rds, or blink his eye, or stammer, or
sneeze, or in any other way fail to observe the regulations of the Act;
he would, of course, have no case or remedy. The Adulteration Acts would
be extremely stringent----"

"Against the victim of adulteration?"

"Ye--es," murmured James, a little nonplussed.

[Illustration: "THE SHOP."]

"Ah--well, then, I think we can afford to ignore these Adulteration
Acts--like the adulterators and the public authorities would--and
proceed with the question of the adulteration. I had a most vivid vision
or dream of the details of this adulteration as they would be carried
out on your world at the period we are now considering. I imagined that
I was actually in a part of your world called 'America,' and that one of
your human beings politely invited me to walk through his factory and
see how things were made. I think you mentioned 'oysters'----"

[Illustration: "NO CASE."]

"Yes," said James, "that's one name the article of food would possess;
newspaper writers, however, would not recognise them by that name--they
would only know them as 'the succulent bivalve.'"

"The very idea!" exclaimed William. "That's exactly what I seemed to
have become--a newspaper writer. I fancied I went to see the factory,
and then sent in the following account:--

"One of the most interesting factories in America is the stately
building of the Ephraim Q. Knickerbocker Natural Products Manufacturing
Corporation, of Spread Eagle Springs, N.J. That the structure is itself
an imposing one may well be imagined in view of the vast productive
energy expended within its walls; and the feebleness and inefficiency of
the productive operations of Nature are never so fully realized as after
a visit to this marvellous factory, and a comparison of the two systems.

"It was, therefore, with no little satisfaction that we lately received
a courteous invitation from the able and energetic managing director
General Sardanapalus J. Van Biene to inspect the operations of the
Corporation at its factory. Accordingly, we proceeded to the New York
terminus of the Natural Products Manufacturing Corporation's New York,
Sumner Ferry, Thanksgiving Flats, and Spread Eagle Springs Railroad,
along which a special train speedily whirled us to the front door of the
works. On the steps stood the genial managing director, supported by the
principal manager Colonel Exodus V. Rooster, the head chemist Major
Madison B. Jefferson, and the assist