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diff --git a/23169.txt b/23169.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0a3415 --- /dev/null +++ b/23169.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1361 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Diamond Lens, by Fitz-James O'brien + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Diamond Lens + +Author: Fitz-James O'brien + +Release Date: October 24, 2007 [EBook #23169] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIAMOND LENS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE DIAMOND LENS + +By Fitz-James O'brien + + + + +I + +FROM a very early period of my life the entire bent of my inclinations +had been toward microscopic investigations. When I was not more than +ten years old, a distant relative of our family, hoping to astonish my +inexperience, constructed a simple microscope for me by drilling in a +disk of copper a small hole in which a drop of pure water was sustained +by capillary attraction. This very primitive apparatus, magnifying some +fifty diameters, presented, it is true, only indistinct and imperfect +forms, but still sufficiently wonderful to work up my imagination to a +preternatural state of excitement. + +Seeing me so interested in this rude instrument, my cousin explained to +me all that he knew about the principles of the microscope, related to +me a few of the wonders which had been accomplished through its agency, +and ended by promising to send me one regularly constructed, immediately +on his return to the city. I counted the days, the hours, the minutes +that intervened between that promise and his departure. + +Meantime, I was not idle. Every transparent substance that bore the +remotest resemblance to a lens I eagerly seized upon, and employed +in vain attempts to realize that instrument the theory of whose +construction I as yet only vaguely comprehended. All panes of +glass containing those oblate spheroidal knots familiarly known as +"bull's-eyes" were ruthlessly destroyed in the hope of obtaining lenses +of marvelous power. I even went so far as to extract the crystalline +humor from the eyes of fishes and animals, and endeavored to press +it into the microscopic service. I plead guilty to having stolen the +glasses from my Aunt Agatha's spectacles, with a dim idea of grinding +them into lenses of wondrous magnifying properties--in which attempt it +is scarcely necessary to say that I totally failed. + +At last the promised instrument came. It was of that order known as +Field's simple microscope, and had cost perhaps about fifteen dollars. +As far as educational purposes went, a better apparatus could not +have been selected. Accompanying it was a small treatise on the +microscope--its history, uses, and discoveries. I comprehended then for +the first time the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments." The dull veil of +ordinary existence that hung across the world seemed suddenly to +roll away, and to lay bare a land of enchantments. I felt toward my +companions as the seer might feel toward the ordinary masses of men. +I held conversations with nature in a tongue which they could not +understand. I was in daily communication with living wonders such as +they never imagined in their wildest visions, I penetrated beyond the +external portal of things, and roamed through the sanctuaries. Where +they beheld only a drop of rain slowly rolling down the window-glass, +I saw a universe of beings animated with all the passions common to +physical life, and convulsing their minute sphere with struggles as +fierce and protracted as those of men. In the common spots of mould, +which my mother, good housekeeper that she was, fiercely scooped +away from her jam-pots, there abode for me, under the name of mildew, +enchanted gardens, filled with dells and avenues of the densest foliage +and most astonishing verdure, while from the fantastic boughs of these +microscopic forests hung strange fruits glittering with green and silver +and gold. + +It was no scientific thirst that at this time filled my mind. It was the +pure enjoyment of a poet to whom a world of wonders has been disclosed. +I talked of my solitary pleasures to none. Alone with my microscope, I +dimmed my sight, day after day and night after night, poring over the +marvels which it unfolded to me. I was like one who, having discovered +the ancient Eden still existing in all its primitive glory, should +resolve to enjoy it in solitude, and never betray to mortal the secret +of its locality. The rod of my life was bent at this moment. I destined +myself to be a microscopist. + +Of course, like every novice, I fancied myself a discoverer. I was +ignorant at the time of the thousands of acute intellects engaged in the +same pursuit as myself, and with the advantage of instruments a thousand +times more powerful than mine. The names of Leeuwenhoek, Williamson, +Spencer, Ehrenberg, Schultz, Dujardin, Schact, and Schleiden were then +entirely unknown to me, or, if known, I was ignorant of their patient +and wonderful researches. In every fresh specimen of cryptogamia which +I placed beneath my instrument I believed that I discovered wonders +of which the world was as yet ignorant. I remember well the thrill +of delight and admiration that shot through me the first time that I +discovered the common wheel animalcule (Rotifera vulgaris) expanding +and contracting its flexible spokes and seemingly rotating through the +water. Alas! as I grew older, and obtained some works treating of my +favorite study, I found that I was only on the threshold of a science +to the investigation of which some of the greatest men of the age were +devoting their lives and intellects. + +As I grew up, my parents, who saw but little likelihood of anything +practical resulting from the examination of bits of moss and drops of +water through a brass tube and a piece of glass, were anxious that I +should choose a profession. + +It was their desire that I should enter the counting-house of my uncle, +Ethan Blake, a prosperous merchant, who carried on business in New +York. This suggestion I decisively combated. I had no taste for trade; I +should only make a failure; in short, I refused to become a merchant. + +But it was necessary for me to select some pursuit. My parents were +staid New England people, who insisted on the necessity of labor, and +therefore, although, thanks to the bequest of my poor Aunt Agatha, I +should, on coming of age, inherit a small fortune sufficient to place me +above want, it was decided that, instead of waiting for this, I should +act the nobler part, and employ the intervening years in rendering +myself independent. + +After much cogitation, I complied with the wishes of my family, and +selected a profession. I determined to study medicine at the