tschnikoff's theory of fighting leucocytes. White corpuscles
gorged with bacteria.

He was an amphibian, and, as such, undeniably beautiful; for the
sunlight, refracted and diffused in the water, gave his translucent,
pearl-blue body all the shifting colors of the spectrum. Vigorous and
graceful of movement, in shape he resembled a comma of three
dimensions, twisted, when at rest, to a slight spiral curve; but in
traveling he straightened out with quick successive jerks, each one
sending him ahead a couple of lengths. Supplemented by the undulatory
movement of a long continuation of his tail, it was his way of
swimming, good enough to enable him to escape his enemies; this, and
riding at anchor in a current by his cable-like appendage, constituting
his main occupation in life. The pleasure of eating was denied him;
nature had given him a mouth, but he used it only for purposes of
offense and defense, absorbing his food in a most unheard-of
manner--through the soft walls of his body.

Yet he enjoyed a few social pleasures. Though the organs of the five
senses were missing in his economy, he possessed an inner sixth sense
which answered for all and also gave him power of speech. He would
converse, swap news and views, with creatures of his own and other
species, provided that they were of equal size and prowess; but he
wasted no time on any but his social peers. Smaller creatures he
pursued when they annoyed him; larger ones pursued him.

The sunlight, which made him so beautiful to look at, was distasteful
to him; it also made him too visible. He preferred a half-darkness and
less fervor to life's battle--time to judge of chances, to figure on an
enemy's speed and turning-circle, before beginning flight or pursuit.
But his dislike of it really came of a stronger animus--a shuddering
recollection of three hours once passed on dry land in a comatose
condition, which had followed a particularly long and intense period of
bright sunlight. He had never been able to explain the connection, but
the awful memory still saddened his life.

And now it seemed, as he swam about, that this experience might be
repeated. The light was strong and long-continued, the water
uncomfortably warm, and the crowd about him denser--so much so as to
prevent him from attending properly to a social inferior who had
crossed his bow. But just as his mind grasped the full imminence of the
danger, there came a sudden darkness, a crash and vibrat