The Washington herald., 1914-04-26

diseases. There were warnings. Sol
dervetzsky, as early in 1920. told the
psychologists that they had no guar
anty against some new disease, a thou
sand times more deadly than any they
knew, arising and killing by the hun
dreds of millions and even by the bill
lion You see, the micro-organic world
remained mystery to the end
They knew there was such a world
and that from time to time armies of
new germs emerged from it to kill man.
For all they knew, in that invisible mi
cro-Organic world there might be as
many different kinds OF germs as there
are grains OF sand on this beach. And
also. in that same invisible world it
might well be that new kinds of germs
came to be. 1t might be there that life
originated-the 'abysmal fecundity,' Sol
dervetzsky called it, applying the words
of other men who had written before
him. :"
1t was at this point that Hare-Lip
rose to his feet, an expression of huge
contempt on his face.
"Granser," he announced. you make
me sick with your gable Why don't
you tell about the Red Death If you
amt gong To-, say so, an we'll start
back for camp"
The old man looked at him and ST.
lently began to cry. The weak tears of
age rolled down his cheeks. and all the
feebleness OF his eighty-seven years
showed in his grief-stricken counte-
nance.
Sit down Edwin counseled soothing
ly. "Granser's all right He's lust get
tin to the Scarlet Death. amt you.
Granser? He's just goin to tell us about
1t right now. Sit down, Hare-Lip. Go
ahead. Granser"
The old man wiped the tears away
on his grimy knuckles and took I'D the
tale in tremulous, piping voice that
soon strengthened as he got the swing
OF the narrative.
1t was in the summer OF aoI3 that
the plague came | was twenty-seven
years old, and well do | remember it.
Wireless dispatches-"
Hare-Lip spat loudly his disgust. and
Granser fastened to make amends.
We talked through the air in those
days. thousands and thousands OF miles.
And the word came OF strange dis
ease that had broken out in New York.
There were seventeen millions of peo-
pie living then in that noblest CITY OF
America. Nobody thought anything
about the news. 1t was only small
,L,-1 Tia. H.
deaths. 1t seemed, though. that they
had died very quickly, and that one OF
the first signs OF the disease was the
turning red OF the face and all the
body. Within twenty-four hours came
the report of the first case in Chicago.
And on the same day. it was made pub
lie that London. the greatest city in
the world. next to Chicago. had been
secretly fighting the plague for two
weeks and censoring the news dis
patches-that is, not permitting the
word to go forth to the rest OF the
world that London had the plague
1t looked serious, but we in Cali
fornia like everywhere else. were not
alarmed. We were sure that the BAG
teriologists would find a way to over
come this new germ Just as they had
overcome other germs in the past But the
trouble was the astonishing quickness
with which this germ destroyed human
beings, and the fact that it inevitably
killed any human body it entered No
one ever recovered. There was the old
Asiatic cholera, when you might eat
dinner with a we'll man in the even
ing. and the next morning, If YOU got
up early enough. YOU would see. him
being hauled by your window in the
death cart. But this new plague was
quicker than that-much quicker. From
the moment OF the first signs OF it. man
would be dead in an hour. Some lasted
for several hours. Many died within
ten or fifteen minutes OF the appearance
of the first signs
The heart began to beat faster and
the heat OF the body to increase Then
came the scarlet rash. spreading like
wildire over the face and body. Most
persons never noticed the increase in
heat and heart beat. and the first they
knew was when the scarlet rash came
out. [ Sually. they had commissions at
the time OF the appearance OF the rash
But these commissions did not last long
and were not very severe. If ono lived
through them he became perfectly quiet
and only did he feel a numbncsS swift
ly creeping up his body from the feet
The heels became numb first, then the
legs. and hips, and when the numbness
reached as high as his heart he died
They did not rave or sleep. Their
minds always remained cool and calm
up to the moment their hearts numbed
and stopped. And another strange
thing was the rapidity OF decomposition.
No sooner was a person dead than the
body seemed to fall to pieces, to fly
apart, to melt away even as you looked
at it. That was one of the reasons the
plague spread so rapidly. All the bill
lions of germs in corpse were so i'm
mediately released.
And it was because OF all this that
the psychologists had so little chance
in fighting the germs. They were
killed in their laboratories even as they
studied the germs of the Scarlet Death /.
They were heroes. As fast as they
persisted, others stepped forth and took |
their places. 1t was in London that
they first isolated it. The news was
everywhere. TraSk was
the name of the man who succeeded in /
in this. but within thirty hours he was
dead. Then came the struggle in all !
the laboratories to find something that
kill the plague germs. All drugs failed !
You see, the problem was to get drug. !
or serum. that would kill the germ in !
the body and not kill the body They ,
tried to fight it with other germs. to ,
put into the BODY OF a sick man germs /