Page:Fifty years hence, or, What may be in 1943 - a prophecy supposed to be based on scientific deductions by an improved graphical method (IA fiftyyearshenceo00grim).pdf/41

 but useless dust. Should the concise prophetic record which I here give you attract your interested attention, and the bold and original method by which it is attained win your confidence, I should be glad to have you become at once my assistant, and eventually my successor.

"The key to the method I have long ago reduced to writing, so that in case of my death, before imparting all the details to any one, the science and the art of scientific prophecy shall not die with me, but shalt live forever, like my own immortal soul."

Taking the manuscript, with an eagerness which I could scarce conceal, I expressed my appreciation of his confidence and good will, no less than my admiration of the wonderful method by which mere dots and lines, veriest material and mechanical exponents, should reveal the secrets of things past and to come.

The venerable professor bowed me courteously from his presence, and quitting the old mansion, depository of so much knowledge, of so many hopes, I was soon within earshot of the rattle and roar of the great city.