Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-13

too cloying. All. here is a pleasan,
thlngg-a simple birds nest, but Chi.
nese. Let 10 degust it !"
lie selected another bottle. dipped In
another wire, and put the latter in his
0 in place of the one already in posi-
AS directed by his gesture, I swal.
lowed smother pill /; the nerves of taste
thrilled in every fiber with the pleasure
OF the tiavors which I recognized.
1.-The science OF composing q dinner
said he, beaming On me benignantly, as
the delightful taste slowly evanesced
from our palates-''the science of com.
posing a dinner lies in so selecting
your viands and arranging them in con.
secutive courses that each course shall
make you ravenously hungry for the
particular thing which is to follow, and
for nothing else.
"Then, and only then, will you attain
. perfect dinner. Now, is there not a
tender, subtle harmony between the
birds nest of China and the plover's
egg Of merry Englandp That gentle
twinkle in your eye is sufficient answer.
Let it be an eggg"
Another bottle, another wire, another
pill. But l can not describe that ban
quet. / have no words fifty to record
the ravishing ecstasy which over
whelmed every sense as l swallowed pill
after pill and goblet after goblet OF
water. Now il was the brain Of the
peacock, then young p%heasants roasted
inside of sucking pigs; now an un-
known wine, brilliant and sparkling;
then n redolent of the dark-hued
clusters of Bourgogne-strange African
wines from the palm-juices from rare
tropical fruits. Hours seemed to pass
unmarked, ave by the recurrence OF
new yet always harmonious savors. No
feeling of repletion marred the perfect
pleasure of the symposium.
Some 6avors seemed to me like strains
of sweet music, amorous and lutelike;
Others rang and reverberated through
my nerve centers like tho blare OF
trunpets and clash of brasses, while
Others again called up memories which
wreithed and entwined themselves
into tender symphonies. We had
one pill which was given
the favor of a pastry of pearls, violets
and honey-from Cleopatra's tomb, he
said-that somehow mingled in my inner
car With the clinging notes of a family
sounding either, bringing to mind a
longforgotten tune that I had never
known, yet seemed to know again de-
spite myself.
Was this the earthly paradise? /
suppose / uttered this last aloud.
'.Nqt" he replied, solemnly, "listen and
think"
A|draught of something bitter, eff
fervesccnt and acid, which he gave me,
theE aroused my perceptions, and again
the desire to know the secret began to
replace every other thought. I listened
breathlessly as he spoke.
"We are now" said he, Sin the year
of grace 1885. The marvels of TODAY
were the wild vagaries of the visionary
of yesterday. The vagaries of to-day
will astonish and conquer the world OF
tomorrow.
Twenty years ago, who would have
dared to predict.that you in New York
could talk to me in Chicago; that
here could control your auditory nerves
one thousand miles away by the aid OF
electricity and q line of wirep If cleo
tricity can affect one set of sensory
nerves, why not another set.
"We have found the machinery fol
making it affect the nerves of hearing,
is it unreasonable to believe that We
ear find other machinery for making it
influence the nerves of taste? If atele-
phone, Why not a telequst??"
"True," I exclaimed, '.but where is
it?"
"Here," he said, triumphantly. plac-
ing his hand upon the still covered box,
''here is the machine. .Here," point
ing to the case of little bottles and the
wires, ARE the contrivances through
which it works. In these minute walls
are fragments Of the real food prepare
tions which have just delighted your
palate. You have seen me place an in
intestinal particle of each into that
box, which contains"
"Whatp" l interrupted, unable to
contain myself.
"Wait, and you shall know. For the
present understand that there is within
it a small but powerful electrical bat
terry for producing the current. That
current goes through the particle OF
food inserted in the apparatus. The
current is thus wholly modified IN char
acter. 1t becomes gyratory! That's
one of the great principles of my dis
covery. just as the telephone current
is said to be 'undulatory.' SO I claim
that the telegust current is gyratory.
"a gyratory current has extraordinary
properties, but resembles tho undula-
tory current in only one; that is. that
while I know it is there, no ono can
prove its existence. Yet gyrations are
essential to all telegusts. 1
''Is the idea not luminous? The cur
rent is led through the body by the
bracelet, goes through the gustatory
nerves. and makes you taste whatever
material l put into the telegust without
regard to whatever you may be actual
ly eating. Is it not beautifully sim
ple?"
"It is-it is" I murmured, gazing
admlringly at the great inventor, but
edging gradually toward the instru-
ment. The yearning that l possessed
to pounce upon the apparatus and tear
it to pieces, and thus learn the secret of
its construction at once, was becoming
. mania.
Everybody says that at 4rst," he
AZ