"Ah," he replied, "and so you again crush my facts with your theory. Well, let me ask a question." "Proceed." "Did you ever observe a bubble resting on a bubble?" "Yes." "Did you ever place a pipe-stem in a partly filled bowl of soap water, and by blowing through it fill the bowl with bubbles?" "Yes." "Did you ever calculate the tensile strength of the material from which you blew the bubble?" "No; for soap water has no appreciable strength." "And yet you know that a bubble made of suds has not only strength, but elasticity. Suppose a bubble of energy floating in space were to be covered to the depth of the thickness of a sheet of tissue paper with the dust of space, would that surprise you?" "No." "Suppose two such globes of energy, covered with dust, were to be telescoped or attached together, would you marvel at the fact?" "No." He drew a picture on a piece of paper, in which one line was inclosed by another, and remarked: "The pencil mark on this paper is proportionately thicker than the crust of the earth over the earth cavern I have described. Even if it were made of soap suds, it could revolve through space and maintain its contour." "But the earth is a globe," I interjected. "You do not mean an exact globe?" "No; it is flattened at the poles." He took from his pocket two thin rubber balls, one slightly larger than the other. With his knife he divided the larger ball, cutting it into halves. He then placed one of the sections upon the perfect ball, and held the arrangement between the gas light and the wall. [Illustration: FIG. 33. A A, telescoped energy spheres.] "See; is not the shadow flattened, as your earth is, at the poles?" "Yes; but the earth is not a shadow." "We will not argue that point now," he replied, and then asked: "Suppose such a compound shell as this were to revolve through space and continuously collect dust, most of it of the earth's temperature, forming a fluid (water), would not that dust be propelled naturally from the poles?" "Yes; according to our theory." "Perhaps," said he, "the contact edge of the invisible spheres of energy which compose your earth bubbles, for planets are bubbles, that have been covered with water and soil during the time the energy bubble, which is the real bone of the globe, has been revolving through space; perhaps, could you reach the foundation of the earth dust, you would find it not a perfect sphere, but a compound skeleton, as of two bubbles locked, or rather telescoped together. [See Fig. 34.] "Are you sure that my guide did not lead me through the space between the bubbles?" Then he continued: "Do not be shocked at what I am about to assert, for, as a member of materialistic humanity, you will surely consider me irrational when I say that matter, materials, ponderous substances, one and all, so far as the ponderous part is concerned have no strength." "What! no strength?" "None whatever." I grasped the poker. "Is not this matter?" "Yes."