Arrowsmith Chapter 27 Summary

  • Eventually, Martin's boss (Dr. Tubbs) gets wind of the fact that Martin might have discovered the cure for pneumonia and a bunch of other diseases. He rushes into Martin's office proclaiming his work a triumph.
  • But he's not so impressed by Martin's wait-and-see attitude. He wants Martin to publish his findings as quickly as possible.
  • Max Gottlieb rushes to Martin's defense and says they'll need to wait and do more tests, maybe even for a couple of years.
  • In the end, Martin has to sit down and start writing a paper publishing his findings.
  • He really drags his feet writing it, though.
  • Tubbs throws a big dinner party honoring Martin's accomplishment before the paper even gets sent out for publication. All the corporate bigwigs are super pumped about the fame that the discovery will bring to the McGurk Institute.
  • Later on, Martin gets some bad news from Gottlieb. It turns out that someone from France named D'Hérelle has just published a paper on the same findings as Martin's. So Martin has been beaten to the punch. And guess who's not happy about it…
  • You got it. Martin's boss Dr. Tubbs is furious that Martin has ruined an opportunity to make a landmark discovery for McGurk.
  • Now Martin basically just works in his labs and waits to hear from Tubbs that he's been fired.