Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-01
THE THING ON THE HEARTH

"The first confirmatory evidence
of the thing, Excellency, was the
print of a woman's bare foot"
He was an immense creature. He
sat in an upright chair that seemed
to have been provided especially for
him. The great bulk of him flowed
out and filed the chair. 1t l not
seem to be fat that enveloped him.
II seemed rather to be some soft,
tough fiber. like the pudgy mass
making up the body of a deep-sea
thing. One got an impression Of
strength.
The country was before the open
window; the clusters of cultivated
shrub on the sweep OF velvet lawn
extending to the great wall that in
closed the place. then the bend OF
the river and beyond, the distant
mountains, blue and mysterious,
blending in~discernibly into the sky.
A soft sun. clouded with the haze OF
autumn, shone over it.
"You know how the faint mois-
ture in the bare foot win make an
impression"
He paused as though there was
some compelling force in the refiec-
ton. 1t was impossible to say, with
accuracy, to what race the man be-
longed. He came from some queer
blend of Eastern peoples. His body
and the cast of his features were
Monaghan. But one got always, be-
fore him, q feeling of the hot East
lying low down against the stag
nant Suez. One felt that he had
risen slowly into our world of hard
air and Jul out of the vast swelter-
ing ooze OF it.
He spoke English with a certain
care in the selection of the words,
but with ease.
1t is necessary to try to under
stand this, because it explains the
conception everybody got of the
charge of Rodman. I am usiLg pre-
ciseIy the descriptive words; he was
exclusively in charge of Rodman, as
a Jim in an Arabian tale might
have been in charge of a kings son.
The creature was servile-with
almost a g~roveling servility. But N
felt that this servility resulted from
something potent and secret. One
looked TO see Rodman take SOL
onions ring u of his waistcoat
pocket.
I suppose there is no longer any
doubt about the fact that Rodman
was n of those gigantic human
intelligences who sometimes appear
in the world. and by their immense
conceptions dwarf all human knowl-
edge-a sort of mental monster that
we feel nature has no right to pro-
duce. Lord Bayless Truxley said
that Rodman was four generations
in advance of the time; and Lord
Bayless Truxley was, beyond ques-
H., 49, 1rrnafnE. afvfIa rf4rr m
synthetic chemistry In the world.
Rodman was rich and, everybody
supposed, indolent; no one ever
thought very much about him until
he published his brochure on the
scientific manufacture of precious
stones. Then instantly everybody
with any p%retension to a knowledge
of synthetic chemistry turned to-
ward him.
The brochure startled the world.
1t proposed to adapt the luster
and beauty Of jewels to commercial
uses. We were being content with
crude imitation colors in our COM
mercial glass, when we could quite
easily have the actual structure
and the actual luster Of the jewel
in it. We were painfully hunting
over the earth, and in its bowels, for
rev crystals ana pr6lLllN-cOlOfeQ
which we boarded and treas
ured, when in a manufacturing
laboratory we could easily produce
them, more perfect than nature. and
in unlimited quantity.
Now, if you want to understand
what l am printing here about Rod
man, you must think about this
thing as a scientific possibility and
not as a fantastic notion. Take, for
example, Rodman's address before
the ~Sorbonne, or his report to the
International Congress Of Science in
Edinburgh, and you will begin to
see what I mean. The Marchese
Giovanni, who vas a delegate to
that congress. and Pastreaux, said
that the only thing in the way of an
actual practical realization OF what
Rodman outlined was the formulate.
IL Rodman could work out the for
mulae, jewel-stuff could be produced
as cheaply as glass, and IN any
quantity-by the carload. Imagine
1t; sheet ruby, sheet emerald, all the
beauty and luster of Jewels in the
windows of the corner drugstore!
And there is another thing that I
want you to think about. Think