"Every substance, you know, is, when radiating light, characterized by what at first appears to be almost a haphazard set of spectral lines without relation to one another. But they are related by mathematical laws and the apparent haphazard character is only the result of our lack of knowledge of how to interpret the results."
He resumed his place at the eye-piece to check over his results. "Walter," he said finally with a twinkle of the eye, "I wish you'd go out and find me a cat."
"A cat?" I repeated.
"Yes—a cat—felis domesticus, if it sounds better that way, a plain ordinary cat."
I jammed on my hat and, late as it was, sallied forth on this apparently ridiculous mission.
Several belated passers-by and a policeman watched me as though I were a house-breaker and I felt like a fool, but at last by perseverance and tact I managed to capture a fairly good specimen of the species and transported it in my arms to the laboratory without an undue number of scratches.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE WEED OF MADNESS
In my absence Craig had set to work on a peculiar apparatus, as though he were distilling something from several of the other cigarette stubs.