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EDISON'S CONQUEST OF MARS
BY GARRETT P. SERVISS.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY A. LANGLEY SEARLES, Ph. D.
CARCOSA HOUSE1947LOS ANGELES
The special contents of this volume are copyright 1947 by CARCOSA HOUSE.FIRST EDITION
[Transcriber's note: This is a Rule 6 Clearance. PG has not been able tofind a U.S. Copyright Renewal]
DEDICATEDtoGARRETT PUTMAN SERVISS
A COSMOPOLITE IN TIME1851-1929
TABLE OF CONTENTS
_Introduction_
CHAPTER ONE _"Let Us Go To Mars"_
CHAPTER TWO _The Disintegrator_
CHAPTER THREE _The Congress of Nations_
CHAPTER FOUR _To Conquer Another World_
CHAPTER FIVE _The Footprint on the Moon_
CHAPTER SIX _The Monsters on the Asteroid_
CHAPTER SEVEN _A Planet of Gold_
CHAPTER EIGHT _"The Martians are Coming!"_
CHAPTER NINE _Journey's End_
CHAPTER TEN _The Great Smoke Barrier_
CHAPTER ELEVEN _The Earth Girl_
CHAPTER TWELVE _Retreat to Deimos_
CHAPTER THIRTEEN _There Were Giants in the Earth_
CHAPTER FOURTEEN _The Flood Gates of Mars_
CHAPTER FIFTEEN _Vengeance is Ours_
CHAPTER SIXTEEN _The Woman From Ceres_
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN _The Fearful Oaths of Colonel Smith_
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN _The Great Ovation_
_Bibliography_
ILLUSTRATIONS
_"Like men, and yet not like men...."_
_"... rising out of the shadow of the globe...."_
_"A consultation in Wizard Edison's laboratory...."_
_"Through this the meteor had passed...."_
_"... the ruins of ... an ancient watch tower."_
_"... another of our ships ... was destroyed."_
_"Two of the Martians were stretched dead upon the ground."_
_"He might have been a match for twenty of us."_
_"... he proceeded to teach us ... words of his language."_
_"... approaching from the eastward a large airship...."_
_"... a human being here on Mars!"_
_"The gigantic statue of their leader is THE GREAT SPHINX!"_
_"It was a panic of giants."_
These illustrations are a selection of the best from the originalnewspaper installments and were redrawn for this volume by BernardManley, Jr., of Chicago, Illinois.
INTRODUCTION
If you picked up a magazine and read in it a story mentioning apassenger-carrying rocket driven by atomic power furnished by asubstance prepared from uranium, you probably would not be greatlysurprised. After all, such an invention is today but a step or two aheadof cold fact. But you might be surprised to learn that if this story was_A Columbus of Space_, the one I happen to have in mind, yourgrand-parents may well have read it before you were born--for _AColumbus of Space_ was published in _All-Story_ magazine in 1909, thirtyyears before the potentialities of U235 were realized, and nearly fortybefore the atomic bomb became a problem for people to think about.
Did the author of this story simply make a lucky shot in the dark?Perhaps; but let me tell those who are inclined to think so that he wasa Carnegie lecturer, a member of half-a-dozen learned societies, one ofthe first to write a book on Einstein's theory of relativity, and aninternationally known figure in his specialty, astronomy. His name isGarrett Putman Serviss.
He was born on March 24, 1851, at Sharon Springs, New York, of nativeNew England stock. His interest in astronomy began as a boy, and wasgreatly stimulated when he began to examine the beauties of the heavensthrough a small telescope, the gift of his older brother. Thisencouraged his enrolling in the course of science at Cornell Universityin 1868 (its opening year) from which he was graduated in 1872. Therefollowed two years at the Columbia College Law School, which he left asan LL. B.; and in June, 1874 he was admitted to the bar. He did notpractice law, however, but turned instead to newspaper reporting.
Whence came this interest in law and journalism? We can only guess,tracing its onset to the man's college days. As a Cornell sophomore, hewas the class poet; as a senior, its historian; and on commencement daydelivered an oration on "The Perpetuity of the Heroic Element." Butwhatever the origin of the interest, unquestioned ability supported it.From the position of reporter and correspondent with the New York_Tribune_ he rose to the post of copy editor on the staff of the _Sun_.Finally he became night editor, a position which he held for a fulldecade.
