Science Fiction Story . Translated from French by . Bobyr . Artist B. High . Une fantaisie du Docteur Ox (The Fancy of Dr. Ox) The experience of Dr. Ochs). In the city of Kikandon West Flanders with his assistant comes the scientist-physiologist Ox. As he said, his goal is to fully illuminate the city with oxyhydric gas released from the air. No one knew if this was true.... Soon, strange things began to happen in a peaceful and unhurried city, turning into an “epidemic”. Ruddy. Note: The idea of the story was suggested to the author by experiments conducted in those years by French chemists and physiologists - they studied the effects of oxygen on humans and animals. Interestingly, the names of Dr. Ox and his drug Igen together make up the word "oxygen", which means "oxygen". The author first read the work in the hotel of the city of Amiens (Htel de Ville d'Amiens) on February 20, 1872. First published in the magazine Musée des familles in March, April and May 1872 under the title Stories . The quirk of Dr. Ox (Nouvelles .) Une fantaisie du Docteur Ox", with illustrations by Ulysses Paren and A. De Bara (Ulysse Parent, A.) de Bar). April 27, 1874, the story is published in the first edition of the collection “Dr. Ox” In the October 19, 1874 edition of the same collection, the story contained 18 illustrations by L. Froliha. In 1877, the operetta “Dr. Ox” was staged at the Variety Theater on the plot of the story. The music was written by Jacques Offenbach, libretto by Philipp Gilles and Arnold Mortier (Jacques Offenbach, Philippe Gille, Arnold Mortier). Jules Verne did not participate in its creation, although some sources claim the opposite. Criticism of the operetta was received very favorably, although the author of the story was not particularly pleased with this adaptation: he found her not alive enough. Evgeny Borisov