y of one hundred pounds of copper."

"Pardon me, Doctor. I didn't presume to doubt you. I will call him in."

He telephoned a request and soon a man in white appeared. In response to
the question he thought for a moment, then smiled slowly.

"If it were done instantaneously it would probably blow the entire world
into a vapor, and might force it clear out of its orbit. If it could be
controlled it would furnish millions of horsepower for a long time. But
it can't be done. The energy is bound. Its liberation is an
impossibility, in the same class with perpetual motion. Is that all, Mr.
Brookings?"

As the chemist left, Brookings turned again to his visitor, with an
apologetic air.

"I don't know anything about these things myself, but Chambers, also an
able man, says that it is impossible."

"As far as he knows, he is right. I should have said the same thing this
morning. But I do know about these things--they're my business--and I
tell you that Seaton has done it."

"This is getting interesting. Did you see it done?"

"No. It was rumored around the Bureau last night that Seaton was going
insane, that he had wrecked a lot of his apparatus and couldn't explain
what had happened. This morning he called a lot of us into his
laboratory, told us what I have just told you, and poured some of his
solution on a copper wire. Nothing happened, and he acted as though he
didn't know what to make of it. The foolish way he acted and the
apparent impossibility of the whole thing, made everybody think him
crazy. I thought so until I learned this afternoon that Mr. Reynolds
Crane is backing him. Then I knew that he had told us just enough of the
truth to let him get away clean with the solution."

"But suppose the man _is_ crazy?" asked Brookings. "He probably is a
monomaniac, really insane on that one thing, from studying it so much."

"Seaton? Yes, he's crazy--like a fox. You never heard of any insanity in
Crane's family, though, did you? You know that he never invests a cent
in anything more risky than Government bonds. You can bet your last
dollar that Seaton showed him the real goods." Then, as a look of
conviction appeared upon the other's face, he continued:

"Don't you understand that the solution was Government property, and he
had to do something to make everybody think it worthless, so that he
could get title to it? That faked demonstration that failed was
certainly a bold stroke--so bold that it was foolhardy. But