During this period we can see the old interest in science graduallyassert itself. At first it took the form of anonymous articles, mainlyon matters astronomical. These usually appeared on the editorial pageand, partly because they were then a novelty, partly because of a quirkof fate--editor-in-chief Charles Dana frequently had them set up in boldtype, believing their logic was a fine counter-irritant for heatedpolitical campaigns of the day--the attention of subscribers was focusedon them more sharply than usual. In fact, readers over the entirecountry were soon conjecturing about the identity of "the _Sun's_astronomer." Very few knew that it was Garrett Serviss, who successfullycloaked his identity for years.
Success in written popularizing of science led him to attempt itsduplication on the lecture platform. There his triumphs were such as tolead him to resign as night editor of the _Sun_ in 1892 and makeastronomy his life work. Until 1894 he was occupied with "The UraniaLectures." These were sponsored by Andrew Carnegie, and dealt withgeology, astronomy, archeology and similar scientific topics. With themServiss successfully toured the country, and it was only because of thegreat difficulty in transporting the elaborate staging equipment theyrequired that they were eventually discontinued. He continued to givepopular lectures, however, and one of his few biographers has creditedhis greatness on the rostrum to "a pleasant voice, a charmingpersonality, and a genuine enthusiasm for his subject."
One cannot doubt this enthusiasm; it shines forth unmistakably from allhis writings. Probably, too, it played the major part in enabling him toreach a wider reading public than any other astronomer before or afterhim. For he never abandoned the pen. Up until his death, which occurredon May 25, 1929, he wrote continually, syndicated newspaper columns,magazine articles, books on astronomy, fiction.
His first book, _Astronomy with an Opera Glass_, appeared in 1888. Hewas responsible for several other scientific titles (the reader isreferred to the bibliography at the end of this volume for a detailedlisting); they include _Einstein's Theory of Relativity_, which is acompanion work to the motion picture of the same name. He was alsoeditor-in-chief of Collier's sixteen-volume _Popular Science Library_.It might be added that much of the editing and captioning of theEinstein film was his work, and that he collaborated with Leon Barrittin the invention of the Barritt-Serviss Star and Planet Finder, a devicestill in use.
In comparison with his other writings his output of fiction is small:five novels and a single short story. It is, however, characterized bythe same logic and interest, this time tossed aloft to soar on the wingsof romantic imagination. Two of these works deal in some detail with theworld of the future as he thought it might be--prophetic fiction, if youwill; another two give us a picture of life on neighboring planets; andthe final couple, although they maintain a terrestrial locale, show aswide a scope of creative invention.
In only one of these does astronomy fail to play at least a supportingrole. That is
_The Sky Pirate_ (1909), which is an adventure story laidin the year 1936. Its plot revolves around an abduction for ransom in aperiod which is visualized as rampant with piracy because of the generaladoption of air transportation. As usual, fact has outmoded prophecy,for long before 1936 airplane speeds exceeded the 140 miles per hourServiss predicted. We still need, though, his invention which enablesbadly damaged aircraft to drift slowly down to a safe landing.
_The Moon Metal_ (1900) deals with the problem of a strange, lunar metalused as a monetary standard to replace gold when, in 1949, huge newdeposits of that metal rendered it common as iron. This is of shortstory length, and amply demonstrates the author's mastery of thatmedium.
From the prophetic as well as the entertainment standpoint, one ofGarrett Serviss' most interesting novels is _A Columbus of Space_. Herehe visualizes atomic energy liberated and harnessed to drive a rocket tothe planet Venus. His conception is uncannily close to truth; he namesuranium as the raw material from which is extracted the vital substance,a "crystallized powder" which releases its energy on proper treatment.No less intriguing is the description of the intelligent civilizationson Venus which explorers from this world find.
Two later novels came from his pen: _The Moon Maiden_ (1915) and _TheSecond Deluge_ (1911). The former is a scientific mystery, and probablythe least distinguished of his works. The latter, conversely, isprobably his best. It tells of a watery nebula which collides with theearth, flooding it with a second deluge; and of how the human race issaved through the wisdom of one man who foresaw the coming disaster intime to build a second ark. A new civilization which has mastered thesecret of atomic energy springs up on the planet as the waters recede.The canvas is a broad one, and the author does it full justice.
Serviss' outstanding stories have been published abroad and re-printedin this country several times, a deserved tribute to their quality andpopularity. His very first work of fiction, however, has been shroudedin obscurity for nearly half a century. Indeed, among collectors andaficionados of the fantastic there was for a time debate as to itsactual existence. This is hardly surprising, for until its reprinting inthis book _Edison's Conquest of Mars_ lay buried in the CongressionalLibrary's file of the ephemeral New York _Evening Journal_, where it ranserially in early 1898.
