fter the brain has been made
visible by a light more potent than the X ray. After this exposure the
operator, with his wizard magnifying lens, watches the tiny tremulous
brain cells in their infinitesimal quivering, as they carry messages
from the soul to the world of sense and being.

The voluntary nerve action is distinguished from the involuntary, and
there is no escape from the conclusions formed by an expert observer.
The parts of the brain at work must of necessity determine the nature of
the thought, and amplified experiments have been made to prove the
correctness of these processes.

This scientific mind reading impressed me as the highest expression of
inventive skill that had come to my attention in any world of space, and
gave me new light on some of the old mysteries of mind and matter.

I tarried as long as possible on this instructive planet and have not
yet forgotten many of the valuable hints of inventions that can be
reproduced in my own world. Surely we are far enough away from Ploid to
escape any charge of infringement, should we proceed to patent some of
their inventions.

CHAPTER XVI.

A Singular Planet.

I visited the other seventy worlds that revolve around Sirius. Among
them is one of note, called Zik, which is forty-two hundred millions of
miles from its sun, and is slightly smaller than our world. It is
inhabited by a race of pigmies which I will call Zikites. Wonderful
indeed is the intelligence of these creatures, although their form is
out of symmetry according to our standards. I will therefore avoid a
description of their physical features, lest it might mar the picture of
their accomplishments.

The air of Zik is heavy and the sky is opal in its effects. The chemists
have thus far found in nature ninety elementary substances, and it is
partly due to this large variety that the Zikites have surpassed their
fellow men in thousands of worlds.

As you study the past events of this unusual planet, you are reminded
of our own history. On Zik there are heathen tribes and all grades of
conflicting civilized nations.

War has reddened this distant world for several thousand years, and as
yet there is no peace. Notwithstanding all this unceasing upheaval, the
tide of human progress has steadily risen. It does appear that the
highest light of intellect is generated like electric light through
sharp friction.

The Zikites have had their Men of War, vessels of mighty strength and