oshima, Nagasaki or Bikini.

In the first place, I tried, with apparent unsuccess, to make it
clear I'm not predicting. I am merely mentioning possibilities. In
the second place, we don't know exactly what were the aftereffects
of the previous bombs because of a general inability to correlate
cause and effect. I only know that in every case the use of the
atomic bomb has been followed at greater or lesser intervals by
tidal waves, earthquakes and other 'natural' phenomena. Now do not
quote me as saying the Hilo tidal wave was the result of the
Nagasaki bomb or the Chicagku earthquake, the Bikini; for I didnt. I
only point out that they followed at roughly equal intervals.

Then you are opposed to the bomb?

Common sense is. Not that that will be a deterrent.

What would you substitute for it?

If I had a counteragent to the grass ready I would not be wasting
time talking to reporters. I am working on one. When it is found, by
me or another, it will be a true counteragent, changing the very
structure and habit of _Cynodon dactylon_ as the Metamorphizer
changed it originally. External weapons, by definition, can at
best, at the very best, merely stop the grass--not render it
innocuous. Equals fighting equals produce only deadlocks.

And so on. The few reputable scientists who condescended to answer her
at all and didnt treat her views with dignified silence quickly
demonstrated the absurdity of her objections. Chainreactions and
radioactive advanceguard! Sundaysupplement stuff, without the slightest
basis of reasoning; not a mathematical symbol or laboratory experiment
to back up these fictional nightmares. And not use external weapons,
indeed! Was the grass to be hypnotized then? Or made to change its
behaviorpatterns through judicious sessions with psychoanalysts
stationed along its periphery?

Whether because of Miss Francis' prophesies or not, it would be futile
to deny that a certain amount of trepidation accompanied the decision to
use the bomb. Residents of Arizona wanted it dropped in California; San
Franciscans urged the poetic justice and great utility of applying it to
the very spot where the growth originated; all were in favor of the
devastation at the farthest possible distance from themselves.

Partly in response to this pressure and partly in consideration of other
factors, including the possibility of international rep