precepts till men should learn and be tamed. But from their close
observation of mankind the moon-dwellers knew they were too uncivilized to
get any good from books, and that they certainly could not learn without a
teacher. Hence arose the suggestion that missionaries be sent in place of
books. As soon as this idea was broached thousands of volunteers offered
themselves, and the plan would certainly have been attempted if there had
been the slightest possibility that one could live to reach the earth.

"The next proposal came from the medical profession. Long before this
time, when the inhabitants of the moon were sometimes governed by their
passions and before the day of peace and good will had fully arrived, it
had been discovered that what was known as the pugnacious instinct was
only a disease, bad blood in fact as well as in name, and a remedy had
been found for it. This was nothing less than the bi-chloride of comet.
Small comets, such as we call meteorites, were picked up on the surface of
the moon and put to this practical use. This medicine, administered as an
hypodermic injection, produced wonderful effects, the patient, although
afflicted with the most quarrelsome disposition, becoming as mild and
harmless as a lamb. However warlike one might be, a few days' treatment
would take the fighting spirit out of him so completely that the mere
doubling up his fists and placing them in front of his face would make him
feel ill. Peace societies got hold of the remedy and tried it on the
soldiers of the standing armies with such success that war had to be
abandoned because the men would not fight.

"And now the old recipe was brought out, a large quantity of the medicine
manufactured, and bombs made and filled with it, each one containing full
directions for its use written in Volapiik. These were fired to the earth,
and, strange to say, the simple language was soon learned, and the moon-
dwellers had the satisfaction of seeing men rapidly metamorphosed into a