New York +Academy. This disposition of my future suited me. A removal from my +relatives would enable me to dispose of my time as I pleased without +fear of detection. As long as I paid my Academy fees, I might shirk +attending the lectures if I chose; and, as I never had the remotest +intention of standing an examination, there was no danger of my being +"plucked." Besides, a metropolis was the place for me. There I could +obtain excellent instruments, the newest publications, intimacy with +men of pursuits kindred with my own--in short, all things necessary to +ensure a profitable devotion of my life to my beloved science. I had an +abundance of money, few desires that were not bounded by my illuminating +mirror on one side and my object-glass on the other; what, therefore, +was to prevent my becoming an illustrious investigator of the veiled +worlds? It was with the most buoyant hope that I left my New England +home and established myself in New York. + + + + +II + +My first step, of course, was to find suitable apartments. These I +obtained, after a couple of days' search, in Fourth Avenue; a very +pretty second floor, unfurnished, containing sitting-room, bedroom, +and a smaller apartment which I intended to fit up as a laboratory. I +furnished my lodgings simply, but rather elegantly, and then devoted +all my energies to the adornment of the temple of my worship. I visited +Pike, the celebrated optician, and passed in review his splendid +collection of microscopes--Field's Compound, Hingham's, Spencer's, +Nachet's Binocular (that founded on the principles of the stereoscope), +and at length fixed upon that form known as Spencer's Trunnion +Microscope, as combining the greatest number of improvements with an +almost perfect freedom from tremor. Along with this I purchased +every possible accessory--draw-tubes, micrometers, a _camera lucida_, +lever-stage, achromatic condensers, white cloud illuminators, prisms, +parabolic condensers, polarizing apparatus, forceps, aquatic boxes, +fishing-tubes, with a host of other articles, all of which would have +been useful in the hands of an experienced microscopist, but, as I +afterward discovered, were not of the slightest present value to me. It +takes years of practice to know how to use a complicated microscope. The +optician looked suspiciously at me as I made these valuable purchases. +He evidently was uncertain whether to set me down as some scientific +celebrity or a madman. I think he was inclined to the latter belief. I +suppose I was mad. Every great genius is mad upon the subject in which +he is greatest. The unsuccessful madman is disgraced and called a +lunatic. + +Mad or not, I set myself to work with a zeal which few scientific +students have ever equaled. I had everything to learn relative to the +delicate study upon which I had embarked--a study involving the most +earnest patience, the most rigid analytic powers, the steadiest hand, +the most untiring eye, the most refined and subtle manipulation. + +For a long time half my apparatus lay inactively on the shelves of +my laboratory, which was now most amply furnished with every possible +contrivance for facilitating my investigations. The fact was that I did +not know how to use some of my scientific implements--never having been +taught microscopies--and those whose use I understood theoretically were +of little avail until by practice I could attain the necessary delicacy +of handling. Still, such was the fury of my ambition, such the untiring +perseverance of my experiments, that, difficult of credit as it may +be, in the course of one year I became theoretically and practically an +accomplished microscopist. + +During this period of my labors, in which I submitted specimens of every +substance that came under my observation to the action of my lenses, I +became a discoverer--in a small way, it is true, for I was very young, +but still a discoverer. It was I who destroyed Ehrenberg's theory that +the _Volvox globator_ was an animal, and proved that his "monads" with +stomachs and eyes were merely phases of the formation of a vegetable +cell, and were, when they reached their mature state, incapable of +the act of conjugation, or any true generative act, without which no +organism rising to any stage of life higher than vegetable can be said +to be complete. It was I who resolved the singular problem of rotation +in the cells and hairs of plants into ciliary attraction, in spite of +the assertions of Wenham and others that my explanation was the result +of an optical illusion. + +But notwithstanding these discoveries, laboriously and painfully made +as they were, I felt horribly dissatisfied. At every step I found +myself stopped by the imperfections of my instruments. Like all active +microscopists, I gave my imagination full play. Indeed, it is a common +complaint against many such that they supply the defects of their +instruments with the creations of their brains. I imagined depths beyond +depths in nature which the limited power of my lenses prohibited me from +exploring. I lay awake at night constructing imaginary micro-scopes +of immeasurable power, with which I seemed to pierce through all the +envelopes of matter down to its original atom. How I cursed those +imperfect mediums which necessity through ignorance compelled me to +use! How I longed to discover the secret of some perfect lens, whose +magnifying power should be limited only by the resolvability of the +object, and which at the same time should be free from spherical and +chromatic aberrations--in short, from all the obstacles over which the +poor microscopist finds himself continually stumbling! I felt convinced +that the simple microscope, composed of a single lens of such vast yet +perfect power, was possible of construction. To attempt to bring the +compound microscope up to such a pitch would have been commencing at the +wrong end; this latter being simply a partially successful endeavor +to remedy those very defects of the simplest instrument which, if +conquered, would leave nothing to be desired. + +It was in this mood of mind that I became a constructive microscopist. +After another year passed in this new pursuit, experimenting on every +imaginable substance--glass, gems, flints, crystals, artificial crystals +formed of the alloy of various vitreous materials--in short, having +constructed as many varieties of lenses as Argus had eyes--I found +myself precisely where I started, with nothing gained save an extensive +knowledge of glass-making. I was almost dead with despair. My parents +were surprised at my apparent want of progress in my medical studies +(I had not attended one lecture since my arrival in the city), and the +expenses of my mad pursuit had been so great as to embarrass me very +seriously. + +I was in this frame of mind one day, experimenting