傑克倫敦1910年寫的細菌戰滅絕中國的科幻小說:前所未有的入侵

 

傑克倫敦1910年寫的細菌戰滅絕中國的科幻小說:前所未有的入侵(THE UNPARALLELED INVASION)
（張習如　譯）

世界和中國之間的麻煩，在1976年達到其頂峰。 因此，美國自由女神像屹立二百年的慶祝活動被延期。 世界上的許多國家的其他計劃也出於同樣的原因被取消，改變或者推遲了。 世界冷不丁醒來，發現了這個七十年來未被察覺的危險，但事態已經不可控製地向著它必然的趨勢發展。

實際上，1904年的變局已經揭開了這一 巨變的大幕，並在七十年以後，給整個世界帶來了恐慌。1904年當日俄戰爭發生的時候，曆史學家曾嚴肅地指出，這一事件標誌著日本正式進入國際大家庭。 實質上，它其實標誌著中國的覺醒。 人們曾經期待過這種覺醒。 西方國家曾試圖喚起中國，但最後失敗了。 出於他們天生的樂觀驕傲和種族自我中心主義，他們因此得出結論，這任務是根本不可能成功的，中國永遠不會醒來。

但他們忽略了一點： 他們和中國之間沒有共同的心理內核 。 他們的思維過程是根本不同的。甚至 沒有任何共同的詞匯。 西方人的頭腦試圖進入入中國人的心靈，但還沒有進入多遠，就發現一條深不可測的迷宮。 而中國人的心靈同樣進入西方的頭腦很短的距離，就碰上了一堵不可逾越難以理解的牆壁。本質上這是因為語言的障礙，而導致由於沒有任何辦法將西方的思想傳遞 到中國人的心靈中去。 中國人仍然是沉睡著的。西方的物質成就和進展對中國人完全是一本合攏的書，西方人也打不開中國的書。在以英語為母語的民族的胸腔深處，有一種吼出喊出撒克 遜語言的能力;而中國人的內心深處是說出自己的象形文字的能力，但中國人的心靈卻吼不出撒克遜語，而講英語的心靈也難以理解象形文字。 他們心理的質地是這樣的完全不同。 使得這兩個民族精神上的差異猶如外星人一般。 所以西方的物質成就和進步，並沒有給沉睡的中國留下任何印痕。

直 到日本在1904年對俄羅斯取得了勝利。 日本民族從此成為了東亞民族中的異類和榜樣。 日本以一種奇異的方式接受了所有西方的知識。 日本迅速吸收西方的思想，並消化它們，並幹練地將其應用於實踐，於是她突然迸發，全副武裝，成為了世界權力的一極。 沒有辦法解釋這種日本特有的對西方外來文化的開放性。 正如我們也沒法解釋在動物王國中的任何生物的突然運動一般。

在決定性的擊敗了俄羅 斯帝國之後，日本立即著手實施自己的帝國夢想。 韓國成為了她的一個糧倉和殖民地; 利用條約特權和老奸巨猾的外交使她得到了滿洲的壟斷權。 但日本並不滿足。 她轉身向後看，她的眼睛盯住了 躺在那裏的幅員遼闊的，並擁有世界上最龐大的工業文明的支柱——鐵和煤的儲備的中國。 除了天然資源外，決定工業發展的另一重要的因素是勞動力。 而在該領土上有著四萬萬人口，占地球總人口的四分之一。 此外，中國人不僅是優秀的工人，而且他們的宿命哲學（或宗教）和他們頑固的神經特點使他們在合適的管理之下可以成為極好的士兵。 不用說，日本準備進行管理。

但最妙的一點是，從日本的角度來看，中國是他們的親族。 令人費解的謎語般的漢字對日本人並不是一個令人費解的謎。 日本能夠理解，西方人永遠無法學會，或希望了解的內容。 日本人和中國人的心理過程是相同的。 日本人與中國人一樣具有相同的思想符號，有同樣的細微之處。 日本人看中國人的心靈時可以輕鬆越過我們猶豫不理解的障礙。 也可以在我們無法感知的轉折點轉折，翻越周圍的障礙物，並達到我們無法進入的中國人的心靈深處。 他們是兄弟。 不久前，一方就借用了對方的書麵語言，以及在這無數代之前，他們從共同的蒙古人種之根分開。雖然曾有被不同的環境條件帶來的改變和其他血液的輸注，但在其 生命的底部，是一個共同的遺產，一種時間沒有抹煞的交織在一起的共同之處。

於是日本開始了她占領中國的計劃。 在與俄羅斯的戰爭之後不久，她的代理人湧進了中國帝國。 她的工程師和間諜在邊境1000英裏外艱苦工作，穿著像苦力，打著流動客商或是傳教僧人的幌子；記下每個瀑布的馬力，建工廠的可能地點，山的高度和位置， 戰略優勢和弱點，山穀中的農場積累的財富，在一個地區或可以強製征收的勞動者人數和公牛的數量。 從未有過這樣大規模的普查，因為可能已沒有其他人比日本人更頑強，更耐心，更愛國。

但在很短的時間內秘密行動就被棄置了。 日本的人員開始重新訓練中國軍隊，她的訓練官將中世紀的士兵變成了二十世紀的戰士，習慣了所有現代戰爭的機械並獲得了高於任何西方國家的士兵平均水平的槍 法。 日本工程師深化和拓寬了中國複雜的運河係統，建立工廠和鑄造廠，用電報和電話將整個帝國聯係起來，開創了鐵路建設的時代。 這些機器文明的曾經的反對者，現在在他們的國土上發現了巨大的石油儲量，銅礦和鐵礦，生產著世界上最好的天然氣的天然氣井。

在中國的帝國 議會充滿了日本的使者。 在政治家的耳朵邊上低聲訴說。日本人重建了帝國的政治。 他們驅逐了中國的傳統學者，並斥之為反動暴力分子，而選派要求進步的革命的官員進入辦公室。 並在每個鄉鎮和城市開始發行帝國報紙。 當然，日本的編輯按照直接從東京來的政策負責這些報紙的導向。 正是這些文字教育了巨大的人口並使他們獲得進步。

中國最後終於清醒了。 西方在這一點上失敗了，而日本卻成功了。 她已經將對西方文化和成就的理解傳遞給了中國。 日本自己突然驚醒時就已經震驚了世界。 但在當時她隻有四千萬人口。 中國的覺醒，與她的四億人口和世界科技的進步加在一起，就更為驚人。 她成為了國家中的巨人，在國際事務中開始聽到她的尚不明朗的聲音。 日本慫恿著她，驕傲的西方人民懷著崇敬的心情傾聽。

