| Show the N 1 oily I 1 am a chemist many doubtless would find it difficult to define what the duties of a chemi t are if asked to such I 1 say a chemist is a collector of facts it is the business of his life to aid in unmasking for the tho benefit of mankind tho the good and evil hanging even in the air we breathe burrowing in the earth we tread mingling ming ling with the food we eat and swimming swimming in the water we drink then again gainY the he law waits on the chemist A human being lias has passed suddenly away somebody thinks there has been foul pla pia play the chemist examines the body of the tie supposed victim the law listens hat in hand to science the suspected party arty p trembles in anticipation the or oracular lips of the chemist move he names one out of the fearful list of poisons it is either elther strychnine prussic prussie acid I 1 or that deadly oil of bitter almonds the law then puts on oil his hat takes the tile decision into court and hangs the prisoner in short the chemist must knorth kno ways and the wherefores of every everything taing tu in the phenomena phenoi phenol nena of life ilfe as far as a feeble man can know the composition of the ocean he be must be familiar with he must be able to name the gases of the air and capable of resolving the human body itself into invisible vapors I 1 am the occupant of this responsibile and important tion in the medical college of P it was about aboab eleven on a stormy evening that I 1 bade good night to my student tom richards at the door of my laboratory at the south end of the college buildings good night professor said tom we are going to have a fall of hydrogen oxygen and a trace of saline hydrogen and oxygen in our nomenclature is water 1 I hope I 1 said in answer to toms playful words that it will not rain before I 1 get home oh Ohno no it wont for an houriet hour yet said tom then I 1 said with a sigh noticing that ti the mercury in my barometer was waa w as falling a sign of a violent storm 1 I shall certainly get wet tom was very anxious to know what would keep beep me up after twelve so I 1 told him I 1 was about to commence analyzing the stomach of a mrs johnson whose husband now lay in P jail just across the road from the college on suspicion that he was the murderer tom said thail had worked hard enough that day and deserved the ni night ht to myself he spoke the truth still sti if I 1 had delayed examining the stomach so BO long and the trial so near at hand that I 1 could not in conscience put off the examination farther although I 1 had heard L several classes recite at the dif dlf different public u alic schools in the morning had delivered fl vered a lecture in the college proper that afternoon another in the laboratory that evening besides attending to my several duties as police surgeon during the day tom was passing out of the college yard through the gate his head turned bidding me gool gcoy night when he brush 0 o ed against a man standing with his fade face to the prison the street lamp showed me that the man was in the pol ce uniform reentering entering re my laboratory I 1 took down a gl glass ss jar from the shelf and sat down before my sink to examine it the jar which contained mrs john sons stomach was covered by a cloth duly tied with string and properly sealed with my official seal in red wax breaking through the cloth I 1 lifted the stomach out with a dissecting hook and laid it on a white platter before me then became busily employed in applying those tests to its its contents by b y which we detect the presence of injurious substances an hour had passed since the departure of young richard I 1 had careful lail ay iy emptied the contents of the stomach into a number of bowls or basins I 1 had labored hard to discover traces of poison in all this but had been unsuccessful joe johnson the suspected man had been a student of mine a few years before I 1 thought him a good hearted intelligent fellow only a little wild and really regally began to hope that he might pro prove v e innocent when among the macerated macerate ma d foidl came upon a small grain by careful manipulation and the use of my magnifying glass I 1 managed to get this upon a piece apiece of smoked glass a and n d examined examine d it I 1 was then certain that I 1 had discovered arsenic but to make assurance doubly sure suro I 1 determined to apply a well known test for that polson poison accordingly I 1 placed in the womans comans stomach the usual acids and then turned on the blowpipe flame and presently there appeared the brilliant metallic mark worthy of cains brow which is the sign and signet of the poison olson fiend yos 11 1 I exclaimed as I 1 saw the fatal blazon joe johnson is the murderer of his wife with the evidence of that mark to back me no power can save him from the rope do you really think so eal eai bald baid d a calm voice behind me I 1 turned quickly and discovered a tall lank policeman having red weary eyes standing at my office door and staring in his body looked as if it had been rolled out between his hands like a molasses candy stick his nose was merely an elongated fleshy pug and his forehead was decorated with two red streaks instead of eyebrows he had no expression at all in his face and his pol poi policeman icema emans ns hat was so larte large