RESCUE WORE IN HISTORY. 81 



EESCUE WORK IN HISTOEY. 



By President DAVID STARR JORDAN, 



LELAND STANFORD, JK., UNIVERSITY. 



AT the November meeting of the Astral Camera Club, Mr. Asa 

 ■ Marvin presiding, Prof. Abram Gridley, the learned master of 

 the Alcalde Union High School, spoke on the unique topic of his pro- 

 posed 'Rescue Work in History/ 



He began with the bold declaration that the two great discoveries, 

 twin triumphs of the human mind, which will make this age memo- 

 rable, were these, the Banishment of Space and the Annihilation of 

 Time. He proposed to illustrate the results of these discoveries and to 

 show how they could be turned to the advantage of mankind by means 

 of an esoteric foray through the echoing aisles of the past. 



"It has been shown by the great Dr. Hickok," said Professor Grid- 

 ley, "that matter is but a portion of space rilled with a modicum of 

 'force, which is actively engaged in holding itself still.' When this 

 activity becomes passive, matter is no more. Thus as matter has no 

 real existence, space, which is its matrix, is banished also from the 

 category of realities. 



"Even more remarkable is the discovery of the famous Dr. Hensoldt 

 that time could be literally 'rolled away as a scroll,' and therefore prac- 

 tically annihilated. This fact is stated in these memorable words: 'We 

 count our time by the rotations of our planet. If you were to go 

 close to the north pole and then travel around it in a westerly direction 

 you could walk back all the lost days of your childhood. And if you 

 are moderately swift-footed you might run around that pole until you 

 caught the earth where it was when Julius Cassar first landed in Britain 

 or when the pyramids were built." 



"Only this year," continued the learned schoolmaster, "has the 

 practical significance of all this been brought to light." Referring to 

 the phenomena of thought-transference, our friend and guide, the ven- 

 erable sage of Angels, spoke before us these words: 



" 'All manner of sensations,' Mr. Dean has told us, 'may be trans- 

 mitted, and these over any distance or through any time. It is as easy, 

 for example, for me as an adept to speak to Marcus Brutus as for me 

 to speak to the Lama of Thibet, and equally easy for Plato or Ptolemy 

 to speak to me. Through this power I may yet dissuade Brutus from 

 his awful deed or save Caesar from that ambition through which fall the 



VOL. LVIII. — 6 



