"Yes; I asked if you were not cold. For ten minutes have we stood here in this freezing temperature, each busy with his own thoughts." "Yes; I am cold," came the reply. "And, cold as my body may be, my dear friend, my heart is colder. I would that I could shake off these depressing feelings, but my mind will wander. Even now I thought how easily, how swiftly, and painlessly man could from this air-ship terminate a distasteful and annoying existence. Yes," looking into the other's eyes, "yes, one has but to throw himself over this rail, and life passes from him without a pang." "And do you call that a painless death, being crushed upon the earth below into a shapeless mass?" asked Hugh, with a shudder, glancing over the rail. "Yes, Hugh. Death from falling from a great height is perfectly painless. Let me explain it," warming to the subject, and losing some of his melancholy in the prospective discussion of a scientific theme. "Let me tell you why such is the case. We are now 10,000 feet above the ocean, are we not?" "So I read the barometer, a quarter of an hour ago," answered Hugh. "Well, no matter; let us assume that we are at that elevation. Now, what would be our velocity falling from this point upon reaching the surface of the earth below?" "Really, I could not answer that question without working it out," the other returned. "Well, it would be just 802 feet per second," said Cobb. "And that velocity at 500, 1,000 and 5,000 feet below us would be 179, 253, and 567 feet, respectively, per second. A human being falling is, for an instant, convulsed by a terrible, awful feeling; not a feeling of pain, but rather a feeling of apprehension. This fear, this apprehension, is but momentary, I say; it lasts during the first second of the descent only, or for a distance of about sixteen feet. After this first second the senses become confused, circulation of the blood is retarded, a feeling of rest, a sense of pleasure, pervades the whole soul. This state of ecstasy, which it should really be called, increases as the velocity of descent is accelerated, until the mind can no longer enjoy the delightful sensation, but loses all knowledge, all thought, all feeling, and insensibility ensues. This condition of the senses is produced when the velocity of the body has attained a rate of 400 feet a second, or at the fourteenth second of descent--about 2,480 feet below the point of starting. The cause of this is, that the lungs no longer perform their function; they fail to take in the quantity of air, and consequently the oxygen necessary to fully renovate the blood. The velocity being so great, the air is pushed aside by the falling body, and fails to surround that portion of the body not directly in the line of descent, with air at the normal pressure. The air supply being thus diminished, the blood leaps through the veins, rushes to the brain, and the mind knows no more. A human body of 175