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Edison's Conquest of MARS [Copyright, lm. by Garrett P. Serviss.] SYNOPSIS. The Martians have attempted to con quer the" earth in order to relieve their overpopulattd planet. The first invasion having failed, through disease and not human effort, it is believed that a second will be made. Thomas A. Edison puts Inn inventive genius to the task of devising methods of resistance. When he an nounces that he has been successful, a universal cry arises thai this world Shall assume the offensive and proceed against the Martians. The nations of the earth subscribe a vast sum to prosecute the war. and Mr. Edison is made director. Work is at once begun upon Mr. Edison s inventions. These consist of a practical electrical air ship, and a wonderful en gine of destruction called the "Disinte grator," which will cause the constituent particles of any object at which it may be directed to so vibrate that the object will be immediately and completely dis persed. At the end of six months a fleet of one hundred air idiips. armed with three thousand disintegrators and manned by two thousand men. amonK whom are many famous scientists, sets out. Provision has been made for every emergence that can be thought of: such as working and communicating in at mospheres different from our own: sig nalling, etc. A stop is made at the moon, wr forty-, ight hours arc spent in re pairing and exploring. Shortly alter hav ing the moon the Beet is drawn into the train of a comet, and it is only saved from precipitation into the sun by coming within the earth's attractive force. A tresh start is made, with the expectation •f reaching Mars in about forty days. IX. Nothing occurred for many days to interrupt our journey. We became ac customed to our strange surroundings and many entertainments were provi ded to while away the time. The as tronomers in the expedition found plenty of occupation in studying the aspects of the stars and the other heavenly bodies from their new point of view. At the expiration of about thirty five days we had drawn so near to Mars that, with our telescopes, which, though small, were of immense power, we could discern upon its surface features and details which no one had been able to glimpse from.the earth. But something was in store that we had not expected. We were to meet the Martians before arriving at the World they dwelt in. Among the stars which shone in that quarter of the heavens where Mara appeared as the master orb, there was one, lying directly in our path, which, to our astonishment, as we continued on, altered from the aspect of a star, underwent a gradual magnification, and soon presented itself in the form of a little planet. "It is an asteroid," raid somebody. "Yes. evidently; but how does it come insiele the orbit of Mars?" "Oh, there are several asteroids." said one of the astronomers, "which travel Inside the orbit of Mars, along a part of their course, and, for aught we can tell, there may be many which have not yet been caught sight of from the earth, 'hat are nearer to the sun than Mars is." As we drew nearer the mysterious little planet revealed itself to us as a perfectly formed globe not more than five miles in eliameter. "What is that upon it?" asked Eord Kelvin, (squinting intently at the little world through his glass. "As I live it inoveti! M "Yes, yes!" exclaimed several others, "there are inhabitants upon it, but what Tiants!" "Don't you see?" exclaimed an ex cite,! savant. "They are the Mar tians!" The startling truth burst upon the minds of all. Here upon this little planetoid were several of the' gigan tic Inhabitants of the we,rid that we were going to attack. There was more' than me man in the flagship who recognised them well, nnel whe, shud der, ci at the recogition, Instinctively recalling the recent terrible experience of the earth. Was this an outpost of the warlike Mars? Around these monstrous enemies we saw several of their engines of war. Some of these appeared to have been Wrecked, but at least one, as far us we could see, was still in a proper condi tion for use. How had these creatures got there? The electrical ships were Immediately instructed by signal lei slow down, an operation that was easily effected through the electrical repulsion of the asteroid. The nearer we got. the more terrify ing was tin- appearance of the gigantic creature;: who were riding upon the little world before us like: castaway sailors upon a block of ice. Like men, and yet not Ilk" men, combining the human and the le ast in their appear ance. It required a steady nerve to look at them. When wo first saw them the ir ap pearance was most forlorn, and their attitudes indicated only despair and desperatie.n. but as they caught sight of us their malign power of intellect instantly penetrated the mystery, and they recognised us for what we were. Their despair Immediately gave place to re-awakened malevolence. On the instant they were astir, with such hrart-rhilling movements as those that characterize a venomous serpent pre paring to strike-. Not imagining that they would be ln a condition to make serious resistance, we had been somewhat incautious in appro: c h ing. Suddenly there was a quicker move ment than usual among the Mortians, a swift adjustment of that one of their engines e.f war which, as already noticed, seemed to be practically unin jured, and then there darted from it Garrett P. Serviss land alighted upon one of the foremost | ships a dazzling lightning stroke a mile !In length, at whose touch the metallic ! sides of the car curled and withered j and, licked for a moment by what ] seemed lambent flames, collapsed into a mere cinder. For an instant not a word was j spoken, so sudden and unexpected had ! been tho blow. We knew that every soul in the stricken car had perished. ' Ilaek.' Hack!" was the signal in j stantaneously Hashed from the flag ship, and reversing their polarities the members of the squadron sprang away from the little planet as rapidly as the electrical impulse could drive them. But before we were out of reach a second naming tongue of death shot from the fearful engine, and another of our ships, with all its crew, was de stroyed. It was an inauspicious beginning for us. Two of our electrical ships with their entire crews, had been wiped out of existence, and this appalling blow had been dealt by a few of our enemies floating on an asteroid. The lirst thing to do was to avenge the death of our comrades. The question whether we were able to meet these Martians and overcome them might as well be settled right here and now. They had proved what they could do. Now it was our turn. The squadron had been rapidly withdrawn to a very considerable dis tance from the asteroid. The range of the mysterious artillery employed by the Martians was unknown to us. We did not even know the limit of the effective range of our own disintegra tors. If it should prove that the Mar tians were able to deal their strokes at a distance greater than any which we could reach, then they would of course have an insuperable advantage. On the other hand, if it should turn out that our range was greater than theirs, the advantage would be on our side. Or —which was perhaps most probable—there might be practicallj no difference in the effective range of the engines. Anyhow, we were going to find out how the case stood and that without delay. Everything being in readiness, the disintegrators all in working order, and the men who were able to handle them, most of whom were experienced marksmen, chosen from among the officers of the regular army of the I'nited Plates and accustomed to the straight shooting and the sure hits of the west, standing at their posts, the squadron again advanced. In order to distract the attention of the Martians, the electrical ships had been distributed over a wide space. Pome dropped straight down toward the asteroid; others approached it by flank attack, from this side and that. The flagship moved straight In toward the point where the first disaster oc curred. The approach of the ships was made with great caution. Watching the Mar tians with our telescopes we could (dearly see that they were disconcerted by the scattered order of our attack. Even if all of their engines of war hud been in proper condition for use. it would have been impossible for them to meet the simultaneous assault of so many enemies dropping down upon them from the sky. Suddenly a repetition of the quick movements by the Martians, which had been the forerunner of the former coup, was observed; again a blinding flash burst from the war engine, and in stantaneously a shiver ran through the frame of the flag-ship: the air within quivered with strange pulsa tions and seemed suddenly to have as sumed the temperature of a blast fur nace. We all gasped for breath. Our throats and lungs seemed scorched in the act of breathing. Some fell un conscious upon the floor. The marks men, carrying the disintegrators ready for use. staggered, and one of them dropped his instrument. But we had not been destroyed like our comrades before us. In a moment the wave of heat passed: those who had fallen recovered from their mo mentary stupor and staggered to their feet. The electriral steersman stood hes itating at his post. "Move on," said Mr. Edison, sternly, his features set with determination nnd his eyes afire. "We are still beyond their effective range. l.et us get closer in order to make sure work when we strike." The ship moved on. One could hear the heartbeats of its inmates. The ither members of the squadron, think ing for the moment that disaster had ivertaken the flag-ship, had paused md seemed to be meditating flight. "Signal them to move on," said Mr. Edison. The signal was given, and the circle if