Reading Help War of the worlds Book 2
There is reason to suppose that on Mars they may have progressed upon `
` them with some facility. `
` `
` The internal anatomy, I may remark here, as dissection has since `
` shown, was almost equally simple. The greater part of the structure `
` was the brain, sending enormous nerves to the eyes, ear, and tactile `
` tentacles. Besides this were the bulky lungs, into which the mouth `
` opened, and the heart and its vessels. The pulmonary distress caused `
` by the denser atmosphere and greater gravitational attraction was only `
` too evident in the convulsive movements of the outer skin. `
` `
` And this was the sum of the Martian organs. Strange as it may seem `
` to a human being, all the complex apparatus of digestion, which makes `
` up the bulk of our bodies, did not exist in the Martians. They were `
` heads--merely heads. Entrails they had none. They did not eat, much `
` less digest. Instead, they took the fresh, living blood of other `
` creatures, and _injected_ it into their own veins. I have myself seen `
` this being done, as I shall mention in its place. But, squeamish as I `
` may seem, I cannot bring myself to describe what I could not endure `
` even to continue watching. Let it suffice to say, blood obtained from `
` a still living animal, in most cases from a human being, was run `
` directly by means of a little pipette into the recipient canal. . . . `
` `
` The bare idea of this is no doubt horribly repulsive to us, but at `
` the same time I think that we should remember how repulsive our `
` carnivorous habits would seem to an intelligent rabbit. `
` `
` The physiological advantages of the practice of injection are `
` undeniable, if one thinks of the tremendous waste of human time and `
` energy occasioned by eating and the digestive process. Our bodies are `
` half made up of glands and tubes and organs, occupied in turning `
` heterogeneous food into blood. The digestive processes and their `
` reaction upon the nervous system sap our strength and colour our `
` minds. Men go happy or miserable as they have healthy or unhealthy `
` livers, or sound gastric glands. But the Martians were lifted above `
` all these organic fluctuations of mood and emotion. `
` `
` Their undeniable preference for men as their source of nourishment `
` is partly explained by the nature of the remains of the victims they `
` had brought with them as provisions from Mars. These creatures, to `
` judge from the shrivelled remains that have fallen into human hands, `
` were bipeds with flimsy, silicious skeletons (almost like those of the `
` silicious sponges) and feeble musculature, standing about six feet `
` high and having round, erect heads, and large eyes in flinty sockets. `
` Two or three of these seem to have been brought in each cylinder, and `
` all were killed before earth was reached. It was just as well for `
` them, for the mere attempt to stand upright upon our planet would have `
` broken every bone in their bodies. `
` `
` And while I am engaged in this description, I may add in this place `
` certain further details which, although they were not all evident to `
` us at the time, will enable the reader who is unacquainted with them `
` to form a clearer picture of these offensive creatures. `
` `
` In three other points their physiology differed strangely from `
` ours. Their organisms did not sleep, any more than the heart of man `
` sleeps. Since they had no extensive muscular mechanism to recuperate, `
` that periodical extinction was unknown to them. They had little or `
` no sense of fatigue, it would seem. On earth they could never have `
` moved without effort, yet even to the last they kept in action. In `
` twenty-four hours they did twenty-four hours of work, as even on earth `
` is perhaps the case with the ants. `
` `
` In the next place, wonderful as it seems in a sexual world, the `
` Martians were absolutely without sex, and therefore without any of the `
` tumultuous emotions that arise from that difference among men. A `
` young Martian, there can now be no dispute, was really born upon earth `
` during the war, and it was found attached to its parent, partially `
` _budded_ off, just as young lilybulbs bud off, or like the young animals `
` in the fresh-water polyp. `
` `
` In man, in all the higher terrestrial animals, such a method of `
` increase has disappeared; but even on this earth it was certainly the `
` primitive method. Among the lower animals, up even to those first `
` cousins of the vertebrated animals, the Tunicates, the two processes `
` occur side by side, but finally the sexual method superseded its `
` competitor altogether. On Mars, however, just the reverse has `
` apparently been the case. `
` `
` It is worthy of remark that a certain speculative writer of `
` quasi-scientific repute, writing long before the Martian invasion, did `
` forecast for man a final structure not unlike the actual Martian `
` condition. His prophecy, I remember, appeared in November or `
` December, 1893, in a long-defunct publication, the _Pall Mall Budget_, `
