The Washington herald., 1915-05-30

QlenCc- linen ne paused, lowered his
voice, and resumed on a new sub
ject
up in the Washington Heights
Hospital. he went on, .is an appa-
ratus which records the secrets of the
human heart. Not only can DR.. Bar
ron diagnose disease, but he can de-
tect love, hate, fear. joy. anger, and
remorse. This machine is known as
the Einthoven string galvanometer,'
invented by that famous Dutch ply
siologist of Leyden"
| There was a perceptible movement
in our little audience at the thought
that the little wires that ran back of
the screen from the arms of each
were connected with this uncanny in
strument so far away.
1T is all done by the electric cur
rent that the heart itself generates"
pursued Kennedy, hammering home
the new and startling idea" The heart
sends over the wire its own telltale
record to the machine which regis
tiers 1t. So fine is this machine that
the pulsetraclngs produced by the
sphygmograph, which I have used in
other cases up to this time, are
| clumsy and inexact"
Again he paused as if to let the
fear OF discovery sink deep into the
minds of all of us
This current, as have said, passes
from each one of YOU in turn over
wire and vibrateS a fine quartz fiber
up there in unison with each heart
| here. 1t is one of the most delicate
bits of mechanism ever made. be-
side which the hairspring of a watch
is coarse. Each of YOU in turn. is
being subjected to this test. More
than that, the record up there shows
not only the beats of the heart, but
the successive waves of emotion that
vary the form of those beats. Thus
DR.. Barron, who has studied this
thing carefully, can tell infallibly not
only disease but emotion"
1t seemed as if no one dared look
at his neighbor. as if all were trying
valnly to control the beating of thei.
own hearts.
Now" concluded Kennedy SOL
emnly as if to force the last secret
from the wildly beating heart of some
one in the room, at is my belief that
the person who had access to the
operating room of the Novella was
person whose nerves were run
down, and in addition to any other
treatment that person was familiar
with the ether phosphore. This per-
son knew Miss Blaisdell well, saw
her there, knew she was there for
the purpose OF frustrating that per-
sons own dearest hopes. That per-
son wrote her the note, and knowing
that she would ask for paper and an
envelope in order to answer it. poi
soned the flap of the envelope Phos- .
phorus is remedy for hysteria, vex-
atious emotions. want of sympathy,
disappointed and concealed affections
but not i'll the quantities that this
person lavished on that flap. Whoever
it was, not life, but death. and ghast-
ly death, was uppermost in that per-
sons thoughts"
Agnes screamed. 81 saw him take
something and rub it on her lips. and
the brightness went away. IL didn't
mean to tell, but, God help me, I
must"
Saw whom" demanded Kennedy.
fixing her eye as he had when he had
called her back from aphasia
Millefeur-Miller," she sob
bed. shrinking back as if the very con-
fession appalled, her.
"les," added Kennedy coolly. Mil
Ter did try to remove the traces of the
poison after he discovered it in order
to protect himself and the reputation
OF the Novella"
The telephone bell tinkled. Craig
seized the receiver.
"Ies, Barron, this is Kennedy You
received the impulses all right? Good.
And have you had time to study the
recordso Yes? What's that? Number
seven? All right. I'll see you very
soon and go over the records again
with you. Goodbye"
"One word more" he continued,
now facing us. Barron has now read
the electro-cardiograms. Each is
picture of the beating of the heart
that made it, and each smallest varia-
ton has a meaning to him. Every
passion, every emotion, every disease,
is recorded with inexorable truth.
The person with murder in his heart
hide it from the string galv-
anometer, nor can that person who
wrote the false note in which the
very lines of the letters bctray a dis
eaSed heart hide that disease. The
doctor tells me that that person was
Mrs. Collins had risen wildly and
was standing before us with blazing
eyes. YES" she cried, pressing her
hands on her breast as if it were
about to burst and tell the secret be-
lore her lips could frame the words,
yes. | killed her, and I would fol-
low her to the end of the earth If I
lad not succeeded. She was there. the
woman who had stolen from me what
was more than life itself Yes. wrote
he note, ! poisoned the envelope. 1
,illed her"
She was wonderful, magnificent, in
Ter fury. She was passion personifed;
'he was fate, retribution.
Collins looked at his wife. and even
lie felt the spell. 1t was not crime that
'he had done; it was elemental JUS
ice.
For moment she stood, silent,
acing Kennedy. Then the color slow
y faded from her cheeks. She reeled.
Collins caught her and imprinted
kiss, the kiss that for years she had
onged and striven for again. She
ooked rather than spoke forgiveness
IS he held her and showered them on
Ter.
Before heaven" heard him whis-
'er into her ear, with all my power
IS lawyer l will free you from this"
Gently DR.. Leslie pushed him aside