D CHAPTER IX. WHICH TELLS OF MY FIRST RIDE IN A During my ride home the professor and I conversed on many subjects. He had been to a lecture on psychology, and we got talk✓ing about the sixth sense, as it was called. "When we look out of this buggy," said the professor, "the rays of reflected light, striking the retina of our eyes, stimulate the optic nerve, and a message is carried to the brain. This modifies certain conditions prevailing there in such a manner as to give us the sensation of sight. Now, it was thought that this brain condition could not be brought about unless stimulated by the optic nerve, or by a reflex action of certain nerve cells which govern memory; but this is found to be untrue, and it is well known now that any brain condition may be produced simply by the action of some other brain, by induction, as it were; and any condition so produced is said. to result from the use of the sixth sense. This sometimes happens when the people are widely separated, and matter seems to have but little effect upon the phenomenon. Today, during the lecture, a very interesting experiment was tried. Wehlen showed that certain vibrations of ether did have a tremendous effect on thought transference. Professor Harvey seated himself upon the stage with his side to the audience, and a Mr. Archer was seated on the other side, back to the professor. Mr. Archer was blindfolded, and then from a table Professor Harvey took up a pack of cards, one after another; and Mr. Archer had no trouble in naming all of them. A screen of baize was next placed between the two men, but the result was the same. With glass or metal, the callings were slower, Mr. Archer claiming that the impressions were not nearly so distinct; but in no case did the one fail to call the impression in the other's mind. When, however, a beam of white light was thrown across the field between the two brains, the impressions were different. Archer could in no case tell the color, although he could call the number of spots. If different shades took the place of the white light, the impressions were still different. There Mr. can be no doubt now that one brain can converse with another through the medium of ether. Just how to perfect this art is a very deep problem, however, and I suppose it will advance slowly, as language did. Hazelit, whose book you were reading the other night, is an authority on this. "You see now that we can explain naturally certain phenomena which were unexplainable in your day. For instance, if suddenly a man had a vision of the death of a frienda vision so perfect in all its details as to leave a lasting impression and afterwards found that the vision was a true and exact one, he concluded that either his friend's soul had visited him or his soul had suddenly been transported to the death scene. Neither conclusion was correct. The amount of the matter is, that from some cause or other, at the instant of death the two men's brains became sympathetic, and the dying man firmly impressed his surroundings upon his friend's brain. It was a question of thought transference." As the professor had been talking, our machine had been running along at a good speed. We had not taken the same road back, however, and from our surroundings I recognized the fact that we were not going home. The professor, it seems, had another treat for me, and before I knew it, we rode up to a very high tower-like structure, standing on a massive granite building, which was six stories high. An air wharf it was called; and the professor ran our buggy into the yard, and we both got out and entered the building, and were lucky enough to be able to hire an aerodrome, as the machine is called. I suppose the word is derived from the Greek and means to run on air. The professor paid at the office, and we were conducted to the top floor, which was simply an open loft, in which were several machines. A number of men were examining and cleaning the motors, and we were introduced to one of the engi neers, who, when I begged to be allowed to examine the drome before we set out to fly, kindly explained everything. This machine consisted of three kite-like surfaces, placed one above the other, with about six fect between. The framework was of steel tubing guyed with fine wire. Each surface was curved in cross section, somewhat like a bird's wing, and was seven feet broad by thirty feet long, which gave six hundred and thirty square feet as the total supporting surface, that being sufficient, so the gentleman said, to support at least twelve hundred pounds. The machine weighed, as it stood before me, motors and all, about five hundred pounds. The body rested on three pneumatictired wheels, and between the lower and second surface was an open framework, on which rested the boat-like structure in which we sat. Behind us were the rudder and the two propellers and their motors, while in front was the generator. This was in the body of the machine, which could be moved at the will of the operator to any part of the open framework, this movement assuring stability. It was something like the sliding seat which was used in the racing canoe of my day, and answered the same purpose. We all took our seats, myself opposite the professor, while the engineer sat in front to be near the guiding lever; and when the elevator came down our machine was wheeled on, and in a moment we were rising inside of the steel tower. When we got to the top, I will admit that I felt nervous and would have backed out if it could have been done with honor; but no, I was in for it, and I knew I was going to drop over the edge of that tower one hundred and sixty-five feet from the |