The daily Alaskan., 1914-06-10
A Singular Advertisement lt Led to a Curious
 Result.
By RYLAND BELL

.,... ,..s ;. :. l
 When ! was graduated from the medical college which made mo an M. D. ] concluded for the purpose of broadening my ideas to spend year su travel Then ! would return and bag.. where had left or. I have never ro-.rtlcd this resolution. Being au u1scrraut man. travel was of great aIvnutgze to me. teaching nc that all l had Ienrurd thus far was not neces- sarly true. that ! had only begun to learn and that if l lived a thousand vu@rs l would uot know it all.
 ]. ,E.., was any one country that interested me most of all it was India. w.e lInlus seemed to me | unique uauu.r Like other seuGcivilized races, they have lived for ages in their ruts, v.sr. t...r narrow scope has led them ir.r corresnondiugly restricted inves- ..4ar.uus What European civilization has rglured in the way o1 assistance :. live tHe Indians have brought forth
 for Garrh. We have discovered a
 uuu.ar of andtoNius; they have
 aru.-nt out an innumerable number o. uoi~uus.
 Wlac in India | gained through a
 friend admission to the palace of a r.-n IIe seemed to take a fancy to u. probably because he found in me
 a good listener. ] said nothing ex- e.rt ;n guide him into channels that
 interested mo. Drugs being in the
 line of my profession, I was pleased
 ta hear what he had to say about the s2rlous Indian concOcdonsr and these included Doisons.
 ] rgurcss ] was surprised to learn of .Ge various substances that will pro durn death and the knowledge the h. f"-s have acquired in handling them. Was interested in the flower tO breathe which is death; in the process Of 2 poison. taking increased doses of winch one may become impregnated
 with fe. and would be poisonous to others. But my attention was chiefly arrested by a poison the rajah men toned which left no trace.
 Why was l especially interested in q traceless poison? Because l expected to spend my life in a land where there are. as there must always be, murder and suicide. knew that as a medical practitioner l would be constantly Cnll- ! cF upon in such cases, and the words "traceIcss poison" meant a great deal to l me-uut that l expected to have any th.ug t9 do with such a thing, but 1t at 1 once occurred to me that if a knowl- edge Of it should be common property f would be the chosen instrument Of lnurdarerz and suicides.
 did not bring home with me a sam nIn of the rujah's traceless poison. In deed. was not interested in 1t for nsc.r did not even care whether or u8f there was such a thing as a trace 1 less poison. But on my return tC Amer ] iea J began some experiments concern ! ing the interest that would be taken in , nr0nuring it by various persons. ] took i tho procautiOn to notify the chief of { ro'sce iu the city in which l lived of 1 my intended experiments, and he was uueh interested in them. Then l wrote am advertisement announcing .hat a physician whose sands UI IIe had nearly run out" and who had spent bis ] life investigating the various aids and enemies to human life had succeeded : in discovering a poison that left no : trace. He had COncOCted a powder ! which. if scattered about in places in- l fested by vermin,- would destroy them, ! leaving 40 odor or other disagreeable 1 consequences.
 ! I was well aware that those who
 would attempt to buy my powder would do SO for other purposes than l Killing vcrmin. My advertisement had 1 appeared but once when l received Q
 number of applications for it. Nearly " all of the replies were 50 wOrded az to conceal the Identity of the writers
 some of them gave directions as to
 sending the powder which were eVi'
 douflv calculated to cover its route to l its receiver.
 After accommodating a number Of re
 plies to my advertisement ! took them
 10 the chief of police, who seemed to
 be able to tell what each writer intend ] cd to do with the poison. But this was
 simple matter, because whether or
 not the intention was legitimate could ] be dirined by the care the writer took