A Modern Wizard Part 39

"Nothing is impossible," said the Doctor, impressively, "if I have decided in my own mind that it must be. I have never failed in any purpose of my life, and I will not fail in this. Judge Dudley, listen to me. I have a claim upon your daughter Agnes, equal to, yea greater, than your own."

"What!" exclaimed the Judge, more amazed. He sank back in his chair bewildered. How could this man have a claim upon his child greater than his own? It was an unsolvable riddle to him.

"You do not comprehend me," said the Doctor, "and to explain myself it will be necessary for me to speak at some length. Shall I do so?"

"You must do so! After what you have said, I must hear more. Go on!"

"Very well. If at first I seem to speak of matters unconnected with the subject, bear with me and listen attentively. I shall be as brief as possible, and yet give you a thorough insight into my meaning. As you are well aware, men call me a wizard. Now, what is a wizard? The dictionary says he is a sorcerer, and that a sorcerer is a magician.

In olden times the magicians were of two kinds, evil and good, accordingly as they practised Black Art, or the reverse; which only means that they were men endowed with knowledge not shared by their fellows, and that, armed with the powers thus acquired, they used their abilities either for evil or for good purposes. Thus, if in this day of civilization I possess any knowledge in advance of other scientists, I suppose that I am as truly a wizard, as were the magicians of the ancients."

"Nonsense!"

"Not at all. I claim to have knowledge which is fully twenty years in advance of to-day, just as I know that the present generation is but slowly awakening to truths which were known to me twenty years ago.

But before I speak of what I myself know, let me give you a summary of the advance which modern science has made in a specified direction.

You have heard of what is commonly called the 'Germ Theory' of disease?"

"Yes! Certainly!"

"You say yes, and you add certainly, by which latter you mean that it was folly for me to ask you such a question. Yet how much do you really know of the great progress which has been made in mastering the secret causes of human disease? You are a learned Judge, and yet you know comparatively little of the subject which is of most vital interest to mankind. I mean no offence, of course. I am as ignorant of the Law, as you are of Medicine. Let me open a window that you may peep in upon the scientific students busy with their investigations.

The 'Germ Theory,' briefly stated, is this. There are all around us millions of micro-organisms, parasites which thrive and grow by feeding upon the animal world. In proportion as these parasities infest, and thrive upon a given individual, so will that individual become diseased, and it has been shown that in many cases a special germ will cause a special disease. I could deliver you a lecture, hours long, upon the cla.s.sification, morphology, and pathogenic action of bacteria, but I wish at present to lead your mind into a different channel. Undoubtedly the most important question in biology is the immunity from disease-generating germs, which is possessed by various animals."

"Do you mean that some animals can resist the attacks of bacteria?"

asked the Judge. Anxious as he was to arrive at the point where his daughter's name would be again introduced, his natural love of knowledge caused his interest to be aroused as the Doctor proceeded.

"I do," continued Dr. Medjora. "It has long been known that certain infectious diseases, such as typhoid fever, are peculiar to man, while the lower animals do not suffer from them; and that, on the other hand, man has a natural immunity from other diseases which are common among the lower animals. Again, some species will resist diseases which become epidemic among others. In addition to an immunity peculiar to a whole race, or species, we have individual differences in susceptibility or resistance. This may be natural, or it may be acquired. For example, the very young are usually more susceptible than adults. But a difference will also be found among adults of a race. The negro is less susceptible to yellow fever than the white man, while, contrarily, small-pox seems to be peculiarly fatal among the dark-skinned races."

"Have the scientists been able to account for these phenomena?"

"They theorize, and many of them are making admirable guesses. They account for race tolerance by the Darwinian theory, of the survival of the fittest. Imagine a susceptible population decimated by a scourge, and the survivors are plainly those who have evidenced a higher power of resistance. Their progeny should show a greater immunity than the original colony, and, after repeated attacks of the same malady, a race tolerance would become a characteristic."

"That is certainly a plausible theory."

"It is probably correct. But acquired immunity, possessed by an individual residing among a people who are susceptible, is the problem of greatest interest. The difference between a susceptible and an immune animal depends upon one fact. In the former, when the disease-breeding germ is introduced, it finds conditions favoring its multiplication, so that it makes increasing invasions into the tissues. The immune animal resists such multiplication, and possesses inherent powers of resistance which finally exterminates the invader.

But how can this immunity be acquired by a given individual?"

"Upon the solution of that question, I would say depends the future extermination of disease," said the Judge.

"You are right," a.s.sented the Doctor. "Ogata and Jashuhara have recorded some interesting experiments. They cultivated the bacillus of anthrax in the blood of an animal immune to that disease, and when they injected these cultures into a susceptible animal, they found that only a mild attack of the disease ensued, and that subsequently the animal was immune to further inoculation."

"Why, if that is so, it would seem that we have only to use the blood of immune animals, as an injection, to insure a person against a disease!"

