Its awful possibilities began slowly to develop in her mind, and she asked breathlessly,--"What would happen if you were to turn that machine and point it towards the centre of the earth ?" "I told you what would happen.

Vienna would lie in ruins, and possibly the whole Austrian Empire, and perhaps some adjoining countries would become a mass of impalpable dust.

It may be that the world itself would dissolve.

I cannot tell what the magnitude of the result might be, for I have not dared to risk the experiment." "Oh, this is too frightful to think about," she cried.

"You must destroy the machine, Professor, and you must never make another." "What! And give up the hope that my name will descend to posterity ?" "Professor Seigfried, when once this machine becomes known to the world, there will be no posterity for your name to descend to.