中國在迅速和明顯 地上升著，可能僅僅因為她的高質量的勞動者。 中國人是完美的工人，而且一直如此。 在純粹的工作能力上，世界上沒有工人能與他相提並論。 工作於中國人就像呼吸那麽自然。 工作對於中國人就像遠洋旅行和冒險對於西方人一樣。 自由對中國人來說就集中體現在辛苦的勞作。 辛苦的耕作和沒完沒了的勞動是他生活中唯一需要的權力。 而中國的覺醒不僅給了其龐大的人口自由和不受限製的勞作手段，而且是最機械和最科學的勞作手段。

中國返老還童了！ 這時的中國離完全失控隻有一步。 她發現了自己新的自豪感和意願。 在日本的指導下，她開始自作出新的主張，但並沒持續很久。 在日本的建議下，她一開始已驅逐了所有的西方傳教士，工程師，訓練官，商人，教師。 她現在開始驅逐來自日本的代表。 後者被中國政治家接見，獲得榮譽和勳章之後被送回日本。 西方驚醒了日本，日本也補償了西方，但日本卻沒有被中國補償。 中國感謝她的好心的援助，並把她的背包和行李甩到了門外。 西方國家笑了。 日本曾經的夢幻已經化為泡影， 她大大地生氣， 中國嘲弄了她。 於是武士刀拔了出來，日本貿然發動戰爭。 這場戰爭發生在1922年，滿洲，韓國，和台灣在七個月的血腥後離日本而去，日本再次回擊，結果卻是徹底破產，並隻好龜縮在她的峽小，擁擠的島嶼。 日本從此推出世界舞台。 此後，她致力於藝術，她的任務變成了像世界展示她創造的奇異和美麗的世界。

與預期相反，中國並沒有被證明是個好 戰國家。 她並沒有拿破侖一般的夢想，而隻是積極投身於和平的藝術。 在世界惶惶不安之後，他們終於發現，中國最可怕的地方不是戰爭，而是商業。雖然，後來還會知道這並非中國真正的危險之處。 中國繼續開始享受她的機器文明。 中國並沒有建立一個龐大的常備軍，她建立一個非常出色高效的民兵組織。 她的海軍是如此之小，並成為世界的笑柄，她也沒有試圖加強她的海軍。 世界的通商口岸也從未有中國的戰艦訪問過。

真正的危險在於中國的繁 殖力，於1970年開始，第一次有人提出預警。而 一段時間之後，毗鄰中國的所有領土已經開始抱怨中國移民，但現在世界突然了解到，中國的人口是五億。因為她的覺醒，中國人口又增加了幾億。博徹特公爵呼籲 關注中國人的數量已經超過白人的事實。 他做了一個簡單的加法。 他把美國，加拿大，新西蘭，澳大利亞，南非，英國，法國，德國，意大利，奧地利，俄羅斯歐洲部分，以及所有斯堪的納維亞半島的人口相加。 結果是四億九千五百萬。 比中國人口少了五百萬之多。博徹特的數據傳到了整個世界，全世界都顫抖了。

許多世紀以來，中國的人口一直不變。 她的領土與人口已經飽和，這是說，她的領土，與原始的生產方法，已經支持了人口的最上限。 但是，憑著她醒來時開始實施的機器文明，她的生產力已大大增加。 因此，在同一地區，她能夠支持更多的人口。 出生率開始上升，死亡率下降。 在此之前，當人口過多生活資料過少時，過剩的人口會被饑荒掃除。 但現在，由於機器文明，中國人的生存手段已經大大增加，再沒有饑荒，她的人口持續地增加。

在這段過渡和發展力量的時間裏，中國並沒有表現出 征服世界的打算。 中國不是一個帝國主義的種族。 而是勤勞，節儉，愛好和平的。 戰爭被中國人看成一個不愉快的，但有時必須執行必要的任務。 而西方種族卻在不停地爭吵和戰鬥，在整個世界冒險，中國則完全冷靜下來，在她的機器上工作和成長。 現在，中國開始派出大量移民，在所有的邊境上，中國移民以一種可怕的冰川一般的緩慢而堅定的勢頭蔓延到鄰近的領土。

繼勃徹特的數字提出報 警後，法國在被長期威脅後，於1970年作了一個決定。那時 法屬印度支那已完全被中國移民占領。 法國人要求停止。 卻無法阻擋來自中國的人流。 法國在她不幸的殖民地和中國之間的邊界集結了十萬部隊，中國派出了一百萬民兵戰士。 後麵跟著戰士的妻子和兒子，女兒和親屬，以及他們的家庭行李，組成第二集團軍。 於是法國部隊像一隻蒼蠅一樣被拍死了。 然後中國民兵戰士與他們的家人一起共超過五百萬人冷靜地在法屬印度支那落戶並計劃停留個幾千年。

法國憤怒了。 她派出一艘又一艘艦隊開往中國沿海，並為此幾乎傾家蕩產。 中國沒有海軍。 她撤回到內陸並拒絕回應。 對於法國艦隊封鎖她的海岸並轟炸暴露的城鎮和村莊。 中國並不介意。她對這個世界無所要求，也不在乎他們。 平靜地撤離法國槍炮的範圍後，中國繼續工作。 法國哭了，絞著她的無能的雙手，呼籲其它驚呆了的國家支援。 隨後，她派遣一支隊伍大膽地深入中國，計劃到北京興師問罪。這支隊伍由二十五萬強大的戰士組成，是法國之花。這種隊伍的登陸和進入內地都沒有遭受任何抵 抗。 但這是最後一次見到它。 在第二天這支隊伍就失去了聯絡。 沒有一個幸存者回來告訴人們發生了什麽事。 它已被中國的血盆大口吞噬，這是人們知道的所有消息。

在隨後的五年中，中國在所有的邊境的方向，在快速地擴張。 暹羅成為了帝國的一部分，並且緬甸，馬來半島也被侵占，而沿西伯利亞南部邊界，俄羅斯被中國人一步步推進。 這個入侵的過程很簡單。 首先出現中國移民（或者更確切地說，中國人已經在那裏，不知不覺地居留和擴張長達數年）。 接下來出現是武裝衝突和掃蕩所有反對派的民兵戰士大軍，以及他們的家庭和家庭行李。 最後作為殖民者在征服的領土安定下來。 從未有這麽奇怪和有效的方法可以征服世界。

