My
transformer, with its concentrating mirror, acted as one pole, from
which energy was transferred to the other pole, and that other pole
immediately flung off atoms of its own substance in the direction of
the transformer. But these atoms were stopped by the glass wall of
the vacuum tube; and when I tried the experiment with the metal
removed from the vacuum, and surrounded with air, it failed utterly.
"This at first completely discouraged me, until I suddenly remembered
that the moon is in a vacuum, the great vacuum of interplanetary
space, and that it possesses no perceptible atmosphere of its own. At
this a great light broke around me, and I shouted 'Eureka!' Without
hesitation I constructed a transformer of great power, furnished with
a large parabolic mirror to transmit the waves in parallel lines,
erected the machinery and buildings here, and when all was ready for
the final experiment I telegraphed for you." Prepared by these
explanations I was all on fire to see the thing tried. Hall was no
less eager, and, calling in his two faithful assistants to make the
final adjustments, he led the way into what he facetiously named "the
lunar chamber.
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