` and I recall a caricature of it in a pre-Martian periodical called `
` _Punch_. He pointed out--writing in a foolish, facetious tone--that the `
` perfection of mechanical appliances must ultimately supersede limbs; `
` the perfection of chemical devices, digestion; that such organs as `
` hair, external nose, teeth, ears, and chin were no longer essential `
` parts of the human being, and that the tendency of natural selection `
` would lie in the direction of their steady diminution through the `
` coming ages. The brain alone remained a cardinal necessity. Only one `
` other part of the body had a strong case for survival, and that was `
` the hand, "teacher and agent of the brain." While the rest of the `
` body dwindled, the hands would grow larger. `
` `
` There is many a true word written in jest, and here in the Martians `
` we have beyond dispute the actual accomplishment of such a suppression `
` of the animal side of the organism by the intelligence. To me it is `
` quite credible that the Martians may be descended from beings not `
` unlike ourselves, by a gradual development of brain and hands (the `
` latter giving rise to the two bunches of delicate tentacles at last) `
` at the expense of the rest of the body. Without the body the brain `
` would, of course, become a mere selfish intelligence, without any of `
` the emotional substratum of the human being. `
` `
` The last salient point in which the systems of these creatures `
` differed from ours was in what one might have thought a very trivial `
` particular. Micro-organisms, which cause so much disease and pain on `
` earth, have either never appeared upon Mars or Martian sanitary `
` science eliminated them ages ago. A hundred diseases, all the fevers `
` and contagions of human life, consumption, cancers, tumours and such `
` morbidities, never enter the scheme of their life. And speaking of `
` the differences between the life on Mars and terrestrial life, I may `
` allude here to the curious suggestions of the red weed. `
` `
` Apparently the vegetable kingdom in Mars, instead of having green `
` for a dominant colour, is of a vivid blood-red tint. At any rate, the `
` seeds which the Martians (intentionally or accidentally) brought with `
` them gave rise in all cases to red-coloured growths. Only that known `
` popularly as the red weed, however, gained any footing in competition `
` with terrestrial forms. The red creeper was quite a transitory `
` growth, and few people have seen it growing. For a time, however, the `
` red weed grew with astonishing vigour and luxuriance. It spread up `
` the sides of the pit by the third or fourth day of our imprisonment, `
` and its cactus-like branches formed a carmine fringe to the edges of `
` our triangular window. And afterwards I found it broadcast throughout `
` the country, and especially wherever there was a stream of water. `
` `
` The Martians had what appears to have been an auditory organ, a `
` single round drum at the back of the head-body, and eyes with a visual `
` range not very different from ours except that, according to Philips, `
` blue and violet were as black to them. It is commonly supposed that `
` they communicated by sounds and tentacular gesticulations; this is `
` asserted, for instance, in the able but hastily compiled pamphlet `
` (written evidently by someone not an eye-witness of Martian actions) `
` to which I have already alluded, and which, so far, has been the chief `
` source of information concerning them. Now no surviving human being `
` saw so much of the Martians in action as I did. I take no credit to `
` myself for an accident, but the fact is so. And I assert that I `
` watched them closely time after time, and that I have seen four, five, `
` and (once) six of them sluggishly performing the most elaborately `
` complicated operations together without either sound or gesture. Their `
` peculiar hooting invariably preceded feeding; it had no modulation, `
` and was, I believe, in no sense a signal, but merely the expiration of `
` air preparatory to the suctional operation. I have a certain claim to `
` at least an elementary knowledge of psychology, and in this matter I `
` am convinced--as firmly as I am convinced of anything--that the `
` Martians interchanged thoughts without any physical intermediation. `
` And I have been convinced of this in spite of strong preconceptions. `
` Before the Martian invasion, as an occasional reader here or there may `
` remember, I had written with some little vehemence against the `
` telepathic theory. `
` `
` The Martians wore no clothing. Their conceptions of ornament and `
` decorum were necessarily different from ours; and not only were they `
` evidently much less sensible of changes of temperature than we are, `
` but changes of pressure do not seem to have affected their health at `
` all seriously. Yet though they wore no clothing, it was in the other `
` artificial additions to their bodily resources that their great `
` superiority over man lay. We men, with our bicycles and road-skates, `
` our Lilienthal soaring-machines, our guns and sticks and so forth, are `
