Amazing Stories, Vol. 3, No. 2 — page 60: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

® BARON MUNCHHAUSEN experiment. Place a darning needle between your teeth by biting on it hard and take care that your lips do not touch the needle. The needle itself should pro- ject about one inch from your mouth. Now operate an ordinary disc phonograph and with care press down upon the record with the needle’s point held at the same angle as the reproducer’s needle is held ordinarily. Your whole brain will be filled immediately with music, exceedingly loud and clear, Of course, in this case you still hear with your ear’s mechanism, the sound vibrations being carried to the eardrum through the bones of the head ; but it is interesting to note that if a truly deaf person tries the experiment he will be enabled to ‘sense’ the sounds, although not perfectly. 100 16 D8 tao TH 44D HG WO 1d oo zo mo 230 24d AD BEATE RD eav sod BO Ads 40 sa 550 JOD 1 we Be nag Rt —janis 155 if we can find a medium by which it will be possible to detect these waves it will become as simple a matter to transmit the thought waves as any other wave. “The medium of detecting these ‘brain-waves’ is found in the Martian temple plates, enormously sensi- tive to the brain’s short wavelengths, But not only do these composite metal temple plates detect the ‘brain- waves ; they also translate them directly into a longer etheric wavelength, which in turn is shot out into space similar to a radio signal. While these waves are fairly strong, their intensity is not sufficient to carry them over great distances. As a matter of fact, thoughts have only been transmitted on Mars for a distance equal to about 10 terrestrial miles. And even this was MARS ~ 1890-7 S ] ml 5 = - —— — = = pa ty ll j : fe. | RS 1 Af “i ly % Le SS N/ f, J Pia , 2 ron » Bos = asl = ier Py ore { K areal y rs mertons sf 3 a } 3 Li ay | an S / = Y f i ee |, cf ° Ly 10 | P| ‘“ See > \ ee | 5 } ‘ < Sia | 5 c : i os .. t AEs | [Zee be ERE AE: | | A A > — a oo ey J) y A A i 2 Rear: 2 4 ae l ly | (AL e < < , rs ‘ ‘ if | ml NI // \ / TLS iy - i q a SANG: tad = + af Wes tc = A ee ee ~ ASK J B af | eS ; i laeatere n~ bk | | | L = : eels ¢ ef Tall L ae batt a. aS e| = “1 a Ae | 1.91al Mosarvatory Photo courtesy Prof. Percival Lowell, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz. The above map shows Mars and its canals in Mercator’s projection. As objects appear upside down in the telescope, it should be remem- bered when studying the above map, that the top is South, the bottom North; East is left, West is right. Note how the majority of the canals tun North and South (or South and North), toward the poles, which is necessary in order to convey the water from the melting “Of course, the function of the Martian apparatus is based on an entirely different principle, and the above experiment is only cited by way of comparison. “It goes without saying that these little red honey- | combed plates, pressing against the temples, are won- derfully sensitive to etheric waves; in that they exceed enormously the most sensitive radio detector ever in- vented by your scientists. But not only do these won- derful temple plates serve to bring distant music to the Martian’s brain, but they still have a more important function, The fact was already mentioned to you how we first made our acquaintance with thought transmis- sion and how we found it impossible to transfer thoughts without the caps being on our heads. “The act of thinking, as we know it and as has been understood on earth for a long time, is merely the action of certain nerves stimulating certain brain cen- ters. The harder we think the stronger the stimulation. This stimulation in turn sets up an undulatory motion in the affected brain cells, with the result that these cells must of necessity vibrate like a piano wire. But anything that vibrates—no matter what the frequency —must set up waves. Thus we come to the conclusion that the act of thinking must set up certain waves. Now polar snow caps equatorward. The canals can be plainly seen running over the dark areas, which are therefore not seas, but vast stretches of vegetation. Particular attention is called to the numerous circular dark spots, only to be found at the intersection of two or more canals. These dark spots, termed Oases, are thought to be circular vegeta- tional tracts, containing vast farms, parks, cities, etc. exceptional, extra highly sensitive apparatus being used at the time for the experiments. As a rule the Mar- tians do not project their thoughts over 50 terrestrial yards, as the confusion and clashing of the many waves would otherwise become too great. If a number of Martians are assembled in one room they can converse very nicely by thought transmission without interfering with one another. The Martian, by long training of his brain for generations back, is enabled to ‘tune’ his mind to a comparative wide range of waves; thus with but little effort he can think in a high “pitch” or in a low one. As each pitch has its own characteristics— no two being alike—it becomes easy for anyone to ‘listen’ to the selected one only. It is the same as if you converse with your friend while ten other people talk all at one time in the same room. By instinct you are enabled to listen to your friend’s characteristic voice, disregarding all the other voices. You ‘tune’ your ear automatically to his voice, and while the sounds of the ten other voices reach your ear, you do not consciously hear them. “Exactly the same is the case when the Martian con- verses by thought transmission; his brain ‘hears’ only that which he actually wishes to hear and nothing else. conmicldoooks.conn