XVIII
THE ANTIVENIN
I slept late in the morning, so that Kennedy had to wake me. When wehad finished breakfast he led the way to the laboratory, all withoutmaking any effort to satisfy my curiosity. There he started packing upthe tubes and materials he had been studying in the case, rather thanresuming his investigations.
"What's the idea?" I asked, finally, unable to contain myself anylonger.
"You carry this package," he directed. "I'll take the other."
I obeyed, somewhat sulkily I'm afraid.
"You see," he added, as we left the building and hurried to the taxistand near the campus, "the next problem is to identify the particularkind of venom that was used. Besides, I want to know the nature of thespots on the towel you found. They certainly were not of venom. I havemy suspicions what they really are."
He paused while we selected a vehicle and made ourselves comfortable."To save time," he went on, "I thought I'd just go over to theCastleton Institute. You know in their laboratories the famous Japaneseinvestigator, Doctor Nagoya, has made some marvelous discoveriesconcerning the venom of snakes. It is his specialty, a matter to whichhe has practically devoted his life. Therefore I expect that he will beable to confirm certain suspicions of mine very quickly, or"--ashrug--"explode a theory which has slowly been taking form in the backof my head."
When we dismissed the taxi in front of the institute I realized thatthis would be my first visit to this institution so lavishly endowed bythe multi-millionaire, Castleton, for the advancement of experimentalscience. Kennedy's card, sent in to Doctor Nagoya, brought that eminentinvestigator out personally to see us. He was the very finest type ofOriental savant, a member of the intellectual nobility of the strangeEastern land only recently made receptive to the civilization of theWest. When he and Kennedy chatted together in low tones for a fewmoments it was hard for me to grasp that each belonged to a basic racestrain fundamentally different from the other. East and West had met,upon the plane of modern science. The two were simply men ofspecialized knowledge, the Japanese pre-eminent in one field, Kennedyin another.
Carefully and thoroughly Kennedy and Nagoya went over the results whichKennedy had already obtained. After a moment Doctor Nagoya conducted usto his research room.
"Now let me show you," said the Oriental.
In a moment they were deep in the mysteries of an even more minuteanalysis than Kennedy had made before. I took a turn about the room,finding nothing more understandable than the study holding Kennedy'sinterest. Though I could not grasp it, curiosity kept me hovering close.
"You see"--Nagoya spoke as he finished the test he was making at themoment--"without a doubt it is crotalin, the venom of the rattlesnake,Crotalus horridus."
"There was no snake actually present," I hastened to explain, breakingin. Then at a glance from Kennedy I stopped, abashed, for all this hadbeen made clear to the scientist.
"It is not necessary," Nagoya replied, turning to me with thepoliteness characteristic of the East. "Crotalin can be obtained nowwith fair ease. It is a drug used in a new treatment of epilepsy whichis being tried out at many hospitals."
I nodded my thanks, not wanting to interrupt again.
Kennedy pressed on to the next point he wished established. "That wasthe spot on the portieres. Now the ampulla."
"Also crotalin." Doctor Nagoya spoke positively.
"How about this solution?" Kennedy took from my package the tube withthe liquid made from the faint spots on the towel which I had found andwhich had been our first clue. "It is not crotalin."
The Japanese turned to his laboratory table.
Kennedy muttered some vague suggestions which were too technical for mebut which seemed to enable Nagoya to eliminate a great deal of work.The test progressed rapidly. Finally the savant stepped back, regardingthe solution with a very satisfied smile.
"It is," he explained, carefully, "some of the very anticrotalus veninwhich we have perfected right here in the institute."
Kennedy nodded. "I suspected as much." There was great elation in hismanner. "You see, I had heard all about your wonderful work."
"Yes!" Nagoya waved his hand around at the wonderfully equipped room,only one detail in the many arrangements for medical research madepossible by the generosity of Castleton. "Yes," he repeated, proud ofhis laboratory, as he well might be, "we have made a great deal ofprogress in the development of protective sera--antivenins, we callthem."
"Are they distributed widely?" Kennedy asked, thoughtfully.
"All over the world. We are practically the only source of supply."
"How do you obtain the serum in quantity?"
"From horses treated with increasing doses of the snake venom."
A question struck me as I remembered the peculiar double action of thepoison. "Can you tell me just how the antivenin counteracts the effectsof the venom?" I inquired of the savant.
"Surely," he replied. "It neutralizes one of the two elements in thevenom, the nervous poison, thus enabling the individual to devote allhis vitality to overcoming the irritant poison. It is the nervouspoison that is the chief death-dealing agent, producing paralysis ofthe heart and respiration. We advise all travelers to carry theprotective serum if they are likely to be exposed to snake bites."
Kennedy picked up the tube containing the solution made from the towelspots. "This antivenin was your product, doctor?"
"Probably so," was the precise answer.
"Then the purchasers can be identified," I suggested.
"We have no record of ordinary purchasers," Nagoya explained, slowly.
Kennedy was keenly disappointed at that, and showed it. However, hethanked the scientist cordially, and we departed. Outside, he turned tome.
"Do you understand now why the night intruder at Tarrytown did notdie--if he is one of our suspects--from the scratch of the needle?"
"You mean he had taken an injection of antivenin before--"
"Exactly! We are dealing with a criminal of diabolical cleverness. Notonly did he make all his plans to kill Miss Lamar with the greatestpossible care, but he prepared against accident to himself. He wastaking no chances. He inoculated himself with a protective serum. Theneedle of the syringe he used for that purpose he wiped upon the towelyou discovered in the washroom."