, Northwood had
yearned mightily to meet.

Now Northwood knew why the hunchback's intelligent, ugly face was
familiar to him. He had seen it pictured as often as enterprising news
photographers could steal a likeness from the over-sensitive scientist,
who would never sit for a formal portrait.

* * * * *

Even before Northwood had graduated from the university where he now
taught, he had been avidly interested in Emil Mundson's fantastic
articles in scientific journals. Only a week ago, Professor Michael had
come to him with the current issue of New Science, shouting excitedly:

"Did you read this, John, this article by Emil Mundson?" His shaking,
gnarled old fingers tapped the open magazine.

Northwood seized the magazine and looked avidly at the title of the
article, "Creatures of the Light."

"No, I haven't read it," he admitted. "My magazine hasn't come yet."

"Run through it now briefly, will you? And note with especial care the
passages I have marked. In fact, you needn't bother with anything else
just now. Read this--and this--and this." He pointed out penciled
paragraphs.

Northwood read:

Man always has been, always will be a creature of the light. He
is forever reaching for some future point of perfected evolution
which, even when his most remote ancestor was a fish creature
composed of a few cells, was the guiding power that brought him
up from the first stinking sea and caused him to create gods in
his own image.

It is this yearning for perfection which sets man apart from all
other life, which made him _man_ even in the rudimentary stages
of his development. He was man when he wallowed in the slime of
the new world and yearned for the air above. He will still be
man when he has evolved into that glorious creature of the
future whose body is deathless and whose mind rules the
universe.

Professor Michael, looking over Northwood's shoulder, interrupted the
reading:

"_Man always has been man_," he droned emphatically. "That's not
original with friend Mundson, of course; yet it is a theory that has not
received sufficient investigation." He indicated another marked
paragraph. "Read this thoughtfully, John. It's the crux of Mundson's
thought."

Northwood continued:

Since the human body is chemical and electrical, increased
knowledge of its powers and limitations will enable us to work
with Natur