man the two elements are mixed in equal proportions. There is no
sex among the ether-folk, their numbers being kept up by the
influx of souls from the various planets. "Alimentation, that
necessity which tyrannizes over men and animals, is not imposed
upon the inhabitants of ether. Their bodies must be repaired and
sustained by the simple respiration of the fluid in which they
are immersed, that is, of ether." Most likely, continues our
scientific author, the physiological functions of the ether-folk
are confined to respiration, and that it is possible to breathe
"without numerous organs is proved by the fact that in all of a
whole class of animals--the batrachians--the mere bare skin
constitutes the whole machinery of respiration" (p. 95). Allowing
for the unfortunate slip of the pen by which "batrachians" are
substituted for "fresh-water polyps," how can we fail to admire
the severity of the scientific method employed in reaching these
interesting conclusions?

But the King of Serendib must die, nor will the relentless scythe
of Time spare our Etherians, with all their exalted attributes.
They will die repeatedly; and after having through sundry periods
of probation attained spiritual perfection, they will all pour
into the sun. Since it is the sun which originates life and
feeling and thought upon the surface of our earth, "why may we
not declare that the rays transmitted by the sun to the earth and
the other planets are nothing more nor less than the emanations
of these souls?" And now we may begin to form an adequate
conception, of the rigorously scientific character of our
author's method. There have been many hypotheses by which to
account for the supply of solar radiance. One of the most
ingenious and probable of these hypotheses is that of Helmholtz,