1528. A TRIP TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Amazing Stories, May-July 1926. 111. Paul and M.C. (?). This reprints the anonymous Scribner translation that used to be considered "standard," but has been superseded as inaccurate and badly prepared. (First published as Voyage au centre de la terre, 1863; revised, enlarged, 1867. English translation A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Griffith and Farren, London, 1872. Scribner and Armstrong, New York, 1874. There are many later reprints, as well as more modern, better translations.) Novel of geographic adventure; Verne's first significant work. It is basically a fictionalization of the geological theory of his day. 

*  When Professor Hardwigg finds a runic manuscript in an old book, it sets off an important chain of events. The manuscript, whose decipherment Verne describes in detail, tells of a Renaissance descent "to the center of the Earth" via the crater of an extinct Icelandic volcano. Hardwigg, his nephew Harry, and their Icelandic guide/companion Hans descend into the volcano and follow the tortuous turnings of the underground passage for perhaps three thousand miles to the southeast. For light they carry an electric generator. 

*  The journey has its thrills, but more important are Verne's descriptions of the geological formations that the men encounter. At one time Harry has horrible, realistic nightmares about threatening prehistoric life. 

*  The high point of the exploration comes when the travelers, perhaps thirty miles below the surface of the world, come upon an enormous cavern that is lighted by some inexplicable energy. It contains vegetable life and a herd of grazing mammoths, tended by a mysterious gigantic figure. The vision of this gigantic figure is one of the most thrilling moments in early science-fiction, all the more potent because it is not explained. In a huge lake or ocean that is nearby, the men see a plesiosaurus and other prehistoric forms of life. 

*  The explorers continue along their designated path until they reach a rockfall, which they remove by explosives. The explosion releases the subterranean sea and the men are washed along dark passages until they finally emerge from the crater of Stromboli off the shore of Sicily. 

*  Verne's fiction is generally considered dated, but the present work is an excellent fictionalization of a branch of science of Verne's day. 

1142. MESMERIC REVELATION. Amazing Stories, May 1926. Unsigned ill. (First published in Columbia Lady's and Gentleman'sMagazine, August 1844. First published in book form in Tales by Edgar A. Poe, 1845.) Short story. 

*  One of Poe's lesser works, best considered as an advance version of "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar." 

*  Vankirk, who has been mesmerized previously, agrees to let the narrator mesmerize him again. While in the mesmeric sleep, Vankirk describes a philosophical and religious system that amounts to a qualified monism. But when the narrator tries to awaken Vankirk, he discovers that Vankirk is dead. The question is whether Vankirk, speaking after death, has offered a veridical solution to great problems of life. 

*  One of Poe's halfhoaxes, based on the contemporary theory of animal magnetism as a means of arousing, via the unconscious mind, knowledge beyond the ken of the conscious mind. 

*  Questionable as science-fiction. 

1698. THE CRYSTAL EGG. Amazing Stories, May 1926. 111. Paul. (First publication, New Review, May 1897. First book publication in Tales of Space and Time, Harper, London, 1899; McClure, New York, 1899. Reprinted in The Works of H. G. Wells, Vol. 10; Wells, The Short Stories of H. G. Wells; Wells, 28 Science Fiction Stories; Wells, Best Science Fiction Stories; Wells, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine; Derleth, Strange Ports of Call; Fiedler, In Dreams Awake; Knight, A Century of Science Fiction, and elsewhere.) Short story. 

*  Cave, a rather ineffectual antiques dealer, found the strange egg-shaped crystal in a job lot purchased from another dealer. A dreamer, somewhat unhappy, he finds solace in looking into the crystal, which reveals an exotic landscape with flying creatures that have tentacles below their heads. Similar crystals on pillars lead him to the conclusion that they are viewing devices. Two moons in the sky indicate that the crystal came from Mars. 

*  Cave shows the crystal to a science demonstrator, who does not see all that Cave does, but enough to accept Cave's visions. Cave's wife objects, and he conceals the crystal. But Cave dies suddenly, and the crystal is lost. 

*  One of Wells's best short stories. 

1766. THE INFINITE VISION. Amazing Stories, May 1926. 111. Paul. (First published in Science and Invention, May 1924.) Short story. 

*  Place: mostly the Andes. 

*  At the meeting of the International Astronomical Society, scientists express dissatisfaction at the functioning of telescope lenses. The great scientist Glenn Faxworthy thereupon offers to create a far superior telescope if he can receiving funding of one million dollars. 

*  Several years and probably a million dollars later the great telescope is first functioning in the Andes. Faxworthy has not only found a way to stabilize the mercury mirror, but has also created an ether beam that destroys matter so that light can reach the lens without atmospheric turbulence. 

*  The Moon is examined, even down a microscopic level, then Mars. Mars, which is Lowell- Schiaparellian, has remarkable cities, superb human inhabitants, and a superior science. Indeed, a look at a Martian observatory shows an ether-ray similar to Faxworthy's. At this point lightning strikes the observatory in the Andes, skewing the ether ray down so that it destroys apparatus and men. 

*  On first reading, I interpreted the disaster as having been caused by the Martians; on second reading, I am less sure of this. It may have been an accident of nature. The author is not entirely clear. 

1711. THE MAN FROM THE ATOM. Amazing Stories, April 1926. Unsigned ill. (First published in Science and Invention, August 1923.) Short story. 

*  Professor Martyn has devised a little box-like apparatus that permits the wearer to increase or decrease his size. It operates by chopping atoms in half or pulling in new atoms. 

*  Kirby the narrator, a friend of the professor's, putting on the box and a thermal suit, zooms up in size. At first he has to watch out lest he crush the professor, but soon he is beyond Earth, the solar system, and eventually beyond our universe, which is but an atomic particle in a larger universe. 

*  It is all fine, but when he wants to return from the macrocosm, he realizes that he could never find Earth again, and in any case it would have been gone for trillions of years. 

*  He is currently on a somewhat Earth-like planet, with intelligent beings with whom he can converse, though they are not described. 

*  Undeveloped, but interesting for perhaps being the first story to recognize the problem of time in expansion. 

*  A precocious author; the present work was written while he was a high school student. 

*  For a sequel, see #1712, "The Man from the Atom (Sequel)."