, Thomas Roch's invention possessed this power, it
assured the offensive and defensive superiority of his native country.
But might not the inventor be exaggerating, notwithstanding that the
tests of other engines he had conceived had proved incontestably that
they were all he had claimed them to be? This, experiment could alone
show, and it was precisely here where the rub came in. Roch would
not agree to experiment until the millions at which he valued his
fulgurator had first been paid to him.

It is certain that a sort of disequilibrium had then occurred in his
mental faculties. It was felt that he was developing a condition of
mind that would gradually lead to definite madness. No government
could possibly condescend to treat with him under the conditions he
imposed.

The French commission was compelled to break off all negotiations with
him, and the newspapers, even those of the Radical Opposition, had to
admit that it was difficult to follow up the affair.

In view of the excess of subjectivity which was unceasingly augmenting
in the profoundly disturbed mind of Thomas Roch, no one will be
surprised at the fact that the cord of patriotism gradually relaxed
until it ceased to vibrate. For the honor of human nature be it said
that Thomas Roch was by this time irresponsible for his actions. He
preserved his whole consciousness only in so far as subjects bearing
directly upon his invention were concerned. In this particular he had
lost nothing of his mental power. But in all that related to the most
ordinary details of existence his moral decrepitude increased daily
and deprived him of complete responsibility for his acts.

Thomas Roch's invention having been refused by the commission, steps
ought to have been taken to prevent him from offering it elsewhere.
Nothing of the kind was done, and there a great mistake was made.

The inevitable was bound to happen, and it did. Under a growing
irritability the sentiment of patriotism, which is the very essence of
the citizen--who before belonging to himself belongs to his country--
became extinct in the soul of the disappointed inventor. His thoughts
turned towards other nations. He crossed the frontier, and forgetting
the ineffaceable past, offered the fulgurator to Germany.

There, as soon as his exorbitant demands were made known, the
government refused to receive his communication. Besides, it so
happened that the military authorities were just then absorbed by th