Page:Weird Tales Volume 2 Number 2 (1923-09).djvu/4

 A Fantastic New Novel Filled with Amazing Adventures in Another World

HEY say that eccentricity is one of the marks of genius.

We are not setting out to prove what has been said nor to deny it; but we are ready to assert that there are few who knew Professor Mason who would dispute his claim to being eccentric. We all knew that the Professor had a large thumb, and that, as the result of an accident and a subsequent growth, the thumb of his right hand was fully twice as large as that of his left; but we did not know why he always held it erect and watched it almost continually.

Whenever he was not seriously engaged he would hold it up and scrutinize it carefully, as if he thought it, alive, or as if it had some affinity or personality that he could understand only by continuous and careful study. He carried a small microscope in his pocket, and would often stop, even in the most serious conversation, to apply