LONDON, June 23 (AP)—Agatha Christie's 16‐year‐old detective story “The Pale Horse” saved the life of a 19‐month‐old girl dying of a condition that baffled London doctors, the British Journal of Hospital Medicine reported today.

The Arab baby, flown for treatment from Qatar, on the Persian Gulf, was semiconscious when admitted to Hammersmith Hospital. Despite intensive care, her blood pressure rose, her breathing became increasingly difficult and she appeared on the brink of death. The doctors could not diagnose the illness.

As they were making their morning rounds of the wards, Marsha Maitland, a nurse, suggested that the infant might have been poisoned by a compound of thallium, a bluish‐white metal that has poisonous salts. Nurse Maitland said she was reading “The Pale Horse” and the baby's symptoms were remarkably similar to those of a thallium case in the book.

Thallium is rarely found in Britain, and the hospital lacked the necessary testing equipment. Scotland Yard found a laboratory with the equipment and tests confirmed thallium poisoning. The baby recovered after getting the right treatment.