scientific way."

Between two pieces of smooth wood, Craig laid the letter flat, so
that the edges projected about a thirty-second of an inch. He
flattened the projecting edge of the envelope, then roughened it,
and finally slit it open.

"You see, Walter, later I will place the letter back, apply a hair
line of strong white gum, and unite the edges of the envelope under
pressure. Let us see what we have here."

He drew out what seemed to be a manuscript on very thin paper, and
spread it out flat on the table before us. Apparently it was a
scientific paper on a rather unusual subject, "Spontaneous Generation
of Life." It was in longhand and read:


*Many thanks for the copy of the paper by Prof. Betallion of Dijon
on the artificial fertilization of the eggs of frogs. I consider
it a most important advance in the artificial generation of life.
__________________________________________________________________

*In the printed book this is shown as handwritten
__________________________________________________________________
=20

I will not attempt to reproduce in facsimile the entire manuscript,
for it is unnecessary, and, in fact, I merely set down part of its
contents here because it seemed so utterly valueless to me at the
time. It went on to say: