Munsey's Magazine, November 1928

The Last Man on Earth by John D. Swain

A science-fiction novelette depicting civilization in the generation following the Great War. A mysterious malady called "masculitis" has killed all adult males and boys over fourteen; Colonel Bowdoin, a Boston club president, is recorded as the last man on Earth. Explorer Edna Furlong returns from a two-year global expedition confirming no male survivors exist anywhere. Dr. Lulu Prodwell, a pathologist, reveals she has isolated the disease's germ—similar to pneumococcus with a distinctive hook—and developed a vaccine conferring immunity. Professor Tarbell, a chemist who discovered the "who-ray" that predetermines infant sex, assists her research. Prodwell plans to vaccinate surviving boys aged ten to fourteen and use Tarbell's discovery to ensure male-majority births in future generations. The story explores how women's civilization reorganizes: prohibition is abandoned, boys become state wards and precious resources, traditional male-centered institutions collapse, and society plans sealed community sanctuaries for humanity's final decline.