in my laboratory on +a small diamond--that stone, from its great refracting power, having +always occupied my attention more than any other--when a young +Frenchman who lived on the floor above me, and who was in the habit of +occasionally visiting me, entered the room. + +I think that Jules Simon was a Jew. He had many traits of the Hebrew +character: a love of jewelry, of dress, and of good living. There was +something mysterious about him. He always had something to sell, and yet +went into excellent society. When I say sell, I should perhaps have said +peddle; for his operations were generally confined to the disposal of +single articles--a picture, for instance, or a rare carving in ivory, or +a pair of duelling-pistols, or the dress of a Mexican _caballero_. When +I was first furnishing my rooms, he paid me a visit, which ended in my +purchasing an antique silver lamp, which he assured me was a Cellini--it +was handsome enough even for that--and some other knick-knacks for my +sitting-room. Why Simon should pursue this petty trade I never could +imagine. He apparently had plenty of money, and had the _entree_ of the +best houses in the city--taking care, however, I suppose, to drive no +bargains within the enchanted circle of the Upper Ten. I came at length +to the conclusion that this peddling was but a mask to cover some +greater object, and even went so far as to believe my young acquaintance +to be implicated in the slave-trade. That, however, was none of my +affair. + +On the present occasion, Simon entered my room in a state of +considerable excitement. + +"_Ah! mon ami!_" he cried, before I could even offer him the ordinary +salutation, "it has occurred to me to be the witness of the most +astonishing things in the world. I promenade myself to the house of +Madame ------. How does the little animal--_le renard_--name himself in +the Latin?" + +"Vulpes," I answered. + +"Ah! yes--Vulpes. I promenade myself to the house of Madame Vulpes." + +"The spirit medium?" + +"Yes, the great medium. Great heavens! what a woman! I write on a +slip of paper many of questions concerning affairs of the most +secret--affairs that conceal themselves in the abysses of my heart the +most profound; and behold, by example, what occurs? This devil of a +woman makes me replies the most truthful to all of them. She talks to me +of things that I do not love to talk of to myself. What am I to think? I +am fixed to the earth!" + +"Am I to understand you, M. Simon, that this Mrs. Vulpes replied to +questions secretly written by you, which questions related to events +known only to yourself?" + +"Ah! more than that, more than that," he answered, with an air of some +alarm. "She related to me things--But," he added after a pause, and +suddenly changing his manner, "why occupy ourselves with these follies? +It was all the biology, without doubt. It goes without saying that it +has not my credence. But why are we here, _mon ami?_ It has occurred to +me to discover the most beautiful thing as you can imagine--a vase with +green lizards on it, composed by the great Bernard Palissy. It is in my +apartment; let us mount. I go to show it to you." + +I followed Simon mechanically; but my thoughts were far from Palissy and +his enameled ware, although I, like him, was seeking in the dark a great +discovery. This casual mention of the spiritualist, Madame Vulpes, +set me on a new track. What if, through communication with more subtle +organisms than my own, I could reach at a single bound the goal which +perhaps a life, of agonizing mental toil would never enable me to +attain? + +While purchasing the Palissy vase from my friend Simon, I was mentally +arranging a visit to Madame Vulpes. + + + + +III + +Two evenings after this, thanks to an arrangement by letter and the +promise of an ample fee, I found Madame Vulpes awaiting me at her +residence alone. She was a coarse-featured woman, with keen and rather +cruel dark eyes, and an exceedingly sensual expression about her mouth +and under jaw. She received me in perfect silence, in an apartment on +the ground floor, very sparsely furnished. In the centre of the room, +close to where Mrs. Vulpes sat, there was a common round mahogany table. +If I had come for the purpose of sweeping her chimney, the woman could +not have looked more indifferent to my appearance. There was no attempt +to inspire the visitor with awe. Everything bore a simple and practical +aspect. This intercourse with the spiritual world was evidently as +familiar an occupation with Mrs. Vulpes as eating her dinner or riding +in an omnibus. + +"You come for a communication, Mr. Linley?" said the medium, in a dry, +businesslike tone of voice. + +"By appointment--yes." + +"What sort of communication do you want--a written one?" + +"Yes, I wish for a written one." + +"From any particular spirit?" + +"Yes." + +"Have you ever known this spirit on this earth?" + +"Never. He died long before I was born. I wish merely to obtain from +him some information which he ought to be able to give better than any +other." + +"Will you seat yourself at the table, Mr. Lin-ley," said the medium, +"and place your hands upon it?" + +I obeyed, Mrs. Vulpes being seated opposite to me, with her hands also +on the table. We remained thus for about a minute and a half, when a +violent succession of raps came on the table, on the back of my chair, +on the floor immediately under my feet, and even on the window-panes. +Mrs. Vulpes smiled composedly. + +"They are very strong to-night," she remarked. "You are fortunate." She +then continued, "Will the spirits communicate with this gentleman?" + +Vigorous affirmative. + +"Will the particular spirit he desires to speak with communicate?" + +A very confused rapping followed this question. + +"I know what they mean," said Mrs. Vulpes, addressing herself to me; +"they wish you to write down the name of the particular spirit that +you desire to converse with. Is that so?" she added, speaking to her +invisible guests. + +That it was so was evident from the numerous affirmatory responses. +While this was going on, I tore a slip from my pocket-book and scribbled +a name under the table. + +"Will this spirit communicate in writing with this gentleman?" asked the +medium once more. + +After a moment's pause, her hand seemed to be seized with a violent +tremor, shaking so forcibly that the table vibrated. She said that a +spirit had seized her hand and would write. I handed her some sheets of +paper that were on the table and a pencil. The latter she held loosely +in her hand, which presently began to move over the paper with a +singular and seemingly involuntary motion. After a few moments had +elapsed, she handed me the paper, on which I found written, in a large, +uncultivated hand, the words, "He is not here, but has been sent for." +A pause of a minute or so ensued, during which Mrs. Vulpes remained +perfectly silent, but the raps continued at regular intervals. When the +short period I mention had elapsed, the hand of the medium was again +seized with its convulsive tremor, and she wrote, under this strange +influence, a few words on the paper, which she handed to me. They were +as follows: + +"I am here. Question me. + +"_Leeuwenhoek_." + +I was astounded. The name was identical with that I had written beneath +the table, and carefully kept concealed. Neither was it at all probable +that an uncultivated woman like Mrs. Vulpes should know even the name +of the great father of microscopies. It may have been biology; but +this theory was soon doomed to be destroyed. I wrote on my slip--still +concealing it from Mrs. Vulpes--a series of questions which, to avoid +tediousness, I shall place with the responses, in the order in which +they occurred: + +I.