The Blind Spot, Homer Eon Flint and Austin Hall [books to read for 13 year olds txt] 📗

of the ether. And the ether is an imponderable substance, so impalpable that it passes right through all solids as though they were not there.

“These are two highly suggestive points. They show us, first, that two substances can exist within the space formerly thought to be completely filled by one. Second, they show that ALL substances are porous to the ether.

“Very well. Bear in mind that we know nothing whatever directly about the ether; our knowledge is all indirect. Therefore—

“It may be that there is more than one ether!

“Conceive what this means. If there were another ether, how could we become aware of it? Only through the medium of some such phenomenon as the Blind Spot; not through ordinary channels. For the ordinary channels are microscopes and test-tubes, every one of which, when traced to the ultimate, is simply a concrete expression of THE ONE ETHER WE KNOW!

“In the nature of the case our five senses could never apprehend a second ether.

“Yet, knowing what we do about the structure of the atom, of electronic activity, of quantels, we must admit that there is a huge, unoccupied space—that is, we can't see that it is occupied—in and between the interstices of the atom.

“It is in the region, mingled and intertwined with the electrons which make up the world we know so well, that—in my opinion—the Thomahlian world exists. It is actually coexistent with our own. It is here, and so are we. At this very instant, at any given spot, there can be, and almost certainly is, more than one solid object—two systems of materiality, two systems of life, two systems of death. And if two, why, then, perhaps there are even more!

“Holcomb is right. We are Infinity. Only our five senses make us finite.”

Charlotte Fenton does not indulge in speculation. She seems to bear up wonderfully well in the face of Harry Wendel's affinity for the Nervina, and also in the face of her brother's disappearance. And she philosophically states:

“When Columbus returned from his search for the East Indies, he triumphantly announced that he had found what he sought.

“He was mistaken. He had found something else—America.

“It may be that we are all mistaken. It may be that something entirely different from what any one has suspected has been found. Time will tell. I am willing to wait.”

To make it complete, it is felt that the following statement of General Hume is not only essential, but convincing to the last degree.

“My view regarding this mystery is simply this: I have eyes, and I have seen. I don't know whether the actors were living or dead. I am no scientist; I have no theory. I only know. And I will swear to what I saw.

“I am a soldier. The two men who are bringing this to press have shown me their copy.

“It is correct.”