Fantasy fiction; Utopian fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
Next, he bound his head and body with wide strips of cloth, surrounding
the loins, and up to the lower parts of the breasts, with some fifteen
wrappings. This being satisfactorily accomplished, he threw a greatcoat
over his shoulders, and said:
"I will now explain the working of the various apparatus which we have
placed in position. After I have wrapped my face, as I will show you
later on, I will lie down within this mold; you will then place the
door, supporting me upon it, on its hinges and close the catch. Through
the small glass door in the upper part of the case, you will arrange
this platinum tube from my mouth to the orifice in the side of the
case, just here where this wheel is," and he pointed to a little wheel
made on the end of a projecting tube through the side of the case.
"Opening the small door, you will have free access to my body, and
you will attach the bandages upon my face to the little spring catch
which you see upon the inside of the case, near the upper part. Cover
my face and bandages well with plaster of Paris, so that no entrance
may be given to the ozone. Take those eight bottles of ozone, and
quickly empty the contents upon both sides of my body, into the side
troughs which you see, and at once close the door. I will take this
position at 2:30 o'clock, and immediately take a dose of five grains
of opium. In twenty minutes after, by your watches, you will turn this
wheel on the side, one point, and every minute thereafter a point,
until the forty-five points, or full revolution of the wheel, have
been passed over. This is to shut off the supply of air gradually as
the ozone commences to enter through the pores of my body. Have some
fresh plaster ready, so that the instant this is accomplished, you can,
by quickly opening the little door, pull out the tube from my mouth,
and cover the opening with a spoonful of plaster; then, as quickly as
possible, withdraw your hand, leaving the pipe inside, and close the
door again and seal it with Portland cement. Before the ozone is placed
within the case, see that the lower door upon which I lie is sealed by
this preparation," and he took a medium-sized bottle, and gave it to
Craft. "Now, as regards the compass-needle, I will explain its action."
He moved over toward the instrument as he spoke, but suddenly started
back upon discovering that the needle no longer pointed to the figures
993.
With a troubled look upon his face he gazed upon it. The needle now
pointed to 1,007.8, or to a reading of 16 degrees 47.8 minutes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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