electrical ships closed in upon the .steroid. In the ni'-antime Mr. Edison had been lonnlng his air-tight suit. Before we •ould fully comprehend his intention, rie had passed through the double trapped door which gave access to the exterior of the ear without per nitting the loss of air nnd was stand ing upon what served for tho deck of the ship. In his hand he carried a disintegra tor. With a quick motion he sight ed It. As quickly as possible I sprang to his side. I was just in time to note the familiar blue gleam about the instru ment, which Indicated that its terrific iDercrles were at work. The whirring LOS ANGELES HERALD: SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 27, 1898. I sound was absftnt. because here, ln I open space, where there was no I atmosphere there could be no I sound. My eyes were-fixed upon the Mar tians' engine, which..had Just dealt ns i a .staggering, but not fatal, blow, and I particularly 1 noticed a polished knob I projecting from it, which seemed to have been the focus from which Its destructive bolt emanated. A moment later the knob disap [ peared. The irresistible vibrations j darted from the electrical disintegrator I had fallen upon it and instantaneously shattered It into atoms. "That fixes them," said Mr. Edison, turning to mc with a smile. And Indeed it did fix them. Wo had most effectually spiked their gun. It would deal no more death blows. The stroke that we had dealt was taken by several of the electrical ships as a signal for a common assault, and we saw two of the Martians fall beside the ruin of their engine, their heads having been blown from their bodies. "Signal them to stop* firing." com manded Mr. Edison. "We have got them down, and we are not going to murder them with necessity. "Besides," he added, "I want to cap ture some of them nlive." The signal was given as he had or dered. The Hag-ship then alone dropped slowly toward tile place on the asteroid where the prostrate Martians i were. i As we got near them a terrible scene i unfolded itself to our eyes. There had evidently been not more than half a dozen of tho monsters in the beginning. Two of these were stretched headless ' upon the ground. Three others had < suffered horrible injuries where the in- t visible vibratory beams from the dis- < integrators had grazed them, and they 1 could not long survive. One only re- l mained apparently uninjured. It Is Impossible for me to describe ' the appearance of this creature ln c terms that would be readily understood. 1 Was he like a man? Yes and no. He 1 possessed many human characteristics, c but they were exaggerated and mon strous in scale and detail. His head s was of enormous size, and his huge p o- i jecting eyes gleamed with a strange 1 A Little Gaseous Globe Darted Into the Upturned Face of the Martian. fire ol Intelligence. His fuoe was like ii caricature, but tint one to make the beholder laugh. Drawing himself up, he towered to a height of at least fif teen feet. P.ut with all his horrid characteris tics, and all his suggestion of beast and monster, the Martian produced the Im pression of being a person and not a mere animal. I have already referred to the enor mous size of hi* head, and to the fact that his countenance bore considerable resemblance to that of a man. There was something In this face that sent a Shiver through the soul of the be holder. One could feel in looking upon it that here was intellect, Intelligence developed to the highest degree, but In the direction of evil instead of good. The appearance of the Martian was Indeed so threatening and repellant that we paused at the height of fifty feet above the ground, hesitating to approach nearer. A grin of rage and hate overspread his face. If he bad been a man. I should say he shook his fist at us. What he did was to express in cv, n more telling pantomime his hatred and defiance, nnd his determina tion to grind us to shred*, if he could once get us within his clutches. Mr. Edison and I still stood upon the deck of the ship, where several others had gathered around us. The atmo sphere of the little asteroid was so rare that it practically amounted to noth ing, and we could not possibly have survived If we had not continued to wear our air-tight suits. How the Martians contrived to live here was a mystery to us. It was another of their secrets which we wen- yet to learn. Mr. rcdison retained his disintegrator in his hand. "Kill him." said some one. "Ho is too horrible to live." "If we do not kill him we shall never be able to land upon the asteroid," said another. "No," said Mr. Ec'lson. "I shall not ! 