` just in the beginning of the evolution that the Martians have worked `
` out. They have become practically mere brains, wearing different `
` bodies according to their needs just as men wear suits of clothes and `
` take a bicycle in a hurry or an umbrella in the wet. And of their `
` appliances, perhaps nothing is more wonderful to a man than the `
` curious fact that what is the dominant feature of almost all human `
` devices in mechanism is absent--the _wheel_ is absent; among all the `
` things they brought to earth there is no trace or suggestion of their `
` use of wheels. One would have at least expected it in locomotion. And `
` in this connection it is curious to remark that even on this earth `
` Nature has never hit upon the wheel, or has preferred other expedients `
` to its development. And not only did the Martians either not know of `
` (which is incredible), or abstain from, the wheel, but in their `
` apparatus singularly little use is made of the fixed pivot or `
` relatively fixed pivot, with circular motions thereabout confined `
` to one plane. Almost all the joints of the machinery present a `
` complicated system of sliding parts moving over small but beautifully `
` curved friction bearings. And while upon this matter of detail, it is `
` remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases `
` actuated by a sort of sham musculature of the disks in an elastic `
` sheath; these disks become polarised and drawn closely and powerfully `
` together when traversed by a current of electricity. In this way the `
` curious parallelism to animal motions, which was so striking and `
` disturbing to the human beholder, was attained. Such quasi-muscles `
` abounded in the crablike handling-machine which, on my first peeping `
` out of the slit, I watched unpacking the cylinder. It seemed `
` infinitely more alive than the actual Martians lying beyond it in the `
` sunset light, panting, stirring ineffectual tentacles, and moving `
` feebly after their vast journey across space. `
` `
` While I was still watching their sluggish motions in the sunlight, `
` and noting each strange detail of their form, the curate reminded me `
` of his presence by pulling violently at my arm. I turned to a `
` scowling face, and silent, eloquent lips. He wanted the slit, which `
` permitted only one of us to peep through; and so I had to forego `
` watching them for a time while he enjoyed that privilege. `
` `
` When I looked again, the busy handling-machine had already put `
` together several of the pieces of apparatus it had taken out of the `
`
` them with some facility. `
` `
` The internal anatomy, I may remark here, as dissection has since `
` shown, was almost equally simple. The greater part of the structure `
` was the brain, sending enormous nerves to the eyes, ear, and tactile `
` tentacles. Besides this were the bulky lungs, into which the mouth `
` opened, and the heart and its vessels. The pulmonary distress caused `
` by the denser atmosphere and greater gravitational attraction was only `
` too evident in the convulsive movements of the outer skin. `
` `
` And this was the sum of the Martian organs. Strange as it may seem `
` to a human being, all the complex apparatus of digestion, which makes `
` up the bulk of our bodies, did not exist in the Martians. They were `
` heads--merely heads. Entrails they had none. They did not eat, much `
` less digest. Instead, they took the fresh, living blood of other `
` creatures, and _injected_ it into their own veins. I have myself seen `
` this being done, as I shall mention in its place. But, squeamish as I `
` may seem, I cannot bring myself to describe what I could not endure `
` even to continue watching. Let it suffice to say, blood obtained from `
` a still living animal, in most cases from a human being, was run `
` directly by means of a little pipette into the recipient canal. . . . `
` `
` The bare idea of this is no doubt horribly repulsive to us, but at `
` the same time I think that we should remember how repulsive our `
` carnivorous habits would seem to an intelligent rabbit. `
` `
` The physiological advantages of the practice of injection are `
` undeniable, if one thinks of the tremendous waste of human time and `
` energy occasioned by eating and the digestive process. Our bodies are `
` half made up of glands and tubes and organs, occupied in turning `
` heterogeneous food into blood. The digestive processes and their `
` reaction upon the nervous system sap our strength and colour our `
` minds. Men go happy or miserable as they have healthy or unhealthy `
` livers, or sound gastric glands. But the Martians were lifted above `
` all these organic fluctuations of mood and emotion. `
` `
` Their undeniable preference for men as their source of nourishment `
` is partly explained by the nature of the remains of the victims they `
` had brought with them as provisions from Mars. These creatures, to `
` judge from the shrivelled remains that have fallen into human hands, `
` were bipeds with flimsy, silicious skeletons (almost like those of the `
