"This reduction of bodily size, great as it is, involves no deeper principle than does a light contraction of tissue, except that it must be carried further. The problem, then, was to find a chemical, sufficiently unharmful to life, that would so act upon the body cells as to cause a reduction in bulk, without changing their shape. I had to secure a uniform and also a proportionate rate of contraction of each cell, in order not to have the body shape altered.
"After a comparatively small amount of research work, I encountered an apparently insurmountable obstacle. As you know, gentlemen, our living human bodies are held together by the power of the central intelligence we call the mind. Every instant during your lifetime your subconscious mind is commanding and directing the individual life of each cell that makes up your body. At death this power is withdrawn; each cell is thrown under its own individual command, and dissolution of the body takes place.
"I found, therefore, that I could not act upon the cells separately, so long as they were under control of the mind. On the other hand, I could not withdraw this power of the subconscious mind without causing death.
"I progressed no further than this for several months. Then came the solution. I reasoned that after death the body does not immediately disintegrate; far more time elapses than I expected to need for the cell-contraction. I devoted my time, then to finding a chemical that would temporarily withhold, during the period of cell-contraction, the power of the subconscious mind, just as the power of the conscious mind is withheld by hypnotism.
"I am not going to weary you by trying to lead you through the maze of chemical experiments into which I plunged. Only one of you," he indicated the Doctor, "has the technical basis of knowledge to follow me. No one had been before me along the path I traversed. I pursued the method of pure theoretical deduction, drawing my conclusions from the practical results obtained.
"I worked on rabbits almost exclusively. After a few weeks I succeeded in completely suspending animation in one of them for several hours.
There was no life apparently existing during that period. It was not a trance or coma, but the complete simulation of death. No harmful results followed the revivifying of the animal. The contraction of the cells was far more difficult to accomplish; I finished my last experiment less than six months ago."
"Then you really have been able to make an animal infinitely small?"
asked the Big Business Man.
The Chemist smiled. "I sent four rabbits into the unknown last week," he said.
"What did they look like going?" asked the Very Young Man. The Chemist signed him to be patient.
"The quant.i.ty of diminution to be obtained bothered me considerably.
Exactly how small that other universe is, I had no means of knowing, except by the computations I made of the magnifying power of my lens.
These figures, I know, must necessarily be very inaccurate. Then, again, I have no means of judging by the visual rate of diminution of these rabbits, whether this contraction is at a uniform rate or accelerated.
Nor can I tell how long it is prolonged, for the quant.i.ty of drug administered, as only a fraction of the diminution has taken place when the animal pa.s.ses beyond the range of any microscope I now possess.
"These questions were overshadowed, however, by a far more serious problem that encompa.s.sed them all.
"As I was planning to project myself into this unknown universe and to reach the exact size proportionate to it, I soon realized such a result could not be obtained were I in an unconscious state. Only by successive doses of the drug, or its r.e.t.a.r.dent about which I will tell you later, could I hope to reach the proper size. Another necessity is that I place myself on the exact spot on that ring where I wish to enter and to climb down among its atoms when I have become sufficiently small to do so.
Obviously, this would be impossible to one not possessing all his faculties and physical strength."
"And did you solve that problem, too?" asked the Banker.
"I"d like to see it done," he added, reading his answer in the other"s confident smile.
The Chemist produced two small paper packages from his wallet. "These drugs are the result of my research," he said. "One of them causes contraction, and the other expansion, by an exact reversal of the process. Taken together, they produce no effect, and a lesser amount of one r.e.t.a.r.ds the action of the other." He opened the papers, showing two small vials. "I have made them as you see, in the form of tiny pills, each containing a minute quant.i.ty of the drug. It is by taking them successively in unequal amounts that I expect to reach the desired size."
"There"s one point that you do not mention," said the Doctor. "Those vials and their contents will have to change size as you do. How are you going to manage that?"
"By experimentation I have found," answered the Chemist, "that any object held in close physical contact with the living body being contracted is contracted itself at an equal rate. I believe that my clothes will be affected also. These vials I will carry strapped under my armpits."
"Suppose you should die, or be killed, would the contraction cease?"
asked the Doctor.
