The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-10-30

preface noticed that he dated his work
from No. 40 Last Street, E. W. Now, as
had distinct recollection of seeing the
figures '40' on the outer door as knocked,
l concluded that l was in DR.. Thermor':
house, and possibly on the way to be fully
enlightened as to the details of his 'sys
tenn whatever it might be. Therefore,
thought | might do worse than gather what
information l could from the book / held
in my hand.
This pamphlet was an exposition OF
what seemed to me to be the widest and
most extraordinary excursion into the by
ways of pathology that ever came under
my notice, and you know have had some
curious experiences in that field. The au-
thor, Dr. Thermor, NJ. D., of the University
Of Saratoga, began by stating how in the
course of medical practice on the ordi-
nary lines he had become con.
WINGED that there is no absolute
necessity for man to die: that there
are no conditions inseparably resident in
his physical frame to prevent him from
living forever unless he should choose to
kill himself by intemperance or become
the victim of mischance. Then followed
an account of long series of experiments
undertaken by DR.. Thermor upon the
lower animals-an account which would
have thrown an anti-vivisectionist into a
tit-while he was cropping after truth.
Finally came the announcement of sue
cess, and the publication of as much OF his
glorious discovery as was expedisnt to the
human race.
"To begin with, DIR. Thermor had salts
fed himself that all the ills which plague
mankind take their origin from the I'M
wholesome food which man puts into his
stomach, consequently the first step in the
new system was an entirely new dietary.
This was not to be uniform. Dr. Thelmor
recognized the wisdom of the saw that one
mans meat may be another mans seison,
and he proposed to feed his Patterns ac-
cording to certain peculiaritiesof constitu-
ton. The primary aim of the doctor was
to get the blood into perfectly pure and
healthy condition. Up to thispoint there
was nothing very revolutionary in the
principles laid down, or in tie methods the
doctor proposed to adopt in working out
his almost supernatural purpose; but be-
fore had read three pages urther l had
mastered the details of the ,ntire system,
and when | knew these | confess L felt a
cold shudder creeping over ne. and
wished myself most fervenily outside that
well bolted door, | learnedthat when once
the blood is restored to HEALTHY condition
by simple diet and by the use of certain
newly compounded medicines the course
of decay in the human frame greatly re-
tarded, and for many years mn will, to
outward seeming, get very lite older; but
decay is not totally arrested.
"Here for long time wasthe flaw, the
removal of which Dr. Thermc regards as
the keystone of his system--he most valid
title to honor and reward. le has hunted
out the causes which led to he deteriora-
ton of the vital fluid, and had satisfied
himself that no earthly pwer could re-
move them. New blood, replete with
all the qualities of the 'healthiest or
ganism, was his desderatum, and
after long and patiet search he
had mastered the sept of its com
position. A man wishi1 to enjoy this
new Immortality must svmit to have his
old, worn-out blood extracted and to be
supplied with due quatity of DR.. Their
mor's patent in it's place
Then the doctor wat on to describe
with horrible minutenss the mechanism
he had perfected for tie safe and painless
extraction of the wom-oat fluid and for
the refilling of the veins Win the new de-
coction containing all the elements of hui
man blood; but the doctors system did not
stop here By a long seris of experiments
he had discovered that people were dull or
lively, amiable or ill-tmpered, clever
or stupid, according rs their blood
was rich or deficient N certain or
ganic salts and volatile others. He
He had carefully tabulatd the relations
between physical structure and nerval
phenomenon, and now he professed to be
able to supply temperamets of all kinds
to order along with flesh infusion of
blood. That is, if nun of excitable
nature wished to enjoy calm and
uneventful spell of prolonged exist
encei he had only to put 1ii}m in, =, IPbd dsWg
he would like his new blood tobe made up.
A man who was conscious of his dullness
and wished for greater brilliancy Of intel
lect-surely this phase argues that the
doctor has been too deeply engaged in
physical research to study manknd-might
in like manner be turned into another
Rusllin or Carlyle. OF course there was a
danger that the desire for change might
not always be upward and onward. A
judge might banker after the temperament
of fraudulent trustee, or Bishop might
wish to know something of the feelings of
Monte Carlo habitue, but on this point
the doctor spoke with no uncertain sound.
1t was true it lay in his power to degrade
as well as to elevate; grain of particu-
lar nitrate added, a drop of a certain tinct-
ure withheld, and the thing was done; but
as Christian, as the father of family
and as church warden of his parish, he
let the world know once for all that not all
the wealth of the Indies should tempt him
in this matter one inch from the straight
path of morality. The human race, if it
wanted to take advantage of the Doctors
wonderful discovery, must make up its
in the opposite direction it had better 90 to
some other practitioner.
AS read on | could not help thinking
what good joke it would be if you could
persuade Herr Clausius to submit himself
TO DR.. Thermor's treatment, and provide
beforehand that he should be replenished
with blood rich in all the attributes which
go to make an acrobat or jack pudding.
The doctor could hardly find any moral
n Oa m tha
change it would propose could not well be
called a degradation; but, perhaps, am a
little prejudiced against Herr Clausius on
account of the way in which he psrsistently
ignores me.
"All the time was reading could hear
the steady beat of the engine, and now
and then the CHASTITY kissing sucking sound
would make itself heard, just as though
some unfortunate were being pumped dry
in the adjacent room. l had been too much
absorbed in the contents of the DOCTORS
brochure to notice the opening and shutting
of the little door, the entrance of fresh peo-
pie, and the fact that | had by this time
been shifted quite round the room, and
that now only two people sat between me
and the door of exit.
AT this moment frankly confess that /
would have given a great deal to have
made my way out of this horrible room, with
its heavy scented air and tomblike stiffness.
l looked at the window, but the heavy iron
bars stretched across it told me there was
no hope on that side. The door by which
had entered was indeed open; but now
the tall woman in the black robe stood by
it, glazing at me out of the darkness of the
passage with eyes like those of an angry
snake. | sat gazing at her like one fascina-
ted, when suddenly l was again startled
by the soft click of the little door as ii
closed. The man who had sat next to me