` silicious sponges) and feeble musculature, standing about six feet `
` high and having round, erect heads, and large eyes in flinty sockets. `
` Two or three of these seem to have been brought in each cylinder, and `
` all were killed before earth was reached. It was just as well for `
` them, for the mere attempt to stand upright upon our planet would have `
` broken every bone in their bodies. `
` `
` And while I am engaged in this description, I may add in this place `
` certain further details which, although they were not all evident to `
` us at the time, will enable the reader who is unacquainted with them `
` to form a clearer picture of these offensive creatures. `
` `
` In three other points their physiology differed strangely from `
` ours. Their organisms did not sleep, any more than the heart of man `
` sleeps. Since they had no extensive muscular mechanism to recuperate, `
` that periodical extinction was unknown to them. They had little or `
` no sense of fatigue, it would seem. On earth they could never have `
` moved without effort, yet even to the last they kept in action. In `
` twenty-four hours they did twenty-four hours of work, as even on earth `
` is perhaps the case with the ants. `
` `
` In the next place, wonderful as it seems in a sexual world, the `
` Martians were absolutely without sex, and therefore without any of the `
` tumultuous emotions that arise from that difference among men. A `
` young Martian, there can now be no dispute, was really born upon earth `
` during the war, and it was found attached to its parent, partially `
` _budded_ off, just as young lilybulbs bud off, or like the young animals `
` in the fresh-water polyp. `
` `
` In man, in all the higher terrestrial animals, such a method of `
` increase has disappeared; but even on this earth it was certainly the `
` primitive method. Among the lower animals, up even to those first `
` cousins of the vertebrated animals, the Tunicates, the two processes `
` occur side by side, but finally the sexual method superseded its `
` competitor altogether. On Mars, however, just the reverse has `
` apparently been the case. `
` `
` It is worthy of remark that a certain speculative writer of `
` quasi-scientific repute, writing long before the Martian invasion, did `
` forecast for man a final structure not unlike the actual Martian `
` condition. His prophecy, I remember, appeared in November or `
` December, 1893, in a long-defunct publication, the _Pall Mall Budget_, `
` and I recall a caricature of it in a pre-Martian periodical called `
` _Punch_. He pointed out--writing in a foolish, facetious tone--that the `
` perfection of mechanical appliances must ultimately supersede limbs; `
` the perfection of chemical devices, digestion; that such organs as `
` hair, external nose, teeth, ears, and chin were no longer essential `
` parts of the human being, and that the tendency of natural selection `
` would lie in the direction of their steady diminution through the `
` coming ages. The brain alone remained a cardinal necessity. Only one `
` other part of the body had a strong case for survival, and that was `
` the hand, "teacher and agent of the brain." While the rest of the `
` body dwindled, the hands would grow larger. `
` `
` There is many a true word written in jest, and here in the Martians `
` we have beyond dispute the actual accomplishment of such a suppression `
` of the animal side of the organism by the intelligence. To me it is `
` quite credible that the Martians may be descended from beings not `
` unlike ourselves, by a gradual development of brain and hands (the `
` latter giving rise to the two bunches of delicate tentacles at last) `
` at the expense of the rest of the body. Without the body the brain `
` would, of course, become a mere selfish intelligence, without any of `
` the emotional substratum of the human being. `
` `
` The last salient point in which the systems of these creatures `
` differed from ours was in what one might have thought a very trivial `
` particular. Micro-organisms, which cause so much disease and pain on `
` earth, have either never appeared upon Mars or Martian sanitary `
` science eliminated them ages ago. A hundred diseases, all the fevers `
` and contagions of human life, consumption, cancers, tumours and such `
` morbidities, never enter the scheme of their life. And speaking of `
` the differences between the life on Mars and terrestrial life, I may `
` allude here to the curious suggestions of the red weed. `
` `
` Apparently the vegetable kingdom in Mars, instead of having green `
` for a dominant colour, is of a vivid blood-red tint. At any rate, the `
` seeds which the Martians (intentionally or accidentally) brought with `
` them gave rise in all cases to red-coloured growths. Only that known `
` popularly as the red weed, however, gained any footing in competition `
` with terrestrial forms. The red creeper was quite a transitory `
` growth, and few people have seen it growing. For a time, however, the `
` red weed grew with astonishing vigour and luxuriance. It spread up `