"Yes, almost immediately," replied the Chemist. "Apparently, though I am acting through the subconscious mind while its power is held in abeyance, when this power is permanently withdrawn by death, the drug no longer affects the individual cells. The contraction or expansion ceases almost at once."
The Chemist cleared a s.p.a.ce before him on the table. "In a well-managed club like this," he said, "there should be no flies, but I see several around. Do you suppose we can catch one of them?"
"I can," said the Very Young Man, and forthwith he did.
The Chemist moistened a lump of sugar and laid it on the table before him. Then, selecting one of the smallest of the pills, he ground it to powder with the back of a spoon and sprinkled this powder on the sugar.
"Will you give me the fly, please?"
The Very Young Man gingerly did so. The Chemist held the insect by its wings over the sugar. "Will someone lend me one of his shoes?"
The Very Young Man hastily slipped off a dancing pump.
"Thank you," said the Chemist, placing it on the table with a quizzical smile.
The rest of the company rose from their chairs and gathered around, watching with interested faces what was about to happen.
"I hope he is hungry," remarked the Chemist, and placed the fly gently down on the sugar, still holding it by the wings. The insect, after a moment, ate a little.
Silence fell upon the group as each watched intently. For a few moments nothing happened. Then, almost imperceptibly at first, the fly became larger. In another minute it was the size of a large horse-fly, struggling to release its wings from the Chemist"s grasp. A minute more and it was the size of a beetle. No one spoke. The Banker moistened his lips, drained his gla.s.s hurriedly and moved slightly farther away. Still the insect grew; now it was the size of a small chicken, the multiple lens of its eyes presenting a most terrifying aspect, while its ferocious droning reverberated through the room. Then suddenly the Chemist threw it upon the table, covered it with a napkin, and beat it violently with the slipper. When all movement had ceased he tossed its quivering body into a corner of the room.
"Good G.o.d!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the Banker, as the white-faced men stared at each other. The quiet voice of the Chemist brought them back to themselves.
"That, gentlemen, you must understand, was only a fraction of the very first stage of growth. As you may have noticed, it was constantly accelerated. This acceleration attains a speed of possibly fifty thousand times that you observed. Beyond that, it is my theory, the change is at a uniform rate." He looked at the body of the fly, lying inert on the floor. "You can appreciate now, gentlemen, the importance of having this growth cease after death."
"Good Lord, I should say so!" murmured the Big Business Man, mopping his forehead. The Chemist took the lump of sugar and threw it into the open fire.
"Gosh!" said the Very Young Man, "suppose when we were not looking, another fly had----"
"Shut up!" growled the Banker.
"Not so skeptical now, eh, George?" said the Big Business Man.
"Can you catch me another fly?" asked the Chemist. The Very Young Man hastened to do so. "The second demonstration, gentlemen," said the Chemist, "is less spectacular, but far more pertinent than the one you have just witnessed." He took the fly by the wings, and prepared another lump of sugar, sprinkling a crushed pill from the other vial upon it.
"When he is small enough I am going to try to put him on the ring, if he will stay still," said the Chemist.
The Doctor pulled the plate containing the ring forward until it was directly under the light, and every one crowded closer to watch; already the fly was almost too small to be held. The Chemist tried to set it on the ring, but could not; so with his other hand he brushed it lightly into the plate, where it lay, a tiny black speck against the gleaming whiteness of the china.
"Watch it carefully, gentlemen," he said, as they bent closer.
"It"s gone," said the Big Business Man.
"No, I can still see it," said the Doctor. Then he raised the plate closer to his face. "Now it"s gone," he said.
The Chemist sat down in his chair. "It"s probably still there, only too small for you to see. In a few minutes, if it took a sufficient amount of the drug, it will be small enough to fall between the molecules of the plate."
"Do you suppose it will find another inhabited universe down there?"
asked the Very Young Man.
"Who knows," smiled the Chemist. "Very possibly it will. But the one we are interested in is here," he added, touching the ring.
"Is it your intention to take this stuff yourself to-night?" asked the Big Business Man.
"If you will give me your help, I think so, yes. I have made all arrangements. The club has given us this room in absolute privacy for forty-eight hours. Your meals will be served here when you want them, and I am going to ask you, gentlemen, to take turns watching and guarding the ring during that time. Will you do it?"
"I should say we would," cried the Doctor, and the others nodded a.s.sent.