--Can the microscope be brought to perfection? + +Spirit--Yes. + +I.--Am I destined to accomplish this great task? + +Spirit.--You are. + +I.--I wish to know how to proceed to attain this end. For the love which +you bear to science, help me! + +Spirit--A diamond of one hundred and forty carats, submitted to +electro-magnetic currents for a long period, will experience a +rearrangement of its atoms _inter se_ and from that stone you will form +the universal lens. + +I.--Will great discoveries result from the use of such a lens? + +Spirit--So great that all that has gone before is as nothing. + +I.--But the refractive power of the diamond is so immense that the image +will be formed within the lens. How is that difficulty to be surmounted? + +Spirit--Pierce the lens through its axis, and the difficulty is +obviated. The image will be formed in the pierced space, which will +itself serve as a tube to look through. Now I am called. Good-night. + +I can not at all describe the effect that these extraordinary +communications had upon me. I felt completely bewildered. No biological +theory could account for the _discovery_ of the lens. The medium might, +by means of biological _rapport_ with my mind, have gone so far as to +read my questions and reply to them coherently. But biology could +not enable her to discover that magnetic currents would so alter the +crystals of the diamond as to remedy its previous defects and admit of +its being polished into a perfect lens. Some such theory may have +passed through my head, it is true; but if so, I had forgotten it. In +my excited condition of mind there was no course left but to become a +convert, and it was in a state of the most painful nervous exaltation +that I left the medium's house that evening. She accompanied me to +the door, hoping that I was satisfied. The raps followed us as we went +through the hall, sounding on the balusters, the flooring, and even the +lintels of the door. I hastily expressed my satisfaction, and escaped +hurriedly into the cool night air. I walked home with but one thought +possessing me--how to obtain a diamond of the immense size required. My +entire means multiplied a hundred times over would have been inadequate +to its purchase. Besides, such stones are rare, and become historical. I +could find such only in the regalia of Eastern or European monarchs. + + + + +IV + +There was a light in Simon's room as I entered my house. A vague +impulse urged me to visit him. As I opened the door of his sitting-room +unannounced, he was bending, with his back toward me, over a Carcel +lamp, apparently engaged in minutely examining some object which he held +in his hands. As I entered, he started suddenly, thrust his hand into +his breast pocket, and turned to me with a face crimson with confusion. + +"What!" I cried, "poring over the miniature of some fair lady? Well, +don't blush so much; I won't ask to see it." + +Simon laughed awkwardly enough, but made none of the negative +protestations usual on such occasions. He asked me to take a seat. + +"Simon," said I, "I have just come from Madame Vulpes." + +This time Simon turned as white as a sheet, and seemed stupefied, as +if a sudden electric shock had smitten him. He babbled some incoherent +words, and went hastily to a small closet where he usually kept his +liquors. Although astonished at his emotion, I was too preoccupied with +my own idea to pay much attention to anything else. + +"You say truly when you call Madame Vulpes a devil of a woman," I +continued. "Simon, she told me wonderful things to-night, or rather +was the means of telling me wonderful things. Ah! if I could only get a +diamond that weighed one hundred and forty carats!" + +Scarcely had the sigh with which I uttered this desire died upon my lips +when Simon, with the aspect of a wild beast, glared at me savagely, and, +rushing to the mantelpiece, where some foreign weapons hung on the wall, +caught up a Malay creese, and brandished it furiously before him. + +"No!" he cried in French, into which he always broke when excited. "No! +you shall not have it! You are perfidious! You have consulted with that +demon, and desire my treasure! But I will die first! Me, I am brave! You +can not make me fear!" + +All this, uttered in a loud voice, trembling with excitement, astounded +me. I saw at a glance that I had accidentally trodden upon the edges of +Simon's secret, whatever it was. It was necessary to reassure him. + +"My dear Simon," I said, "I am entirely at a loss to know what you mean. +I went to Madame Vulpes to consult with her on a scientific problem, +to the solution of which I discovered that a diamond of the size I just +mentioned was necessary. You were never alluded to during the evening, +nor, so far as I was concerned, even thought of. What can be the meaning +of this outburst? If you happen to have a set of valuable diamonds in +your possession, you need fear nothing from me. The diamond which I +require you could not possess; or, if you did possess it, you would not +be living here." + +Something in my tone must have completely reassured him, for his +expression immediately changed to a sort of constrained merriment, +combined however, with a certain suspicious attention to my movements. +He laughed, and said that I must bear with him; that he was at certain +moments subject to a species of vertigo, which betrayed itself in +incoherent speeches, and that the attacks passed off as rapidly as they +came. + +He put his weapon aside while making this explanation, and endeavored, +with some success, to assume a more cheerful air. + +All this did not impose on me in the least. I was too much accustomed +to analytical labors to be baffled by so flimsy a veil. I determined to +probe the mystery to the bottom. + +"Simon," I said gayly, "let us forget all this over a bottle of +Burgundy. I have a case of Lausseure's _Clos Vougeot_ downstairs, +fragrant