Device, Art. No 289
Working Name; "Ectoplasmic Generator Apparatus"
Designation; "Regenoplasmatron"
Application for patent date; 11th April 1918
Patent Rejection Date; 4th August 1918
With the principals of the new-fangled radiophonic receiver buzzing through The Club, I set too on similar lines to see what might be achieved.
I fabricated an aerial of pure brass with dual, in-curving spirals cast into the vacuum of the valves, which in turn I prepared to contain an atmosphere drawn from Lariman Til Manthik. Upon applying my device to the airwaves in experimentation, I was shaken to the roots by the results. For, out of the reproducer horn poured not audition, but a flaccid, viscous grey substance, which I later resolved to be spiritualistic ectoplasm. It would appear that this combination of receiver, gas and vibration, not only received spirit resonance but actually caused plasm to physically manifest.
To refine the units, I replaced the reproducer horn with a twin conduit siphon and maintained a temperature of 35°f by passing charged fluid Sull (which I have also found to be as much of an excellent heat conductor as, when ingested, an aid to mesmerism) through the spiral heat exchangers.
I then set the receptacles within a rectangular containment of das Dar Rordas, and then with the Terms of Forminkkis upon my lips, I contrived and achieved, the manifestation of the purest plasm.
As, in the first trial, the ectoplasm was ejected (or projected, more like) with no small force, I later replaced the steam engine with the less vigorous clockwork cage (coggage No2, scale 4). This, coupled with the addition of the coolant spirals, allowed the plasm not only to exist in our world (without aggregation) for an extended period, but also simply to discharge gently into the receptacles provided.
In grandfathers diary, dated 25th May 1918, we have the following reflections:
In the evening, as I take my ease by the study grating, and usually by my second pipe, ensconced most comfortable in my old armchair, I do sometimes see things objectively and from an onlookers perspective, with the question I most often envisage these folk asking being; "how might one combine and integrate the ancient and modern and come by such diametric marriages of disparity?".
To answer this I would say that when we read of anothers discovery, all the onlooker sees are the findings, and all we understand of his workings is the culminant, and in the end, all we know of is the finality of the design. Who but the author of the Mechanism knows fully of the weeks and months spent, the sleepless nights wasted, the reams of paper covered in the esoterics of mathematics, mechanics, geometry; the days fully consumed in deep study,
the failed first steps, the frustration, and forestalling; of the journals and papers of others, the technical and (in my case) outre books, spent in endless deliberation and experimentation over. Then, of the fortuitous accident, the indicant error and serendipitous culminant to success.
How might one tell of the travails and clandestine assignations in shocking locales where to conclude the most dubious of bargains? For it is in just such locales that I have purchased my most precious and profane of books and pamphlets, and where the strangest of philtres and mixtures may be, with ease, procured. All of this is lost to the final product, and upon the consumer.
We could then ask to what use might we put such products as, in this case, the Ectoplasmic Regenerator? Well, it is the clarity of vision and insight to unify and join forces of dissimilar techniques which might achieve similar goals, and as much as through known facts and knowledge as trial and error (as in the Otostropophone).
But then, with all this said, I settle back with a fresh pipe of Old English Curve Cut, kick off my brogues, and think; ".. why bother? I do this for self satisfaction, and the furtherance of the individual, and who are these people who intrude with their querulous inquires", and I reach for the decanter with which to refresh my snifter, and pull a book at random from the tottering pile by my elbow. I shall immerse myself in the musings of anothers thoughts, and so consign the evening to reflection .... and why not?
Mechanics Used:
- Vacuum tubes.
- Brass receiver apparatus.
- Jury-rigged graphaphone.
Esoterics Used:
- Fumes of Lariman Til Manthik.
- Charged fluid Sull.
- Rectangle of das Dar Rordas.
- Lexiusolatria (Forminkkis Eversio-Fortissimo).