'kill him. We have got other use f .' --: him. Tom," he continued, turning to | one of his assistants, whom he had ! brought from his laboratory, "bring me the nnaestheticcr." This was something entirely new to nearly nil the members of the expedi- I tlon. Mr. Edison., however, had con ! tided to me before he left the earth • the fact that he had invented a little j instrument by means of which a bubble j strongly charged with a powerful nn j aesthetic agent, could be driven to a considerable distance into the face of !an enemy, where, exploding without I other damage, it would instantly put { him to sleep. When Tom had placed the Instru l ment in his hands, Mr. Edison ordered ! the electrical ship to forge slightly | ahead and drop a little lower toward I the Martian, who, with watchful eyes and threatening gestures noted our ap proach in the attitude of a wild beast on the spring. Suddenly Mr. Edison discharged from the instrument in his hand n little gaseous globe, which glit tered like a ball of tangled rainbows In the sunshine, and darted with as tonishing velocity straight Into the up turned face of the Martian. It burst as it touched and the monster fell back senseless upon the ground. "You have killed him:" exclaimed all. "No," said Mr. Edison, "he is not dead, only asleep. Now we shall drop down and bind him tight before he can awake." X. When we came to bind our prisoner with strong ropes we were more than ever impressed with his gigantic stat- i ure and strength. Evidently In single : combat with equal weapons he would have been a match for twenty of i us. I So powerful was the effect of the nn- [ i aesthetic which Mr. Ellison had dis-I 1 charged Into his lace, that ho remained i perfectly unconscious while we turned 1 him half over In order the more se curely to bind his muscular limbs. < In the meantime the other electrical 1 ships approached, and several of them , made a landing upon the asteroid, i Everybody war eager to see this won- | l derful little world, which, as 1 have ul rcady remarked, was only live miles in diameter. * Several of us from the flag-ship started out hastily to explore the min iature planet. And now our attention was recalled to an intensely interesting phenomenon which had c ngaged our thoughts nut only when we were upon the moon, hut during our (light through space. This was the almost entire ab sence of weight. In open space we were practically without weight. Only the mass of the electrical ear In which we were en closed attracted us, and inside that we could place ourselves In any posi tion without falling. We could float in the air. There was no up and no down, no top and no bottom for us. Stepping outside the car, it would have l,e, n easy for us to spring away from it and leave it forever. One of the most startling experiences that I have ever had was one day when we were navigating space about half way between the earth and Mars. I had stepped outside the car with Lord Kevlin, both of us, of course, wearing our air-tight suits. We were perfectly well aware what would be the consequences of detaching ourselves from the car as we moved along. We should still retain tho forward motion of the ear. and of course accompany it In its flight. There would be no fall ing one way or the other. The car would have a tendency to draw us back again by its attraction, but this tendency would be very slight, and practically inappreciable at a distance. "I am going to step off," I suddenly said to Lord Kelvin. "Of course I shall keep right along with the car, and step aboard again when I am ready." "Quite right on general principles, young man," replied the great savant, "but beware in what manner you step off. Remember. If you give your body an impulse sufficient to carry it away '••out th° car to any considerable dis- I tanro, you will be unable to get back again, unless, we can catch you with I a boathook or a tlshline. Out there In | empty 1, space you will have'nothing to i kick ngainst. nnd you will be unabre to propel yourself ln the direction of the car, and Its attraction is so feeble that we should probably arrive at Mars be fore it had drawn you back again." All this was, of course, perfectly self evident, yet I believe that but for the warning word of Lord Kelvin I should have been rash enough to step out In to empty space, with sufficient force to : have sepnrated myself hopelessly from the electrical ship. As it was, I took good care to retain a hold upon a projecting portion of the car. Occasionally cautiously releasing my grip, I experienced for a few min utes the delicious, indescribable pleas ure of being a little planet swinging through space, with nothing to hold me up and nothing to interfere with my motion. Mr. Edison, happening to come upon | the deck of the ship at this time, and seeing what we were about, at once ; said: "I must provide against this danger. If I do not, there is a chance that we shall arrive at Mars with the ships half empty and the crews floating helpless ly around us." Mr. Edison's way of guarding against the danger was by contriving a little apparatus, modeled after that which was the governing force of the elec trical ships themselves, and which, be ing