Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!kcarroll From: kcarroll@utzoo.UUCP (Kieran A. Carroll) Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: E.T.: Phone For A Second Opinion Message-ID: <3563@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Mon, 20-Feb-84 15:37:25 EST Article-I.D.: utzoo.3563 Posted: Mon Feb 20 15:37:25 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 20-Feb-84 15:37:25 EST References: <16640@sri-arpa.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 25 * I read a story a few years ago (by Frederic Brown, I think), in which an alien's ship crashes in the sea, off the coast of an East European fishing community. The local doctor is called in to try to help the injured pilot. The doctor is the only one i the village who doesn't think of the creature as a demon, and has some inkling of life coming from other planets. However, he has little idea of what medical procedures to use. He decides the safest course is to simply dress the creature's wounds, and avoid giving it any injections or drugs. He uses sterilized dressings impregnated with (I think) some sort of sulphur compound (as an antibiotic). Te sulphur reacts with the creature's "blood"; the thing screams, goes into convulsions and dies. The point of the story has a lot to do with the facetious "ST mal- practice suit". Terrestrial medicine uses a set of chemicals that are compatible with our bodily makeup, and which are designed to provoke certain responses in our bodies. An alien, the product of an entirely different evolutionary system, would almost certainly react differently to our medicines than we'd expect. In this story, he reacted chemically instead of medically, an entirely likely result. That's what mainly spoiled the ending of Speilberg's film for me. -Kieran A. Carroll ...decvax!utzoo!kcarroll