with the odors and ruddy with the sunlight of the Cote d'Or. +Let us have up a couple of bottles. What say you?" + +"With all my heart," answered Simon smilingly. + +I produced the wine and we seated ourselves to drink. It was of a famous +vintage, that of 1848, a year when war and wine throve together, and its +pure but powerful juice seemed to impart renewed vitality to the system. +By the time we had half finished the second bottle, Simon's head, which +I knew was a weak one, had begun to yield, while I remained calm as +ever, only that every draught seemed to send a flush of vigor through +my limbs. Simon's utterance became more and more indistinct. He took to +singing French _chansons_ of a not very moral tendency. I rose suddenly +from the table just at the conclusion of one of those incoherent verses, +and, fixing my eyes on him with a quiet smile, said, "Simon, I have +deceived you. I learned your secret this evening. You may as well be +frank with me. Mrs. Vulpes--or rather, one of her spirits--told me all." + +He started with horror. His intoxication seemed for the moment to fade +away, and he made a movement toward the weapon that he had a short time +before laid down, I stopped him with my hand. + +"Monster!" he cried passionately, "I am ruined! What shall I do? You +shall never have it! I swear by my mother!" + +"I don't want it," I said; "rest secure, but be frank with me. Tell me +all about it." + +The drunkenness began to return. He protested with maudlin earnestness +that I was entirely mistaken--that I was intoxicated; then asked me to +swear eternal secrecy, and promised to disclose the mystery to me. I +pledged myself, of course, to all. With an uneasy look in his eyes, and +hands unsteady with drink and nervousness, he drew a small case from his +breast and opened it. Heavens! How the mild lamplight was shivered into +a thousand prismatic arrows as it fell upon a vast rose-diamond that +glittered in the case! I was no judge of diamonds, but I saw at a glance +that this was a gem of rare size and purity. I looked at Simon with +wonder and--must I confess it?--with envy. How could he have obtained +this treasure? In reply to my questions, I could just gather from +his drunken statements (of which, I fancy, half the incoherence was +affected) that he had been superintending a gang of slaves engaged +in diamond-washing in Brazil; that he had seen one of them secrete a +diamond, but, instead of informing his employers, had quietly watched +the negro until he saw him bury his treasure; that he had dug it up and +fled with it, but that as yet he was afraid to attempt to dispose of +it publicly--so valuable a gem being almost certain to attract too +much attention to its owner's antecedents--and he had not been able +to discover any of those obscure channels by which such matters are +conveyed away safely. He added that, in accordance with oriental +practice, he had named his diamond with the fanciful title of "The Eye +of Morning." + +While Simon was relating this to me, I regarded the great diamond +attentively. Never had I beheld anything so beautiful. All the glories +of light ever imagined or described seemed to pulsate in its crystalline +chambers. Its weight, as I learned from Simon, was exactly one hundred +and forty carats. Here was an amazing coincidence. The hand of destiny +seemed in it. On the very evening when the spirit of Leeuwenhoek +communicates to me the great secret of the microscope, the priceless +means which he directs me to employ start up within my easy reach! I +determined, with the most perfect deliberation, to possess myself of +Simon's diamond. + +I sat opposite to him while he nodded over his glass, and calmly +revolved the whole affair. I did not for an instant contemplate so +foolish an act as a common theft, which would of course be discovered, +or at least necessitate flight and concealment, all of which must +interfere with my scientific plans. There was but one step to be +taken--to kill Simon. After all, what was the life of a little peddling +Jew in comparison with the interests of science? Human beings are taken +every day from the condemned prisons to be experimented on by surgeons. +This man, Simon, was by his own confession a criminal, a robber, and I +believed on my soul a murderer. He deserved death quite as much as any +felon condemned by the laws: why should I not, like government, +contrive that his punishment should contribute to the progress of human +knowledge? + +The means for accomplishing everything I desired lay within my reach. +There stood upon the mantelpiece a bottle half full of French laudanum. +Simon was so occupied with his diamond, which I had just restored to +him, that it was an affair of no difficulty to drug his glass. In a +quarter of an hour he was in a profound sleep. + +I now opened his waistcoat, took the diamond from the inner pocket in +which he had placed it, and removed him to the bed, on which I laid him +so that his feet hung down over the edge. I had possessed myself of +the Malay creese, which I held in my right hand, while with the other I +discovered as accurately as I could by pulsation the exact locality of +the heart. It was essential that all the aspects of his death should +lead to the surmise of self-murder. I calculated the exact angle at +which it was probable that the weapon, if leveled by Simon's own hand, +would enter his breast; then with one powerful blow I thrust it up to +the hilt in the very spot which I desired to penetrate. A convulsive +thrill ran through Simon's limbs. I heard a smothered sound issue from +his throat, precisely like the bursting of a large air-bubble sent up by +a diver when it reaches the surface of the water; he turned half round +on his side, and, as if to assist my plans more effectually, his right +hand, moved by some mere spasmodic impulse, clasped the handle of the +creese, which it remained holding with extraordinary muscular tenacity. +Beyond this there was no apparent struggle. The laudanum, I presume, +paralyzed the usual nervous action. He must have died instantly. + +There was yet something to be done. To make it certain that all +suspicion of the act should be diverted from any inhabitant of the house +to Simon himself, it was necessary that the door should be found in the +morning _locked on the in-side_. How to do this, and afterward escape +myself? Not by the window; that was a physical impossibility. Besides, +I was determined that the windows _also_ should be found bolted. The +solution was simple enough. I descended softly to my own room for +a peculiar instrument which I had used for holding small slippery +substances, such as minute spheres of glass, etc. This instrument was +nothing more than a long, slender hand-vise, with a very powerful grip +and a considerable leverage, which