Astounding British Edition, Vol. 9, No. 10 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

=. a in ae . val .: ae ~ ” s wort e =~ > - AT; = ra > - a. ," al him. Without quite realizing why he did it, Dr. Harmon found himself moving past the platform and through the pulled- back tent flap that served as the front entrance to this medicine show. A man wearing tinted, thick-lensed spectacles was sitting in a chair placed in front of a thick panel that formed part of a table. A second chair was beside the table. The eyes behind the glasses were indistinct but Harmon had the impression they resembled those of some wary, alert bird. The man’s skin was sallow, his head was bald. He rose as Harmon entered. “Ah, yes—” The voice was a hiss that accented all of the sibilants in a way that was somehow pleasing to the ear. “Ah, yes. You are a doc-tor, sir? Will you sit down, please?” He motioned to the chair beside the table. As Harmon sat down, the man’s hands darted over the control panel, adjusting switches. Harmon sneezed, an old hay fever symptom that had hung on for years. He glanced around the tent for the substance that was producing the allergic reaction, saw nothing that would account for it, blew his nose. In front of the table, the man scanned the meter read- ings with alert interest, then turned his attention to Harmon. “Permit me to introduce myself, sir. My name is Yanvro. I have a degree, sir, but since it was not conferred by an institution of learning of your great country, you may not recognize it. It corresponds very roughly to your own honored title of M.D.” “A privilege to meet you,” Harmon said. He gave his name. The man’s hand- clasp was warm and friendly and at the same time somehow alien and distant. “What school conferred your degree, Dr. Yanvro?” This would be one of the questions Lapham would When it was answered, Lapham would snort, “Never heard of it!” “The University of Telinka,” Yanvro answered, smiling. “Never—” Harmon caught himself. “I don’t recall that school. Where is it located?” _ The question went unanswered. A hum - MEDICINE SHOW : came from the thick panel, a small light glowed on the front. “Ah, yes,” Yanvro said. From a receptacle in the side of the panel, he took two small pieces of metal. Turning to Harmon, his manner became subtly professional as if Harmon had somehow become the patient calling on his personal physician for medical advice and Yanvro had become the doctor. “I noticed when you came in, sir, that you had a slight rhinitis, hay fever is perhaps what. you call it—” “How did you know that? I showed none of the signs of rhinitis and I didn’t sneeze until after I had sat down.” “Perhaps it was a lucky guess. But wasn’t my guess correct? You do have hay fever, do you not?” “Yes, a touch of it occasionally. I have never got around to identifying the sub- stances to which I am sensitive. But—” | “If you will carry these in your pockets —not both in the same pocket but each in a separate pocket—I think you will find that within a day or two something very interesting is happening to your hay fever, sir.” Yanvro handed Harmon two small pieces of metal. : Harmon took them. So far as he could see, they were simply flat pieces of metal. “One in the right pocket, one in the left,” Yanvro said. “I could give you a very detailed description of the metals and the way they are magnetized. While you were sitting in the chair, this equip- ment made a complete diagnosis of you. This is not a diagnosis as you understand and use the term, sir, your blood pressure was not taken, no blood count was made, and there was no manual probing for symptoms. These things, while useful to a young medical science”—Yanvro’s voice became mildly apologetic—“have been superseded by more accurate methods of measurement. This equipment counted, measured, and analyzed the very complex electrical currents flowing within your body and the electromagnetic fields generated by these currents. Then, on the basis of these measurements, this machine magnetized the pieces of metal in such a way that the aberrant, displaced current flows within your body—of which your Conic ool<s 7 ¥ A : " P SE ie aoe Cs end | sash eo AE i ba - uv +N q PAs By" ; ie, fi bt eee aly ee is Da ee rile 77 €o ) 5 he fy y SA io r 3 s EEN oem ee Oy oa ek