The Observer Saturday, October 13 TH, 1893 MYSTERY AND SCIENCE.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 161, 13 October 1883, Page 2

The Observer Saturday, October 13 TH, 1893 MYSTERY AND SCIENCE.

Someone wlio adopts the literary norn de plumeof "Torpedo" has written a pamphlet with the title cf "The Electric Universe, FlashingThoughts for Consideration, and Facts from Many Sources." This pamphlet is , now beinghawked about from house to house through^e? city, at the price of one shilling. The author Ha* certainly undertaken a singularly ambitious tasfe. Start||p%ith the heading "No More Mystery,*' he proceeds^* avgixp t,hat electricity ia the ,< gre>t 'i(ifof^ttj^ oi universal creation, motion, gravitation, neat, light, and in fact everything. l Then he essays to prove that the sun is inhabited, and not a " gigantic five ;" that there are inhabit ♦ tants " on the other side of the moon," and that^H§^ may some day. be possible for people from world — by the aid of electricity,' -of ■< course— -tcjf^ visit remote worlds such as Herscheli '^Tcfrpe^Jcf #\ does not say that he has himself < triecLfche-?l^*-periment in order to fraternise *witt "Li people" "on the other side of the moon,!' bui the lunar orb seems to play a very important parl ia hastheory. -♦— : , . -A,

Having referred to cornets and volcanoesj faev goes on to say — " I live in Auckland, niid I will point out a possible danger around wbgre'lilire.. - „ . ; Now, who can with bmthdefceMajtii^ that it is against all possibility (in fact; more probable- ; tlian a comet rushing into the 'sun/ to tKe ;de^- - ( ; truction of Auckland), that at any monient,<attd^ with the noise of many thunders,- the side or top* ■ of Mount Eden may not burst forth and be bloWiir off with terrific violence, hurling des£ru6tidn ovesr- " this beautif ulcity. . ;. ... And aa rM^laiiti ; fcden^^ with its renewed, jactivjiy,^^ hurls vp '^idst iti^ flames the boili^Java,,dnd;-witfe the e^ln cot-|I tinual^trenißliiii^wittiEroUbled^^^m , befell "19./s^t[iyij?7^^^M^MM^^^ii , froia^ .Mounts* Hobsoa/.<Sfc.^JDhn^^ip^^^t^

this — that if we are living in the midst of these frightful dangers, the sooner an " Electric Express Passenger Line " is organised to Herschel or any •other remote world, the better. The "troubled .•commotion " which " Torpedo " so glowingly fore•shadows would by no means be confined to the volcanoes. But " Torpedo's " notion about the inhabitants of these mundane sphere visiting Herschel, or " the pale glimpses of the moon," hj the aid of electricity, is not new. There have .been several instances in modern times of men, or all that was immortal of them, being instantaneously elevated to a higher sphere by simply coming into contact with the communications of a Dynamo-Electric Machine, or being struck by lightning.

„ The remainder of this precious pamphlet consists of a miscellaneous collection of odds and ends, and concludes with an offer by the author to teach the secret of perpetual motion "to any Government in the world (or others, etc ) for " Torpedo " does not, however, vouchsafe to tell hiß readers why he does not himself utilize this perpetual motion and make a fortune, instead of begging for £500. We have not, like " Torpedo," seen the inhabitants "on the other side of the moon," or discovered the secret of perpetual motion, but we know of one kind of motion which very nearly comes up to the ideal. It is the motion of some silly wagging tongues. If " Torpedo " is a married man he will know all about it. At any rate, we don't claim 500 <3entß for the discovery. The inventor of coin seems also to have discovered another kind of porpetual motion, as " Torpedo " evidently knows when he -wants that £500. There is also the motion of the treadmill, and a little of it would riot be altogether amiss for idiots who inflict their silly, crude theories in shilling pamphlets upon a long-suffering community.