The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1871-06-22

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his hand; this he placed upon the
table, unlocked it, and took out two
or three small volumes, a pamphlet
or two, a small, square, wide-mouth-
ed phial, Theoretically scaled.
Iwatched him with profound Gu
riosity, and took note Of his slight
est movements. Having arranged
his books to suit him, and placed
the phial in a conspicuous position.
he drew up his chair closely to my
own, and uttered, in a half Kissing
tone:
81 demand one million dollars
for the contents Of that bottle; and
you must raise it for me in the city
of San Francisco within one month
or scenes too terrible even for the
imagination to conceive will be wit
messed by every living human be-
ing on the face Of the globe"
The tone, the manner, and the
absurd extravaganza of the de-
mand, excited a faint smile upon
my lips, which he observed, but
disdained to notice.
Ny mind was fully made up that
I had a maniac to deal with, and I
prepared to act accordingly. But
1 ascertained at once that my in
most thoughts were read by the re
markable man before me, and seem
ed to be anticipated by him in ad-
vance of their expression.
"Perhaps," said I, "1Ir. Summer
field you would oblige me by in
forming me fully of the grounds of
your claim and the nature of your
discovery"
"That is the object Of my visit"
he replied. al claim to have dis
discovered the key which unlocks
the constituent gases of water, and
frees each from the embrace of the
other, at a single touch"
"You mean to assert" I rejoined
''that you can make water burn
'Nothing more nor less" he re-
except this-to insist up
on the concealment of the secret,
if my demand be not at once com
piled with"
"Now, suppose I fling the contents
of this small phial into the Pacific
Ocean, what would be the result?
Dare you contemplate it for a mo-
ment? I dc not assert that the en-
tire surface of the sea would in
simultaneously bubble up into in
suferable flames; no, but from the
nucleus of q circle, of which this
phial would be the center, lurid
radii of flames would gradually
shoot outward, until the blazing
would roll in vast
pillows of fire upon the utter
most shores. Not all the dripping
clouds of the deluge could extin-
guish it; not all the tears of saints
and angels could for an instant
check its progress. Onward and
it would sweep with the
steady gait of destiny, until the
continents would melt with fervent
heat, and the atmosphere glare with
the ominous confagration, and all
living creatures-in land, and sea,
and air-perish in one universal
"Then, suddenly starting to his
feet, he drew himself to his full
height, and murmured soIemnly: 81
feel like God! and recognize my
fellow-men but as pigmies that I
spurn beneath my feet"
At this Parker states that he at
tempted to reason with Summer
field upon the absurdity of believ-
ing that he held in his hands pow
er so mighty, at which the latter
retorted with quotations from the
Scriptures, Humboldts cosmos"
and the works Of famous astronom-
ical writer's, proving that it was not
only possible for entire planets to
be destroyed by fire, but that such
terrible events had actually occur
red. This answer concluded, he
handed Parker a small phial, re-
questing him to open it, and smell
Of the contents, the result being
that a strong odor ofpotassium was
observed. At this Summerfeld
"Of course you are ia
miliar with the chief characteristic
Of that substance. It ignites in
when brought into contact
with water. Within that little glo-
bule Of potassium I have inbedded
4 pin of my own composition and
discovery. The moment it is ibe-
rated from the potassium it COM
the work of decomposing
-he fluid on which it floats. The /
potassium at once ignites the hbe-
rated oxygen, and the confagra-
lion of this mighty globe is begun"
eyes" said I, "begun, if you
please, but your little pill soon /
or sinks. or melts in the |
surrounding seas, and your cOnfa-
grafton ends just where it began"
"But," sneered he, ''the elementa-
y substances In that small phial