THE STOLEN BACILLUS AND OTHER INCIDENTS BY H.G. WELLS AUTHOR OF "THE TIME MACHINE" METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET, STRAND LONDON 1895 _Colonial Library_ TO H.B. MARRIOTT WATSON Most of the stories in this collection appeared originally in the _Pall Mall Budget_, two were published in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, and one in _St James's Gazette_. I desire to make the usual acknowledgments. The third story in the book was, I find, reprinted by the _Observatory_, and the "Lord of the Dynamos" by the Melbourne _Leader_. H.G. WELLS. CONTENTS I. THE STOLEN BACILLUS II. THE FLOWERING OF THE STRANGE ORCHID III. IN THE AVU OBSERVATORY IV. THE TRIUMPHS OF A TAXIDERMIST V. A DEAL IN OSTRICHES VI. THROUGH A WINDOW VII. THE TEMPTATION OF HARRINGAY VIII. THE FLYING MAN IX. THE DIAMOND MAKER X. AEPYORNIS ISLAND XI. THE REMARKABLE CASE OF DAVIDSON'S EYES XII. THE LORD OF THE DYNAMOS XIII. THE HAMMERPOND PARK BURGLARY XIV. A MOTH--_GENUS NOVO_ XV. THE TREASURE IN THE FOREST THE STOLEN BACILLUS "This again," said the Bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, "is a preparation of the celebrated Bacillus of cholera--the cholera germ." The pale-faced man peered down the microscope. He was evidently not accustomed to that kind of thing, and held a limp white hand over his disengaged eye. "I see very little," he said. "Touch this screw," said the Bacteriologist; "perhaps the microscope is out of focus for you. Eyes vary so much. Just the fraction of a turn this way or that." "Ah! now I see," said the visitor. "Not so very much to see after all. Little streaks and shreds of pink. And yet those little particles, those mere atomies, might multiply and devastate a city! Wonderful!" He stood up, and releasing the glass slip from the microscope, held it in his hand towards the window. "Scarcely visible," he said, scrutinising the preparation. He hesitated. "Are these--alive? Are they dangerous now?" "Those have been stained and killed," said the Bacteriologist. "I wish, for my own part, we could kill and stain every one of them in the universe." "I suppose," the pale man said with a slight smile, "that you scarcely care to have such things about you in the living--in the active state?" "On the contrary, we are obliged to," said the Bacteriologist. "Here, for instance--" He walked across the room and took up one of several sealed tubes. "Here is the living thing. This is a cultivation of the actual living disease bacteria." He hesitated, "Bottled cholera, so to speak." A slight gleam of satisfaction appeared momentarily in the face of the pale man.