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18 - The Purple Death · Space Odyssey Sci-Fi Anthology

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Speaker 1: The Purple Death by W. L. Alden. This is a
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Speaker 1: The Purple Death by W. L. Alden. Last winter I
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Speaker 1: occupied a small villa in one of the towns of
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Speaker 1: the Italian Riviera. To me, it is a very delightful
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Speaker 1: little town, partly because it is extremely picturesque, and partly
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Speaker 1: because it is as yet almost unknown as a health resort.
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Speaker 1: You can live there without constantly hearing the cough of
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Speaker 1: the consumptive, and when you do meet an occasional foreigner,
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Speaker 1: he does not instantly begin to discuss the condition of
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Speaker 1: his bronchial tubes, or to inquire us to the state
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Speaker 1: of your own lungs. Thank Heaven, my lungs and bronchial
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Speaker 1: tube are perfectly sound. My only trouble is insomnia, and
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Speaker 1: it was for this that I sought the perfect repose
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Speaker 1: and stillness of my sleepy little Italian town. There was
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Speaker 1: but one other foreigner in the place, so I was told,
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Speaker 1: And as I was assured that this foreigner was phenomenally
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Speaker 1: strong and well, and was moreover a German, and hence
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Speaker 1: presumably unable to converse with a man wholly innocent of
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Speaker 1: any knowledge of the German language. I did not find
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Speaker 1: fault with the fact that he was to be my
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Speaker 1: next door neighbor. I saw him in his garden a
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Speaker 1: day or two after my arrival, and was struck by
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Speaker 1: his singular resemblance to the portraits of von Moltke. Although
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Speaker 1: he looked to be at least seventy years old, he
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Speaker 1: was tall and straight as an arrow, and his face,
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Speaker 1: which had something of the firmness and rigidity of sculpture,
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Speaker 1: was that of a man in perfect health and of
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Speaker 1: an indomitable constitution. Even if I had not already heard
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Speaker 1: him called the Professor, I should have known him at
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Speaker 1: first sight as a man of culture. Intense thought, and
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Speaker 1: on remitting labor had chiseled those clear cut features. I
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Speaker 1: made up my mind that instead of avoiding him, I
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Speaker 1: should like to make his acquaintance, and I found myself
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Speaker 1: hoping that he could speak English, or that at all
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Speaker 1: events I could understand his French. Twice during the first
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Speaker 1: week of my residence next door to the German, I
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Speaker 1: saw after midnight a light in his garden and heard
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Speaker 1: the sound of a spade. It is one of the
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Speaker 1: advantages of insomnia that the patient learns to know the
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Speaker 1: things of the night as well as those of the day.
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Speaker 1: Had I been able to sleep as soundly as other people,
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Speaker 1: I should never have noticed this mysterious midnight lantern, or
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Speaker 1: had my hearing sharpens of efficiently to note and identify
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Speaker 1: the sound of a spade. What was the professor doing
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Speaker 1: at so late an hour in his garden? Clearly he
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Speaker 1: could not have been engaged in gardening or ditching. Even
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Speaker 1: a German philosopher would not be capable of getting up
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Speaker 1: at one o'clock in the morning to plant cabbages or
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Speaker 1: to improve the drainage of his garden. The only plausible
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Speaker 1: explanation of his conduct was that he was engaged in
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Speaker 1: burying something which he had reason for burying. Secretly, I
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Speaker 1: knew that he lived absolutely alone, without a single servant.
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Speaker 1: Hence he could not be a murderer who made a
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Speaker 1: practice of burying his victims at night. Then again, he
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Speaker 1: was a scientific person, and of course had no money
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Speaker 1: for safe keeping in the earth. The third time that
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Speaker 1: I saw my neighbour's lantern in the garden, I discovered
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Speaker 1: that I had an object in life, which was to
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Speaker 1: find out why he dug in the earth at an
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Speaker 1: hour or when, as he supposed, all his neighbors were asleep.
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Speaker 1: The mystery solved itself a few days later and proved
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Speaker 1: to be disappointingly simple. The arrival at my neighbor's store
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Speaker 1: of a hamper of rabbits and another of guinea pigs
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Speaker 1: showed me at once that he was engaged in studies
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Speaker 1: which involved the death of numbers of those unhappy little animals.