中國人進入尼泊爾和不丹，和整個印度北部邊界。 在西部，布哈拉，南部和西部，阿富汗，甚至被吞噬。 波斯，突厥，與所有中亞都感受到這種洪水一般的壓力。 正是在這個時候，勃徹特修改他的數字。 他已經錯了。 中國的人口，必須是7億，8億，沒有人知道多少億，但無論如何，這將很快成為十個億。 勃徹特宣布世界上的每一個白皮膚的人類後麵都有兩個中國人與之對應，於是世界顫抖了。 中國的增長應該已經開始很久了，可能始於1904年。 有人記得自該日起，中國再沒有發生一次饑荒。 並以五百萬一年的速率增加，在七十多年的時間裏總人口會增加三億五千萬。 但誰知道？ 實際上可能有更多的人口。 誰會知道這個陌生的二十世紀的中國，返老還童的中國，富有成效的中國，咄咄逼人的具有威脅性的新中國會怎麽樣！

1975 年全世界在費城舉行了大會。 所有的西方國家，以及東方的幾個國家，派代表出席了會議。 沒有達成任何結論。 有國家建議獎勵生育提高出生率，但被算術家嘲笑著指出，在這一方麵已經沒有任何國家能超過中國。 沒有人能提出應對中國的可行的辦法。 用聯合國權力譴責和威脅中國，是這次費城會議和國際力量唯一做到的事情，中國笑了。 李唐福，皇座背後的力量，屈尊回複。

“中國為什麽要 為什麽國際大家庭的和諧負責？說：”李唐福說。 “我們是最古老的，光榮的，高貴的種族。 我們有我們自己的天命要完成。 抱歉我們的天命與你們不同這一點不令你們感到愉快，但是是你們你們會怎麽做？ 你們曾經也饒舌過什麽高人一等的種族啦，全地球是你們的財產啦，對此我們隻能說，還得走著瞧。 你們侵入不了我們。你們的海軍無足輕重。 不要大喊大叫。 我們知道我們的海軍規模是很小的。我們的海軍僅有治安的用途。 我們不在乎海樣。 我們的優勢在於我們的人口，將很快成為十個億。 多虧了你們，我們配備了所有現代戰爭的機械裝備。 把你們的海軍送過來啊。 我們不會注意到它們的。 你們也可以向內地討伐，但要記住法國的前車之鑒。 你們可以駐紮50萬士兵在我們的海岸，這將消耗掉你們的大量的資源。 但我們億萬人會將你們一口吞下。 發一百萬過來;發五百萬過來，我們會一樣吞他們下來。 哈哈！ 滅掉你們的部隊簡直不足一提，小菜一碟。我們可以發動一千萬苦力到你美國的海岸，像你們曾經威脅我們一樣滅掉你們，而這一千萬僅僅是我們的每年人口增長數 額的一半。“

對於李唐福的發言。 世界不知所措，無助，害怕。 他說出了真相。 沒有辦法打擊中國的驚人的出生率。 如果她的人口為十億，並在二十五年內一年增加二千萬，最後將是十五億，等於世界總人口在1904年的總和。 而且。 沒有辦法阻止這種恐怖的如滔天洪水般的人口過度繁衍和蔓延。 戰爭對此是徒勞的。 中國嘲笑著打算封鎖她海岸線的計劃。 她歡迎入侵。 在她寬敞的肚子裏容得下集全世界之力派出來的隊伍。 在此期間，她的黃色人種的洪流會席卷整個亞洲。 中國笑了，並通過他們的雜誌閱讀學習心神不定的西方學者貢獻的專著。

但有一個學者中國人未能注意到，這就是雅克布斯.蘭寧道爾學者。 實際上他被稱為是一個學者也是很勉強的。 雅克布斯.蘭寧道爾是一個科學家，而且在那個時候，也還隻是一個很不起眼的在紐約市衛生局實驗室工作的科學家。 雅克布斯.蘭寧道爾的頭腦和其他人區別不大，但在這頭腦中，逐漸形成了一種想法。 此外，他的智慧足以使他為這個主意保密。 他沒有為雜誌寫任何的文章。 相反，他專門為此休了假。 1975年9月19日，他於傍晚抵達華盛頓，接著直奔白宮，一次與總統的密談已經被安排好。 他與總統莫耶是密談了三個小時。 密談的內容直到長時間之後才被世界各地所了解，而當時世界上還沒有人對雅克布斯.蘭寧道爾感興趣。 第二天，總統召見他的內閣。 雅克布斯.蘭寧道爾出席了會議。會議內容完全保密。 但是，當天下午，國務卿，魯弗斯考德裏離開華盛頓，並在第二天早上坐船到了英國。 之後這個秘密開始蔓延，但隻在政府首腦之間傳播。這個國家隻有不到六個人被信任並告知這個想法。 之後這個想法開始在所有的造船廠，兵工廠，海軍碼頭實施。 法國和奧地利的人們開始懷疑這些不正常的行動，但政府對此未知的項目進行保密的呼籲是如此誠懇，最後這些活動得到了默許。

這是偉大的休戰 時間。 所有國家都莊嚴承諾自己不與任何其他國家打仗。 俄羅斯，德國，奧地利，意大利，希臘和土耳其的軍隊開始逐步動員，第一波行動開始。 力量集結後開始向東移動。 所有鐵路上都充斥著到亞洲的部隊的列車。中國是這一切行動的最終目標。 過了一段時間後，龐大的海上行動。 來自各個國家的遠洋軍艦遠征而出，艦隊隨後，一直到中國沿海。 國家清空了他們的海軍碼頭。 他們派出了預算官，工兵，和燈塔守護者，他們派出了過去陳舊的巡洋艦和戰艦。 同時他們開始招募商船加入。 統計表明，共有58640艏商船，配備探照燈和速射火炮，由各國開往中國。

中國在微笑地等待著。 在她的土地邊，沿著她的國界，駐紮了以百萬計的歐洲戰士。 她動員了五倍於此的民兵等待入侵。 這次看來與上次一樣。 但中國突然感到困惑。因為這支龐大的隊伍並沒有開始入侵。 她無法理解這一現象。 廣大的西伯利亞邊境一切都歸於平靜。 她的海岸城鎮和村莊甚至沒有遭到炮轟。 在世界曆史上，從來沒有過如此強大的戰爭艦隊的聚集。 世界上所有的船隊，百萬噸的戰艦聚集在她的海岸線上，卻什麽都沒有發生。 沒有任何嚐試。 他們想使她離開她的地盤嗎？ 中國笑了。 他們以為能夠厭倦死她，或餓死她嗎？ 中國又笑了。

