The Washington times., 1912-02-23
THE TINES DAILY SERIAL STORY
The Second Deluge
By GARRETT P. SERvISS IN. 5tsss syris4 K s, Is CO.,


diately received an sxpostulatory dis
patch from headquarters which hence.
forth shut his Inouth-but he had tyld
| the simple truth. and how embarrassing
very table around which tho sayants
were now assembled three dispatches
| were laic in quick succession from the
great cbservatOries Of M. Hekln,
| chat,u, all corrobOreting the statement
of the Mt. Mckinley Observer that
| an inexpllcable yelling of faint stors
hnd ir0i,iicstcd itself lii the boreal quar-
When the president read these dis
patchCs-whlch the senders had taken
the precaution 10 mark "conIldentiaP'--
the members Of the council looked at
one another with no little dismay. Here
was the most unprejudiced corrobora-
tion Of Cosmo Versars assertion that
the great nebula was already within
the range of observation. How could
they dispute such testimony, and what
were they to make OF it2 ..,...
Two or three of the members began
to be shaken In their conyictions
Upon my word" exclaimed Prof.
rious! And suppose the fellow should
be right, after all?''
"T,lrhtr' cried the president, Profess
sor Pludder. disdainfully. "Who ever
heard of watery nebula? The thing Ia
absurd"
"I don't see that it's absurd" replied
Professor Jones. There's plenty OF
proof OF tho existence of hydrogen In
some Of the nebulae."
80 there is" chimed in Prof. Abel
Able, and IL there's hydrogen there
may be oxygen, and there you have all
that's necessary. It's not the idea that
nebula may consist of watery vapor
that's absurd. but II is that a watery
nehula, large enough to drown the earth
I by condemnation upon II, could have APP
preached SO near as this one must now
he without sooner betraying its pres
ence."
How SOP demanded n voice.
"Dy its attraction. Cosmo Versal
says II IL already less than three hum
dred millions miles away. If 1t is mas.
sivo enough to drown the earth IT
ought long ago to have been discovered
by the disturbance of the planetary
orbits"
Not at ALL" exclaimed Prof. Jers-
niah Moses. "If you stick to that argu-
at these facts. The earth weighs six
and a half soxtillons of tons and the
oceans one and half qulntillions. The
average depth of the oceans Is two and
One-fiIth miles. Now-if the level OF the
oceans were raised only about l6oO feet
practically all the Inhabited parts OF
the world would he flooded. To cause
that increase In the level OF the oceans
only about One-eignth part would have
to be added to their total mnss, or, say,
one-seventh part, allowing for the
greater surface to be . covered. That
would be one thirty-thousandth OF the
weight of the globe, and IL you suppose
that only one-hundredth OF the entire
nebulau we're condensed on the earth
the whole mass of the nebulae would
not exceed one three-hundredth OF the
weight of the earth, or quarter that
of the moon, and nobody here will DC
bold enough to say that the approach
of mass no greater than that would
he likely to be discovered through Its
attraction when II was three hundred
million miles away.
shock their heads at this, and Prof.
Pludder irritably declared that 1t was
absurd
The attraction would be noticeable
miles away" he continued.
Yes. noticeable. I admit" replied
Prot Moses; but all the same yon
EeD be looking % for it unless the the nebGIae
were visible first. and even then 1t
would require months of observation TO
detect the effects. And how are you
The thing is beginning to be visible
now, and I'll bet that If. from this time
on. you study carefully the planetary
motions. you will find evidence of the
disturbance becoming stronger and
stronger. Versal has pointed out that
! very thing. and calculated the perturba-
lions. This thing has come like th'of
in the night"
YOU'D better hurry UP and secure a
place in the ark" said Prof. Pludder
sarcastically.
"I dent know but | shall, If can got
one" returned Prof. Moses. You may
not think this Is such a laughing mat
ter few months hence"
I'm surprised" pursued the presi-
dent. that a man of your scientific
standing should stultify himself by taxi
ing seriously such balderdash as this. |
tell you the thing is absurd
And tell you. you re absurd to say
so"' retorted Prof. Moses, losing his
temper. you've got four of the big
best telescopes in the world under your
control; why don't you order your OBJ
servers to look for this thing?'
Prof Pludder. who was a very big
man, reared up his rotund form, and.
bringing his fist down upon the table
with resounding whack exclaimed:
A Continuation OF This story VIII
He Found In TOmOrrON's