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Speaker 1: Of course, when his guinea pigs and rabbits had fulfilled
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Speaker 1: their mission in life, it became necessary to bury their remains,
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Speaker 1: and the professor wisely performed this task at midnight, in
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Speaker 1: order not to offend the prejudices of those curious people
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Speaker 1: who believe that vivisection is merely a form of vice
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Speaker 1: in which in human men indulge purely for recreation. I
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Speaker 1: had seen the professor, and I could have sworn that
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Speaker 1: he was a kindly and gentleman. If his guinea pigs
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Speaker 1: and rabbits were cut down in the prime of life,
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Speaker 1: I felt sure that they died in the en interests
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Speaker 1: of humanity, and their fate gave me no pain. My
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Speaker 1: acquaintance with the professor, whom I will call Professor Schwartz
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Speaker 1: for the reason that it was not his name, grew up. Gradually.
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Speaker 1: We began by exchanging polite commonplaces over the garden wall,
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Speaker 1: and I found that he spoke English perfectly. We were
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Speaker 1: both methodical in our habits, and were accustomed to smoke
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Speaker 1: in our gardens every afternoon at about the same hour.
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Speaker 1: Gradually we passed from the discussion of the weather to
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Speaker 1: more interesting themes, and finally the professor accepted my pressing
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Speaker 1: invitation to come and inspect a plant growing in my garden,
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Speaker 1: of the name of which I was ignorant. When I
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Speaker 1: returned his visit, I accidentally discovered that, like myself, he
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Speaker 1: was a devotee of chess. That put the finishing touch
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Speaker 1: to our acquaintance, and we fell into the invariable habit
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Speaker 1: of playing chess every evening from seven to nine. I
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Speaker 1: found him extremely interesting. He was a physician, though he
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Speaker 1: had long since ceased to practice medicine, and he had
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Speaker 1: devoted himself so he told me to the study of bacteriology.
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Speaker 1: He was moreover a man of wide culture, and there
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Speaker 1: seemed to be hardly any subject of which he had
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Speaker 1: not a more or less thorough knowledge. But what charmed
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Speaker 1: me in the man was his kindness of heart. His
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Speaker 1: philanthropy was not bounded by any of the limitations of
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Speaker 1: race or creed. The sufferings of the poor touched him
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Speaker 1: as profoundly, whether they were Germans, Italians or Frenchmen. His
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Speaker 1: love for animals was unmistakable, in spite of the fact
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Speaker 1: that he daily inflicted tortures on the unfortunate subjects of
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Speaker 1: his experiments. I had a callie, between whom and Professor
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Speaker 1: Schwartz say, deep affection sprang up, and the man was
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Speaker 1: never so happy as when the dog sat by him
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Speaker 1: with its head resting on his knee. There is no
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Speaker 1: reason why I should hesitate to say that Professor Schwartz
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Speaker 1: came in time to be sincerely attached to me, For
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Speaker 1: there can be no doubt of the fact. I wondered
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Speaker 1: that such a man should live so completely alone. But once,
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Speaker 1: when I spoke of the matter to him, he gravely
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Speaker 1: replied that a man should live for the benefit of others,
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Speaker 1: and that his studies were of much more importance than
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Speaker 1: his pleasures could possibly be. One day, my colleague came
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Speaker 1: into my room, evidently suffering the greatest agony. He was
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Speaker 1: swelled out to twice his ordinary size, and he had
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Speaker 1: hardly sufficient strength to drag himself to my feet, where
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Speaker 1: he lay moaning. My first thought was of my neighbour's
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Speaker 1: medical skill, and I rushed over to his house and
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Speaker 1: implored him to come to the aid of the poor dog.
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Speaker 1: The man came instantly, bringing with him a huge bottle
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Speaker 1: of some disinfecting fluid, and showing an agitation which surprised
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Speaker 1: me in one who had spent so much of his
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Speaker 1: life as a practicing physician. The dog was dead when
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Speaker 1: we reached the room where I had left him, and
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Speaker 1: the professor instantly poured the entire contents of the bottle
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Speaker 1: over the corcass, and then sent me for his spade.
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Speaker 1: When I returned, he carefully removed the dog's body to
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Speaker 1: the garden and buried it, exercising the greatest care not
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Speaker 1: to touch it except with the spade. Then he went
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Speaker 1: to his house, bidding me remain in the room where
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Speaker 1: the animal had died, and when he returned, he disinfected
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Speaker 1: the room and everything in it with chemicals that caused
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Speaker 1: a thick but entirely respirable smoke. To my inquiry as
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Speaker 1: to what was the matter with the dog, he merely
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Speaker 1: replied that the animal had been poisoned, and asked me
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Speaker 1: if I had seen the dog digging in his garden.