"Behring and Kitasato experimenting in that direction, found that the blood of immune animals, injected into susceptible individuals, after twenty-four hours rendered them immune, but this would not follow with all diseases. In many maladies common to man, a single attack, from which the person recovers, renders him safe from future epidemics. The most commonly known example of this is the discovery by Jenner, who gave the world that safeguard against small-pox, known as vaccination.

But the most important discovery in this direction yet made is one which is not fully appreciated even by the discoverer himself.

Chauveau, in 1880, ascertained that, if he protected ewes by inoculating them with an attenuated virus, their lambs, when born, would show an acquired immunity."

"This is incredible!"

"I have now related all that the modern scientists have recorded up to the present date, and when I tell you that all of this, and very much more than is at present recognized, was known to me twenty years ago, you will see that my claim that I am twenty years in advance of my generation is well founded. I shall not enter into the many theories advanced to explain the phenomenon of acquired immunity from disease, because it would be unprofitable to take up such a discussion, while you are waiting to hear what concerns you more closely. Suffice it to say, that various scientists have learned that immunity may be produced in a previously susceptible animal by the injection of various preparations. But in each instance, the injection is expected to produce immunity from only one disease. My own studies were at first in this direction, and I have succeeded not only in learning how to prevent each malady separately, but what is far better, I have discovered a method by which I can render an individual immune to all zymotic diseases."

"Then, indeed, are you a wizard!"

"Yes, because I do that which transcends the powers and knowledge of my fellows! But mark my prophecy! Just so surely as the scientific investigators of to-day have learned what I knew twenty years ago, so will the investigators of the future master the secrets which now are known only to myself. I am a wizard, perhaps, but I am a modern wizard. There is nothing of the supernatural about my methods. But now let me be more explicit. What Chauvau did with sheep, I have done with the human being."

"What! You have dared to make such an experiment?"

"Dared? Emanuel Medjora dares all things, in the pursuit of knowledge!"

The man had arisen as he warmed to his subject, and now, as he drew himself up erect, he towered over the Judge as a giant might.

"Listen, and be convinced. I discovered a precious preparation, which, if injected at the proper time would, in my opinion, bring me the consummation of my dreams. A single fluid, which would produce immunity from all diseases. Just after you had procured my acquittal, and thus saved me and my learning for the benefit of the world, you were kind enough to intrust me with the care of your wife's health."

"I had no hesitation in doing so. I had faith in you."

"The result has shown that your faith was well founded. At the proper time, I injected the preparation which I had formulated, into the arm of your wife."

"You did that?"

"I did. You will recall the fact that from being feeble she began to gain strength. Periodically I repeated my injections, and renewed vigor coursed through her system."

"You certainly worked wonders. I distinctly remember that I marvelled at the improvement which followed your treatment."

"In due season you were presented with a daughter. A beautiful, baby girl!"

"My little angel Agnes!"

The Judge spoke softly, and with tenderness. In fancy he looked back to the day when the nurse brought him the little cherub, newly arrived, and he felt again the tightening of his heart-strings which told him that he was a father.

"You held the babe in your arms," said the Doctor, "and you, as well as all the others, recognized that it was an exceptional infant. But none of you guessed that a child had been born, who, like Chauvau's lambs, would be immune to all disease!"

"Do you really mean that you accomplished that almost incredible miracle?" exclaimed the Judge, as at last he perceived the nature of the claim upon Agnes, which the Doctor was endeavoring to establish.

"Do you doubt it? Glance back over her career. Remember the various climates that she has visited; the many epidemics which she has pa.s.sed through in safety. Yellow fever in Memphis, small-pox in the Indies, and several seasons of diphtheria at home, here in New York. She has been near typhoid and scarlet fever; la grippe has visited us twice in epidemic form, and is carrying off hundreds at this very time. Can you recall a day in all her life, when Agnes has been ill? No! You cannot!" The Doctor's tone was triumphant. The Judge's reply was low.

"Providence has certainly blessed her with remarkable health," he murmured.

"Providence?" exclaimed the Doctor, pa.s.sionately. "No! Not Providence, but I! I, Emanuel Medjora, the Wizard! I have blessed her with her wonderful health! To me she owes it all! I claim her! She is as much mine as yours!"

He was grandly dramatic as he uttered these words, but, marvelling as he did at what he had heard, the Judge was not yet ready to yield.

This iteration of the fact that he claimed Agnes, aroused the father's antagonism, and, in an almost equally imperious tone, he sprang to his feet and cried:

"No! She is mine! I am her father, and she is mine! All mine! I deny your claim, and Wizard though you be, I defy you!"

The two men glared at each other for a moment, and then the Doctor spoke suddenly.

"You defy me! Ha! Ha! Ha!" His laugh rang through the chamber with a weird sound. "Agnes is yours! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Again the laugh, prolonged and piercing. In an instant his manner changed. Grasping the Judge by the arm, he said: "Come with me!" then half dragged him towards, and through the door that led into the laboratory.