BANISHING THE PLAGUES 



"Aren't they wonderful!" he exclaimed. His eye 

 twinkled, and he whispered as if in confidence : "You 

 know if I were to put them in the fire they would 

 melt." Then after a pause: "That is why I do not 

 put them in the fire." A hearty laugh followed, in- 

 dicating that the discoverer of "606" and the pro- 

 pounder of the subtlest theory of vital action in con- 

 nection with disease and immunity that has ever 

 been suggested regarded this as a very clever witti- 

 cism. 



Nor could the visitor fail to enter into the spirit 

 of the recital. There was a delightfully child-like 

 simplicity in the way of speaking, as also in the man- 

 ner of the famous investigator as he posed for his 

 photograph, that quite won the heart. Did you ex- 

 pect a disquisition on some obscure phase of science? 

 Instead of this the savant makes a witticism and] 

 offers you a cigar, assuring you that smoking is the 

 greatest pleasure of life. Moreover, the entire man- 

 ner and speech of this greatest living authority in 

 the field of experimental medicine seemed to betoken 

 the modesty, self-forgetfulness, simplicity of view that 

 always or almost always characterize the truly 

 great personality. 



THE DISCOVERY OF. SALVARSAN 



The work which brought the name of Ehrlich to 

 the attention of the general public throughout the 

 world in the year 1910 was the discovery of the spe- 

 cific cure for syphilis, which was given to the world 

 under the name of "606," and which was subse- 

 quently christened salvarsan; a more soluble form 



223 