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Speaker 1: I had seen nothing of the kind, but I saw
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Speaker 1: that the professor suspected that the animal had dug up
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Speaker 1: the remains of some guinea pig or rabbit that had
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Speaker 1: died of an extremely infectious disease. This explained the elaborate
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Speaker 1: care with which disinfectants had been used, though I could
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Speaker 1: not but think that my friend had been unnecessarily alarmed.
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Speaker 1: I had been acquainted nearly two months with this mild
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Speaker 1: and lovable vivisectionist when one evening our conversation fell upon anarchism.
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Speaker 1: The usual bomb had just been exploded in Paris, and
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Speaker 1: I was expressing a good deal of indignation at the
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Speaker 1: miscreants who did such things. The anarchist means well, replied
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Speaker 1: Professor Schwartz. But he is hopelessly stupid. He attacks the
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Speaker 1: wrong people, and he uses absurdly inefficient weapons. What do
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Speaker 1: you mean by saying that he attacks the wrong people?
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Speaker 1: I asked, Just what I say? He replied, The anarchist
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Speaker 1: wants to kill men who have money, capitalists and small
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Speaker 1: or great shopkeepers and employers of labor. These are the
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Speaker 1: very people who are most necessary to the existence of humanity.
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Speaker 1: If the anarchists tried to kill laboring men, he would
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Speaker 1: be working for the emancipation of the race from poverty
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Speaker 1: and misery. But he cannot see this. I hardly see
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Speaker 1: it myself, said I do you mean that a true
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Speaker 1: way to lessen suffering is to kill the sufferers? Yes,
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Speaker 1: and no, said Professor Schwartz, My dear friend, listen to me.
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Speaker 1: All the poverty on this earth is the result of overpopulation.
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Speaker 1: Why does the Italian laborer work for two francs a
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Speaker 1: day and spend his whole life in a state of
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Speaker 1: semi starvation. The anarchist says that the laborer is oppressed
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Speaker 1: by the capitalists. This is rubbish. A man works for
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Speaker 1: two francs a day because there are so many workmen
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Speaker 1: that the price of labor is wretchedly low. Have the
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Speaker 1: number of workmen, and you would more than double the
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Speaker 1: wages of the remaining ones. The same thing is true
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Speaker 1: of the men in this town who make a miserable
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Speaker 1: living by raising vegetables. Each man has a little morsel
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Speaker 1: of ground, and he can hardly raise enough to keep
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Speaker 1: himself from starvation. Reduce the numbers of these small proprietors
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Speaker 1: one half, and you would double the amount of land
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Speaker 1: which each one would cultivate, and thus double their aggregate incomes.
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Speaker 1: That sounds very mathematical, I answered, but I haven't. That's
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Speaker 1: lime confidence and figures that I had when I was younger.
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Speaker 1: Any man who sees things as they are must admit,
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Speaker 1: continued the professor, disregarding my interruption, that the world is
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Speaker 1: horribly overpopulated. If a pestilence should sweep off two thirds
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Speaker 1: of the workmen in Europe, the survivors would be able
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Speaker 1: to live in comfort. Now the anarchist doesn't see this.
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Speaker 1: He would kill off the capitalists, the very men who
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Speaker 1: employ labor, and make it possible for laborers to live. I,
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Speaker 1: on the contrary, would not harm a single man who
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Speaker 1: has money to pay to others. But I would remedy
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Speaker 1: this fatal overpopulation in evil, which grows worse and worse
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Speaker 1: every year. Your English Mothus had a glimpse of what
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Speaker 1: was coming, but he did not foresee what the remedy
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Speaker 1: would be then there is a remedy, I asked, yes,
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Speaker 1: Did I not tell you that the remedy is to
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Speaker 1: reduce the working population. The man who discovers how to
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Speaker 1: do this most swiftly and effectually will be the greatest
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Speaker 1: benefactor this world has ever known. It rather amused me
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Speaker 1: to hear this man, whom I knew to be gentle
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Speaker 1: and tender hearted, actually insisting that about one half of
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Speaker 1: the population of the globe ought to be murdered. But
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Speaker 1: I thought little of it at the time. I knew
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Speaker 1: how fond some men are of propounding bold and startling
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Speaker 1: theories which they themselves would be the very last to
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Speaker 1: dream of carrying into action. Here was a man whose
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Speaker 1: business in life had been to heal the sick, and
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Speaker 1: so to prolong the existence of the weakest specimens of
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Speaker 1: the human race, and now he was saying that the
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Speaker 1: extermination of millions of healthy, vigorous men was the one
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Speaker 1: thing that the world needs. It was another illustration of
