Daily Mandate."_)

I.

_To the Editor of "The Daily Mandate."_

SIR,--For a number of years I have been experimenting in wireless telephony
with my installation on the heights of Lavender Hill. On several occasions
recently I have been puzzled by mysterious ringings of the bell attached to
the instrument, which have obviously been set up by long-distance waves. On
taking up the receiver, however, I have been unable to make out any
coherent message, but only a succession of irregular squeaks, although once
I distinctly, heard a word which I can only transcribe as "Gurroo." I have
no doubt in my own mind that one of the more advanced planets is trying to
get in touch with us by means of wireless telephony, and that once we have
deciphered the code we shall be able to converse freely with its
inhabitants. I myself incline to the belief that these rings emanate from
Saturn, which, in spite of its great distance from the earth, is just as
likely to wish to communicate with us as any other planet.

Yours faithfully,

DIOGENES DOTTLE, F.R.S.

II.

Mr. Dottle's remarkable letter, published in our issue of yesterday,
suggesting that inhabitants of Saturn have been endeavouring to communicate
with the earth by means of wireless telephony, has created profound
excitement in scientific and other circles. To a representative of _The
Daily Mandate_ a number of well-known men expressed their views on the
matter, which will undoubtedly stimulate further investigation into the
momentous possibilities of this epoch-making revelation. The opinions
advanced, which are, on the whole, highly favourable to Mr. Dottle's
theory, are as follows:--

_Sir Potiphar Shucks, the famous astronomer_: "The possibility that Saturn
is inhabited is one that, in the absence of incontrovertible evidence
either way, should not lightly be set aside. Assuming that it is inhabited,
that its people are skilled in the use of wireless telephony and that it is
possible to set up waves of sufficient intensity to travel all the way from
Saturn to us, I see no reason why communications of the nature suggested by
Mr. Dottle should not at some future date become an accomplished fact."

_Mr. Artesian Pitts, the well-known imaginative historian_: "I have long
held the belief that Saturn is inhabited by a type of being possessing a
cylinder-like body composed of an unresisting pulp, a high dome-shaped head
filled with gas, and long tentacles, bristling with electr