The Blue Germ

aragraph in an evening paper, and immediately I saw it, I hurried back to the

t, which have recently increased so enormously in size and number that artificial stocking is entirely unnecessary, a curious disease has made its appearance. Fish caught there this morning are reported to have an unnatural bluish tint, and th

me. For some moments we stared at each other with almost sca

t. A bluish tint! Of cour

w itself in every man, woman or child infected with the bac

ons. Of course there will be a bluish tint." He leaned back and pulled at his beard. "I should think it will show itself in the whites of the eyes first, just as jaun

bad luck on

hy

ir system, they blunder on to a hook

agreed in looking on all disease as eventually due to poisons derived from germ activity, but a bang on the head or asphyxiation or prussic

t the manuscript lying before Sarakoff. "You had better keep those papers locked up. I spent an awful day at the

they ough

g the street to-day, I could have shrieked aloud when I saw everybody hurrying abo

and traced out a pattern in

It will be amusing to hear their report. What will they think when they make a b

first I could find nothing that seemed to indicate any further effects of the bacillus. I was in the act of butterin

mic in Ludlow." I

ted. Not only are no further cases reported, but several doctors report that those already attacked have recovered in an incred

ulled out and unrolled a map of England. The course of the aqueduct from Elan to Birmingham was marked by a thin red lin

position of the town. "All these towns on the way are supplied by

the map and went up to Sarakoff's bedroom. I met t

stood on the top stair, holding on to the bannister, my big glas

e sentence before

e's L

ed the map on the floor and p

n all fours and look

e aqueduct! But how do

pidemic of measles. Th

the names of the other towns that

," he spelt out. "

on

from Birmi

on

"Trout and then measles!" he said, and laughed. "This is on

enty from Birmingham, it was reported that the measles epidemic there had been cut short in the same mysterious manner as noti

habitants. Our correspondent states that it is most marked in the conjunctiv?, or whites of the eyes. There must undoubtedly be some connection between this phenomenon and the condition of the trout in the Elan reservoirs, as all the above-mentioned towns lie close to, and receive water from, the great aqueduct. The most remarkable thing, however, is that the bluish discolouration does not

ning from the hospital and saw t

ease in B

d the columns rapidly. In t

he city. The Public Health Department are considering what measures should

urrying from business thronged past me. A newspaper boy was shouting something

ease in B

my mind's eye I saw the Sarakoff-Harden bacillus in Birmingham, teeming in every water-pipe in countless billions, swarming in the carafes on dining-room tables, and in every ewer and fin