# Chapter XII: The Poisonous Gas explained — The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu

> Chapter companion for The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer.

## What happens

Petrie is visited by Karamanèh, who warns him of danger and pleads to be taken away from Fu-Manchu by force. Later, Nayland Smith arrives with a package from Inspector Weymouth containing a lead-lined box that releases a poisonous yellow-green gas, revealing Fu-Manchu's plot to kill them. Smith deduces that the mummy case at Rowan House contained the gas rather than a person, explaining the locked-room mystery.

## Themes in this chapter

### Fear and Paranoia

Petrie's terror of the unknown creeping upstairs and the constant threat of Fu-Manchu's deadly schemes.

### East vs. West

Karamanèh's Eastern attire and slave mentality contrast with Petrie's Western notions of freedom and legal protection.

### Science and Occultism

The poisonous gas combines chemical knowledge with a theatrical, almost supernatural delivery method.

## Character check-ins

### Dr. Petrie

Narrator; receives a warning from Karamanèh and narrowly escapes the poisoned box.

### Karamanèh

Visits Petrie in disguise, warns him of danger, and begs to be taken from Fu-Manchu by force.

### Nayland Smith

Returns from the docks with a box containing poisonous gas; deduces Fu-Manchu's plan involving the mummy case.

### Dr. Fu-Manchu

Implied mastermind behind the poisoned box and the earlier events at Rowan House.

### Inspector Weymouth

Sent the box of evidence from the docks to Smith.

## Key lines

> She is, Petrie why pretend to be blind to it? I quite understand the girl's position. She fears the English authorities, but would submit to capture by you! If you would only seize her by the hair, drag her to some cellar, hurl her down and stand over her with a whip, she would tell you everything she knows, and salve her strange Eastern conscience with the reflection that speech was forced from her.

Smith suggests that Karamanèh would only reveal her secrets if Petrie uses physical force, as her Eastern mindset would then absolve her of betrayal.

_Smith's cynical view of Karamanèh's loyalty and cultural expectations._

> It is a poisonous gas! ... in many respects identical with chlorine, but having unique properties which prove it to be something else—God and Fu-Manchu, alone know what!

Petrie identifies the gas as similar to chlorine but with unique, unknown properties, attributing its creation to Fu-Manchu.

_Petrie's realization of the gas's nature and origin._

> Slavery is put down, you imagine, perhaps? You do not believe that today—today—twenty-five English sovereigns will buy a Galla girl, who is brown, and—whisper—two hundred and fifty a Circassian, who is white.

Karamanèh reveals that the slave trade still exists, with prices for girls based on their ethnicity.

_Karamanèh's indictment of ongoing slavery despite its official abolition._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_insidious_dr_fu_manchu_se/chapters/xii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_insidious_dr_fu_manchu_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_insidious_dr_fu_manchu_se/chapters