enclosed in the airtight suits, en abled their wearers to manipulate the electrical charge upon them in such a way that they could make excursions from the cars into open space like steam launches from a ship, going and returning at their will. These little machines being rapidly manufactured, for Mr. Edison had a miniature laboratory aboard, were dis tributed about the squadron, and henceforth we had the pleasure of pay ing and receiving visits among the various members of the fleet. But to return from this digression to our experience on the asteroid. The latter being a body of some mass was, of course, able to impart to us a meas urable degree of weight. Being live miles in diameter, on the assumption that its mean density was the same as that of the earth, the weight of bodies on its surface should have borne the same ratio to their weight upon the earth that the radius of the asteroid bore to the radius of the earth; In other words, as 1 to l.fiOfl. Having made this mental calculation, I knew that my weight, being 150 pounds on the earth, should on this as ( terold be an ounce and a half. Curious to see whether fact would j bear out theory. I had myself weighed with a spring balance. Mr. Edison, ! Lord Kelvin and the other distinguished scientists stood by. watching the opera tion with great Interest. To our complete surprise, my weight, ! instead of coming out an ounce and a \ half, as it should have done, on the , supposition that the mean density of the asteroid resembled that of the earth—a very liberal supposition on the side of the asteroid, by the way—ac tually came out five ounces and a quar ter! ' "What In the world* makes me so heavy?" I asked. "Yes, indeed, what an elephant you have become," said Mr. Edison. Lord Kelvin screwed his eyeglass In his eye, and carefully Inspected the balance. "It's quite right," he said. "You do indeed weigh five ounces and a quar ter. Te,o much; altogether too much," he added. "You shouldn't do it, you kneiw." "Perhaps the fault, is in the aster oid," suggested I'reifessor Sylvanus P. i Thompson. "Quite- see," exclaimed Lord Kelvin, a I look of sudden comprehension e>ver spreadlng his features. "No doubt it is the internal constitution of the as teroid that Is the cause of the anomaly. We must le,f)k into that. Let me see. This gentleman's weight Is three and one-half times as great as it ought to be. What element is there whose dens ity exceeds the mean density of the earth in about that nror"-Hon?" "Gold," exclaimed one of the party. For a moment we were startled be yond expression. The truth had flashed upon us. This must be a golden planet—this little asteroid. If it were not composed internally of gold, It could never have made me weigh three times more than I ought to weigh. "But where is the gold?" cried one. "Covered up, of course," cried Lord Kelvin. "Burled In star dust. This asteroid could not have continued to travel for millions of years through re gions of space strewn with meteoric particles without becoming covered with the Inevitable dust and grime of such a Journey. We must dig down, and then doubtless we shall find the metal." This hint was instantly acted upon. Something that would serve for a spade was seized by one of the men, and ln a few minutes a hole had been dug ln the soil of the asteroid. I shall never forget the sight, nor the exclamations of wonder that broke forth from all of us standing around, when the yellow gleam of the precious metal appeared under the "star dust." Collected in huge masses It reflected the light of the sun from its hiding place. Evidently the planet was not a solid ball of gold, formed like a bullet run In a mold, but was composed of nuggets of various sizes, which had come to gether here under the influence of their mutual gravitation, and formed a lit tle metallic planet. Judging by the test of weight which had already tried, and which had led to the discovery of the gold, the com position of the asteroid must be the same to its very centre. In an assemblage of famous scientific men such as this the discovery of course immediately led to questions as to the origin of this incredible phe nomenon. How did these masses of gold come together? How did It chance that, with the exception of the thin crust of the asteroid, nearly all Its substance was composed of the previous metal? One asserted that it was quite impos sible that there should bfe so much gold at so grout a distance from the sun. "It Is v. general law," he said, "that the planets increase in density toward the sun. There is every reason to think that the inner planets possess the greater amount of dense elements, while the outer ones are comparatively light." But another referred to the old theory that there was once in this part of the solar system a planet which had been burst in pieces by some myste rious explosion, the fragments forming what we know as the