By the way, perhaps I should explain why I have been selected to write this biography. The first reason is that I am a free or detachable electron, and the second point in my favour is that I have had exceptional opportunities of seeing about me. I have heard men say that lookers-on see most of the game, and as I have witnessed the gradual evolution of things, you will understand that I have views of my own. A casual observer might think that things had deteriorated, for long ago there were immense monsters upon this planet, and these would put all modern creatures in the shade as far as size and strength are concerned. But one of the most interesting things to me has been to watch the evolution of man, and more especially the gradual development of his brain. Indeed, sometimes I have wished that I had happened to be an electron in the brain of a man; but, on the other hand, my career would not have been of the varied kind which it has been.
CHAPTER VI
MAN PAYS US SOME ATTENTION
THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER SIX
Men found that by exhausting the air from glass globes or tubes it was possible to pass electric discharges through them, and in so doing some very beautiful luminous effects were produced within the vacuum tubes.
It was when experimenting with one of these tubes that a scientist suggested that radiant particles were being shot across the tube.