servatory on the night of September
twenty-fifth. At the time, some inspired writers tried to connect the
two events, maintaining that the discovery of the fact that the earth
had a new satellite coincident with the receipt of the mysterious
messages was evidence that the new planetoid was inhabited and that the
messages were attempts on the part of the inhabitants to communicate
with us.

The fact that the messages were on a lower wave length than any receiver
then in existence could receive with any degree of clarity, and the
additional fact that they appeared to come from an immense distance lent
a certain air of plausibility to these ebullitions in the Sunday
magazine sections. For some weeks the feature writers harped on the
subject, but the hurried construction of new receivers which would work
on a lower wave length yielded no results, and the solemn pronouncements
of astronomers to the effect that the new celestial body could by no
possibility have an atmosphere on account of its small size finally put
an end to the talk. So the matter lapsed into oblivion.

While quite a few people will remember the two events I have noted, I
doubt whether there are five hundred people alive who will remember
anything at all about the disappearance of Dr. Livermore of the
University of Calvada on September twenty-third. He was a man of some
local prominence, but he had no more than a local fame, and few papers
outside of California even noted the event in their columns. I do not
think that anyone ever tried to connect up his disappearance with the
radio messages or the discovery of the new earthly satellite; yet the
three events were closely bound up together, and but for the Doctor's
disappearance, the other two would never have happened.

* * * * *

Dr. Livermore taught physics at Calvada, or at least he taught the
subject when he remembered that he had a class and felt like teaching.
His students never knew whether he would appear at class or not; but he
always passed everyone who took his courses and so, of course, they
were always crowded. The University authorities used to remonstrate with
him, but his ability as a research worker was so well known and
recognized that he was allowed to go about as he pleased. He was a
bachelor who lived alone and who had no interests in life, so far as
anyone knew, other than his work.

I first made contact with him when I was a freshman at Calvada, and