` the sides of the pit by the third or fourth day of our imprisonment, `
` and its cactus-like branches formed a carmine fringe to the edges of `
` our triangular window. And afterwards I found it broadcast throughout `
` the country, and especially wherever there was a stream of water. `
` `
` The Martians had what appears to have been an auditory organ, a `
` single round drum at the back of the head-body, and eyes with a visual `
` range not very different from ours except that, according to Philips, `
` blue and violet were as black to them. It is commonly supposed that `
` they communicated by sounds and tentacular gesticulations; this is `
` asserted, for instance, in the able but hastily compiled pamphlet `
` (written evidently by someone not an eye-witness of Martian actions) `
` to which I have already alluded, and which, so far, has been the chief `
` source of information concerning them. Now no surviving human being `
` saw so much of the Martians in action as I did. I take no credit to `
` myself for an accident, but the fact is so. And I assert that I `
` watched them closely time after time, and that I have seen four, five, `
` and (once) six of them sluggishly performing the most elaborately `
` complicated operations together without either sound or gesture. Their `
` peculiar hooting invariably preceded feeding; it had no modulation, `
` and was, I believe, in no sense a signal, but merely the expiration of `
` air preparatory to the suctional operation. I have a certain claim to `
` at least an elementary knowledge of psychology, and in this matter I `
` am convinced--as firmly as I am convinced of anything--that the `
` Martians interchanged thoughts without any physical intermediation. `
` And I have been convinced of this in spite of strong preconceptions. `
` Before the Martian invasion, as an occasional reader here or there may `
` remember, I had written with some little vehemence against the `
` telepathic theory. `
` `
` The Martians wore no clothing. Their conceptions of ornament and `
` decorum were necessarily different from ours; and not only were they `
` evidently much less sensible of changes of temperature than we are, `
` but changes of pressure do not seem to have affected their health at `
` all seriously. Yet though they wore no clothing, it was in the other `
` artificial additions to their bodily resources that their great `
` superiority over man lay. We men, with our bicycles and road-skates, `
` our Lilienthal soaring-machines, our guns and sticks and so forth, are `
` just in the beginning of the evolution that the Martians have worked `
` out. They have become practically mere brains, wearing different `
` bodies according to their needs just as men wear suits of clothes and `
` take a bicycle in a hurry or an umbrella in the wet. And of their `
` appliances, perhaps nothing is more wonderful to a man than the `
` curious fact that what is the dominant feature of almost all human `
` devices in mechanism is absent--the _wheel_ is absent; among all the `
` things they brought to earth there is no trace or suggestion of their `
` use of wheels. One would have at least expected it in locomotion. And `
` in this connection it is curious to remark that even on this earth `
` Nature has never hit upon the wheel, or has preferred other expedients `
` to its development. And not only did the Martians either not know of `
` (which is incredible), or abstain from, the wheel, but in their `
` apparatus singularly little use is made of the fixed pivot or `
` relatively fixed pivot, with circular motions thereabout confined `
` to one plane. Almost all the joints of the machinery present a `
` complicated system of sliding parts moving over small but beautifully `
` curved friction bearings. And while upon this matter of detail, it is `
` remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases `
` actuated by a sort of sham musculature of the disks in an elastic `
` sheath; these disks become polarised and drawn closely and powerfully `
` together when traversed by a current of electricity. In this way the `
` curious parallelism to animal motions, which was so striking and `
` disturbing to the human beholder, was attained. Such quasi-muscles `
` abounded in the crablike handling-machine which, on my first peeping `
` out of the slit, I watched unpacking the cylinder. It seemed `
` infinitely more alive than the actual Martians lying beyond it in the `
` sunset light, panting, stirring ineffectual tentacles, and moving `
` feebly after their vast journey across space. `
` `
` While I was still watching their sluggish motions in the sunlight, `
` and noting each strange detail of their form, the curate reminded me `
` of his presence by pulling violently at my arm. I turned to a `
` scowling face, and silent, eloquent lips. He wanted the slit, which `
` permitted only one of us to peep through; and so I had to forego `
` watching them for a time while he enjoyed that privilege. `
` `
` When I looked again, the busy handling-machine had already put `
` together several of the pieces of apparatus it had taken out of the `
`