large that it th threatened reat ened to settle down on his Is i ders his uniform reassured me I 1 lad iad ad dressed him with some impatience amy my friend I 1 suppose I 1 am wanted to attend an inquest or what is your p purpose no doctor the man aint dead yet anything th in the surgical w way 11 I 1 was Police surgeon as welty well weli as coroner gino no 11 well then why am I 1 sent for at this thi time stiffie of night dont bother Per fesser the man inan aint dead yet but they say he will be bb before morning 11 are doctors attending him orhea Oh hes hes hea in good hands the matter with him well said the official some folks say hes got so much knowledge into him that he cant live under it cerebral disorder eh gaw what hatel asked the man brain disorder 1 I mean something wrong here I 1 touched my forehead and so did he be as he said 1 A ay y and I 1 thought 0 id drop iu in and tell you if you was going ta the station tomorrow to morrow to take a look and see if its post mortem or not besides I 1 wanted to see where I 1 could always find nad you in case of need I 1 bowed and attributed his hla visit to a feelis feeling g of curios curiosity ity he sat on the sink one rubb ered foot thrown over the other and wiped hiti hiki nose with a dirty handkerchief several times while his eyes wandered about liko ilko christopher columbus after discoveries finally he spoke lle ile lie e one who felt called upon to say something Per fessor there has been an accident this afternoon terrible too xii ali ah said 1 Aw awful full fuli 1 said he whal what was it 11 nitroglycerin nitro kitro glycerin explosion up tip iu in the iron mills a hundred fellow morta mortals 13 buried sad it 1 gl affecting very here he rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand Per fesser what is that nitro glacer in it is a very dangerous article I 1 answered happy to display my knowledge it has haa nearly twice the destructiveness ti veness venesa of gunpowder but unlike it does not explode on the application of heat A red hot coal dropped into it does not explode it it will freeze it is yellow and greasy its symbols in our nomenclature are ca no 3 06 11 you dont mean to say so said the officer interrupting me in disagreeable tones in the very middle of a choice extract from one of my lectures why but you told me how it goes on if fire wont burst it what the devil will I 1 told him if it were pressed or anything fell on it it would explode 46 place it under the crusher of a cider mill strike it with a hammer let a weight fall on it from a height 1 yes 11 said my man and that rouses its vol voi caner cauer does it how does it come per fesser in little cans why like these said J discovering that there was a little can of it on the marble sink which I 1 had carelessly neglected to replace in the cellar I 1 then took a little littie of the glycerin spread jt it on an anvil and struck it with a hammer ahammer gaslight explosion and a flame burst fr from 0 in the paper no really said the policeman starting tar ting back 1 I suppose terresser per fesser resser that ere can would make a mighty big noi nol noise solf self if allowed to explode here all at once i atwould it would blow the entire building to batons atoms said I 1 resuming the analysis of mrs joh job stomach no I 1 heard the policeman remark in deliberate yankee tones you dont say so the next moment I 1 lay on my back a gag in my mouth terribly frightened and sick at heart over me stood the policeman and the fint thing tho the functionary did was looking pe me straight n the face to take olt off his nose he then rid himself of his red eyebrows hair and cap and became a determined looking fellow follow wita the eyes of a fiend liend and the nose of a roman 44 so you think said the metamorphosed i redin in the tones of a gentleman that nothing can savo joe johnson from the rope roped poor fellow it does look like it but boutmy my dear professor joe joo johnson is fortunate enough to have in me a devoted friend as well as brother I 1 have undertaken der taken to save him and lie shall be saved tn in order to accomplish this end it will be necessary to remove from the face odthe of the earth not only the stomach of his miserable wife wire yonder but also my dear professor I 1 am sorry to be obliged to say it for I 1 believe you were my brothers teacher and friend yourself as well I 1 saw he was in deadly earnest your death must apparently result from accident at atlea least at so it must inua geem to the authorities my brother is in jail and they will not suspect him and they certainly will not suspect me what terrible deed was in his brain hatching hatch ilig was he be going to murder me the hard earned knowledg knowledge e or of a score of years I 1 would have give given m for power to utter one single cry he took me in his arms and placed me in a chair and bound me to it and then from his side pocket he produced another rope was it myself that was to han ban hang instead 0 of johnson no yes he placed the line pulley like over the arm of a hanging chandeler ler ier this was altogether too slight a support even for one of my slender blender frame it was not to bo be han haning hanging ing then to toone one ono end of the rope ro ll 11 he attached a weight and raised it by Y pulling the other six or eight feet