DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Imagination, v. 1, issue 4, whole no. 4, January 1938

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Imagination, v. 1, issue 4, whole no. 4, January 1938

Page 13

IMAGINATION! #4 38 Jan.       13

his usual absentminded rejoindr: 'Ha ha! Quite good. Yes yes. The Man On Horseback. Hmmmmm' & then rambl off into some abstruse reflections on the experiments they were making. The Dr would lisn earnestly, contributing abstruse remarks of his own. Several times I heard him exclaim: 'If Alexander had commanded such methods we dream of, if Caesar!' 
   "I hav sayd that my dutys in the lab were mattrs of routine supervision, & unfortunately I had neithr the intellectual curiosity nor the wit to visualize as a whole the problem they were trying to solve. What wouldn't I giv now to hav lisnd more intelligently, to hav observd the varyous machines more closely! There is nevr a truer saying than that familiarity breeds contempt. Even genius becomes commonplace when U contact it day aftr day. Nor are the doings of genius always impressiv. To observ the Prof arrange a crystal, focus a lite. scratch his nose, stare at the ceiling, study an equation, rearrange the crystal, focus a lite, & so on ad infinitum for countless hrs scarcely was calculated to add to one's opinion of his mentl stature. 
   "Likwisse to watch the Dr put a piece of iron ore in a cabinet, press a button, peer into anothr cabinet, shake his head, muttr unintelligibl words to himself & return to the first cabinet to repeat the maneuvr in a slightly different fashion (this is not for days or wks but mos!), also made one doubtful of his intelligence. Truth to tell, tho I did not doubt the genius of both men (the Dr especialy, tho I deemd him mad, imprest me with his conversational power & strange mannr) I felt that their powers had weaknd, that like the seekrs aftr perpetual motion they were reduced to doing silly & inane things. With the cocksureness of my 20 & 1 odd yrs I began to regard Prof Aritos as a vastly over-rated scientist & Dr Spurgeon as nothing more than a 1/2 crackt dilettante. 
   "When I finaly graduated from college & severd my relations with the 2 men, success apeard to be far from them as evr. "I went east for a yr, did some work in the Adirondacks; then returnd to the Southwest, one day on the streets of Tucson I ran into Prof Aritos. He gript my hand warmly. 'I'm glad to see U! he declared, his round face beaming. '& U meet me in the hr of triumf. Yes, we've done the miraculous! The Dr will be delited to hav U call. Come tomoro & we'll show U something that will make U believ in black magic!'
   "Such language was unusual for the Prof to use; it smackt more of Dr Spurgeon himself. 'I'm sorry' I sayd 'but I can't visit U tomoro, Prof; I'll be out of town over the wk-end. Make it Mon. eve. & I'll dine with U.'
   "But I was fated nevr to keep that engagement. Sunday nite the lab was destroyd by fire. Next day the bodys of Prof Aritos & Dr Spurgeon were taken from the ruins. That murdr had preceded arson plainly was indicated by the fact that both men had been shot, Prof Aritos at the base of the skull, Dr Spurgeon thru the forehead. 
   "I helpt identify both bodys & attended the doubl funeral. Then a litl sadnd by the terribl tragedy & vainly puzzling as to the motive for it I took up my dutys on the staff of the state engineer (a position I had managed to gain) being directd to do certn routine survey work in the Tucson Mts. 
   "I was in Tucson when the first fantastic plane flew over

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IMAGINATION! #4 38 Jan. 13 his usual absentminded rejoindr: 'Ha ha! Quite good. Yes yes. The Man On Horseback. Hmmmmm' & then rambl off into some abstruse reflections on the experiments they were making. The Dr would lisn earnestly, contributing abstruse remarks of his own. Several times I heard him exclaim: 'If Alexander had commanded such methods we dream of, if Caesar!' "I hav sayd that my dutys in the lab were mattrs of routine supervision, & unfortunately I had neithr the intellectual curiosity nor the wit to visualize as a whole the problem they were trying to solve. What wouldn't I giv now to hav lisnd more intelligently, to hav observd the varyous machines more closely! There is nevr a truer saying than that familiarity breeds contempt. Even genius becomes commonplace when U contact it day aftr day. Nor are the doings of genius always impressiv. To observ the Prof arrange a crystal, focus a lite. scratch his nose, stare at the ceiling, study an equation, rearrange the crystal, focus a lite, & so on ad infinitum for countless hrs scarcely was calculated to add to one's opinion of his mentl stature. "Likwisse to watch the Dr put a piece of iron ore in a cabinet, press a button, peer into anothr cabinet, shake his head, muttr unintelligibl words to himself & return to the first cabinet to repeat the maneuvr in a slightly different fashion (this is not for days or wks but mos!), also made one doubtful of his intelligence. Truth to tell, tho I did not doubt the genius of both men (the Dr especialy, tho I deemd him mad, imprest me with his conversational power & strange mannr) I felt that their powers had weaknd, that like the seekrs aftr perpetual motion they were reduced to doing silly & inane things. With the cocksureness of my 20 & 1 odd yrs I began to regard Prof Aritos as a vastly over-rated scientist & Dr Spurgeon as nothing more than a 1/2 crackt dilettante. "When I finaly graduated from college & severd my relations with the 2 men, success apeard to be far from them as evr. "I went east for a yr, did some work in the Adirondacks; then returnd to the Southwest, one day on the streets of Tucson I ran into Prof Aritos. He gript my hand warmly. 'I'm glad to see U! he declared, his round face beaming. '& U meet me in the hr of triumf. Yes, we've done the miraculous! The Dr will be delited to hav U call. Come tomoro & we'll show U something that will make U believ in black magic!' "Such language was unusual for the Prof to use; it smackt more of Dr Spurgeon himself. 'I'm sorry' I sayd 'but I can't visit U tomoro, Prof; I'll be out of town over the wk-end. Make it Mon. eve. & I'll dine with U.' "But I was fated nevr to keep that engagement. Sunday nite the lab was destroyd by fire. Next day the bodys of Prof Aritos & Dr Spurgeon were taken from the ruins. That murdr had preceded arson plainly was indicated by the fact that both men had been shot, Prof Aritos at the base of the skull, Dr Spurgeon thru the forehead. "I helpt identify both bodys & attended the doubl funeral. Then a litl sadnd by the terribl tragedy & vainly puzzling as to the motive for it I took up my dutys on the staff of the state engineer (a position I had managed to gain) being directd to do certn routine survey work in the Tucson Mts. "I was in Tucson when the first fantastic plane flew over