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Speaker 1: the inevitable bee, which sooner or later gets into the
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Speaker 1: bonnets of every scientific man. I have said that Schwartz
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Speaker 1: lived completely alone. A man in good health can do this,
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Speaker 1: but if he is taken ill he soon finds that
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Speaker 1: he must depend on the help of others. One afternoon,
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Speaker 1: Professor Schwartz did not appear in his garden, and when
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Speaker 1: I went to his house in the evening, he did
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Speaker 1: not come as usual to open the door. Suspecting that
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Speaker 1: he was ill, I went to the other side of
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Speaker 1: the house, where I knew his room was situated, and
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Speaker 1: called to him. He answered, but without showing himself at
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Speaker 1: the window. He was not quite well, he said, but
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Speaker 1: assured me that he would be able to see me
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Speaker 1: the next day, and that in the meantime he should
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Speaker 1: want no assistance. He would not consent to see me,
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Speaker 1: and I went back to my villa somewhat uneasy, and
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Speaker 1: half determined to break into Schwartz's house the next morning
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Speaker 1: in case he still refused to open the door. That
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Speaker 1: extreme measure, however, did not prove to be necessary. When
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Speaker 1: I called at his house in the morning, he opened
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Speaker 1: the door and invited me to come in. He was
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Speaker 1: looking wretchedly ill, but he assured me that his attack
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Speaker 1: was over and that there was not the slightest cause
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Speaker 1: for uneasiness. He took me into his library and tried
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Speaker 1: to converse with his usual ease the attempt was a failure,
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Speaker 1: and I saw that, besides being weak from the effect
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Speaker 1: of his illness, he was both preoccupied and troubled. Finally,
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Speaker 1: I asked him frankly, to tell me what was the matter,
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Speaker 1: and to permit me to be of any service that
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Speaker 1: might be possible. He remained silent for a little while,
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Speaker 1: and then he said, my dear friend, I have made
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Speaker 1: up my mind to trust you. My illness has shown
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Speaker 1: me that it is no longer safe for me to
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Speaker 1: keep my secret absolutely to myself. I shall die suddenly,
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Speaker 1: and possibly very soon. In that case, there must be
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Speaker 1: some one who will know how to prevent the catastrophe
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Speaker 1: which would otherwise happen to this pretty little town where
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Speaker 1: I have spent so many happy hours. Give me your
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Speaker 1: word that what I shall tell you shall remain a
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Speaker 1: secret so long as I live. I gave him the
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Speaker 1: desired promise, rashly, as I now know, but without dreaming
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Speaker 1: of its nature. He rose from his chair and told
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Speaker 1: me to follow him into his laboratory. There was nothing
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Speaker 1: remarkable in the appearance of the place. I had once
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Speaker 1: before seen the laboratory of a bacteriologist, and it closely
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Speaker 1: resembled Professor Schwartz's laboratory, except that the fittings of the
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Speaker 1: latter were rather more elaborate and complete. On one side
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Speaker 1: of the room was a series of shelves filled with
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Speaker 1: carefully sealed glass tubes containing what I assumed to be gelatine.
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Speaker 1: Schwartz called my attention to these and said, if you
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Speaker 1: should find me dead or dying some day, I want
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Speaker 1: you to take every one of these tubes, break them
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Speaker 1: one by one in a bucketful of the liquid which
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Speaker 1: you will find in yonder glass jar, and then bury
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Speaker 1: the contents of the bucket glass and all in the
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Speaker 1: earth not less than four feet deep. Do this with
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Speaker 1: the utmost care, making sure not to break a single
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Speaker 1: tube except under the surface of the liquid. Otherwise I
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Speaker 1: cannot answer for your life. You perfectly understand me perfectly,
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Speaker 1: I said, and I will promise to carry out your wishes.
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Speaker 1: The tubes I presume contain the microbes of various diseases.
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Speaker 1: His face lightened up with the glow of enthusiasm. They
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Speaker 1: contain the microbes of diseases, he replied, But the diseases
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Speaker 1: are nearly all new. They are inventions of my own,
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Speaker 1: and some of them are infinitely more deadly than any
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Speaker 1: disease known to the medical profession. You remember the death
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Speaker 1: of your dog. The poor fellow died of a disease
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Speaker 1: which is absolutely new, and which kills in less than
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Speaker 1: six hours. If that disease were once introduced into any
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Speaker 1: city in the world, it would spread so rapidly that
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Speaker 1: in a week the place would be depopulated. I do
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Speaker 1: not understand what you mean by newly invented diseases, said I.