last was accidentally owing to the +shape of the handle. Nothing was simpler than, when the key was in the +lock, to seize the end of its stem in this vise, through the keyhole, +from the outside, and so lock the door. Previously, however, to doing +this, I burned a number of papers on Simon's hearth. Suicides almost +always burn papers before they destroy themselves. I also emptied some +more laudanum into Simon's glass--having first removed from it all +traces of wine--cleaned the other wine-glass, and brought the bottles +away with me. If traces of two persons drinking had been found in the +room, the question naturally would have arisen, Who was the second? +Besides, the wine-bottles might have been identified as belonging to me. +The laudanum I poured out to account for its presence in his stomach, in +case of a _post-mortem_ examination. The theory naturally would be that +he first intended to poison himself, but, after swallowing a little of +the drug, was either disgusted with its taste, or changed his mind from +other motives, and chose the dagger. These arrangements made, I walked +out, leaving the gas burning, locked the door with my vise, and went to +bed. + +Simon's death was not discovered until nearly three in the afternoon. +The servant, astonished at seeing the gas burning--the light streaming +on the dark landing from under the door--peeped through the keyhole and +saw Simon on the bed. + +She gave the alarm. The door was burst open, and the neighborhood was in +a fever of excitement. + +Every one in the house was arrested, myself included. There was an +inquest; but no clew to his death beyond that of suicide could be +obtained. Curiously enough, he had made several speeches to his friends +the preceding week that seemed to point to self-destruction. One +gentleman swore that Simon had said in his presence that "he was tired +of life." His landlord affirmed that Simon, when paying him his last +month's rent, remarked that "he should not pay him rent much longer." +All the other evidence corresponded--the door locked inside, the +position of the corpse, the burned papers. As I anticipated, no one +knew of the possession of the diamond by Simon, so that no motive was +suggested for his murder. The jury, after a prolonged examination, +brought in the usual verdict, and the neighborhood once more settled +down to its accustomed quiet. + + + + +V + +The three months succeeding Simon's catastrophe I devoted night and day +to my diamond lens. I had constructed a vast galvanic battery, composed +of nearly two thousand pairs of plates: a higher power I dared not use, +lest the diamond should be calcined. By means of this enormous engine +I was enabled to send a powerful current of electricity continually +through my great diamond, which it seemed to me gained in lustre every +day. At the expiration of a month I commenced the grinding and polishing +of the lens, a work of intense toil and exquisite delicacy. The great +density of the stone, and the care required to be taken with the +curvatures of the surfaces of the lens, rendered the labor the severest +and most harassing that I had yet undergone. + +At last the eventful moment came; the lens was completed. I stood +trembling on the threshold of new worlds. I had the realization of +Alexander's famous wish before me. The lens lay on the table, ready to +be placed upon its platform. My hand fairly shook as I enveloped a drop +of water with a thin coating of oil of turpentine, preparatory to +its examination, a process necessary in order to prevent the rapid +evaporation of the water. I now placed the drop on a thin slip of glass +under the lens, and throwing upon it, by the combined aid of a prism and +a mirror, a powerful stream of light, I approached my eye to the minute +hole drilled through the axis of the lens. For an instant I saw nothing +save what seemed to be an illuminated chaos, a vast, luminous abyss. A +pure white light, cloudless and serene, and seemingly limitless as space +itself, was my first impression. Gently, and with the greatest care, I +depressed the lens a few hairbreadths. The wondrous illumination +still continued, but as the lens approached the object a scene of +indescribable beauty was unfolded to my view. + +I seemed to gaze upon a vast space, the limits of which extended far +beyond my vision. An atmosphere of magical luminousness permeated the +entire field of view. I was amazed to see no trace of animalculous +life. Not a living thing, apparently, inhabited that dazzling expanse. +I comprehended instantly that, by the wondrous power of my lens, I had +penetrated beyond the grosser particles of aqueous matter, beyond the +realms of infusoria and protozoa, down to the original gaseous globule, +into whose luminous interior I was gazing as into an almost boundless +dome filled with a supernatural radiance. + +It was, however, no brilliant void into which I looked. On every side I +beheld beautiful inorganic forms, of unknown texture, and colored with +the most enchanting hues. These forms presented the appearance of what +might be called, for want of a more specific definition, foliated clouds +of the highest rarity--that is, they undulated and broke into vegetable +formations, and were tinged with splendors compared with which the +gilding of our autumn woodlands is as dross compared with gold. Far away +into the illimitable distance stretched long avenues of these gaseous +forests, dimly transparent, and painted with prismatic hues of +unimaginable brilliancy. The pendent branches waved along the fluid +glades until every vista seemed to break through half-lucent ranks of +many-colored drooping silken pennons. What seemed to be either fruits or +flowers, pied with a thousand hues, lustrous and ever-varying, bubbled +from the crowns of this fairy foliage. No hills, no lakes, no rivers, +no forms animate or inanimate, were to be seen, save those vast auroral +copses that floated serenely in the luminous stillness, with leaves and +fruits and flowers gleaming with unknown fires, unrealizable by mere +imagination. + +How strange, I thought, that this sphere should be thus condemned to +solitude! I had hoped, at least, to discover some new form of animal +life, perhaps of a lower class than any with which we are at present +acquainted, but still some living organism. I found my newly discovered +world, if I may so speak, a beautiful chromatic desert. + +While I was speculating on the singular arrangements of the internal +economy of Nature, with which she so frequently splinters into atoms our +most compact theories, I thought I beheld a form moving slowly through +the glades of one of the prismatic forests. I looked more attentively, +and found that I was not mistaken. Words can not depict the anxiety with +which I awaited the nearer approach of this