Melville Davisson Post

“ Arnbush was fatigued with the long climb, and he at once sat down.
The chemist came directly to the point; he made no disquisition on his wealthy patron, the hour, or the affair.
“I have discovered the thing you are seeking,” he said. “I will show it to you.”
He took a little glass tube from a rack before him and held it under the light. It was partly filled with a thick, viscous, golden-colored stuff.
“That is circine,” he said. “It is the element of virtue in all distillations. In alcohol,” he continued, “one finds it imperfectly produced. This sample I am showing you is pure.” ”

“ The distiller touched it to his lips, and with a great effort of the will replaced it on the table. In his mouth was, again, the taste of that rich, heavenly liquor, seasoned, an age long, in some hidden cask.
The chemist went back to his stool.
“The substance I have added to the drop of green is a fungus culture. Among the innumerable varieties of fungi there is, alone, one culture which has the power to destroy the shell about the molecule and set the incased circine free. And as it happens, this fungus is of almost universal distribution; is as available as bread mold.” ”

“ In his satisfaction he overlooked the chemist’s plural pronoun.
The muscles about Neinsoul’s lips distended in a sort of weird smile.
“We shall hardly hope for that,” he said. “In fact, the effect of circine on the human body is not deleterious. Neither depression nor nausea follows its use; there are none of the unpleasant after-effects of alcohol, or the so-called habit-forming drugs. In truth, many persons of weak individuality will be physically advanced by circine.” ”

“ The ego in the man was elevated. It took on dominance and majesty; bothered and hectored, heretofore, it was now a king. And the spirit of the man, rising as though newly born in some womb of the sun, realized that this was the thing that every human creature tasting of liquors eternally longed for. ”

“ He paused abruptly, and looked up. The air entering through the window was beginning to freshen; a faint gray haze was appearing in the sky behind the city. And the chemist acted like one in haste to an appointment. He seized a tablet, in the drawer before him, tore off a sheet, wrote hastily upon it, and thrust it across the table to Arnbush.
“There is the chemical formula of circine,” he said, “and the name of the fungus. I must go.”
The distiller began to speak about his offer, the lawyer Stetman, the other partner, Lang, and what should now be done in payment and the legal transfer. ”

“ It was the active principle in all fermentation; one got it from green seed, heat, and a pinch of fungus. And he passed on into a scrutiny of Neinsoul’s statement about the effect of circine.
He was in this abstraction when, at the entrance to the hostelry, he stopped.
There was some bustle about the door. A limousine stood open and a young man and a girl were getting out. There was rice scattered on its fenders; and the two were radiant. Their manner was infectious; passers stopped, the hall boys and the porters had come out—all were smiling.
Arnbush followed them inside. ”

“ No human creature, having tasted of this heavenly liquor, would return to abstinence; no laws could possibly prevent its use. A thing that any man could make with a clay pipe, some seeds, and a pinch of fungus was beyond a sumptuary law. ”

“ Arnbush was quieted by this reflection.
“Sure!” he said. “That’s what I pay you for, Stetman. You fix the thing so it’ll hold water.”
The lawyer continued, as though he were suggesting devices to himself:
“It might be advisable to indicate the existence of this offer to the leading chemists in the country. There is Lang and Neinsoul, just beyond us here on Park Avenue. No better man in America than Lang; fine type of Swiss. I don’t know why he holds on to the German name in the firm, except that it is one of the most celebrated firm names in the world. ... Great genius, Neinsoul ”

“ When, finally, he turned, the chemist was sitting in that watchful pose.
The distiller spoke, in the vigor of his victory.
“This is the greatest thing that was ever discovered!”
Neinsoul replied without moving, without a gesture.
“We consider circine,” he said, “the most important element so far released by us. The habit-forming drugs upon which we have heretofore depended are limited in their influence, and we have obtained from them only a fragmentary result. We have long sought something of universal appeal.”
“Well, you got it,” interrupted Arnbush ”