但是，1976年5月1日，在京師那一千一百萬人口的城市中，一位市民將目睹一個奇怪 的景象。 他看到喧鬧著的黃種人民眾擠滿了街道，每一個排在一起的頭都向後傾斜，每一雙吊梢眼都轉向天空。 在藍色的天空中，他會看見一個黑色的小點，小點越變越大，可以確定是艘飛艇。 這個飛艇盤旋在城市上空來回飛行，降下奇特而無害的“導彈”：易碎的玻璃試管，在街道和房子的頂部粉碎成數以千計的碎片。 但是，並沒有任何人因這些玻璃試管喪命。 什麽都沒有發生。 也沒有爆炸。 雖然三名中國人被掉在他們頭上的試管砸死了，但對於每年增長兩千萬的中國來說這算得上什麽？ 一個試管掉在花園中的魚塘裏，並沒有破裂。 這家的主人把它撈上岸。 但他不敢打開這管子，於是，他在他的朋友的陪同下，通過數量不斷增加的圍觀人群，將試管交給了所在地區的長官。 長官是一個非常勇敢的人。 在群眾的注視下，他用他的黃銅煙管打碎了試管。 結果什麽都沒有發生。 比較靠近的一兩個人聲稱他們看到一些蚊子飛了出去。 這就是全部的情況。 人群大笑後四散而去。

不僅是北京，整個中國都在被這些玻璃管轟炸著。 小飛艇從軍艦上出發，每艇僅有兩人，他們盤旋著經過所有城市，鄉鎮，村，一人指揮船，另一人投擲玻璃管。

六 個星期後，如果有人再次在北京出現，他會發現一千一百萬人大都不知所終。 他也許會看到其中的一少部分，大約幾十萬人，他們的屍體潰爛，分散在房屋和無人的街道上 或是堆積在被丟棄的堆得高高的運屍車上。 而其他人會分布在帝國各個公路和小道上。 所有人都在逃離鼠疫災區，遠離北京，成千上萬的人撇下未掩埋的屍體，火速撤離。 但瘟疫不僅僅發生在北京，而是發生在帝國所有的城市，城鎮，和村莊。 瘟疫毀掉了這個國家。 不是一種兩種瘟疫，而是十幾種的瘟疫。各種致命的傳染病都在大地上快速蔓延。 直到此時，中國政府終於理解了之前的準備工作，來自世界的艦隊，錫製飛艇，和玻璃試管的含義。 政府文件是徒勞的。 他們無法阻止人口從鼠疫災區逃離，把疾病從北京一個城市傳到所有的土地。 醫生和衛生官員死在自己的崗位上，一切都已經被死亡征服了，無視皇帝和李唐福的法令。 李唐福死在第二個星期，皇帝隱藏在頤和園裏，死在第四個星期。

如 果當時隻流行一種瘟疫，中國有可能應付。 但當時流行了十幾種瘟疫，沒有生物對此全部免疫。 從猩紅熱前逃脫的人被天花帶走了。 對霍亂免疫的人被黃熱病帶走了，如果有幸免疫，黑死病也能把他帶走。 這些細菌，病菌和微生物在西方的實驗室被培養，又通過玻璃試管送到中國。

然 後所有組織消失。 政府崩潰了。 當簽訂條款的人幾天後就會死去的時候，法令和宣言毫無用處。數以百萬計的逃亡者在這片土地上狂奔，什麽都顧不上。 他們把傳染病從城市帶到農村，，無論他們逃到哪裏，就把災禍帶到哪裏。屆時正值 炎熱的夏季，這是雅克布斯蘭寧道爾精心挑選的日期，因此瘟疫到處肆虐。 人們已經無法知道到底發生了什麽事情，隻能從為數不多的幸存者的故事中了解隻言片語。 生物襲擊使整個帝國充斥著逃亡者。 廣大軍隊在從中國的邊界消失了。 農場充斥著被糟蹋的莊稼，無人下種，地裏生長的莊稼無人看管，也無人收獲。 這裏最大的問題是流民。 他們集結成幾百萬的群體，衝向被西方的巨大軍隊封鎖的帝國邊界，與其遭遇，並被驅趕回去。 這場在邊界線上的屠殺是驚人的。 防衛線再次後退二三十公裏以躲避眾多死者的傳染。

但瘟疫還是爆發了，守衛邊境的德國和奧地利的士兵以及土耳其士兵被擊倒。雖然已經為 這種情況的發生做了準備，依然有歐洲的六萬名士兵因此倒下，但疫區隨即被國際醫生集團免疫隔離。 但是在這場鬥爭中，有人發現了一種新的鼠疫病菌，它來自於鼠疫病菌之間以及與其他病菌之間的雜交，從而產生了一個新的且可怕致命的菌種。 首先由溫伯格發現，並懷疑其為致病菌，後來被史蒂文斯分離，並被海恩法特，諾曼和蘭德斯研究。

這是對中國的一次前所未有的入侵。 對於這十幾億人來說，他們毫無希望。 隻能蜷縮在停屍的房子裏麵腐爛和發臭，失去所有的組織力和凝聚力，他們的一切努力都化為烏有，隻能等待死亡。 他們無法逃脫，被從自己的陸地邊界驅趕回來，也被從海洋邊界驅趕回來。 因為有七萬五千艘軍艦在沿海岸線巡邏。 白天，軍艦排風口的煙霧的使海麵暗淡，夜間，閃爍著的探照燈掃過黑暗，找到每一艘逃跑的中國帆船。 數量龐大的帆船船隊沒有一艘能逃得了的。 沒有人能越得過巡洋艦的範圍。 現代戰爭機械阻礙了中國人的雜亂無章的逃亡，而瘟疫繼續做它該做的事。

但舊的戰爭模式在這裏已經被徹底的 笑話和嘲弄，除了巡邏執勤之外它似乎也隻值一曬。 中國曾經嘲笑戰爭，於是她得到了戰爭，但這是超現代的戰爭，二十世紀的戰爭，來自戰爭科學家和實驗室，是雅克布斯蘭寧道爾的戰爭。 幾百噸的槍支和實驗室製造的可供投擲的微生物製劑相比，就如玩具一般，後者才是真正的死亡使者，橫行在十億人口的大國上空的毀滅天使。

