Sarakoff threw out his hands, and flung back his head. "Immortals!" I crossed to my writing-table, and picked up a heavy volume. "Here is the first edition of Buckwell Pink's _System of Medicine_. This book was produced at immense cost and labour, and it is to be published next week. When that book is published no one will buy it." "Why not?" demanded Tearle. "I wrote an article in it myself." "So did I," was my reply. "But that won't make any difference. No member of the medical profession will be interested in it." "Not interested? I can't believe that. It contains all the recent work." "The medical profession will not be interested in it for a very simple reason. The medical profession will have ceased to exist." A look of amazement came to Tearle's face. I tapped the volume and continued. "You are wrong in thinking it contains all the recent work. It does not. The last and greatest achievement of medical science is not recorded in these pages. It is only recorded in ourselves. For that blue pigmentation in your eyes and fingers is due to the Sarakoff-Harden bacillus which closes once and for all the chapter of medicine." CHAPTER XVI THE VISIT OF THE HOME SECRETARY In a few hours the initial effects of stimulation had worn off. The acuity of hearing was no longer so pronounced and the sense of refreshment, although still present, was not intense. We were already becoming adjusted to the new condition. The feeling of inertia and irresponsibility became gradually replaced by a general sense of calmness. To me, it seemed as if I had entered a world of new perspectives, a larger world in which space and time were widened out immeasurably. I could scarcely recall the nature of those impulses that had once driven me to and fro in endless activities, and in a constant state of anxiety. For now I had no anxiety.