The Washington herald., 1922-11-19

medical experts vho are testing the
material | gave them.
"You will remember that | told
how secretive this man was in all
his work." continued the doctor,
"and that even his father and
mother were unfamiliar with the
interior or contents of the
laboratory that had been built for
him, practically, one might say, in
his back yard. The building was
always kept under lock and key.
and the greater part of the time
the young man slept in the little
building.
81 have known the Rollins
family good many years and had
taken care of the boy from in
fancy. So, after the first intense
feelings of grief had passed, | had
a long talk with his father and
mother, and we made a thorough
examination of the laboratory at
the same time.
well, it was a hard experience
to put the old folks through after
their loss. They little suspected
what had been going on in the little
building in the yard. From con-
versation which the boy had had
with his parents, and from a note
book and other memoranda which
we found around the laboratory,
we pleced out a strange story
There is undoubtedly a love story
which should be woven into the
experience of this young man, but
about that we can only guess.
Not long after his appointment
to Bellevue, he took charge of the
nervous out-patient- work and
among the visitors were Two
women-an elderly woman and
her daughter. The mother was
suffering from Potts diease; and
while Rollins was able to relieve
her, he was, of course, unabl to
stave off the ultimate progress and
final outcome of the disease.
About year and half after the
first visit of the couple, Rollins was
called to a dingy tenement on
Eighty-seSenth street, not far from
Third avenue, and found the old
lady within a few hours of death.
Tt seems apparent that he
would not have left the hospital to
go down there merely to relieve
the final suffering of the poor
- woman, when he knew as well as
you and | that there were a dozen
men in the Emergency Department
that he could have called on for
the work.
we found quite a bit of cor
respondence between the Young
woman and Rollins, the general
trend of which showed that she was
anxious to repay the young ply
siclan for what he had done for her
mother. Several letters were devot-
ed to an effort on her part to get
Rollins to accept money order
Tor ten dollars which she had sent
him and he had returned. Then,
there were appointments arranged
and ] figured that the couple must
have met good many times.
At one of these meetings Rol-
Inns confided the story of his ex-
perimental work and his dreams.
Finally he accepted her offer to
act as the subject of his expert
mentS. These are the facts | was
able to gather from letters and
memoranda.
81 shall never forget the
spectacle that greeted US as we
opened the door inside the short
hall leading to the main room of
Rollins's laboratory. AS | opened
the door, positive maze Of glass
tubes flashed in the sunlight which
Hooded the big airy room. | have
seen many pieces of chemical ap-
paratus that were very complex,
but | have never seen anything to
compare with this. After the first
glare of the glass tubes and the
consequent confusion had left me,
l began to realize that this network
Of tubing started in one part Of
the room and crossed to the other,
entering a long box about two
feet wide and six or seven feet in
length. The box itself, as l
glanced at it, seemed to be of ordi-
nary wooden structure with a glass
top and many openings at the side,
through which these glass tubes
passed.
81 walked over to the wall and
commenced a cursory examination
of the retorts and bottles that
marked the starting point for the
majority of the tubes. ! had pulled
the stopper from one of the bottles
and was gingerly smelling the con-
tents, when a sharp cry of horror
from the old gentleman caused me
to turn. He stood by the long box,
his eyes bulging and his features
ashen.
81 rushed across the room and
gazed down through the glass top.
understood the mans surprise
and horror, when, through the net
work of tubes in the box itself, l
saw the form of an infant, about
three months of age, l should judge.
The child had not been dead long.