Desiring to make an analysis of this mineral, which the southerners called molygdon, the chemist procured a great quantity of these rods, cut them into lengths of a few inches, and tied them up tightly in bundles which he left for some days on a shelf in his laboratory till he was ready to examine them. When he was at leisure, he took one of these bundles, untied it, and threw the little rods into a flat vessel full of water, in which they floated, their specific gravity being small. To his great surprise the rods speedily assumed positions parallel to each other. He twisted one of them a little out of its direction, whereupon all the others turned through the same angle, so that the parallelism remained. At last, after a long and careful series of experiments he succeeded in establishing the following momentous law:—Two needles of molygdon which have been kept in close contact for not less than thirty-six hours at any spot not exceeding three hundred yards’ distance from the South Pole, possess the property of always remaining parallel to each other, whenever they are freely suspended in parallel planes, no matter how they are situated with respect to each other on the surface of the planet. This discovery afforded an easy mode of immediate communication between any two places in the southern hemisphere. All that was needful was to suspend two needles, rendered sympathetic by the above process, on pivots in the centres of two circular cards. A code of signals was easily devised, sufficient for ordinary purposes; and, by placing the letters of the alphabet round the edges of the cards, verbal conversation could be carried on. Soon after the discovery of this important law of nature, the southern parliament resolved to utilise it on a vast scale by founding an institution which would enable any two persons, even without being in possession of two directly sympathizing needles, to communicate with each other. It was estimated that the population of the south was not much under twenty-five millions. Accordingly, twenty-five million pairs of these sympathetic needles were manufactured, and each needle was mounted in a suitable circular box. This was done at the national expense; the intention being that one box should be given to each inhabitant of the south, the corresponding box being deposited in a building to be erected in the metropolis for the special purpose of the safe custody of the duplicates. As each box was a small cylinder, not exceeding three inches in diameter and one inch in height, no very large space was required for their accommodation. These duplicates were all arranged in order and numbered; the corresponding number being stamped on each sympathetic box.