mysterious object. Was it +merely some inanimate substance, held in suspense in the attenuated +atmosphere of the globule, or was it an animal endowed with vitality +and motion? It approached, flitting behind the gauzy, colored veils of +cloud-foliage, for seconds dimly revealed, then vanishing. At last the +violet pennons that trailed nearest to me vibrated; they were gently +pushed aside, and the form floated out into the broad light. + +It was a female human shape. When I say human, I mean it possessed the +outlines of humanity; but there the analogy ends. Its adorable beauty +lifted it illimitable heights beyond the loveliest daughter of Adam. + +I can not, I dare not, attempt to inventory the charms of this divine +revelation of perfect beauty. Those eyes of mystic violet, dewy and +serene, evade my words. Her long, lustrous hair following her glorious +head in a golden wake, like the track sown in heaven by a falling star, +seems to quench my most burning phrases with its splendors. If all the +bees of Hybla nestled upon my lips, they would still sing but hoarsely +the wondrous harmonies of outline that inclosed her form. + +She swept out from between the rainbow-curtains of the cloud-trees into +the broad sea of light that lay beyond. Her motions were those of some +graceful naiad, cleaving, by a mere effort of her will, the clear, +unruffled waters that fill the chambers of the sea. She floated forth +with the serene grace of a frail bubble ascending through the still +atmosphere of a June day. The perfect roundness of her limbs formed +suave and enchanting curves. It was like listening to the most spiritual +symphony of Beethoven the divine, to watch the harmonious flow of lines. +This, indeed was a pleasure cheaply purchased at any price. What cared +I if I had waded to the portal of this wonder through another's blood. +I would have given my own to enjoy one such moment of intoxication and +delight. + +Breathless with gazing on this lovely wonder, and forgetful for an +instant of everything save her presence, I withdrew my eye from the +microscope eagerly. Alas! as my gaze fell on the thin slide that lay +beneath my instrument, the bright light from mirror and from prism +sparkled on a colorless drop of water! There, in that tiny bead of dew, +this beautiful being was forever imprisoned. The planet Neptune was not +more distant from me than she. I hastened once more to apply my eye to +the microscope. + +Animula (let me now call her by that dear name which I subsequently +bestowed on her) had changed her position. She had again approached the +wondrous forest, and was gazing earnestly upward. Presently one of the +trees--as I must call them--unfolded a long ciliary process, with which +it seized one of the gleaming fruits that glittered on its summit, and, +sweeping slowly down, held it within reach of Animula. The sylph took +it in her delicate hand and began to eat. My attention was so entirely +absorbed by her that I could not apply myself to the task of determining +whether this singular plant was or was not instinct with volition. + +I watched her, as she made her repast, with the most profound attention. +The suppleness of her motions sent a thrill of delight through my frame; +my heart beat madly as she turned her beautiful eyes in the direction of +the spot in which I stood. What would I not have given to have had the +power to precipitate myself into that luminous ocean and float with her +through those grooves of purple and gold! While I was thus breathlessly +following her every movement, she suddenly started, seemed to listen +for a moment, and then cleaving the brilliant ether in which she was +floating, like a flash of light, pierced through the opaline forest and +disappeared. + +Instantly a series of the most singular sensations attacked me. It +seemed as if I had suddenly gone blind. The luminous sphere was still +before me, but my daylight had vanished. What caused this sudden +disappearance? Had she a lover or a husband? Yes, that was the solution! +Some signal from a happy fellow-being had vibrated through the avenues +of the forest, and she had obeyed the summons. + +The agony of my sensations, as I arrived at this conclusion, startled +me. I tried to reject the conviction that my reason forced upon me. I +battled against the fatal conclusion--but in vain. It was so. I had no +escape from it. I loved an animalcule. + +It is true that, thanks to the marvelous power of my microscope, she +appeared of human proportions. Instead of presenting the revolting +aspect of the coarser creatures, that live and struggle and die, in +the more easily resolvable portions of the water-drop, she was fair and +delicate and of surpassing beauty. But of what account was all that? +Every time that my eye was withdrawn from the instrument it fell on a +miserable drop of water, within which, I must be content to know, dwelt +all that could make my life lovely. + +Could she but see me once! Could I for one moment pierce the mystical +walls that so inexorably rose to separate us, and whisper all that +filled my soul, I might consent to be satisfied for the rest of my life +with the knowledge of her remote sympathy. + +It would be something to have established even the faintest personal +link to bind us together--to know that at times, when roaming through +these enchanted glades, she might think of the wonderful stranger who +had broken the monotony of her life with his presence and left a gentle +memory in her heart! + +But it could not be. No invention of which human intellect was capable +could break down the barriers that nature had erected. I might feast my +soul upon her wondrous beauty, yet she must always remain ignorant +of the adoring eyes that day and night gazed upon her, and, even when +closed, beheld her in dreams. With a bitter cry of anguish I fled from +the room, and flinging myself on my bed, sobbed myself to sleep like a +child. + + + + +VI + +I arose the next morning almost at daybreak, and rushed to my +microscope, I trembled as I sought the luminous world in miniature that +contained my all. Animula was there. I had left the gas-lamp, surrounded +by its moderators, burning when I went to bed the night before. I found +the sylph bathing, as it were, with an expression of pleasure animating +her features, in the brilliant light which surrounded her. She tossed +her lustrous golden hair over her shoulders with innocent coquetry. She +lay at full length in the transparent medium, in which she supported +herself with ease, and gamboled with the enchanting grace that the nymph +Salmacis might have exhibited when she sought to conquer the modest +Hermaphroditus. I tried an experiment to satisfy myself if her powers of +reflection were developed. I lessened the lamplight considerably. By the +dim light that remained, I