from the floor the loose end he be secured to the sink was he mad did he mean to draw me under this weight and send me out of the world in a novel way by letting it fall and dash my brains out to the sink end he attached a long yellow string under the tho weight on the floor he placed the can of glycerin I 1 recognized the yellow string it was a fuse it would burn in sixty minutes it would run across the marble marbie slab there was no hope of igniting any substance that would warn my friends frienda do you begin to see through b it asked joe john johnsons sons brother I 1 believe I 1 cursed him with my ruy eyes I 1 could only breathe through my nostrils and great veins were swelling and growing hot in my nay forehead drawing drawling a match from his pocket he lighted and applied applied it to the fuse that little tyrant that t at gave a man an hour to live to kill him at the end of it that little irresponsible terror that less merciful providence told a man the second he was to die if fright and horror spared him to himself slowly the flames crept snakelike snake like around the twine in one hour said the prisoners brother you will be in heaven or hell heli I 1 will watch with you for half an hour and the other half you will spend alone he sat bat down some minutes in a chair watching the flame then he rose and took a piece of porcelain with the murderers name thereon from the table and shook his head gloomily 1 I am chemist enough to know that it is arsenic said he yet those bright metallic eyes a betrayal of the guilty science thou kill my brother thou save him let us see in whose hand thou art most powerful here is a man who by thy aid bids the poison polson p oison olson agrite sprite surprise and ana write in brilliant e characters arac it a foul confession on this piece of porcelain but behold 0 science it is no sooner written than by thy word the whole confession and thy chosen servant are annihilated let the good professor use chemicals the bad brother only asks a little can of nitroglycerin nitro glycerin I 1 heard this speech indeed but great heavens it was my eyes and not my ears that was busiest then for beneath the table covered by a crimson cloth clot h and which I 1 faced appeared the face 0 of f a child the hair was rumpled and the tiie blue eyes were just opening from sleep the intelligent forehead was wrinkled strangely st it was mybon my boy billy iwas I 1 was afraid he would call papa if he did the implacable man would add the tho murder of the child to my death but my boy had none of this ho he had I 1 suppose crept under the table unknown to me lne and had fallen asleep there I 1 tried to te 1 the little fellow to hide bide again and wait for the final half hour when my nay tormenter tormentor would be gone whether he understood me or not aided by what he heard I 1 do not know but he quickly withdrew his little head first kissing his hand slightly to me abild and then shaking his fist at the schemer watching ehing so BO belligerently his dumb fire agents the half hour wore slowly away 0 heavens what agony did I 1 suffer not for myself but for my child A slight noise might discover his presence the match might run its tether sooner than was expected he might be murdered or blown to atoms the fuse burned on onon on the half hour is up tho the brother of the tho murderer arises to go jo I 1 commit your soul to gods keeping he said you hold the evidence of my brothers guilt nothing can save you now with that he turned to take his hat from on the table covered with the crimson cloth beneath which hid my priceless boy something attracted his attention he held out his hands and leaned forward I 1 thought he discovered my boy no he be was lifting something in either hand baud the wires of the e electric batte battery jy in sil enother another losan fc iny ay boy had bad leaped from under the tableland tab leand was turning the crank fast and furious lythe murderers brother was in the power of my boy he could not drop the wires he was helpless hei hel pless plesa how my boy cried for help heip the old college rung runs with his voice the prisoners brother added his voice tamy temy boys bubla in his hib agony he begged he beseeches beseeched ched all his bis nerves were racked great waves of galvanism leaped surged trembled and jarred over every sensitive nerve and fabre fibre still my boy was inflexible and shouted and turned faster unperceived up upon on the marble in the track of the burning fuse was a pool of inflammable oil in an instant a great length was burned away it would last just nive live minutes and no more eatherl Fa therl shouted my boy if no assistance si comes this villain must die with us I 1 dare not free him help 1 help I 1 help 1 alas aias I 1 I 1 could not answer him thank god I 1 but some one else did the fuse is burnt up I 1 the rhe rope is on nire fire the nitro glycerine the door opens tom ric Bic richardson richards hards on a midnight visit to the siok sick has heard the cry he comprehends all he seizes the can in his hand the weight descends but not on the death dealing oil no down it goes through the office floor down down own like an evil spirit to give back a dull metallic echo from the collar cellar beneath wo we were saved I 1 joe johnson the prisoner was hanged but his hla brother remains |
