CHAPTER XXVIII.
A CHALLENGE.--MY UNBIDDEN GUEST ACCEPTS IT.
The white-haired reader, in whom I had now become deeply interested, nolonger an unwelcome stranger, suspended his reading, laid down hismanuscript, and looking me in the face, asked:
"Are you a believer?"
"No," I promptly answered.
"What part of the narrative do you question?"
"All of it."
"Have you not already investigated some of the statements I previouslymade?" he queried.
"Yes," I said; "but you had not then given utterance to suchpreposterous expressions."
"Is not the truth, the truth?" he answered.
"You ask me to believe impossibilities," I replied.
"Name one."
"You yourself admit," I said warmly, "that you were incredulous, andshook your head when your guide asserted that the bottom of the oceanmight be as porous as a sieve, and still hold water. A fountain can notrise above its source."
"It often does, however," he replied.
"I do not believe you," I said boldly. "And, furthermore, I assert thatyou might as reasonably ask me to believe that I can see my own brain,as to accept your fiction regarding the production of light, miles belowthe surface of the earth."
"I can make your brain visible to you, and if you dare to accompany me,I will carry you beneath the surface of the earth and prove my otherstatement," he said. "Come!" He arose and grasped my arm.
I hesitated.
"You confess that you fear the journey."
I made no reply.
"Well, since you fear that method, I am ready to convince you of thefacts by any rational course you may select, and if you wish to stakeyour entire argument on the general statement that a stream of water cannot rise above its head, I will accept the challenge; but I insist thatyou do not divulge the nature of the experiment until, as you aredirected, you make public my story."
"Of course a fluid can be pumped up," I sarcastically observed."However, I promise the secrecy you ask."
"I am speaking seriously," he said, "and I have accepted your challenge;your own eyes shall view the facts, your own hands prepare theconditions necessary. Procure a few pints of sand, and a few pounds ofsalt; to-morrow evening I will be ready to make the experiment."
"Agreed; if you will induce a stream of water to run up hill, a fountainto rise above its head, I will believe any statement you may henceforthmake."
"Be ready, then," he replied, "and procure the materials named." Sosaying he picked up his hat and abruptly departed.
These substances I purchased the next day, procuring the silver sandfrom Gordon's pharmacy, corner of Eighth and Western Row, and promptlyat the specified time we met in my room.
He came, provided with a cylindrical glass jar about eighteen incheshigh and two inches in diameter (such as I have since learned is calleda hydrometer jar), and a long, slender drawn glass tube, the internaldiameter of which was about one-sixteenth of an inch.
"You have deceived me," I said; "I know well enough that capillaryattraction will draw a liquid above its surface. You demonstrated thatquite recently to my entire satisfaction."
"True, and yet not true of this experiment," he said. "I propose toforce water through and out of this tube; capillary attraction will notexpel a liquid from a tube if its mouth be above the surface of thesupply."
He dipped the tip of a capillary tube into a tumbler of water; the waterrose inside the tube about an inch above the surface of the water in thetumbler.
"Capillary attraction can do no more," he said. "Break the tubeone-eighth of an inch above the water (far below the present capillarysurface), and it will not overflow. The exit of the tube must be lowerthan the surface of the liquid if circulation ensues."
He broke off a fragment, and the result was as predicted.
Then he poured water into the glass jar to the depth of about sixinches, and selecting a piece of very thin muslin, about an inch square,turned it over the end of the glass tube, tied it in position, anddropped that end of the tube into the cylinder.
"The muslin simply prevents the tube from filling with sand," heexplained. Then he poured sand into the cylinder until it reached thesurface of the water. (See Figure 23.)
"Your apparatus is simple enough," I remarked, I am afraid with somesarcasm.
"Nature works with exceeding simplicity," he replied; "there is nocomplex apparatus in her laboratory, and I copy after nature."
Then he dissolved the salt in a portion of water that he drew from thehydrant into my wash bowl, making a strong brine, and stirred sand intothe brine to make a thick mush. This mixture of sand and brine he thenpoured into the cylinder, filling it nearly to the top. (See Figure 23,B. The sand settling soon left a layer of brine above it, as shown byA.) I had previously noticed that the upper end of the glass tube wascurved, and my surprise can be imagined when I saw that at once waterbegan to flow through the tube, dropping quite rapidly into thecylinder. The lower end of the curve of the glass tube was fully half aninch above the surface of the liquid in the cylinder.
I here present a figure of the apparatus. (Figure 23.)
The strange man, or man image, I do not know which, sat before me, andin silence we watched the steady flow of water, water rising above itssurface and flowing into the reservoir from which it was beingcontinually derived.
"Do you give up?" he asked.
"Let me think," I said.
"As you please," he replied.
"How long will this continue?" I inquired.
"Until strong salt water flows from the tube."
