The Bacteriologist has a visitor to his laboratory, a pale

stranger who arrives with a letter of introduction from a good

friend of the scientist. The scientist shows his visitor the
cholera bacillus under a microscope and they talk about the
disease. The visitor is particularly interested in a vial
containing living bacteria, and the scientist describes the
power of cholera, saying what a terrible epidemic could be
caused if a tube such as the one he holds were to be
opened into the water supply.
The scientist's wife calls him away for a moment; when the
scientist returns, the visitor is ready to leave. As soon as the
visitor has gone, however, the scientist realizes the vial of
bacteria is missing, that the visitor must have stolen it. e
runs out in a panic, sees the visitor's cab leaving, and hails
another cab to give chase. The scientist's wife, horrified by
his inappropriate dress and hurry, follows in a third cab, with
her husband's shoes and coat and hat.
!e shift to the point of view of the visitor in his cab. e has
indeed stolen the vial. e is an Anarchist who plans to
release the bacteria into "ondon's water supply. is
motivation is fame# he feels he has been neglected by the
world, and now he will reveal his power and importance. $n
the speeding cab, however, he accidentally breaks the glass
vial.
e decides to become a human vector. e swallows what is
left in the vial, and stops the cab, realizing that he no longer
needs to flee. !hen the scientist catches up and confronts
him, the Anarchist gleefully announces what he has done.
The scientist allows him to walk away, and tells his wife that
the man has ingested the stolen bacteria.
There is a twist# the vial, it turns out, did not contain cholera,
but a strange new microbe the Bacteriologist had been
studying, the only known effect of which is to make the skin
of the animals e%posed to it turn bright blue. The
Bacteriologist reluctantly puts on his coat and returns home
with his wife, complaining that he will now have to culture the
bacillus all over again.
&ommentary
This story is a chilling satire about the potential role of
scientists in facilitating bioterrorism. The Bacteriologist is so
pleased with his own work that he gives the Anarchist
access to it, and in e%pounding on the power of the cholera
bacillus 'which he feels he has in his own power(, he gives
the Anarchist the information he needs to recognize bioforms
as an effective weapon. The Anarchist's words are all too
familiar; he says that others are )blind fools to use bombs
when this kind of thing is attainable) '*(.
!hen his first plan fails and he swallows the vial's contents
himself, the Anarchist becomes a suicidal martyr to his
cause and no longer needs to escape his pursuers. e
triumphantly confronts them and then wanders off into the
city, )carefully +ostling his infected body against as many
people as possible) ',*(.
-ortuitously, the scientist has been boastfully dishonest
about the bacteria he was showing off, so that the epidemic
will be not cholera but something presumably less lethal and
comically visible. .isturbingly, though, we realize that the
scientist's motivation for chasing the thief was not to prevent
a deadly outbreak, but to avoid the trouble of making another
culture of his interesting new bacterium.
Thanks to the Anarchist, "ondon has now become the
scientist's laboratory# )things might look blue for this civilised
city,) he says ',/(. The scientist is revealed, in his lack of
concern for ethics, as being an unwitting agent of anarchy
himself. $n the final paragraph, he submits to the civilizing
influence of his wife, and puts on his coat, not because he
cares about appearing decent but because he couldn't be
bothered to resist her. e +ust wants to get back to his lab.