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Speaker 1: How is it possible for a man to invent a disease?
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Speaker 1: Allow me to sit down, said the profess sir, for
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Speaker 1: I am too weak to remain standing. The answer to
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Speaker 1: your question is very easy. Certain diseases are produced by
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Speaker 1: certain microbes, and hitherto bacteriologists have confined themselves to trying
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Speaker 1: to discover the specific microbe of each disease, and then
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Speaker 1: to discover a remedy that will kill the microbe without
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Speaker 1: killing the patient. No one but myself has ever tried
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Speaker 1: to develop the deadly powers of known microbes. Look at
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Speaker 1: that tube numbered seventeen. It contains the microbe of typhoid fever.
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Speaker 1: But I have cultivated it until it will produce the disease.
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Speaker 1: In twenty four hours after the microbe is taken into
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Speaker 1: the system and will kill the patient infallibly in twelve
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Speaker 1: hours more. That is only one of a dozen similar
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Speaker 1: successes that I have obtained. Then, I have crossed different microbes,
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Speaker 1: or rather cultivated them together, so that they have become
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Speaker 1: capable of producing a new disease, partaking somewhat of the
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Speaker 1: character of each of the diseases which the same microbes,
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Speaker 1: if cultivated separately, would produce. It was I who invented
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Speaker 1: in this way the present variety of influenza, by crossing
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Speaker 1: the microbes of malarial fever with those of pneumonia. I
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Speaker 1: was living in Saint Petersburg at the time, and I
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Speaker 1: accidentally dropped the tube containing the germs of influenza. Someone
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Speaker 1: must have found it and opened it, for when the
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Speaker 1: influenza broke out, I instantly recognized it as my own invention.
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Speaker 1: I have always heard. I ventured to remark that the
20:46
Speaker 1: influenza is a disease which has appeared in Europe several
20:49
Speaker 1: times during the present century. There have been epidemics of
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Speaker 1: a disease called influenza. He replied, but they differed from
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Speaker 1: the present. They lacked the symptoms of malarial poisoning, which
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Speaker 1: are characteristic of my own influenza. I have always been
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Speaker 1: very sorry that I lost that tube, for an epidemic
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Speaker 1: of influenza can do no possible good and does great harm.
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Speaker 1: But to come back to what I was saying before
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Speaker 1: we spoke of influenza, look at that tube, number thirty one.
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Speaker 1: It contains microbes that will produce a disease having some
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Speaker 1: of the characteristics of hydrophobia and some of those of dropsy,
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Speaker 1: while it also has symptoms which are entirely new. It
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Speaker 1: was one of the earliest of my new diseases and
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Speaker 1: would certainly be very efficacious should it ever become epidemic.
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Speaker 1: I have, however, invented other diseases which are far superior
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Speaker 1: to it. Here is a tube, he continued, taking it
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Speaker 1: almost lovingly in his hand, which contains my shift of
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Speaker 1: the microbes of our cross between those found in the
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Speaker 1: venom of the toboba, the most deadly of all known serpents,
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Speaker 1: and those of the Asiatic plague. By the way, I
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Speaker 1: am the first man to discover the existence of microbes
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Speaker 1: in snake venom. I call the new disease which these
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Speaker 1: crossed microbes produce the Purple Death for the reason that
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Speaker 1: the body of the person who is attacked by it
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Speaker 1: becomes purple before death. It kills in less than thirty minutes,
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Speaker 1: and there is no remedy which has the slightest effect
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Speaker 1: upon it. As to its infectious qualities, it is the
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Speaker 1: king of all diseases. If I were to break this
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Speaker 1: tube while we were in this room together, you and
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Speaker 1: I would be dead within an hour, And from this
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Speaker 1: house the infection would spread so rapidly that in two
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Speaker 1: days at furthest not a human being would be left
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Speaker 1: alive in this poor little town. Think what would happen
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Speaker 1: were we Germans to use these microbes in our next
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Speaker 1: war with France. A single bomb filled with the Purple
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Speaker 1: Death and thrown within the lines of a French army
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Speaker 1: would render a battle and impossibility. Before six hours were over.