在 1976年的夏季和秋季，中國是一個地獄。 微生物武器到達了每一個最偏遠的藏身地，無處躲避。未掩埋的屍體繁衍著細菌導致傳染能力翻倍，最後，每天數百萬人死於饑餓。 此外，饑餓削弱了受害者的身體，並摧毀他們對瘟疫的天然免疫能力。 整個國家陷入了自相殘殺，謀殺和瘋狂之中。 至此，中國滅亡。

直到次 年2月，在最寒冷的天氣中，各國開始了小心翼翼的第一次遠征。 這支探險隊伍由科學家和專職部隊組成，他們從各個側麵進入中國。 盡管采取了最詳盡的抗感染預防措施，依然有數位士兵和醫生染病致死。 但是遠征勇敢地繼續了下去。 他們發現中國滿目瘡痍，到處都是蕭瑟的曠野，隻有成群的野狗和和絕望的幸存者們像土匪一樣地徘徊。 所有發現的幸存者都被當即處死。 然後開始了一項龐大的工程，徹底地把中國打掃幹淨。 五年的時間內，億萬珠寶被找到並搜走，然後全世界人民都遷入了中國，不是分區居住，而是雜居而處——這是阿爾布雷希特男爵提出的想法，並根據美國的民主程 序實施。 1982年及其以後，大批興高采烈的各個國家民族在1982年和隨後的幾年裏共同落戶中國，成為一個巨大的且成功的民族混合實驗。 並產生了在機械，智力和藝術方麵的輝煌產出。

1987年，全世界的聯盟已經解散，法國和德國再次因為阿爾薩斯 – 洛林地區的古老爭議爭敵對起來。 到了四月，戰爭的威脅和陰影再次降臨這個世界，於是4月17日一場大會在哥本哈根召開。所有世界國家的代表全部出現，並一致嚴肅地宣誓永遠不會把用於中國 的實驗室戰爭方法用於他們彼此之間的戰爭中。

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THE UNPARALLELED INVASION

It was in the year 1976 that the trouble between the world and China reached its culmination. It was because of this that the celebration of the Second Centennial of American Liberty was deferred. Many other plans of the nations of the earth were twisted and tangled and postponed for the same reason. The world awoke rather abruptly to its danger; but for over seventy years, unperceived, affairs had been shaping toward this very end.
The year 1904 logically marks the beginning of the development that, seventy years later, was to bring consternation to the whole world. The Japanese-Russian War took place in 1904, and the historians of the time gravely noted it down that that event marked the entrance of Japan into the comity of nations. What it really did mark was the awakening of China. This awakening, long expected, had finally been given up. The Western nations had tried to arouse China, and they had failed. Out of their native optimism and race-egotism they had therefore concluded that the task was impossible, that China would never awaken.

What they had failed to take into account was this: THAT BETWEEN THEM AND CHINA WAS NO COMMON PSYCHOLOGICAL SPEECH. Their thought- processes were radically dissimilar. There was no intimate vocabulary. The Western mind penetrated the Chinese mind but a short distance when it found itself in a fathomless maze. The Chinese mind penetrated the Western mind an equally short distance when it fetched up against a blank, incomprehensible wall. It was all a matter of language. There was no way to communicate Western ideas to the Chinese mind. China remained asleep. The material achievement and progress of the West was a closed book to her; nor could the West open the book. Back and deep down on the tie-ribs of consciousness, in the mind, say, of the English-speaking race, was a capacity to thrill to short, Saxon words; back and deep down on the tie-ribs of consciousness of the Chinese mind was a capacity to thrill to its own hieroglyphics; but the Chinese mind could not thrill to short, Saxon words; nor could the English-speaking mind thrill to hieroglyphics. The fabrics of their minds were woven from totally different stuffs. They were mental aliens. And so it was that Western material achievement and progress made no dent on the rounded sleep of China.

Came Japan and her victory over Russia in 1904. Now the Japanese race was the freak and paradox among Eastern peoples. In some strange way Japan was receptive to all the West had to offer. Japan swiftly assimilated the Western ideas, and digested them, and so capably applied them that she suddenly burst forth, full- panoplied, a world-power. There is no explaining this peculiar openness of Japan to the alien culture of the West. As well might be explained any biological sport in the animal kingdom.

Having decisively thrashed the great Russian Empire, Japan promptly set about dreaming a colossal dream of empire for herself. Korea she had made into a granary and a colony; treaty privileges and vulpine diplomacy gave her the monopoly of Manchuria. But Japan was not satisfied. She turned her eyes upon China. There lay a vast territory, and in that territory were the hugest deposits in the world of iron and coal - the backbone of industrial civilization. Given natural resources, the other great factor in industry is labour. In that territory was a population of 400,000,000 souls - one quarter of the then total population of the earth. Furthermore, the Chinese were excellent workers, while their fatalistic philosophy (or religion) and their stolid nervous organization constituted them splendid soldiers - if they were properly managed. Needless to say, Japan was prepared to furnish that management.

But best of all, from the standpoint of Japan, the Chinese was a kindred race. The baffling enigma of the Chinese character to the West was no baffling enigma to the Japanese. The Japanese understood as we could never school ourselves or hope to understand. Their mental processes were the same. The Japanese thought with the same thought-symbols as did the Chinese, and they thought in the same peculiar grooves. Into the Chinese mind the Japanese went on where we were balked by the obstacle of incomprehension. They took the turning which we could not perceive, twisted around the obstacle, and were out of sight in the ramifications of the Chinese mind where we could not follow. They were brothers. Long ago one had borrowed the other's written language, and, untold generations before that, they had diverged from the common Mongol stock. There had been changes, differentiations brought about by diverse conditions and infusions of other blood; but down at the bottom of their beings, twisted into the fibres of them, was a heritage in common, a sameness in kind that time had not obliterated.

And so Japan took upon herself the management of China. In the years immediately following the war with Russia, her agents swarmed over the Chinese Empire. A thousand miles beyond the last mission station toiled her engineers and spies, clad as coolies, under the guise of itinerant merchants or proselytizing Buddhist priests, noting down the horse-power of every waterfall, the likely sites for factories, the heights of mountains and passes, the strategic advantages and weaknesses, the wealth of the farming valleys, the number of bullocks in a district or the number of labourers that could be collected by forced levies. Never was there such a census, and it could have been taken by no other people than the dogged, patient, patriotic Japanese.

