LAND, SEA AND AIR.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 24 July 1923, Page 5

LAND, SEA AND AIR.

"TESSAURIANS.” (By Harry Harper.) There are moments, sometimes, when scentific workers and thinkers, so precise usually in every word, throw front .he r minds the shackles of technique, and talk colloquially, and fascinatingly, about wonders which, even in their contemplation, nearly take one’s breath away. During such an expansive mood, rare but refreshing, the “tessaurian”—that strange, intriguing monster of the future —took shape in brains which were escaping from iron-mound limits. It was, as a matter of fact, after one of those protracted, tiring conferences on dry-as-dust affairs. When the gathering broke up, certain of the great men hurried away; but others, lingering in the big. high-windowed room, amid' the jingle of tea-cups, brought for the first time within our purview, with a quick word here and there, the weird machine which presently we may aspire to. and which will go practically every where and do almost anything. But first, of all it must have a name; and, in free adaptation from the Greek, it got one. The ‘‘tessaurian!” There is something arresting in the, very word. The four-element machine! Primarily, the great men insisted, this “magic carpet” will be an air machine. Its hull- metal-built of some perfected light-weight alloy—will bo slim, yacht-like, luxurious internally with its saloons, sleping-bertlis, and glass-windowed observation chambers. Wings it will have, but the- will be in evidence only when required. They will, that- is to say, slide section by section within each other in such a way that, when the ‘‘tessaurian” is not flying, they will lie snugly, like reefed' sails, along the sides. Thus wingless, the machine will become a vehicle of

the land, rushing at smooth, vibrationlens speed upon a powerful chassis with great pneumatic-tyred wheels. Then, let us suppose, these travellers of the future see, from their outlook windows, some great natural obstruction, such as an impenetrable forest, lying in their path. Will that perturb them? Certainly not. Operating mechanism from the control chamber, they will extend the wings of their machine and, rising from earth to air, climb triumphantly skyward to pass high above this earthly barrier.

Gliding landward again, and folding its wide-spread planes, the “tessaurian” will ,at the guidance of those within it, run down some beach and, breasting the water and drawing in its wheels, move gracefully, as does a yacht or launch, upon the surface of the sea. Nor may this exhaust its wonders! Sealing its hull, it may plunge out of sight, like a submarine, to travel inquiringly along the bottom of the sea! Picture tourists and travellers, provided by science with such a machine. Snug within their apartments in the monster’s hull, eating and sleeping and living with every comfort, they will find that our world can hide secrets form them no longer. They will look down on great cities and on strange, remote, uncharted wonders! They will rush hither and thither at tremendous speeds 'anil 1 vast heights. They will glide far up great tropical rivers. They will sail across lakes and inland seas. They will peer through their windows at dim marvels of life on ocean beds. “And if science gives man such a machine, solving problems of centuries, will he rest content'?” It was one of the great men who spoke. “No,” replied another. “He will not. He will never rest content. Give him such a vehicle, and 1 the next thing he will demand —and keep on demanding—is a machine in which to soar right out beyond the earth, and pay visits, at colossal speeds, to inhabitants of other worlds!”