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Speaker 1: There would not be left in an army of four
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Speaker 1: hundred thousand men survivors enough to bury the dead. The
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Speaker 1: man's eyes sparkled with pride. His weakness had almost vanished
23:36
Speaker 1: while he was talking, but suddenly he sank back in
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Speaker 1: his chair and feebly begged me to assist him into
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Speaker 1: the other room. When he was lying on the sofa
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Speaker 1: and had somewhat regained his strength. I asked him what
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Speaker 1: possible good he expected to accomplish by adding to the
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Speaker 1: number of diseases which already afflicted humanity. I have told you,
24:02
Speaker 1: he said that I am a philanthropist, only unlike other philanthropists,
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Speaker 1: I have intelligence, and I hope the courage of my convictions.
24:13
Speaker 1: You have heard me say that all the poverty and
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Speaker 1: misery of the world are due to overpopulation. While I
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Speaker 1: have there in my laboratory the remedy for this evil,
24:25
Speaker 1: I can, with merciful swiftness, and with absolute certainty, reduce
24:30
Speaker 1: the population of Europe to a half or a third
24:33
Speaker 1: of what it now is. I have only to take
24:37
Speaker 1: my purple death and scatter the teeming gelatine on the
24:40
Speaker 1: sidewalk of the most crowded street of your London. It
24:44
Speaker 1: will dry quickly, and under the trampling of hundreds of
24:48
Speaker 1: feet it will become pulverized, and the particles will float
24:52
Speaker 1: in the air. That very day, the physicians will find
24:55
Speaker 1: themselves in the presence of a disease wholly unknown to them,
25:00
Speaker 1: and against which medical science can achieve nothing. In a
25:05
Speaker 1: few days, London will be silent, the working classes and
25:09
Speaker 1: the poor will be dead, and everyone who can possibly
25:13
Speaker 1: fly from the stricken town will have fled. When the
25:16
Speaker 1: pestilence has spent its force, we shall hear no more
25:20
Speaker 1: of the unemployed workmen in London. There will be more
25:24
Speaker 1: work than workmen can be found to do, and the
25:27
Speaker 1: very street sweepers will receive wages that will permit them
25:31
Speaker 1: to live almost in luxury. Or say that I wanted
25:36
Speaker 1: to decrease the population of Berlin, I simply place some
25:41
Speaker 1: of that gelatine in an envelope and send it through
25:44
Speaker 1: the post to the head workmen in some factory. He
25:48
Speaker 1: opens it, and the purple death breaks out among the workmen.
25:53
Speaker 1: Nothing can stop it until it has run its course.
25:56
Speaker 1: Of course, a percentage of capitalists and employers labor will
26:00
Speaker 1: fall victims to the disease, but its ravages will be
26:04
Speaker 1: chiefly confined to those who have not the means to
26:08
Speaker 1: escape from the city. Did I not tell you that
26:11
Speaker 1: the anarchists select the wrong victims, and that their favorite
26:15
Speaker 1: dynamite is absurdly ineffective in comparison with the weapons that
26:20
Speaker 1: I can use. Now you see that I told the
26:24
Speaker 1: truth man. The lives of half Europe are in my hands.
26:30
Speaker 1: I made no reply. The vastness of the man's horrible
26:34
Speaker 1: scheme stunned me. I had not the least doubt that
26:39
Speaker 1: he spoke the truth, and I had promised to remain
26:42
Speaker 1: silent while his devilish project was carried out. Presently, he resumed,
26:49
Speaker 1: I do not want my weapons to fall into hands
26:52
Speaker 1: that would use them ignorantly. That is why I've asked
26:57
Speaker 1: you to destroy every one of those deadly tubes in
27:00
Speaker 1: case I should die without having been able to do
27:02
Speaker 1: it myself. I made the discovery yesterday that I may
27:07
Speaker 1: die at any minute, and I am physician enough to
27:10
Speaker 1: be sure of what I say. If I should find
27:14
Speaker 1: myself dying and should have the time and strength to act,
27:19
Speaker 1: I should set this house on fire and blow out
27:22
Speaker 1: my brains. So if you should happen to find my
27:26
Speaker 1: house burning, you will take no measures to check the flames.
27:31
Speaker 1: But I fear that I shall not have the time
27:34
Speaker 1: to do this myself, and so I rely on your help.
27:39
Speaker 1: How long since you invented the purple death, I asked.
27:43
Speaker 1: A troubled look passed over Schwartz's face. Nearly two years ago.
27:49
Speaker 1: He replied, why have you delayed to use it. I asked,
27:55
Speaker 1: a sudden hope that the man was not quite so
27:58
Speaker 1: mad as he seemed to be springing up within me.
