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Tesseract, v. 2, issue 4, April 1937
Page 4
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4 tesseract BEHIND THE SCENES WITH PROF. ACE QUIRES by Tesse Ract (Roy A. Squires, II) (In this article our feature writer, Miss Tesse Ract, takes us behind the scenes with one of the best known of our modern scientists. While he is far from being mentally deficient the Prof. [[underline]]is[[end underline]] rather eccentric. Quite eccentric. As proof of this we offer the fact that he reads pseudo-scientific magazines, a quantity popularly known as science-fiction. But let Miss Ract tell the story..) Upon entering the living quarters of Prof. Queries I was surprised to see him struggling up a flight of stairs carrying a large stack of pulp magazines. On closer observation I noted that they were all current issues of Astazing Stories. On espying me he attempted to hide them and only succeeded in dropping half the pile on the steps. Seeing that that was now useless he entreated me not to tell a soul of what I had witnessed. After agreeing I asked the obbious question and learned that he intended placing the entire assortment in an aging chamber of his own invention and then selling them to the group of science-fiction fans who contend that nothing is better than magazines of the good old days. The possibilities of that plan staggered me but I recovered enough to ask to be shown thru the Prof's lab. The first thing to catch my eye was a miniature maze of mirrors covering about 30 square feet of table space. I learned that this was an undeveloped model of a "death ray". By way of demonstration the Prof placed a sheet of paper in a rack before one of the end mirrors. He then proceeded to flssh a lamp before another reflector at the extreme opposite end. After making a few minor adjustments he repeated his queer antics for a time then made more changes and started all over again. Seeing no end in sight I interupted the Prof who, by now, was totally oblivious of my presence, and demanded an explanation. He acquainted me with the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction theory -- and, I must confess, at the time, I saw no connection. Perceiving the blank expression on my face he appeared quite exasperated and proclaimed that the success of his machine depended on the converse of this theory. If, when attaining the speed of light, an object loses one dimension he deducted that anything traveling at this speed, when slowed down, would gain a dimension. I agreed with him that light itself was the most logical subject for experimentattion. Who knows, if he gets enough mirrors he may yet succeed in decelerating light. It is no pleasant thought; that of being struck by one dimensional becam traveling at the stupendous rate of 180,000 miles per second! Still in a daze from the effects of the first discovery he had disclosed to me, this one left me fairly reeling. As I attempted to make my way out he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward a most amazing piece of apparatus situated in a corner of the lab. Ready for anything I awaited enlightenment as to its purpose. The Prof was quite excited but out of his ravings I managed to gather that whereas radio engineers, in their efforts to produce waves of higher frequencies, were starting at the low frequency end of the spectrum and working up, he was beginning at the high frequencies and working down to any desirable wave length. He further explained that with sound modulated onto a heat wave no one would be able to receive the signal without one of his special receivers as an ordinary one would be burned out. This rendered unnecesary the use of secret codes. As soon as possible I took leave of the old nut and walked around the block a few times to clear my head. In the light of day his death ray didn't seem so hot. I have yet to see a company of soldiers, each man capable of toting around a weapon the size of his ray machine. However, I must ask all who read this to please refrain from mentioning this fault to Prof Quires. He seems to be having a lot of fun out of it anyway. Ye Olde Ende (Enclosed you will find (a) one folder of matches. This wll save you the trouble of hunting for a match yourself. You can see - ahem -- the quality of my work is not affected by this mass production. In fact it couldn't be worse. RAS). JOIN THE S. F. A. A. ! Dues only ten cents per year! Join now!!
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4 tesseract BEHIND THE SCENES WITH PROF. ACE QUIRES by Tesse Ract (Roy A. Squires, II) (In this article our feature writer, Miss Tesse Ract, takes us behind the scenes with one of the best known of our modern scientists. While he is far from being mentally deficient the Prof. [[underline]]is[[end underline]] rather eccentric. Quite eccentric. As proof of this we offer the fact that he reads pseudo-scientific magazines, a quantity popularly known as science-fiction. But let Miss Ract tell the story..) Upon entering the living quarters of Prof. Queries I was surprised to see him struggling up a flight of stairs carrying a large stack of pulp magazines. On closer observation I noted that they were all current issues of Astazing Stories. On espying me he attempted to hide them and only succeeded in dropping half the pile on the steps. Seeing that that was now useless he entreated me not to tell a soul of what I had witnessed. After agreeing I asked the obbious question and learned that he intended placing the entire assortment in an aging chamber of his own invention and then selling them to the group of science-fiction fans who contend that nothing is better than magazines of the good old days. The possibilities of that plan staggered me but I recovered enough to ask to be shown thru the Prof's lab. The first thing to catch my eye was a miniature maze of mirrors covering about 30 square feet of table space. I learned that this was an undeveloped model of a "death ray". By way of demonstration the Prof placed a sheet of paper in a rack before one of the end mirrors. He then proceeded to flssh a lamp before another reflector at the extreme opposite end. After making a few minor adjustments he repeated his queer antics for a time then made more changes and started all over again. Seeing no end in sight I interupted the Prof who, by now, was totally oblivious of my presence, and demanded an explanation. He acquainted me with the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction theory -- and, I must confess, at the time, I saw no connection. Perceiving the blank expression on my face he appeared quite exasperated and proclaimed that the success of his machine depended on the converse of this theory. If, when attaining the speed of light, an object loses one dimension he deducted that anything traveling at this speed, when slowed down, would gain a dimension. I agreed with him that light itself was the most logical subject for experimentattion. Who knows, if he gets enough mirrors he may yet succeed in decelerating light. It is no pleasant thought; that of being struck by one dimensional becam traveling at the stupendous rate of 180,000 miles per second! Still in a daze from the effects of the first discovery he had disclosed to me, this one left me fairly reeling. As I attempted to make my way out he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward a most amazing piece of apparatus situated in a corner of the lab. Ready for anything I awaited enlightenment as to its purpose. The Prof was quite excited but out of his ravings I managed to gather that whereas radio engineers, in their efforts to produce waves of higher frequencies, were starting at the low frequency end of the spectrum and working up, he was beginning at the high frequencies and working down to any desirable wave length. He further explained that with sound modulated onto a heat wave no one would be able to receive the signal without one of his special receivers as an ordinary one would be burned out. This rendered unnecesary the use of secret codes. As soon as possible I took leave of the old nut and walked around the block a few times to clear my head. In the light of day his death ray didn't seem so hot. I have yet to see a company of soldiers, each man capable of toting around a weapon the size of his ray machine. However, I must ask all who read this to please refrain from mentioning this fault to Prof Quires. He seems to be having a lot of fun out of it anyway. Ye Olde Ende (Enclosed you will find (a) one folder of matches. This wll save you the trouble of hunting for a match yourself. You can see - ahem -- the quality of my work is not affected by this mass production. In fact it couldn't be worse. RAS). JOIN THE S. F. A. A. ! Dues only ten cents per year! Join now!!
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