Evening star., 1922-07-08

II
back among his beakers and
N test tubes, and with these
slender instructions l sailed
forth in my quest OF Sherburne. !
had little difficulty in locating him
and delivering my message. which he
received with q satisfaction that in
vited assault and battery and may
| hem. However, I managed to restrain
myself and rejoin Craig in the labora-
| tory shortly after 7 o'clock.
| had scarcely had time to assure
Kennedy of the success of my mission
when we were surprised to see the
| door open and Seabury himself ap-
pear.
His face was actually haggard.
Whether or not he believed the
| hastily concocted story of Kennedy
at the Vanderveer. his mind had not
ceased to work on the other fears
! in the first place.
I've been trying to locate you all
| over" greeted Craig.
Seabury heaved a sigh and passed
his hand. with its familiar motion,
over his forehead.
4 L
able to find out something from this
! stuff" he answered, unwrappinG a
package which he was carrying.
Some samples Of the food I've been
getting. If you don't find anything
! in this, I've others 1 want tested
AS looked at the mans drawn face
I wondered whether. in fact, there
| might be something in his fears. On
the surface. the thing did indeed seem
to place Agatha Seabury in bad
light. At the sight Of the key in
Sherburne's possession I had grasped
at the straw that he might have con-
| ceived some diabolical plan to get rid
of Seabury for purposes of his own.
But then. I reasoned. would he have
been SO free in showing the key II he
had realized that it might cast sus-
picion on himself? I was forced to
in her hysterical fear of exposure by
the adroit blackmailer, have really at
tempted to poison her husband.
1t was a desperate situation. But
Kennedy was apparently ready to
| meet 1t. though he seemed to take no
great interest in the food samples
Seabury had just brought
Instead, he seemed to rely wholly
on the tests he had already begun
| with the peculiar tissue I had seen
him boiling and the blood serum de-
! rived from Seabury himself.
tubes from the incubator in which
had eeen him place them some
time before. and, as they stood in a
| rack. indicated them lightly with
his finger.
II think I can clear part of this
i speaking more to himself than to
Seabury and myself. Here 1 have
a tested diayzer in which has been
| placed a half cubic centimeter Of
pure clear serum. Here is another
dialyzer with the same amount of
serum. but no tissue. such as Mr.
| Jameson has seen me place in this
| first one. Here is still another with
| the tissue in distilled water. but no
| blood serum. / have placed all the
dialyzers In tubes Of distilled water,
and all are covered with a substance
! known as toluel and corked to keep
| them from contamination"
| kennedy held up before US the
| three tubes and Seabury gazed on
| them with a sort of IA ascination,
scarcely believing that in them in
! some way might be contained the
verdict of the momentous problem
that troubled his mind. and might
perhaps mean life or death to him.
Carefully Kennedy took from each
tube a few cubic centimeters of the
dialyzate. and into each he poured a
little liquid from tiny vial which I
noticed was labeled "ninhydrin."
This" he explained as he set down
a colorless solution with water. but
when mixed with albumins, peptones
or aminoachids becomes violet on
boiling. Tube No. must remain
colorless. No. 2 may be violet. No.
may approximate No. or be more
about the same. I call my test mega
tive, but if one is moro deeply col
ored than two, then 1t is positive.
The other tube Is the control"
Impatiently he waited as the three
tubes simmered over the heat What
were glued on them. his hand trem-
bling in the presence of some un-
known danger.
Slowly the liquid in the second tube
| turned to violet But more rapidly
| and more deeply appeared the violet
What is it?" gasped Seabury
hoarsely, leaning over close.
This" exclaimed Kennedy. 'is the
famous Abberhalden test resum dag
| nosis. discovered by Prof. Emile Alb
berhalden of Halle. It rests on the
fact that when a foreign substance
comes into the blood the blood re-
acts with the formation of a protec-
tive ferment produced as a result Of
physiologic and pathologic conditions
For instance" he went on, "a certain
albumin always produces certain
ferment. Presence in the blood stream
Of blood foreign substance calls forth
a ferment that will digest them and
split them into molecules. The forces
Of nature form and mobilize directly
in the blood serum. Let me get this
clearly Albumin cannot pass through
the pores Of an animal membrane
since the Individual molecules are too
large. If, however. the albumin is
fernnent action than