hands as remorseless as fate itself in dealing out swift death. No, no j the crowd was safe from me. My vengeance was directed against one house, not against mankind at large. I am a man, no fiend. Then I looked again at thatstiong horse. I got in the way of a man ; he pushed me on one side. I pretended to slip, and as I did so I stuck the needle into the horse's lip. He tossed his head up afc the sudden prick, bufc did not attempt to move, so slight was the pain. I had passed a strong piece of silk through the needle's eye to remove it quickly, but I need, not have feared it would be embedded in the poor brute's lip, for I scarcely touched the tnucotfs membrane I knew where the horses belonging to that business were stabled, and next afternoon I passed the place. I went in, and, as if I were a newspaper reporter, made some inquiries as to the number kept, the amount of work they did, etc., and remarked casually that I had noticed two or three very fine animals in the firm's vans the day before. The man to whom I was talking told tne that one of the best had just died with some curious symptoms which they could not understand, and after only a few hours 1 illness. Presently they dragged the carcase out. . It was the creature I had inoculj ated. The trap was made ; the bait prepared. All that remained was to l set it. When ! I must wait my opportunity. • a . .... Ever since I had determined on my scheme of vengeance I had omitted no opportunity of associating Harrison Everard with my work. Did I need a consultation 1 I sent for him Was it necessary to perform a postmortem? I got him to he.D me, either letting him use the knife while I made notes, or I used the knife while he wrot*. 'The medical twins' we might have been called. It w T as even rumoured we should soon enter into partnership. Whatever, then, might happen, no one would dream of looking at me as the author of his death. I Who would imagine that his 1 death was other than on accident ] The time was ripe. The opportunity was at hand. Agatha and he had been married I over two years by this time, and though he and I met often professionally, I had not been to their house more than a few times. I was invited, bufc I could nofc accept hospitality from her. I pleaded work, and the experiments I was making for the book I hacl already begun. All doctors write books nowadays. Ten days ago I was sent for to attend a patient. He was dangerously i 1 !. I'summoned Harrison — we called each other by our Christian nanies — to a consultation. We agreed to watch the case together and meet daily, for tho disease was obscure and complicated. Constant vigilance was necessary if the patient werf, by any possibility, to be saved, which even then seemed doubtful. We went each day to his bedside, and one or the other would remain and watch him for a while after our chat. He was a curious man, alone in the world, the lasfc of his family, and he requested that if he died after this illness we would perform an autopsy to learn exactly what had been the trouble, and then have his body cremated. All this, he informed us, he had desired in his will, so there should be no possibility of neglect, but still be begged us to be sure to follow out his wishes. Of course we promised. After a week his symptoms took another turn, and he began to suffer awful pain. We gave him hypodermics of morphine. Three nights ago I was aroused by an urgent message that he bad suddenly developed alarming symptoms, and the nurse feared the end was near. I went with all haste to him, but before I left I put into my pocket a tiny tube, containing a solution in pure sterilised water of the same generation of the anthrax blood drops I had used in my previous experiments — experiments which had resulted so famously. When I arrived I saw death was certain. It was three o'clock. A black night. It was quiet too, there, high above the street. In an apartment on the seventh floor, even in the din in London, the city's roar becomes a hum, if it be heard at all. But in the dead hours of the night, when everything is hushed, except, the rattle of an occasional hansom wliich rumbles up and down the streets with a belated roysterer returning home, all is peaceful. There was nofc a sound in the apartment save tho ticking of the clock on the mantel that seemed to call off the

seconds left for the poor fellow on the bed, whose heavy breathing was the only other sound that broke the silence I watched the dying man, who was now unconscious. Five o'clock boomed from a ne:ghbouring church, and I roused myself with a start Lorn the half doz 1 } into which I had fallen. The breathing was quieter, the pulse scarcely discernible, the face ashy pale, he could not live an hour more, the end might come at any time. I took the tube from my pocket, and a" hypodermic syringe. The clock on the mantel kept up its dull, monotonous record of the seconds as they flew. I drew into the syringe some of the fluid with its potent germs, turned up the sleive of this dying man's shirt, pressed on the vein-just at the bend of the elbow of his left arm, and, as it swelled, _I stuck the needle into the blood vessel in the direction of the circulation and injected the contents. He did not know what I was doing, his brain had stopped perfoiming its functions, he w»s a mere machine. Nothing that I could do would hasten his death. I used him for my purpose. He was the means to my end. In half an hour he was dead. I returned home, and as 1 walked along the quiofc street, here snd there awakening into life and activity, I looked up at the sky, and there in the east the sun was rising, undimmed by a singe cloud, and in its brightness I read the promise of a day of triumph, a day in which all I wished for most on earth would happen ; in which I should achieve the reward of patience and observation. My vengeance was at hand. As soon as I got home I wrote to Harrison and told him of our patient's death, suggesting twelve o'clook for the autopsy. He agreed. I went to breakfast and ate heartily. Death has no influence on the physician's appetite, or some of us would eat hut little. After breakfast I bandaged up a finger and put on a glove stall as if I had cut myself, for I knew he would not then let rae use the knife for fear of poisoning the wound. We met and went to work. I gave him the tools at his request, as he insisted I should take notes and run no risk of infecting that (supposed) cut. I knew that body was swarming with anthrax bacilli as virulent as they could be. It held death for thousands of men could a nredle stuck in a vein prick deep enough to draw bufc a single drop of blood. i And Harrison Everard had his hands 'in that body. A touch with only one of tbe knives he was using, and my vengeance would be accomplished. But how to do it 1 ? Knock against his arm. Yes, bufc that would probably make a cut, and he could blame himself or me for carelessnees. No, I would rather not do it that way if I could help it. In looking over his shoulder I noticed thafc in cutting through the ribs he had left a jagged edge on one. If I could get him to strike his hand on it ! As he was taking out the heart I saw him leave his knife in the cavity, and as he put out his hand to regain it, I turned suddenly and spoke to him ; he started and struck the back of his hand against the edge of the chest cavity and a tiny spicule of bone broke off in his little finger. 1 removed ifc for him. It did not even bleed. He took no notice of it, and went on with the operations ; each moment; making ifc more certain he would introduce hords of bacilli into his system through that slight abrasion, such is their minute size, while their virulence in inverse ratio would make an illness, if noc death, certain, though only a few entered his body. We finished our work and prepared to leave. As we did so we noticed that the sky had suddenly grown overcast. Black clouds lowered and scudded quickly before the hot, oppressive breeze. Almost as we stepped oufc into the street the storm broke ; there was a vivid flash of lightning, a deafening peal of thunder which had scarcely died away when another flash and another peal startled us by their intensity, and hugh drops of rain began j to fall. Before we reached the corner the drops had quickened into a heavy downpour, and the thunder rolled incessantly. It seemed as if the elements were at war and keeping up a perpetual cannonading in the sky. We stepped into a doorway and waited until the storm was over, bufc even in the few steps we had walked our clothes were wet and our shoes soaked. In a little while the rain ceased, and we were able to start on our homeward way ; we started at the corner after agreeing to meet next morning at 11 to talk over the case. Next morr-ing at 11. This morning, ' Will he keep the appointment V I thought, as I watched him jump lightly dnough into a hansom, and I smiled grimly at the question as 1 stood waiting for another hansom to come up. Then my scientific training getting the ascendancy I dropped the humour, and, looking beyond at the reality in a serious way, I asked myself which will

