"True."
"I have understood that the light of a shooting star results from the heat of friction, producing combustion of its particles."
"Partly," he answered.
"That when the meteoric fragment of space dust strikes the air, the friction resulting from its velocity heats it to redness, fuses its surface, or even burns its very substance into ashes."
"Yes."
"I have seen the spindle of a wheel charred by friction."
"Yes."
"I have drawn a wire rapidly through a handkerchief tightly grasped in my hands, and have warmed the wire considerably in doing so."
"Yes."
I felt that I had him committed to my side of the question, and I prepared to force him to disprove the possibility of one assertion that he had made concerning his journey.