Chapters (206)
- Praise for Maplecroft
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Contents
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- THESE ARE THE THINGS AN EARTHQUAKE BRINGS
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- A DOCTOR, A LAWYER, A MERCHANT, A CHIEF
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- Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
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- I CROSS THE MAGPIE, THE MAGPIE CROSSES ME
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- Nance O’Neil
- THIS KNOT I KNIT, THIS KNOT I TIE
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- AND IF YOU HAVE A HORSE WITH ONE WHITE LEG . . .
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- THE WORST IS TO BE JUDGED WITHOUT HOPE
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- BUT NETTLE SHANT HAVE NOTHING
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- CUT THEM ON FRIDAY, YOU CUT THEM FOR SORROW
- Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
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- HAPPY IS THE CORPSE THAT THE RAIN SHINES ON
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- A DWELLING PLACE OF JACKALS, THE DESOLATION FOREVER
- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- Nance O’Neil
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- Emma L. Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- RIGHT CHEEK, LEFT CHEEK—WHY DO YOU BURN?
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- Aaron B. Stewart, Fire Chief, Farthington, Mass.
- Emma L. Borden
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- Gerald Macintyre, Telegraph Clerk, Western Union
- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Physalia, Z. University I Was Not Now
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- DEPART, ALL ANIMALS WITHOUT BONES
- Emma L. Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
- Phillip Zollicoffer. Physalia Zollicoffris.
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- Christoff Dane, M.D., Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Kingston
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- Emma L. Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Emma L. Borden
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- FAMILY SLAIN IN MAYFIELD
- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- Emma L. Borden
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- Owen Seabury, M.D.
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- Lizzie Andrew Borden
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- Inspector Simon Wolf
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The rest of what follows in this letter is an aside—should you feel like you lack the time to read or appreciate it, then put this note away and return to it later, and you’ll hurt no feelings of mine.
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The vaccine for tetanus is only recently derived, in the Koch laboratories—by a German named Behring, and a Japanese colleague named Kitasato. Together, they were seeking a solution to not only tetanus, but diphtheria as well. They developed their antitoxin in much the same way we do here, at our facility—by infecting a small research animal, collecting the blood, and then passing it along to a stronger animal, such as a horse. From the horse’s blood, the antibodies are extracted, processed, and developed into the vaccine.
For all of that back-and-forth, it’s still brilliant in its simplicity, I would argue, and by all reports it is highly effective. Here at the university, we are building on their research, but cannot take the credit for spawning it; and it comes thirty years too late for men like you and me to really run it through its paces.
Can you imagine if we’d had access to such a thing during the war? How many lives we could’ve saved?
Maybe not the worst of them, but there will always be an outlying case or two that can’t be cracked with conventional methods. For example, I do not know if the Behring-Kitasato antitoxin would have much effect if deployed against cephalic tetanus, for the bacteria digs in and holds down tight, when it settles into the inner ear. (And there were so many head wounds, you’ll recall. Or perhaps you’d prefer not to. I know I’d sleep better at night not remembering the lion’s share of what I witnessed on those fields.)
Ah, well.
There’s little we can do about the past, but to do it honor, we must turn all our efforts to the present and the future—and save what lives we can, using what knowledge we may glean and assemble between us.
You’re still doing God’s work, Seabury. I’m proud to call you a friend and colleague, and I wish you the very best with your efforts there in Fall River. If there’s anything else I can do, any assistance I can provide—or advice, or supplies—please do not hesitate to ask.
Yours,
Christoff
Emma L. Borden
MAY 2, 1894
I can’t rely on anyone anymore.
Lizzie may as well have gone deaf to the bell; I suppose if I fired a warning shot or two into the ceiling, she might grow curious enough to come check on me. Maybe a shot in my own temple would be warning enough to bring her around. Maybe it would take her days to notice.