cing
secondary causes.--Editor.]

Answers to Correspondents

VIGILANS--The Laws of Auroral Derangements are still imperfectly
understood. Any overheated motor may of course "seize" without warning;
but so many complaints have reached us of accidents similar to yours
while shooting the Aurora that we are inclined to believe with Lavalle
that the upper strata of the Aurora Borealis are practically one big
electric "leak," and that the paralysis of your engines was due to
complete magnetization of all metallic parts. Low-flying planes often
"glue up" when near the Magnetic Pole, and there is no reason in science
why the same disability should not be experienced at higher levels when
the Auroras are "delivering" strongly.

INDIGNANT--On your own showing, you were not under control. That
you could not hoist the necessary N. U. C. lights on approaching a
traffic-lane because your electrics had short-circuited is a misfortune
which might befall any one. The A. B. C., being responsible for the
planet's traffic, cannot, however, make allowance for this kind of
misfortune. A reference to the Code will show that you were fined on the
lower scale.

PLANISTON--(1) The Five Thousand Kilometre (overland) was won last year
by L. V. Rautsch; R. M. Rautsch, his brother, in the same week pulling
off the Ten Thousand (oversee). R. M.'s average worked out at a
fraction over 500 kilometres per hour, thus constituting a record.
(2) Theoretically, there is no limit to the lift of a dirigible. For
commercial and practical purposes 15,000 tons is accepted as the most
manageable.

PATERFAMILIAS--None whatever. He is liable for direct damage both to
your chimneys and any collateral damage caused by fall of bricks into
garden, etc., etc. Bodily inconvenience and mental anguish may
be included, but the average courts are not, as a rule, swayed by
sentiment. If you can prove that his grapnel removed any portion of
your roof, you had better rest your case on decoverture of domicile (see
Parkins v. Duboulay). We sympathize with your position, but the night
of the 14th was stormy and confused, and--you may have to anchor on a
stranger's chimney yourself some night. Verbum sap!

ALDEBARAN--(1) war, as a paying concern, ceased in 1987. (2) The
Convention of London expressly reserves to every nation the right of
waging war so long as it does not interfere with the traffic and all
that implies. (3) The A. B. C. was constituted in 1