“Do I understand you to claim that you have discovered the life-principle?”
“Yes.”
“Will you permit an utter stranger to inquire what is its nature?”
“Certainly. It is twofold. The ultimate principle of life is carbon; the cause of its combination with water, or rather with the two gaseous elements of water, and the development of organized existence therefrom, is electricity.”
Ronald Wyde shrugged his broad shoulders a little, and absently replied,
“All I can say, mein Herr, is, that you’ve got the bulge on me.”
“I beg your pardon—”
“Excuse me; I unconsciously translated an Americanism. I mean that I don’t quite understand you.”
“Which means that you do not believe me. It is but natural at your age, when one doubts as if by instinct. Would you be convinced?”
“Nothing would please me better.”