But in a short time secrecy was thrown to the winds. Japan's officers reorganized the Chinese army; her drill sergeants made the mediaeval warriors over into twentieth century soldiers, accustomed to all the modern machinery of war and with a higher average of marksmanship than the soldiers of any Western nation. The engineers of Japan deepened and widened the intricate system of canals, built factories and foundries, netted the empire with telegraphs and telephones, and inaugurated the era of railroad- building. It was these same protagonists of machine-civilization that discovered the great oil deposits of Chunsan, the iron mountains of Whang-Sing, the copper ranges of Chinchi, and they sank the gas wells of Wow-Wee, that most marvellous reservoir of natural gas in all the world.

In China's councils of empire were the Japanese emissaries. In the ears of the statesmen whispered the Japanese statesmen. The political reconstruction of the Empire was due to them. They evicted the scholar class, which was violently reactionary, and put into office progressive officials. And in every town and city of the Empire newspapers were started. Of course, Japanese editors ran the policy of these papers, which policy they got direct from Tokio. It was these papers that educated and made progressive the great mass of the population.

China was at last awake. Where the West had failed, Japan succeeded. She had transmuted Western culture and achievement into terms that were intelligible to the Chinese understanding. Japan herself, when she so suddenly awakened, had astounded the world. But at the time she was only forty millions strong. China's awakening, with her four hundred millions and the scientific advance of the world, was frightfully astounding. She was the colossus of the nations, and swiftly her voice was heard in no uncertain tones in the affairs and councils of the nations. Japan egged her on, and the proud Western peoples listened with respectful ears.

China's swift and remarkable rise was due, perhaps more than to anything else, to the superlative quality of her labour. The Chinese was the perfect type of industry. He had always been that. For sheer ability to work no worker in the world could compare with him. Work was the breath of his nostrils. It was to him what wandering and fighting in far lands and spiritual adventure had been to other peoples. Liberty, to him, epitomized itself in access to the means of toil. To till the soil and labour interminably was all he asked of life and the powers that be. And the awakening of China had given its vast population not merely free and unlimited access to the means of toil, but access to the highest and most scientific machine-means of toil.

China rejuvenescent! It was but a step to China rampant. She discovered a new pride in herself and a will of her own. She began to chafe under the guidance of Japan, but she did not chafe long. On Japan's advice, in the beginning, she had expelled from the Empire all Western missionaries, engineers, drill sergeants, merchants, and teachers. She now began to expel the similar representatives of Japan. The latter's advisory statesmen were showered with honours and decorations, and sent home. The West had awakened Japan, and, as Japan had then requited the West, Japan was not requited by China. Japan was thanked for her kindly aid and flung out bag and baggage by her gigantic protege. The Western nations chuckled. Japan's rainbow dream had gone glimmering. She grew angry. China laughed at her. The blood and the swords of the Samurai would out, and Japan rashly went to war. This occurred in 1922, and in seven bloody months Manchuria, Korea, and Formosa were taken away from her and she was hurled back, bankrupt, to stifle in her tiny, crowded islands. Exit Japan from the world drama. Thereafter she devoted herself to art, and her task became to please the world greatly with her creations of wonder and beauty.

Contrary to expectation, China did not prove warlike. She had no Napoleonic dream, and was content to devote herself to the arts of peace. After a time of disquiet, the idea was accepted that China was to be feared, not in war, but in commerce. It will be seen that the real danger was not apprehended. China went on consummating her machine-civilization. Instead of a large standing army, she developed an immensely larger and splendidly efficient militia. Her navy was so small that it was the laughing stock of the world; nor did she attempt to strengthen her navy. The treaty ports of the world were never entered by her visiting battleships.

The real danger lay in the fecundity of her loins, and it was in 1970 that the first cry of alarm was raised. For some time all territories adjacent to China had been grumbling at Chinese immigration; but now it suddenly came home to the world that China's population was 500,000,000. She had increased by a hundred millions since her awakening. Burchaldter called attention to the fact that there were more Chinese in existence than white-skinned people. He performed a simple sum in arithmetic. He added together the populations of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, European Russia, and all Scandinavia. The result was 495,000,000. And the population of China overtopped this tremendous total by 5,000,000. Burchaldter's figures went round the world, and the world shivered.

For many centuries China's population had been constant. Her territory had been saturated with population; that is to say, her territory, with the primitive method of production, had supported the maximum limit of population. But when she awoke and inaugurated the machine-civilization, her productive power had been enormously increased. Thus, on the same territory, she was able to support a far larger population. At once the birth rate began to rise and the death rate to fall. Before, when population pressed against the means of subsistence, the excess population had been swept away by famine. But now, thanks to the machine-civilization, China's means of subsistence had been enormously extended, and there were no famines; her population followed on the heels of the increase in the means of subsistence.

During this time of transition and development of power, China had entertained no dreams of conquest. The Chinese was not an imperial race. It was industrious, thrifty, and peace-loving. War was looked upon as an unpleasant but necessary task that at times must be performed. And so, while the Western races had squabbled and fought, and world-adventured against one another, China had calmly gone on working at her machines and growing. Now she was spilling over the boundaries of her Empire - that was all, just spilling over into the adjacent territories with all the certainty and terrifying slow momentum of a glacier.

Following upon the alarm raised by Burchaldter's figures, in 1970 France made a long-threatened stand. French Indo-China had been overrun, filled up, by Chinese immigrants. France called a halt. The Chinese wave flowed on. France assembled a force of a hundred thousand on the boundary between her unfortunate colony and China, and China sent down an army of militia-soldiers a million strong. Behind came the wives and sons and daughters and relatives, with their personal household luggage, in a second army. The French force was brushed aside like a fly. The Chinese militia-soldiers, along with their families, over five millions all told, coolly took possession of French Indo-China and settled down to stay for a few thousand years.

Outraged France was in arms. She hurled fleet after fleet against the coast of China, and nearly bankrupted herself by the effort. China had no navy. She withdrew like a turtle into her shell. For a year the French fleets blockaded the coast and bombarded exposed towns and villages. China did not mind. She did not depend upon the rest of the world for anything. She calmly kept out of range of the French guns and went on working. France wept and wailed, wrung her impotent hands and appealed to the dumfounded nations. Then she landed a punitive expedition to march to Peking. It was two hundred and fifty thousand strong, and it was the flower of France. It landed without opposition and marched into the interior. And that was the last ever seen of it. The line of communication was snapped on the second day. Not a survivor came back to tell what had happened. It had been swallowed up in China's cavernous maw, that was all.