I 'it be — delirium, unconsciousness, or 1 death itself, when 11 o'clock to-morrow ' comes 7 ' Ifc. should be death,' I heard myself , mutter, 'if the big experiment can be j relied on approximately as to time — i death or " very near it,'' ' and 1 I hummed the lasfc three words to a tune of a popular song I used to hear in the street with that catch phrase. I laughed half aloud at the odd conceit as I jumped into a handsom which had i just come round the corner. His doath — my victory — and a comic song. Then my thoughts reverted to the storm which had passed as rapidly as it had arisen. It seemed as if the elements had, at the same moment, been saluting me with the loud salvos of artillery which greet a conquerer on his return after a brilliant victory, and firing a volley for the loss of a hero, while the mutterings of the thunder might have been the muffled drums beating over his grave. Even the elements inspired me with the idea of the success of the vengeance I had taken. . I reached home and lunched heartily. Then 1 set to work. I suppose people would be surprised, incredulous, horrified, perhaps, if they knew I did not trouble myself any further about Harrison Everard. Why should 1 1 There was no reason for me to speculate on his fafce. By a'l my calculations he was doomed ; his death was certain. But even if he should, by some chance, escape, whafc matter % He knew nothing of the trap 1 had laid for him ; he suspected nothing' If I fai'ed I could try again and again, Patients die ; even my patients. Post-mortems rnusfc be made. It was not the last opportunity I should have ; no, nofc by scores. Time was not an element to be considered. Now or a little later could make no difference, so long as we both lived. | He was mine, his life mine. Tho pain, the consequences of his death, hers — mine. Why, then, should I be anxious or trouble about him 1 No, I worked and was absorbed in my labours until tbe time came to visit my patients. Then I went and examined them with cool head, steady hand, and quiet nerves. I never thought of him. It is remorse — fear of detection — that makes a man's hand tremble, bis knees shake, his voice quiver. T returned home, read, went to bed, and slept un'..il they woke me at the i summons of M.-s Everard. Then I knew that I was the victor, and I hurried to the house to see him and study his symptoms. About 8 o'clock last night, I learned when T was summoned, he complained of a headache, and his temperature began to rise. In an hour he was in a high fever and the pain had increased. , In another hour he was delirious, I and Mrs Everard sent for a physician. ' He blistered Harrison, ancl later on put on an ice cap. Of course, the treatment was futile. The anthrax bacilli were afc work. It was a question of an hour, more or less. His strength against their power. He died as I foretold he would when I arrived for they sent, for me early in the morning. At 9 o'clock he was dead. There had been no local symptoms to show that septic matter had entered the circulation. Not a lymphatic was inflamed, There was not a single red line on his white arm, as is generally obse r ved when poison enters the system in that way. I did nofc mention the incident of the spicule of bone. Why should I complicate the deed with the story of its cause when there was no need 1 Harrison Everard dead ! ISo perish all my enemies !' I could bave cried. And as I looked down upon the whitened face again, I felfc the gleam of triumph come once more into ray eyes. She was prostrated by the shock, and remained in her room. I have not seen ber, but I senfc a message by her mother — the smooth, smug message of emptiness and. less, with which people are expected to intrude into one's grief — and blamed if they omit. I left and returned home while they were making arrangements for the funeral. I promised to be present. I shall see him borne in the black casket to the city, where rich and poor, happy and wretched, good and bad, the world esteemed fiend and the worlddespised demi-god sleep the long sleep. Then I shall go back to my work, to augment the reputation T have already won by my bacteriological researches. If the world but knew to whafc a use I put my knowledge ! And sb.3 ! Shall I see her soon, and after a few months of mourning strive to win her love again ? Or shall I look on from afar and watch her suffer still, and hate her more for all I have done to her, for all she has done to me. Who knows 1

A monstrosity was recently shown to the Manawatu Standard by Mr C. T. Flyger, in the shape of a calf with two beads ancl seven legs ; one of the legs was a double one, which made eight in all. The animal was born on Mr Lovelock's* property, Rangitikei Line, but did not live long.