This is a remarkable work. First of all, as many readers will quicklydiscern, it is in a sense a sequel to H. G. Wells' well known _War ofthe Worlds_. The latter novel was serialized by _Cosmopolitan_ magazinein 1897; it caught the public's fickle fancy, and was widely commentedupon. All evidence indicates that Serviss also read it: he was a regularcontributor to _Cosmopolitan_. Yet I am inclined to doubt that merereading of _The War of the Worlds_ in itself prompted him to produce awork in the same vein. Wells' effort was not concluded until theDecember, 1897 number of the magazine, and _Edison's Conquest of Mars_began on the following January 12th--a scant six weeks later. ForServiss it was the initial excursion into the realm of fiction, and itis hard to conceive his so hastily adopting a new metier on personalimpulse alone. These circumstances, in conjunction with the context ofthe novel itself, clearly stamp the entire business as clevercapitalization on already existent publicity. Again, I doubt if hethought of it at first in that light; his name was well enough known sothat he could live by his knowledge, not his wits. But to a newspapereditor the prospect of combining the authority of a nationally known andreputable astronomer with a work designed to satisfy a reading public'swaiting appetite for the unusual--in short, presenting legitimatizedsensationalism at the psychological moment--this must have hadirresistible appeal. That _Edison's Conquest of Mars_ was written oneditorial commission, perhaps as fast as it appeared, seems, then, themost probable interpretation.
Historically, the work is one of the earliest to employ theinterplanetary theme. It is the first to portray a battle fought byspace craft in the airless void; and possibly the first also to proposethe use of sealed suits that enable men to traverse a vacuum. Of themore minor twists of plot initially found here that have since becomeparts of the "pulp" science-fiction writers' standard stock-in-trade,there are literally too many to mention.
The novel opens with a description of the ruins of eastern America.Although the Martians who survived terrestrial bacteria have left theplanet, astronomical observations show a recurrence on the red planet ofthe same lights that were a prelude to the first onslaught. Theconclusion is inevitable: a second invasion is on the way. Servisspictures the gathering together of the most famous scientists of theday--Edison, Roentgen, Lord Kelvin and others. The Martian machines andweapons left behind are dismantled; their principles of operation arediscovered and duplicated; and a defense against their forces isperfected. Armed with this knowledge and with the "disintegrator," adevice invented by Edison which is capable of reducing to atoms anysubstance at which it is aimed, the nations of the world pool theirresources and launch an invasion of Mars across interplanetary space.
More by way of explanation than justification, it should be stated thatscience today is diminishing the number of critics who are wont to labelplots of this nature "too fantastic." For them to say that the colossalhas become more important than the rational is, I feel, misleading. Forthis is a branch of literature that is in many respects the mostrational of all: it is a symptom of progress. These same critics alsocomplain that a fantastic plot is frequently developed at the expense ofcharacterization. To this, one may answer that at times what happens canbe more important than the people to whom it happens. In essence, bothcharges derive from laying undue stress upon psychology as the onlylegitimate fibre from which a fictional cloth may be woven. Undoubtedlypsychology is necessary--but it can be a warp alone if a strong woof issupplied. Let me cite two imaginary examples. If a single scientist hadreleased atomic energy and was in doubt as to whether he should destroyhis secret or reveal it, the psychological processes that determine hisdecision become more relevant to consideration than the decision itself.But if that same scientist managed by the aid of atomic energy totransport himself to Mars, I would unquestionably be more interested inwhat he found on that planet than in why an Oedipus complex drove himthere in the first place.
In the fiction of Garrett Serviss the sweeping magnitude of eventsdescribed gives them the leading role. Yet within the limits he has setfor himself he has used human psychology to good advantage. His storiesdo not lack empathy, and they are rich in pictorial detail. Inevitablythey reflect the mores of the time, but do not emphasize them unduly. Asa consequence they remain readable and entertaining even to this day.
They show, too, that he was familiar with the works of the few authorsin the genre who preceeded him. _A Columbus of Space_ was dedicated "tothe readers of Jules Verne's romances,"
Not because the author flatters himself that he can walk in the Footsteps of that Immortal Dreamer, but because, like Jules Verne, he believes that the World of Imagination is as legitimate a Domain of the Human Mind as the World of Fact.
Garrett Serviss modestly underestimated his abilities. With theperspective we possess today it can be seen that he is easily the equalof Verne, standing with him and H. G. Wells as one of the foremostscience-fiction writers of his day.
A. Langley Searles_New York, N. Y.__May 1947_
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