"It could be done, after the lapse of thousands of years," replied Herr Lebensfunke. "Place undiluted liquid carbon in that inner globe, keep the coil at a white heat, and if Adam had started the process, his heir-at-law would have a koh-i-noor to-day, and a nice lawsuit for its possession." Ronald Wyde bent toward the globe once more and examined the throbbing mass closely, whistling softly meanwhile. "If you can create this cellular life, why not develop it still higher into an organism?" "Because I can only create life--not soul. Years ago I was a freethinker, now my discoveries have made me a deist; for I found that my cells, living as they were, and possessing undoubted parietal circulation, were not germs; and though they might cluster into a bulk like this, as bubbles do to form froth, to evolve an animal or plant from them was far beyond me; that needs what we call soul. But, in searching blindly for this higher power, I grasped a greater discovery than any I had hoped for--the power to isolate life from its bodily organism." "You have to keep the bottle carefully corked, I should imagine," laughed Ronald. "Not quite," said Herr Lebensfunke, joining in the laugh. "Life is not glue. My grand discovery is the life-magnet." "Which has the post of honor on your table here, has it not?" inquired Ronald, drawing his hand from his pocket and pointing to the insulated coil. The old man glanced keenly at his hand as he did so; at which Ronald seemed confused, and pocketed it again abruptly. "Yes, that is the life-magnet. You see this bent glass tube surrounded by the helix? That tube contains liquid carbon. I pass through the helix a current of induced electricity, generated by the action of these sixty Bunsen cups upon a succession of coils with carbon cores, and the magnet becomes charged with soulless life. I reverse the stream--what was positive now is negative, and the same magnet will absorb life from a living being to an extent only to be measured by thousands of millions." "Then, what effect is produced on the body you pump the life from?" "Death." "And what becomes of the soul?" "I don't quite know. I fancy, however, that the magnet absorbs that too." "Can it give it back?" "Certainly; otherwise my life-magnet would belie its name, and be simply an ingenious and expensive instrument of death. By reversing the conditions, I can restore both soul and life to the body from which I drew them, or to another body, even after the lapse of several days." "Have you ever done so?" "I have." Ronald looked reflectively downward to his boot-toe, but seemed to find nothing there--except a boot-toe. "I say, my friend," he spoke at last, "haven't you got a pin you can stick in me? I'd like to know if I'm dreaming." "I can convince you better than by pins," replied Herr Lebensfunke. "Let me see that hand you hide so carefully."