Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-11-24

| glandular- tissues, the serum or tine
blood and Of lymph, but no man on
earth except myself has ever been able
to create proteid. They have missed
the whole secret because they have
been working at ordinary tempera-
lures. Just as the drop Of water will
not form from its two gases at 4,500
degrees F. or at it's own lower explo-
sion temperature unless the spark be
added, SO will protoplasm not form
except under certain electric and ther-
| NAL conditions.
For the last two months l have
been working on these lines alone,
varying my temperatures from the ex-
treme cold produced by liquid air to
the intense heat of the compound blow
pipe, and 1 have been repaid. A fort
night ago discovered how 1t was that
had erred, and since then have sue
ceeded in everything have tried. l
have formed the proteids. the fats and
the carbohydrates which go to make
up protoplasm, and with these for my
solid foundations / have made every
minute and complicated organ of the
body. l have done more than that-l
have put those component parts to-
gether, and now behold what l have
made!
| He lifted a sheet, which was thrown
over heap Of something on the table,
and I started back with a strange
mixture of awe and horror. for stretch
ed out on that marble slab lay naked
body. which, II it had never been a
man, living and breathing as lived
and breathed, then l would have sworn
dreamed.
The thoughts which began to come
into my mind probably showed in my
face. for the professor said: You
doubt? You think that have lost my
reason and this thing is some man that
I have killed. Well, do not blame
you. A year ago myself would have
scoffed at the very idea of creating
such a man. But you shall see, you
shall be convinced, for in the next part
Of the experiment l must have your
help. l will show you how l have
made this man or will make another
before your eyes. Then you and l. we
will go further; we will do what no
one but God has ever done before-we
will make that inert mass living man."
The horror of the thing began to
leave me. for was fascinated by what
he said, and began to feel the same
spirit with which he was inspired.
He took me into his private labora-
tory. and before my eyes, with only
the contents of few reagent bottles.
a blowpipe and an electric battery, he
made mass of human flesh. will
not give you the formula, neither will
tell you in detail how 1t was done.
God forbid that any other man should
see what saw afterward.
"Now all that remains is the final
experiment and that with your help l
propose doing tonight" said the pro
fessor. What we have to do is as
much of a riddle to me as it is to you.
1t Is purely and simply an experiment.
am going to pass through that life
less clay the same current Of electric
ity which If sent through living man
would produce death. OF course. with
a man who had died from the giving
out of some vital function could not
hope to succeed, but the organs of this
|
fectly healthy condition. 1t is my
hope, therefore, that the current which
would destroy living man will bring
this thing to life"
We bore that naked body, not a
corpse and yet so terribly like. into the
electric laboratory and laid 1t on a
slab of slate. Just at the base of its
brain we scraped little bare spot not
larger than IL pea, and, as live, drop
of blood oozed out. On the right wrist
| just over the pulse we made another
abrasion, and to these spots we brought
the positive and negative wires from
off the mains of the street current out
side.
held the two BARE uninsulated bits
Of copper close to the flesh, Professor
Holbrok switched into circuit 1000
volts of electricity. and then before
our startling eyes that thing which
was only mass Of chemical com
pounds became a man.
A convulsive twitching brought the
body almost into sitting position;
then the mouth opened. and there burst
forth from the lips groan.
l have been In the midst or battles,
and l have seen men dying all around
me, torn to ribbons by shot and shell,
and | have not f1inched; but when l
tore the wires from that writhing,
groaning shape and saw its chest be-
gin to heave with spasmodic breathing
tainted.
When came to myself, I was lying
half across the slab of slate, and the
room was filled with a slckening
stencil, an odor Of burning flesh.
looked for the writhing form which
had last seen on the table, but those
wires, with their deadly current, which
tried to tear away as tainted. must
have been directed back by higher
hand. for there only remained on the
slab charred and cinderlike mass.
And the man who had made man
could not explain. for he was crawling