In the five years that followed, China's expansion, in all land directions, went on apace. Siam was made part of the Empire, and, in spite of all that England could do, Burma and the Malay Peninsula were overrun; while all along the long south boundary of Siberia, Russia was pressed severely by China's advancing hordes. The process was simple. First came the Chinese immigration (or, rather, it was already there, having come there slowly and insidiously during the previous years). Next came the clash of arms and the brushing away of all opposition by a monster army of militia-soldiers, followed by their families and household baggage. And finally came their settling down as colonists in the conquered territory. Never was there so strange and effective a method of world conquest.

Napal and Bhutan were overrun, and the whole northern boundary of India pressed against by this fearful tide of life. To the west, Bokhara, and, even to the south and west, Afghanistan, were swallowed up. Persia, Turkestan, and all Central Asia felt the pressure of the flood. It was at this time that Burchaldter revised his figures. He had been mistaken. China's population must be seven hundred millions, eight hundred millions, nobody knew how many millions, but at any rate it would soon be a billion. There were two Chinese for every white-skinned human in the world, Burchaldter announced, and the world trembled. China's increase must have begun immediately, in 1904. It was remembered that since that date there had not been a single famine. At 5,000,000 a year increase, her total increase in the intervening seventy years must be 350,000,000. But who was to know? It might be more. Who was to know anything of this strange new menace of the twentieth century - China, old China, rejuvenescent, fruitful, and militant!

The Convention of 1975 was called at Philadelphia. All the Western nations, and some few of the Eastern, were represented. Nothing was accomplished. There was talk of all countries putting bounties on children to increase the birth rate, but it was laughed to scorn by the arithmeticians, who pointed out that China was too far in the lead in that direction. No feasible way of coping with China was suggested. China was appealed to and threatened by the United Powers, and that was all the Convention of Philadelphia came to; and the Convention and the Powers were laughed at by China. Li Tang Fwung, the power behind the Dragon Throne, deigned to reply.

"What does China care for the comity of nations?" said Li Tang Fwung. "We are the most ancient, honourable, and royal of races. We have our own destiny to accomplish. It is unpleasant that our destiny does not tally with the destiny of the rest of the world, but what would you? You have talked windily about the royal races and the heritage of the earth, and we can only reply that that remains to be seen. You cannot invade us. Never mind about your navies. Don't shout. We know our navy is small. You see we use it for police purposes. We do not care for the sea. Our strength is in our population, which will soon be a billion. Thanks to you, we are equipped with all modern war-machinery. Send your navies. We will not notice them. Send your punitive expeditions, but first remember France. To land half a million soldiers on our shores would strain the resources of any of you. And our thousand millions would swallow them down in a mouthful. Send a million; send five millions, and we will swallow them down just as readily. Pouf! A mere nothing, a meagre morsel. Destroy, as you have threatened, you United States, the ten million coolies we have forced upon your shores - why, the amount scarcely equals half of our excess birth rate for a year."

So spoke Li Tang Fwung. The world was nonplussed, helpless, terrified. Truly had he spoken. There was no combating China's amazing birth rate. If her population was a billion, and was increasing twenty millions a year, in twenty-five years it would be a billion and a half - equal to the total population of the world in 1904. And nothing could be done. There was no way to dam up the over-spilling monstrous flood of life. War was futile. China laughed at a blockade of her coasts. She welcomed invasion. In her capacious maw was room for all the hosts of earth that could be hurled at her. And in the meantime her flood of yellow life poured out and on over Asia. China laughed and read in their magazines the learned lucubrations of the distracted Western scholars.

But there was one scholar China failed to reckon on - Jacobus Laningdale. Not that he was a scholar, except in the widest sense. Primarily, Jacobus Laningdale was a scientist, and, up to that time, a very obscure scientist, a professor employed in the laboratories of the Health Office of New York City. Jacobus Laningdale's head was very like any other head, but in that head was evolved an idea. Also, in that head was the wisdom to keep that idea secret. He did not write an article for the magazines. Instead, he asked for a vacation. On September 19, 1975, he arrived in Washington. It was evening, but he proceeded straight to the White House, for he had already arranged an audience with the President. He was closeted with President Moyer for three hours. What passed between them was not learned by the rest of the world until long after; in fact, at that time the world was not interested in Jacobus Laningdale. Next day the President called in his Cabinet. Jacobus Laningdale was present. The proceedings were kept secret. But that very afternoon Rufus Cowdery, Secretary of State, left Washington, and early the following morning sailed for England. The secret that he carried began to spread, but it spread only among the heads of Governments. Possibly half-a-dozen men in a nation were entrusted with the idea that had formed in Jacobus Laningdale's head. Following the spread of the secret, sprang up great activity in all the dockyards, arsenals, and navy-yards. The people of France and Austria became suspicious, but so sincere were their Governments' calls for confidence that they acquiesced in the unknown project that was afoot.

This was the time of the Great Truce. All countries pledged themselves solemnly not to go to war with any other country. The first definite action was the gradual mobilization of the armies of Russia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Then began the eastward movement. All railroads into Asia were glutted with troop trains. China was the objective, that was all that was known. A little later began the great sea movement. Expeditions of warships were launched from all countries. Fleet followed fleet, and all proceeded to the coast of China. The nations cleaned out their navy-yards. They sent their revenue cutters and dispatch boots and lighthouse tenders, and they sent their last antiquated cruisers and battleships. Not content with this, they impressed the merchant marine. The statistics show that 58,640 merchant steamers, equipped with searchlights and rapid-fire guns, were despatched by the various nations to China.

And China smiled and waited. On her land side, along her boundaries, were millions of the warriors of Europe. She mobilized five times as many millions of her militia and awaited the invasion. On her sea coasts she did the same. But China was puzzled. After all this enormous preparation, there was no invasion. She could not understand. Along the great Siberian frontier all was quiet. Along her coasts the towns and villages were not even shelled. Never, in the history of the world, had there been so mighty a gathering of war fleets. The fleets of all the world were there, and day and night millions of tons of battleships ploughed the brine of her coasts, and nothing happened. Nothing was attempted. Did they think to make her emerge from her shell? China smiled. Did they think to tire her out, or starve her out? China smiled again.

