The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 306: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

302 strong a current was considered fatal. lle knew from experience that stand- Ing on a wet piece of ground and ta- king a current of five hundred volts was very unpleasant, while standing on glass and taking twice the dose was not harmful. | ‘But for a man sitting in a chair and taking treatment it was impossible to fix any schedule as to strength of current by which he could guide him- self. ‘Bull talked the matter over with _ Jim, and asked him to stand for high voltage experiments, but Jim said he had every reason to wish to live, and did not take to the notion at all. As it was, he said his daily bath of the fluid was around the five hundred mark, and he thought that a good indication that a man would not be seriously in- jured by taking that amount. “Besides, he thought Bill had suffi- cieut data with which to go ahead and finish up the paper in good technical style. ‘The matter rather rankled in Bill’s heart, especially the part of Jim’s . speech in which he said he had every reason to live. That seemed good evi- dence that matters between the young lady and Jim had advanced to a point bevond which there could be but one thing—a union of interests—and that was not at all to Bill’s liking. “He saw very plainly that Jim had made up his mind not to shuffle off, and that he (Bill) was out of the game. It made him sore, and he thought and thought. “One night he jumped clean out of bed, all in a tremble of excitement. ‘Kureka!’ he cried. ‘ In the interest of science it must be done. It will solve the riddle. It will also—in the interest of science.’ “Jim asked him if he had a night horse, but Bill did not answer, only kept repeating over and over: ‘In the in- terest of science.’ “ Bill worked hard on his paper for several days after that and had it nearly concluded. He still lacked information as to how many. volts would kill a man. “}'rom all the reports he had read he came to the conclusion that under favorable conditions a man might die THE ARGOSY. from about twelve hundred volts; that anything over eight hundred volts was dangerous; that to a person who had been in contact with the fluid daily for months a current of fifteen hundred volts would be required to operate for his quietus. “Jim was still taking his current baths. Every morning before the shop opened up for work he would attach his apparatus to the feeder wire and give himself five minutes’ exercise with a current running up to five or six hun- dred volts. “This morning, the one I started to tell about, 1t rained hard. Bill went down to the shop earlier than usual, and, picking up Jim’s reduction coil and switch, muttered: ‘In the cause of science.’ “ He then cut six loops in the switch and attached the wire again, so that when Jim came down to take his morn- ing bath he would get a jolt of twelve hundred volts right off the reel. “Now, Bill knew Jim could stand that because he was used to it. But he wanted to see what effect it would have. It was his intention to monkey with the switch on other days also, and run the current higher, as he said, ‘In the interest of science. | “Tle wanted to see just how strong a dose it took to kill a man, and ‘in the interest of science * he thought he was justified in finding out. “He figured that Jim ought to have been dead long ago anyway; that he had about the same as promised to die; that he would be no loss to the world, because he was preparing no paper on electricity, and that probably Miss Dee would not miss him very much after it was over. “ There’s no question, of course, but that if it hadn’t been for the girl Bull never would have had any such crazy ideas ‘in the interest of science.’ But women, being the cause of ‘most every- thing in this world, including ourselves, are alwavs getting men into trouble, and so it was in this case. “Presently Jim entered the shop. He was wet and muddy from his walk. He went over to the apparatus and hooked it wp. “ Bill looked on smiling. Jim_ took ECOMMIC OO Goll L]