asteroids. In his opinion this planet might have con tained a large quantity of gold, and In the course of ages the gold, having, in consequence of its superior atomic weight, not being so widely scattered by the explosion as some of the other elements of the planet, had collected itself together In this body. But I observed that Lord Kelvin and the other more distinguished men of science said almost nothing during this discussion. The truly learned man is the truly wise man. They were not going to set up theories with out sufficient facts to sustain them. Gold is a thing which may make Its appearance anywhere and at any time without offering any excuses or explanations. "Phew! Won't we be rich?" ex claimed a voice. "How are we going to dig it and get it back to earth?" asked another. "Carry it in your pockets," said one. "Xo need of staking claims here," remarked another. "There is enough for everybody." Mr. Edison suddenly turned the cur rent of talk. "What do you suppose those Mar- I tians were doing here?" I "Perhaps, they were wrecked here." "Not a bit of it," said Mr. Edison. I "According to your own showing they I could not have been wrecked here. This 1 planet hasn't gravitation enough to | wreck them by a fall, and besides I ' have been looking at their machines and I know there has been a fight." "A fight?" exclaimed several, prick ing up their ears. "Yes," said Mr. Edison, "those ma chines bear the marks of the lightning of the Martians. They have been dis abled, but they are made of some ' metal or some alloy of metals un known to me. and consequently they have withstood the destructive force applied to them, as our electric ships were unable to withstand it. It is per fectly plain to me that they have been disabled In a battle. The Martians must have been fighting among them selves." "About the gold!" exclaimed one. "Of course. What else was there to fight about?" At this instant one of our men came running from a considerable distance, waving his arms excitedly, hut unable to give voice to his story, ln the In appreciable atmosphere of the asteroid, until he had come up and made tele phonic connection with us. "There is a lot of dead Martians over there." he said. "They've been clean ing one another nut." "That's it," said Mr. Edison. "I knew It when I saw the condition of those machines." "This must be the great gold mine of Mnrs." said the president of the Aus tralian mining company, opening both his eyes and his mouth as he spoke. "Yes, evidently that's It. Here's where they come to get their wealth." "And this," I said, "must be their harvest time. You notice that this as teroid, being several million miles nearer to the sun than Mars Is, must have an appreciably shorter period of revolution. When It is In conjunction with Mars, or nearly so, as It is at present, the distance between the two is not very great, whereas when it is In the opposite part of its orbit they are separated by an enormous gap of space and the sun is between them. "Manifestly in the latter case it would be perilous, If not entirely Im possible, for the Martians to visit the golden asteroid, but when it is near Mnrs, as It Is at present, and as it must be periodically for several years at a time, then Is their opportunity. "With their projectile cars sent forth with the aid of the mysterious ex plosives which they possess, It is easy for them, under such circumstances, to make visits to the asteroid. "Having obtained all the gold they need, or all that they can carry, a com paratively slight impulse given to their car, the direction of which is carefully calculated, will carry them back again to Mars." "If that's so." exclaimed a voice, "we had better look out for ourselves! We 'have got Into a very hornet's nest I If tnis is the place where the Martians come to dig gold, and if this is tha height of their season, as you say, they are not likely to leave us here long un disturbed." "These fellows must have been pirates that they had the fight with," said another. "But what's become of the regulars, then?" "Gone back to Mars for help, prob ably, and they'll be here again pretty quick, I am afraid!" Considerable alarm was caused by this view of the case, and orders were Bent to several of the electrical ships to cruise out to a safe distance ln the direction of Mars and keep a sharp lookout for the approach of enemies. Meanwhile our prison, r awoke. He turned his eyes upon those standing about him, without any appearance of fear, but rather with a look of con tempt like that which Gulliver must have felt for the Llllputlans who had bound him under similar circum stances. There were both hatred and defiance In his glance. He attempted to free himself, and the ropes strained with the tremendous pressure that he put upon them, but he could not break loobc. Satisfied that the Martian was safely bound, we left him where he lay, and, while awaiting