Then the old man continued:
"I would suggest that after I depart you repeat these experiments. Theobservations of those interested in science must be repeated time andagain by separate individuals. It is not sufficient that one personshould observe a phenomenon; repeated experiments are necessary in orderto overcome error of manipulation, and to convince others of theircorrectness. Not only yourself, but many others, after this manuscriptappears, should go through with similar investigations, varied in detailas mind expansion may suggest. This experiment is but the germ of athought which will be enlarged upon by many minds under otherconditions. An event meteorological may occur in the experience of oneobserver, and never repeat itself. This is possible. The results of suchexperiments as you are observing, however, must be followed by similarresults in the hands of others, and in behalf of science it is necessarythat others should be able to verify your experience. In the time tocome it will be necessary to support your statements in order todemonstrate that your perceptive faculties are now in a normalcondition. Are you sure that your conceptions of these results arejustified by normal perception? May you not be in an exalted state ofmind that hinders clear perception, and compels you to imagine andaccept as fact that which does not exist? Do you see what you think yousee? After I am gone, and the influences that my person and mind exerton your own mind have been removed, will these results, as shown by myexperiments, follow similar experimental conditions? In the years thatare to pass before this paper is to be made public, it will be your dutyto verify your present sense faculty. This you must do as opportunitiespresent, and with different devices, so that no question may arise as towhat will follow when others repeat our experiments. To-morrow evening Iwill call again, but remember, you must not tell others of thisexperiment, nor show the devices to them."
FIG. 23. A, brine. B, sand and brine mixed. C, sand andwater.]
"I have promised," I answered.
He gathered his manuscript and departed, and I sat in meditationwatching the mysterious fountain.
As he had predicted, finally, after a long time, the flow slackened, andby morning, when I arose from my bed, the water had ceased to drip, andthen I found it salty to the taste.
The next evening he appeared as usual, and prepared to resume hisreading, making no mention of the previous test of my faith. Iinterrupted him, however, by saying that I had observe
d that the sandhad settled in the cylinder, and that in my opinion his experiment wasnot true to appearances, but was a deception, since the sand by itsgreater weight displaced the water, which escaped through the tube,where there was least resistance.
"Ah," he said, "and so you refuse to believe your own eyesight, and arecontriving to escape the deserved penalty; I will, however, acquiesce inyour outspoken desire for further light, and repeat the experimentwithout using sand. But I tell you that mother earth, in the phenomenaknown as artesian wells, uses sand and clay, pools of mineral waters ofdifferent gravities, and running streams. The waters beneath the earthare under pressure, induced by such natural causes as I have presentedyou in miniature, the chief difference being that the supplies of bothsalt and fresh water are inexhaustible, and by natural combinationssimilar to what you have seen; the streams within the earth, if a pipebe thrust into them, may rise continuously, eternally, from a reservoirhigher than the head. In addition, there are pressures of gases, andsolutions of many salts, other than chloride of soda, that tend to favorthe phenomenon. You are unduly incredulous, and you ask of me more thanyour right after staking your faith on an experiment of your ownselection. You demand more of me even than nature often accomplishes inearth structure; but to-morrow night I will show you that this seeminglyimpossible feat is possible."
He then abruptly left the room. The following evening he presentedhimself with a couple of one-gallon cans, one of them without a bottom.I thought I could detect some impatience of manner as he filled theperfect can (D) with water from the hydrant, and having spread a stripof thin muslin over the mouth of the other can (B), pressed it firmlyover the mouth (C) of the can of water, which it fitted tightly, thusconnecting them together, the upper (bottomless) can being inverted.Then he made a narrow slit in the center of the muslin with hispen-knife, and through it thrust a glass tube like that of our formerexperiment. Next he wrapped a string around the open top of the uppercan, crossed it over the top, and tied the glass tube to the center ofthe cross string.
"Simply to hold this tube in position," he explained.
The remainder of the bag of salt left from the experiment of thepreceding evening was then dissolved in water, and the brine poured intothe upper can, filling it to the top. Then carefully thrusting the glasstube downward, he brought the tip of the curve to within about one-halfinch of the surface of the brine, when immediately a rapid flow ofliquid exhibited itself. (Figure 24.)
Fig. 24.
A, surface of brine.
B, upper can filled with brine.
C, necks of cans telescoped.
D, lower can full of water.]
"It rises above its source without sand," he observed.
"I can not deny the fact," I replied, "and furthermore I am determinedthat I shall not question any subsequent statement that you may make."We sat in silence for some time, and the water ran continuously throughthe tube. I was becoming alarmed, afraid of my occult guest, whoaccepted my self-selected challenges, and worked out his results sorapidly; he seemed to be more than human.
"I am a mortal, but a resident of a higher plane than you," he replied,divining my thoughts. "Is not this experiment a natural one?"
"Yes," I said.
"Did not Shakspeare write, 'There are more things in heaven and earth,Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy'?"
"Yes," I said.
And my guest continued:
"He might have added, 'and always will be'."
"Scientific men will explain this phenomenon," I suggested.
"Yes, when they observe the facts," he replied, "it is very simple. Theycan now tell, as I have before remarked, how Columbus stood the egg onend; however, given the problem before Columbus expounded it, they wouldprobably have wandered as far from the true solution as the mountainwith its edgewise layers of stone is from the disconnected artesianwells on a distant sea coast where the underground fresh and salt waterin overlying currents and layers clash together. The explanation, ofcourse, is simple. The brine is of greater specific gravity than thepure water; the pressure of the heavier fluid forces the lighter up inthe tube. This action continues until, as you will see by thisexperiment, in the gradual diffusion of brine and pure water the salt isdisseminated equally throughout the vessels, and the specific gravity ofthe mixed liquid becomes the same throughout, when the flow will cease.However, in the earth, where supplies are inexhaustible, the fountainflows unceasingly."