At the first news of the thing, I had sought Dr. Howard to learn his
own views of it, but he was not to be found at the university. And by
the time I had met him the next day I, along with most of the world,
had read the late editions of the newspaper in which he first startled
the nations with his astounding explanation of the two cataclysms.
He stated that he had studied closely the scene of the first cataclysm,
and had derived therefrom a theory as to its cause which he believed
was substantiated by the second occurrence.
"No one who has considered carefully the Mannlertown catastrophe,"
he stated, "can credit for a moment the idea that it was caused by a
meteor. Had a great meteor actually grazed the earth that night, the
sky for a thousand miles would have flamed with its passing, even had
it been able to pass out of earth's grip after entering it, which is an
incredible hypothesis.
"The cataclysm at Mannlertown was not caused by a meteor, but by some
vast scoop-like object that was drawn across several miles of the
earth's surface with immense speed and in that way gouged out the great
trench in the earth. This second cataclysm in Finland was obviously
caused in the same way, there being no appearance of a meteor in the
sky. The huge scoop of which I speak was actually seen in the second
case by the Finnish herder whose story has been little credited.
But the very wildness of which is almost a guarantee of its truth,
especially coming from such an unimaginative person.
"We must accept, then, the theory that on two different occasions
within the last few days a giant scoop of some sort has been lowered
from outer space, dragged across the earth's surface for several miles
with incredible speed, and then jerked upward again, taking with it
the matter it has cut from the earth! Just as we men sail over the
surface of our waters and let down trawls to drag along their beds far
below, so someone, something or things, exist on the surface of the
atmospheric ocean at the bottom of which we live, and is letting down
trawls to drag its bottom, the surface of the earth.
"This idea may seem fantastic to many. We human beings do not think of
ourselves as living at the bottom of an ocean; but a little reflection
will show that to be the case. The atmosphere is an ocean, fifty
to sixty miles in depth, covering all the earth. Our knowledge of
it indicates that, becoming more and more rarefied, it has a fairly
definite surface or limit a few score miles above us, beyond which lies
empty space.
"So there is a great air-ocean, and at its bottom we live. The pressure
at its bottom is tremendous, even as the ocean's pressure is tremendous
near its bottom. But like the creatures that live far down in the sea's
depths, we are so habituated to that pressure, and our bodies braced
internally against it, that we do not feel it. If we were to be taken
into empty space our bodies would explode as would fish taken from the
sea's depths. And in the same way, were creatures accustomed to empty
space to enter our atmospheric ocean they would undoubtedly be crushed
to death by its pressure.
"It is that which in my opinion, accounts for this trawling from above.
It may be that for centuries, while we have pondered on the planets
and stars, ships from those planets and stars have been coming and
going far above us, filled with creatures who have evolved in space as
we have evolved in air and fish have evolved in water. We would know
no more, dream no more, of the existence of those space-ships than
the creatures at the seas' bottoms know of the great liners going and
coming far above them.
"But suppose some of these beings, possessing space-ships, become
curious as to what lies at the bottom of this air-ocean of ours. They
could not venture down into it. What would they do? Would they not let
their ships cruise to and fro on the surface of the air-ocean, and let
down great trawls to drag the bottom far below, just as we men trawl an
ocean into whose depths we dare not descend.
"I believe that is what is now going on. Far above us, at the surface
of our atmospheric ocean, there are cruising ships or a ship, which we
cannot see, holding beings from some great planet of whose nature we
dare not guess. They cannot descend into our atmosphere but they are
letting down their great trawl from above to drag the bottom, which is
earth's surface, to see what lies upon it!
"And make no mistake! These beings, who may be infinitely beyond us in
intelligence and science, and who are undoubtedly completely different
from us in every respect, care naught for the wreck and ruin they may
be causing with their trawls. Any terror they might loose upon us would
mean nothing to them. For to them, high above, we at the air-ocean's
bottom are no more than the blind, strange creatures that we fish from
our own watery seas' depths are to us."
It seems unnecessary to describe the turmoil that was aroused by this
startling statement of Dr. Howard's. It is hard to expose the wilful
blindness of a world that now looks back upon that blindness with
something like terror.
Dr. Howard's theory became the target of every form and degree of
criticism during the ensuing days. His idea was susceptible to
ridicule, and the scientists whose meteor-theory he had questioned
seized the opportunity. _Did_ we live at the bottom of an ocean, an
atmospheric sea? _Were_ we merely crawling things upon earth's surface,
to be fished for and examined curiously by unimaginable beings and
vessels far above? The idea was too humorous. The public's indignation
dissolved into laughter.