28:02
Speaker 1: As yet, it is killed no one besides the guinea
28:05
Speaker 1: pigs except your dog, he replied. The dog must have
28:11
Speaker 1: been digging where the guinea pigs are buried, and so
28:13
Speaker 1: contracted the disease. But why have you not carried out
28:18
Speaker 1: your scheme of depopulating the world during these two years?
28:23
Speaker 1: My friend replied the professor. I am not so strong
28:28
Speaker 1: as I believed myself. The truth is I have lacked
28:32
Speaker 1: the courage to begin the work. I have been like
28:35
Speaker 1: a surgeon whose nerves will not permit him to perform
28:38
Speaker 1: a painful operation, although he knows that it is the
28:42
Speaker 1: only means of saving the patient's life. But I shall
28:46
Speaker 1: delay no longer. I may have very little time to live.
28:51
Speaker 1: And besides, now that I have told you all, my
28:55
Speaker 1: secret is no longer safe. Oh. I do not for
28:59
Speaker 1: an instant doubt your word, and I have perfect confidence
29:03
Speaker 1: in your friendship. But when a secret is known to
29:07
Speaker 1: more than one person, it is no longer a secret.
29:12
Speaker 1: But I will have more courage. In another week, I
29:15
Speaker 1: shall be as well as ever, and then I will
29:19
Speaker 1: begin the work of redeeming the world from poverty. Now
29:23
Speaker 1: I must ask you to leave me, for I must
29:26
Speaker 1: try to sleep. By the bye. You will find a
29:30
Speaker 1: duplicate key of my door hanging on a nail in
29:33
Speaker 1: the hull. Take it with you, and don't hesitate to
29:37
Speaker 1: use it in case of necessity. I left the professor
29:41
Speaker 1: and returned to my house in a most unenviable state
29:45
Speaker 1: of mind. I had not the slightest doubt that what
29:49
Speaker 1: he had told me was strictly true, granting that the
29:53
Speaker 1: man was mad, and surely no sane man could have
29:57
Speaker 1: calmly proposed the murder of hundreds of them thousands of
30:00
Speaker 1: unoffending men. Still, the death of my dog was sufficient
30:06
Speaker 1: evidence that Schwartz's claim that he had invented microbic poisons
30:11
Speaker 1: was true. I had given him my word to remain silent.
30:16
Speaker 1: If I kept my promise, I should be accessory to
30:20
Speaker 1: the crimes which he unquestionably meant to commit. If I
30:25
Speaker 1: betrayed him, I not only broke my word, but I
30:29
Speaker 1: made it certain that either he would be condemned to
30:32
Speaker 1: a madhouse or would be sent to the gallows. I
30:36
Speaker 1: could not determine what it was my duty to do.
30:40
Speaker 1: And I spent a night of more terrible anxiety than
30:44
Speaker 1: any criminal ever spent who knew that the gallows awaited
30:47
Speaker 1: him in the early morning, all night long, and far
30:52
Speaker 1: into the next day, I ceaselessly debated the question of
30:56
Speaker 1: what ought I to do. Towards noon, not having yet
31:00
Speaker 1: heard any sound of life in my neighbor's house, I
31:03
Speaker 1: took the key, and, entering, went up to his bedroom.
31:08
Speaker 1: He was lying in bed, with the bedclothes drawn up
31:11
Speaker 1: close to his chin, and I spoke to him, but
31:15
Speaker 1: he did not answer. When I touched his forehead, I
31:19
Speaker 1: found that he was dead and cold. He had evidently
31:23
Speaker 1: died soon after going to bed, for the body was
31:26
Speaker 1: already perfectly rigid. I did not lose a moment in
31:30
Speaker 1: destroying the tubes in his laboratory. I placed them carefully,
31:35
Speaker 1: one by one in a bucket filled with the disinfecting
31:39
Speaker 1: fluid which he had shown me, and broke them with
31:42
Speaker 1: a blow of a marble pestle. When this was done,
31:46
Speaker 1: I carried the bucket into the garden and buried it
31:49
Speaker 1: deep with its contents. I should then have been ready
31:53
Speaker 1: to send my servant to notify the authorities of Professor
31:57
Speaker 1: Schwartz's death, had it not been for one thing, The
32:02
Speaker 1: tube containing the Purple Death was missing from its place
32:05
Speaker 1: on the laboratory shelf, and I had been totally unable
32:09
Speaker 1: to find it. So long as this remained above ground,
32:14
Speaker 1: all that I had done was comparatively useless. Doubtless, the
32:19
Speaker 1: tube would be found by the officers whom the syndic
32:22
Speaker 1: of the town would send to search the apartment and
32:25
Speaker 1: take charge of the dead man's effects. Then it would
32:29
Speaker 1: be broken purposely or accidentally, and the frightful consequences that
32:34
Speaker 1: Schwartz had predicted would be inevitable. I searched every corner
32:40
Speaker 1: and cranny of the house without finding the tube. Finally,
32:44
Speaker 1: I began to hope that the Professor had himself destroyed it,
32:48
Speaker 1: fearing that he was near his end, but that he
32:52
Speaker 1: had been unable to destroy the rest of his poisons.