But on May 1, 1976, had the reader been in the imperial city of Peking, with its then population of eleven millions, he would have witnessed a curious sight. He would have seen the streets filled with the chattering yellow populace, every queued head tilted back, every slant eye turned skyward. And high up in the blue he would have beheld a tiny dot of black, which, because of its orderly evolutions, he would have identified as an airship. From this airship, as it curved its flight back and forth over the city, fell missiles - strange, harmless missiles, tubes of fragile glass that shattered into thousands of fragments on the streets and house- tops. But there was nothing deadly about these tubes of glass. Nothing happened. There were no explosions. It is true, three Chinese were killed by the tubes dropping on their heads from so enormous a height; but what were three Chinese against an excess birth rate of twenty millions? One tube struck perpendicularly in a fish-pond in a garden and was not broken. It was dragged ashore by the master of the house. He did not dare to open it, but, accompanied by his friends, and surrounded by an ever-increasing crowd, he carried the mysterious tube to the magistrate of the district. The latter was a brave man. With all eyes upon him, he shattered the tube with a blow from his brass-bowled pipe. Nothing happened. Of those who were very near, one or two thought they saw some mosquitoes fly out. That was all. The crowd set up a great laugh and dispersed.

As Peking was bombarded by glass tubes, so was all China. The tiny airships, dispatched from the warships, contained but two men each, and over all cities, towns, and villages they wheeled and curved, one man directing the ship, the other man throwing over the glass tubes.

Had the reader again been in Peking, six weeks later, he would have looked in vain for the eleven million inhabitants. Some few of them he would have found, a few hundred thousand, perhaps, their carcasses festering in the houses and in the deserted streets, and piled high on the abandoned death-waggons. But for the rest he would have had to seek along the highways and byways of the Empire. And not all would he have found fleeing from plague-stricken Peking, for behind them, by hundreds of thousands of unburied corpses by the wayside, he could have marked their flight. And as it was with Peking, so it was with all the cities, towns, and villages of the Empire. The plague smote them all. Nor was it one plague, nor two plagues; it was a score of plagues. Every virulent form of infectious death stalked through the land. Too late the Chinese government apprehended the meaning of the colossal preparations, the marshalling of the world-hosts, the flights of the tin airships, and the rain of the tubes of glass. The proclamations of the government were vain. They could not stop the eleven million plague-stricken wretches, fleeing from the one city of Peking to spread disease through all the land. The physicians and health officers died at their posts; and death, the all- conqueror, rode over the decrees of the Emperor and Li Tang Fwung. It rode over them as well, for Li Tang Fwung died in the second week, and the Emperor, hidden away in the Summer Palace, died in the fourth week.

Had there been one plague, China might have coped with it. But from a score of plagues no creature was immune. The man who escaped smallpox went down before scarlet fever. The man who was immune to yellow fever was carried away by cholera; and if he were immune to that, too, the Black Death, which was the bubonic plague, swept him away. For it was these bacteria, and germs, and microbes, and bacilli, cultured in the laboratories of the West, that had come down upon China in the rain of glass.

All organization vanished. The government crumbled away. Decrees and proclamations were useless when the men who made them and signed them one moment were dead the next. Nor could the maddened millions, spurred on to flight by death, pause to heed anything. They fled from the cities to infect the country, and wherever they fled they carried the plagues with them. The hot summer was on - Jacobus Laningdale had selected the time shrewdly - and the plague festered everywhere. Much is conjectured of what occurred, and much has been learned from the stories of the few survivors. The wretched creatures stormed across the Empire in many-millioned flight. The vast armies China had collected on her frontiers melted away. The farms were ravaged for food, and no more crops were planted, while the crops already in were left unattended and never came to harvest. The most remarkable thing, perhaps, was the flights. Many millions engaged in them, charging to the bounds of the Empire to be met and turned back by the gigantic armies of the West. The slaughter of the mad hosts on the boundaries was stupendous. Time and again the guarding line was drawn back twenty or thirty miles to escape the contagion of the multitudinous dead.

Once the plague broke through and seized upon the German and Austrian soldiers who were guarding the borders of Turkestan. Preparations had been made for such a happening, and though sixty thousand soldiers of Europe were carried off, the international corps of physicians isolated the contagion and dammed it back. It was during this struggle that it was suggested that a new plague- germ had originated, that in some way or other a sort of hybridization between plague-germs had taken place, producing a new and frightfully virulent germ. First suspected by Vomberg, who became infected with it and died, it was later isolated and studied by Stevens, Hazenfelt, Norman, and Landers.

Such was the unparalleled invasion of China. For that billion of people there was no hope. Pent in their vast and festering charnel-house, all organization and cohesion lost, they could do naught but die. They could not escape. As they were flung back from their land frontiers, so were they flung back from the sea. Seventy-five thousand vessels patrolled the coasts. By day their smoking funnels dimmed the sea-rim, and by night their flashing searchlights ploughed the dark and harrowed it for the tiniest escaping junk. The attempts of the immense fleets of junks were pitiful. Not one ever got by the guarding sea-hounds. Modern war- machinery held back the disorganized mass of China, while the plagues did the work.

But old War was made a thing of laughter. Naught remained to him but patrol duty. China had laughed at war, and war she was getting, but it was ultra-modern war, twentieth century war, the war of the scientist and the laboratory, the war of Jacobus Laningdale. Hundred-ton guns were toys compared with the micro- organic projectiles hurled from the laboratories, the messengers of death, the destroying angels that stalked through the empire of a billion souls.

During all the summer and fall of 1976 China was an inferno. There was no eluding the microscopic projectiles that sought out the remotest hiding-places. The hundreds of millions of dead remained unburied and the germs multiplied themselves, and, toward the last, millions died daily of starvation. Besides, starvation weakened the victims and destroyed their natural defences against the plagues. Cannibalism, murder, and madness reigned. And so perished China.

Not until the following February, in the coldest weather, were the first expeditions made. These expeditions were small, composed of scientists and bodies of troops; but they entered China from every side. In spite of the most elaborate precautions against infection, numbers of soldiers and a few of the physicians were stricken. But the exploration went bravely on. They found China devastated, a howling wilderness through which wandered bands of wild dogs and desperate bandits who had survived. All survivors were put to death wherever found. And then began the great task, the sanitation of China. Five years and hundreds of millions of treasure were consumed, and then the world moved in - not in zones, as was the idea of Baron Albrecht, but heterogeneously, according to the democratic American programme. It was a vast and happy intermingling of nationalities that settled down in China in 1982 and the years that followed - a tremendous and successful experiment in cross-fertilization. We know to-day the splendid mechanical, intellectual, and art output that followed.

It was in 1987, the Great Truce having been dissolved, that the ancient quarrel between France and Germany over Alsace-Lorraine recrudesced. The war-cloud grew dark and threatening in April, and on April 17 the Convention of Copenhagen was called. The representatives of the nations of the world, being present, all nations solemnly pledged themselves never to use against one another the laboratory methods of warfare they had employed in the invasion of China.