the solar atmosphere, and their
effect upon radioactive substances is analogous to that of the
detonating cap upon dynamite. No one has been able to produce these rays
in the laboratory, although Hempel has suspected sometimes that traces
of them appeared in the radiations from powerful electric sparks.
Everything came to a halt until Hiroshito discovered thermic induction,
and we were able to elevate temperature almost indefinitely through a
process similar to the induction of high electric potentials by means of
transformers and the Ruhmkorff coil.

"Hiroshito wasn't looking for a detonating ray and didn't have time to
bother with it, but I started a series of experiments with that end in
view. I got close--I am close, but the trouble has been to control the
forces set in motion, for the rapid rise in temperature has always
destroyed the apparatus."

Thornton whistled. "And when you succeed?" he asked in a whisper.

Hooker's face was transfigured.

"When I succeed I shall control the world," he cried, and his voice
trembled. "But the damn thing either melts or explodes," he added with a
tinge of indignation.

"You know about Hiroshito's experiments, of course; he used a quartz
bulb containing a mixture of neon gas and the vapour of mercury, placed
at the centre of a coil of silver wire carrying a big oscillatory
current. This induced a ring discharge in the bulb, and the temperature
of the vapour mixture rose until the bulb melted. He calculated that the
temperature of that part of the vapour which carried the current was
over 6,000 deg.. You see, the ring discharge is not in contact with the wall
of the bulb, and can consequently be much hotter. It's like this." Here
Bennie drew with a burnt match on the back of an envelope a diagram of
something which resembled a doughnut in a chianti flask.

Thornton scratched his head. "Yes," he said, "but that's an old
principle, isn't it? Why does Hiro--what's his name--call it--thermic
induction?"

"Oriental imagination, probably," replied Bennie. "Hiroshito observed
that a sudden increase in the temperature of the discharge occurred at
the moment when the silver coil of his transformer became white hot,
which he explained by some mysterious inductive action of the heat
vibrations. I don't follow him at all. His theory's probably all wrong,
but he delivered the goods. He gave me the right tip, even if I have got
him lashed to the mast now. I use a tungsten spiral in a n