32:55
Speaker 1: Comforting myself with this solution of the mystery, I went
32:59
Speaker 1: to his bed to smooth the bedclothes before sending for
33:02
Speaker 1: the police, and in doing so I found the Purple
33:06
Speaker 1: Death clasped firmly in his hand. It was impossible to
33:12
Speaker 1: loosen the dead man's grasp, and after vainly making the attempt,
33:17
Speaker 1: I gave it up, fearing to break the tube in
33:20
Speaker 1: the effort. I called my servant and told him to
33:24
Speaker 1: go first to the village doctor, and afterwards to notify
33:28
Speaker 1: the police, and then I sat down to await events.
33:33
Speaker 1: The doctor arrived promptly and proved to be a very
33:37
Speaker 1: intelligent man. I told him the whole story that the
33:41
Speaker 1: professor had confided to me, with the exception that I
33:45
Speaker 1: did not hint at the use to which the dead
33:47
Speaker 1: man had proposed to put his terrible inventions. The doctor
33:52
Speaker 1: found no difficulty in believing what I told him, and
33:56
Speaker 1: it evidently gave him a profound respect for his dey
34:00
Speaker 1: seized confrere, he agreed with me that it would be
34:04
Speaker 1: dangerous to meddle with the tube which the corpse clasped
34:07
Speaker 1: in his rigid hand, and promised me that even if
34:11
Speaker 1: an autopsy should be necessary, he would see that the
34:15
Speaker 1: tube remained undisturbed. I think he was a little shy
34:19
Speaker 1: of coming too closely in contact with the body, lest
34:24
Speaker 1: the Professor should have died of one of his new diseases.
34:28
Speaker 1: At any rate, he decided to accept my theory that
34:31
Speaker 1: Schwartz had died of heart disease, and persuaded the syndic
34:36
Speaker 1: that an autopsy would be quite superfluous. Professor Schwartz was
34:41
Speaker 1: buried within twenty four hours, with the Purple Death still
34:46
Speaker 1: in his right hand. The police were easily persuaded that
34:50
Speaker 1: it contained some holy relic and that it would be
34:53
Speaker 1: impious to meddle with it. When the funeral was over,
34:57
Speaker 1: I left the place as soon as I could pack
35:00
Speaker 1: my boxes and surrender the lease of my villa. I
35:04
Speaker 1: have never seen it since, and never want to see it.
35:09
Speaker 1: On the way back to England, I passed through Berlin,
35:13
Speaker 1: where I went to see an eminent bacteriologist and asked
35:17
Speaker 1: him how long my crobes, enclosed in a tube containing
35:21
Speaker 1: gelatine would retain their vitality. His answer was forever. So
35:28
Speaker 1: far as is at present known, that answer has poisoned
35:33
Speaker 1: my whole life. Six feet underground in the grave of
35:38
Speaker 1: Professor Schwartz lies the Purple Death, waiting until the day
35:43
Speaker 1: when the cemetery will share the fate of all cemeteries
35:47
Speaker 1: and be cut up into building lots. Then the tube
35:51
Speaker 1: will be exhumed and broken, and the pestilence that is
35:56
Speaker 1: to sweep away the teeming millions of Europe will begin
35:59
Speaker 1: its work. Sooner or later. This is morally certain to happen.
36:05
Speaker 1: I have sometimes thought of exhuming the coffin of Professor
36:09
Speaker 1: Schwartz and searching for the fatal tube. But to do
36:13
Speaker 1: this would be to invite the catastrophe which I dread,
36:17
Speaker 1: for in all probability the tube has become unsealed by
36:21
Speaker 1: this time. My only hope is that an earthquake will
36:26
Speaker 1: someday bury the cemetery, too deep for any spade to
36:31
Speaker 1: reach the grave of my poor mad friend. The Purple
36:36
Speaker 1: Death by W. L. Alden read by Warren Cotty