26.

  1. A doctor in Qatar.
  2. Nurse Maitland.
  3. Dr. Brown.
  4. Agatha Christie.

(Click to show or hide the key.)

27.

  1. She was a British girl whose parents were working in Qatar.
  2. The hospitals in Qatar were full at this time.
  3. She was the daughter of a doctor in one of the places.
  4. The Qatar doctors were not sure they could cure her.

(Click to show or hide the key.)

28.

  1. Contact with a pair of infected spectacles.
  2. Contact with a harmful substance used to kill insects.
  3. Contact with machinery used in manufacturing optical glass.
  4. Contact with an adult who carried thallium germs in his body.

(Click to show or hide the key.)

29.

  1. It was an urgent one.
  2. It was a matter of routine.
  3. It was quite a simple one.
  4. It was the result of thallium poisoning.

(Click to show or hide the key.)

30.

  1. When she heard them discussing the possibility of thallium poisoning.
  2. Because she could see that the doctors had made a mistake.
  3. To suggest a possible reason for the patient's illness.
  4. After she had read about a horse which had been poisoned.

(Click to show or hide the key.)

In 1977, a dead author of detective stories saved the life of a 19-month-old baby in a most unusual way. The author was Agatha Christie, a gentle married lady and one of the most successful writers of detective stories in the world.

In June 1977, a baby girl became seriously ill in Qatar, near Saudi Arabia. Doctors were unable to diagnose the cause of her illness with confidence, so she was flown to London and admitted to Hammersmith Hospital, where specialist help was available. She was then only semi-conscious and on the "Dangerously 111" list. A team of doctors hurried to examine the baby only to discover that they, too, were baffled by the very unusual symptoms. While they were discussing the baby's case, a nurse asked to speak to them.

"Excuse me," said Nurse Marsha Maitland, "but I think the baby is suffering from thallium poisoning."

"What makes you think that?" Dr. Brown asked. "Thallium poisoning is extremely rare."

"A few days ago, I was reading a novel called A Pale Horse by Agatha Christie," Nurse Maitland explained. "In the book, somebody uses thallium poison, and all the symptoms are described. They're exactly the same as the baby's."

"You're very observant and you may be right," another doctor said. "We'll carry out some tests and find out whether it's thallium or not."

The tests showed that the baby had indeed been poisoned by thallium, a rare metallic substance used in making optical glass. Once they knew the cause of the illness, the doctors were able to give the baby the correct treatment. She soon recovered and was sent back to Qatar. Enquiries revealed that the poison might have come from an insecticide used in Qatar.