news from the ships which had been sent to reconnoitre, continued the exploration of the little planet. At a point nenrly opposite to that where we had landed we came upon the mine which the Martians had been working. They had removed the thin coating of soil, laying bare the rich stores of gold beneath, and large quan tities of the latter had been removed. Some of It was so solidly packed that the strokes of the instruments by which they had detached It were visible like the streaks left by a knife cutting cheese. There were many detached masses of gold scattered about, and some of the men, on picking them up, exclaimed with astonishment at their lack of weight, forgetting for a moment that the same law which caused their own bodies to weigh so little must neces sarily affect everything else ln like de gree. A mass of gold that on the earth no mnn would have been able to lift could here be tossed about like a hollow rub ber ball. While we were examining the mine, one of the men left to guard the Mar tian came running to inform us that the latter evidently wished to make some communication. Mr. Edison and others hurried to the side of the pris oner. He still lay on his back, from which position he was not able to move, notwithstanding all his efforts. But by the motion of his eyes, aided by a pan tomime with his fingers, he made us understand that there was something in a metallic box fastened at his side which he wished to reach. With some difficulty we succeeded in opening the box. and in It there ap peared a number of bright red pellets, as large as ordinary egg. When the Martian saw these In our hands he gave us to understand by the motion of his lips that he wished to swallow one of them. A pellet was ac cordingly placed in his mouth, and he Instantly and with great eagerness swallowed it. While trying to communicate his wishes to us, the prisoner had seemed to be In no little distress. He exhibited spasmodic movements which led some of the bystanders to think that he was on the point of dying, but within a few seconds after he had swallowed the pel let he appeared to be completely re stored. All evidences of distress van ished, nnd a look of content came over his ugly face. "It must be a powerful medicine," said one of the bystanders. "I wonder what it is." "I will explain to you my notion." said Professor Molssan, the great French chemist. "I think It was a pill of the air, which he has taken." "What do you mean by that?" "My meaning is," said Professor Molssan. "that the Martian must have, for that he may live, the nitrogen and the oxygen. These he cannot obtain here where there is not the atmosphere. Therefore must he get them in some other manner. This has he managed to do by combining in these-pills tho oxygen and the nitrogen in the propor tions which make atmospheric air. Doubtless upon Mars there are the very great chemists. They have discovered how this may be done. When the Mar tian has swallowed his little pill, the oxygen nnd the nitrogen are rendered to his blood as if he had breathed them, and so he can live with that air which has been distributed to him with the aid of his stomach In the place of his lungs." If Monsieur Molssan's explanation was not correct, at any rate it seemed the only one that would fit the fects.be fore us. Certainly the Martian could not breathe where there was practical ly on air, yet just as certainly after he had swallowed his pill he seemed as comfortable as any of us. Suddenly, while we were gathered around the prisoner, and interested In this fresh evidence of the wonderful In genuity of the Martians, and of their control over the processes of nature, one of the electrical ships that had been sent off in the direction of Mars was seen rapidly returning and dis playing signals. It reported that the Martians wers coming! TO BE CONTINUED Miniature Glaciers. School teachers may find of value the following methods, of German origin, in making the movements of glaciers clear to their pupils: For ice substitute yellow pitch, the surface layers of which, after exposure to the air, will show about the same degree of plasticity and brlttleness that Ice has. Take a square tray which has a slanting gutter; this gutter must first be lined with a layer of very hot pitch to prevent the mass from rolling down. Then pour in the rest* of the pitch. As it moves downward, cracks are mad* from the edges toward the center at an angle of forty-five degrees to the edges, and Join the traverse fissures which are produced ln the middle. Where the tray widens, longitudinal crevlcef are produced. Another method differs from this onlj in coating the surface of the pitch with a layer .of white paint, so that the cracks appear black on white, and are more easily seen. It is claimed, also, that the motion, which has the same kinds of variation noticed in glaciers, can be studied to advantage with the microscope