It was dark, though not too dark for the mouse to see his surroundings. It was hungry, and it was beginning to understand that of the many places occupied by man, this was one place where man left nothing that could be eaten. This evening, however, the situation was changed. There was a faint smell of food in the place, relatively great compared to the sterile atmosphere of previous days.
The mouse located the odor. A small wire tunnel closed at the far end. A nice, rancid bit of bacon hung there.
The mouse was no fool. He inspected the wire tunnel carefully. Three of his brothers had been taken away by various metal contrivances and he was not going to follow them if he could help it. The mouse sniffed the wires, climbed the top of the little cage and raced around it, poking it and bumping it. Often a trap could be sprung by poking it with a foot—just jarring it. That left the bait safe to eat.
But this seemed innocuous. No springs, no wires, no trapdoor, no mirrors. Just a little tunnel of wire cloth about six inches long and two inches in diameter.
The mouse entered the tunnel; headed for the bit of bacon.
Nothing happened, and the mouse gathered speed. It paid no attention to the silvery metal ring that encircled the inside of the tunnel, and would not have known what it was anyway. There were other things there, too. Bits of Alnico V, a couple of cubes of Cerise Wax, some minute inductances and a very small capacitor made of a tiny square of mica with some silver sputtered on both sides. Down in the center was a clear crystal with electrodes clamped on it. The whole assembly was about a half inch cubed and from it on either side emerged the ends of the silvery-wire loop.
Had the mouse seen all this, it would not have understood. That was not strange, for even the man who built it was not too certain what it did, or what it was, nor how it worked.
He knew it worked, and it served its purpose. He was like the man who daily uses electricity enough to kill him, but is not quite sure of what goes on in the instant between his snap of the switch and the arrival of the illumination.
The mouse cared not. All he was after was food.