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I read this novel at least forty years ago but I think it is even much, much older.

The theme is the existence of a huge toxic cloud in outer space, and at some point Earth trajectory goes through it.

The toxicity of the cloud has a horrific effect on people, it makes them go crazy.

I don't remember much. One detail I do remember is that scientists who follow the evolution of the epidemics of madness note that it is much worse in Africa, for instance, than in Europe. Their explanation of this fact is not at all "politically correct". Of course, one would not expect political correctness in a book which was written so long ago, and which reflects the prejudices of that time.

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    The last paragraph reminds me of a trivium I was told about. Our literature teacher told us about some kind of author who wrote books dating back to the time of masters and slaves. According to him, even though the author was, for his time, someone who advocated for freedom for the slaves, you could feel he was influenced by the environment in which he grew up, through his books.
    – Clockwork
    Commented Nov 27 at 10:19
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    @Clockwork This is not surprising. Exemples like that abound.
    – Alfred
    Commented Nov 27 at 10:49
  • Are you sure you're asking about Science Fiction rather than current events? :-(
    – einpoklum
    Commented Nov 28 at 23:12
  • @einpoklum LOL ! Just take a time-travel machine to ask Sir Arthur Conan Doyle whether he visited our time in a time-travel machine to inspire him...
    – Alfred
    Commented Nov 28 at 23:18

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This is The Poison Belt (1913) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

It's the second instalment in his Professor Challenger trilogy, bookended by The Lost World (1912) and The Land of Mist (1926).

As noted in the Amazon blurb, the plot involves the Earth passing through a belt of poisonous ether, causing madness to sweep the globe.

Just returned from his famous adventure in the Lost World, the resourceful Professor George Challenger faces his greatest danger yet: Earth will pass through a belt of poisonous ether, and mankind might not survive. As the poison enters the atmosphere, terror and madness sweep the globe. Cities are wracked by riots, societies crumble, and soon all communication ceases. Professor Challenger and his friends, barricaded in a sealed room, can only watch their planet die.

In this extract from the book itself, Challenger explains that the "less developed races" (citing Africans and Australian aborigines as examples) were the first to succumb to the effects of the ether, while the Northern races showed greater resistance.

the less developed races have been the first to respond to its influence. There are deplorable accounts from Africa, and the Australian aborigines appear to have been already exterminated. The Northern races have as yet shown greater resisting power than the Southern.

You can read the full book at Project Gutenberg.

Front cover of "The Poison Belt" (1913) by Arthur Conan Doyle.

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    Yes, this is it ! Conan Doyle, yes. I remembered that the story with the dinosaurs, "The Lost World" was his, but I forgot that one was his, too....
    – Alfred
    Commented Nov 27 at 9:36
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    I'm glad I'm from Sweden so I'll stand a better chance against this cloud next time it happens! Jokes aside, the question first made me think about The Black Cloud from 1957 by astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. Worth a read @Alfred if you're into space clouds.
    – pipe
    Commented Nov 27 at 23:18
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    @pipe I have read The Black Cloud long ago. Indeed a great book. But totally different. That cloud was sentient. Mine, here, was just a poisoned zone.
    – Alfred
    Commented Nov 28 at 0:20
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    I think I read this book! If I remember correctly the ranking of races was mostly predictable racism, with Europeans on top and Africans at the bottom, but the author made an exception for "Southern Frenchs" who where also described as an inferior race. As a southern French myself this part was a bit unexpected. (I read it two decades ago, my memory may be a little fuzzy)
    – Babika Babaka
    Commented Nov 28 at 11:10
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    @BabikaBabaka - Back then, among the scientific racists, it was fashionable to declare that certain European ethnicities, notably those living closer to the Mediterranean, were more "contaminated" with African and Middle Eastern ancestry than the rest. This was also thought to be the case with Jews, of course, who were thought to bring corrupting "Oriental" influences into respectable European society. Of course, all of this has a grain of truth, since Jews and Southern Europeans do have more Middle Eastern ancestry, but it was all filtered through a very white supremacist framework.
    – Adamant
    Commented Nov 29 at 4:29

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