could see an expression of pain flit across +her face. She looked upward suddenly, and her brows contracted. I +flooded the stage of the microscope again with a full stream of light, +and her whole expression changed. She sprang forward like some some +substance deprived of all weight. Her eyes sparkled and her lips moved. +Ah! if science had only the means of conducting and reduplicating +sounds, as it does rays of light, what carols of happiness would then +have entranced my ears! what jubilant hymns to Adonais would have +thrilled the illumined air! + +I now comprehended how it was that the Count de Cabalis peopled his +mystic world with sylphs-beautiful beings whose breath of life was +lambent fire, and who sported forever in regions of purest ether and +purest light. The Rosicrucian had anticipated the wonder that I had +practically realized. + +How long this worship of my strange divinity went on thus I scarcely +know. I lost all note of time. All day from early dawn, and far into the +night, I was to be found peering through that wonderful lens. I saw +no one, went nowhere, and scarce allowed myself sufficient time for my +meals. My whole life was absorbed in contemplation as rapt as that of +any of the Romish saints. Every hour that I gazed upon the divine form +strengthened my passion--a passion that was always overshadowed by the +maddening conviction that, although I could gaze on her at will, she +never, never could behold me! + +At length I grew so pale and emaciated, from want of rest and continual +brooding over my insane love and its cruel conditions, that I determined +to make some effort to wean myself from it. "Come," I said, "this is +at best but a fantasy. Your imagination has bestowed on Animula charms +which in reality she does not possess. Seclusion from female society has +produced this morbid condition of mind. Compare her with the beautiful +women of your own world, and this false enchantment will vanish." + +I looked over the newspapers by chance. There I beheld the advertisement +of a celebrated _danseuse_ who appeared nightly at Niblo's. The +Signorina Caradolce had the reputation of being the most beautiful as +well as the most graceful woman in the world. I instantly dressed and +went to the theatre. + +The curtain drew up. The usual semicircle of fairies in white muslin +were standing on the right toe around the enameled flower-bank of green +canvas, on which the belated prince was sleeping. Suddenly a flute is +heard. The fairies start. The trees open, the fairies all stand on +the left toe, and the queen enters. It was the Signorina. She bounded +forward amid thunders of applause, and, lighting on one foot, remained +poised in the air. Heavens! was this the great enchantress that had +drawn monarchs at her chariot-wheels? Those heavy, muscular limbs, +those thick ankles, those cavernous eyes, that stereotyped smile, those +crudely painted cheeks! Where were the vermeil blooms, the liquid, +expressive eyes, the harmonious limbs of Animula? + +The Signorina danced. What gross, discordant movements! The play of +her limbs was all false and artificial. Her bounds were painful athletic +efforts; her poses were angular and distressed the eye. I could bear it +no longer; with an exclamation of disgust that drew every eye upon me, +I rose from my seat in the very middle of the Signorina's +_pas-de-fascination_ and abruptly quitted the house. + +I hastened home to feast my eyes once more on the lovely form of +my sylph. I felt that henceforth to combat this passion would be +impossible. I applied my eyes to the lens. Animula was there--but what +could have happened? Some terrible change seemed to have taken place +during my absence. Some secret grief seemed to cloud the lovely features +of her I gazed upon. Her face had grown thin and haggard; her limbs +trailed heavily; the wondrous lustre of her golden hair had faded. She +was ill--ill, and I could not assist her! I believe at that moment I +would have forfeited all claims to my human birthright if I could only +have been dwarfed to the size of an animalcule, and permitted to console +her from whom fate had forever divided me. + +I racked my brain for the solution of this mystery. What was it that +afflicted the sylph? She seemed to suffer intense pain. Her features +contracted, and she even writhed, as if with some internal agony. The +wondrous forests appeared also to have lost half their beauty. Their +hues were dim and in some places faded away altogether. I watched +Animula for hours with a breaking heart, and she seemed absolutely to +wither away under my very eye. Suddenly I remembered that I had not +looked at the water-drop for several days. In fact, I hated to see it; +for it reminded me of the natural barrier between Animula and myself. +I hurriedly looked down on the stage of the microscope. The slide was +still there--but, great heavens, the water drop had vanished! The awful +truth burst upon me; it had evaporated, until it had become so minute +as to be invisible to the naked eye; I had been gazing on its last atom, +the one that contained Animula--and she was dying! + +I rushed again to the front of the lens and looked through. Alas! the +last agony had seized her. The rainbow-hued forests had all melted away, +and Animula lay struggling feebly in what seemed to be a spot of dim +light. Ah! the sight was horrible: the limbs once so round and lovely +shriveling up into nothings; the eyes--those eyes that shone like +heaven--being quenched into black dust; the lustrous golden hair now +lank and discolored. The last throe came. I beheld that final struggle +of the blackening form--and I fainted. + +When I awoke out of a trance of many hours, I found myself lying amid +the wreck of my instrument, myself as shattered in mind and body as it. +I crawled feebly to my bed, from which I did not rise for many months. + +They say now that I am mad; but they are mistaken. I am poor, for I have +neither the heart nor the will to work; all my money is spent, and I +live on charity. Young men's associations that love a joke invite me to +lecture on optics before them, for which they pay me, and laugh at me +while I lecture. "Linley, the mad microscopist," is the name I go by. I +suppose that I talk incoherently while I lecture. Who could talk sense +when his brain is haunted by such ghastly memories, while ever and anon +among the shapes of death I behold the radiant form of my lost Animula! + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Diamond Lens, by Fitz-James O'brien + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIAMOND LENS *** + +***** This file should be named 23169.txt or 23169.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/6/23169/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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