Reading Help War of the worlds by H. G. Wells. Book 1
Clickable text below...
Prev
Next Page #
The War of the Worlds `
` `
` by H. G. Wells [1898] `
` `
` `
` But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be `
` inhabited? . . . Are we or they Lords of the `
` World? . . . And how are all things made for man?-- `
` KEPLER (quoted in The Anatomy of Melancholy) `
` `
` `
` `
` BOOK ONE `
` `
` THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER ONE `
` `
` THE EVE OF THE WAR `
` `
` `
` No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth `
` century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by `
` intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as `
` men busied themselves about their various concerns they were `
` scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a `
` microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and `
` multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to `
` and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their `
` assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the `
` infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to `
` the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of `
` them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or `
` improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of `
` those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be `
` other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to `
` welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds `
` that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, `
` intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with `
` envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And `
` early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment. `
` `
` The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the `
` sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it `
` receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world. `
` It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our `
` world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its `
` surface must have begun its course. The fact that it is scarcely one `
` seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling `
` to the temperature at which life could begin. It has air and water `
` and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence. `
` `
` Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, `
` up to the very end of the nineteenth century, expressed any idea that `
` intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, `
` beyond its earthly level. Nor was it generally understood that since `
` Mars is older than our earth, with scarcely a quarter of the `
` superficial area and remoter from the sun, it necessarily follows that `
` it is not only more distant from time's beginning but nearer its end. `
` `
` The secular cooling that must someday overtake our planet has `
` already gone far indeed with our neighbour. Its physical condition is `
` still largely a mystery, but we know now that even in its equatorial `
` region the midday temperature barely approaches that of our coldest `
` winter. Its air is much more attenuated than ours, its oceans have `
` shrunk until they cover but a third of its surface, and as its slow `
` seasons change huge snowcaps gather and melt about either pole and `
` periodically inundate its temperate zones. That last stage of `
` exhaustion, which to us is still incredibly remote, has become a `
` present-day problem for the inhabitants of Mars. The immediate `
` pressure of necessity has brightened their intellects, enlarged their `
` powers, and hardened their hearts. And looking across space with `
` instruments, and intelligences such as we have scarcely dreamed of, `
` they see, at its nearest distance only 35,000,000 of miles sunward of `
` them, a morning star of hope, our own warmer planet, green with `
` vegetation and grey with water, with a cloudy atmosphere eloquent of `
` fertility, with glimpses through its drifting cloud wisps of broad `
` stretches of populous country and narrow, navy-crowded seas. `
` `
` And we men, the creatures who inhabit this earth, must be to them `
` at least as alien and lowly as are the monkeys and lemurs to us. The `
` intellectual side of man already admits that life is an incessant `
` struggle for existence, and it would seem that this too is the belief `
` of the minds upon Mars. Their world is far gone in its cooling and `
` this world is still crowded with life, but crowded only with what they `
` regard as inferior animals. To carry warfare sunward is, indeed, `
` their only escape from the destruction that, generation after `
` generation, creeps upon them. `
` `
` And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what `
` ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only `
` upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its `
` inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, `
` were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged `
` by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such `
` apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same `
` spirit? `
` `
` The Martians seem to have calculated their descent with amazing `
` subtlety--their mathematical learning is evidently far in excess of `
` ours--and to have carried out their preparations with a well-nigh `
` perfect unanimity. Had our instruments permitted it, we might have `
` seen the gathering trouble far back in the nineteenth century. Men `
` like Schiaparelli watched the red planet--it is odd, by-the-bye, that `
` for countless centuries Mars has been the star of war--but failed to `
` interpret the fluctuating appearances of the markings they mapped so `
` well. All that time the Martians must have been getting ready. `
` `
` During the opposition of 1894 a great light was seen on the `
` illuminated part of the disk, first at the Lick Observatory, then by `
` Perrotin of Nice, and then by other observers. English readers heard `
` of it first in the issue of _Nature_ dated August 2. I am inclined to `
` think that this blaze may have been the casting of the huge gun, in `
` the vast pit sunk into their planet, from which their shots were fired `
` at us. Peculiar markings, as yet unexplained, were seen near the site `
` of that outbreak during the next two oppositions. `
` `
` The storm burst upon us six years ago now. As Mars approached `
` opposition, Lavelle of Java set the wires of the astronomical exchange `
` palpitating with the amazing intelligence of a huge outbreak of `
` incandescent gas upon the planet. It had occurred towards midnight of `
` the twelfth; and the spectroscope, to which he had at once resorted, `
` indicated a mass of flaming gas, chiefly hydrogen, moving with an `
` enormous velocity towards this earth. This jet of fire had become `
` invisible about a quarter past twelve. He compared it to a colossal `
` puff of flame suddenly and violently squirted out of the planet, "as `
` flaming gases rushed out of a gun." `
` `
` A singularly appropriate phrase it proved. Yet the next day there `
` was nothing of this in the papers except a little note in the _Daily `
` Telegraph_, and the world went in ignorance of one of the gravest `
` dangers that ever threatened the human race. I might not have heard of `
` the eruption at all had I not met Ogilvy, the well-known astronomer, `
` at Ottershaw. He was immensely excited at the news, and in the excess `
` of his feelings invited me up to take a turn with him that night in a `
` scrutiny of the red planet. `
` `
` In spite of all that has happened since, I still remember that `
` vigil very distinctly: the black and silent observatory, the shadowed `
` lantern throwing a feeble glow upon the floor in the corner, the `
` steady ticking of the clockwork of the telescope, the little slit in `
` the roof--an oblong profundity with the stardust streaked across it. `
` Ogilvy moved about, invisible but audible. Looking through the `
` telescope, one saw a circle of deep blue and the little round planet `
` swimming in the field. It seemed such a little thing, so bright and `
` small and still, faintly marked with transverse stripes, and slightly `
` flattened from the perfect round. But so little it was, so silvery `
` warm--a pin's-head of light! It was as if it quivered, but really this `
` was the telescope vibrating with the activity of the clockwork that `
` kept the planet in view. `
` `
` As I watched, the planet seemed to grow larger and smaller and to `
` advance and recede, but that was simply that my eye was tired. Forty `
` millions of miles it was from us--more than forty millions of miles of `
` void. Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust `
` of the material universe swims. `
` `
` Near it in the field, I remember, were three faint points of light, `
` three telescopic stars infinitely remote, and all around it was the `
` unfathomable darkness of empty space. You know how that blackness `
` looks on a frosty starlight night. In a telescope it seems far `
` profounder. And invisible to me because it was so remote and small, `
` flying swiftly and steadily towards me across that incredible `
` distance, drawing nearer every minute by so many thousands of miles, `
` came the Thing they were sending us, the Thing that was to bring so `
` much struggle and calamity and death to the earth. I never dreamed of `
` it then as I watched; no one on earth dreamed of that unerring `
` missile. `
` `
` That night, too, there was another jetting out of gas from the `
` distant planet. I saw it. A reddish flash at the edge, the slightest `
` projection of the outline just as the chronometer struck midnight; and `
` at that I told Ogilvy and he took my place. The night was warm and I `
` was thirsty, and I went stretching my legs clumsily and feeling my way `
` in the darkness, to the little table where the siphon stood, while `
` Ogilvy exclaimed at the streamer of gas that came out towards us. `
` `
` That night another invisible missile started on its way to the `
` earth from Mars, just a second or so under twenty-four hours after the `
` first one. I remember how I sat on the table there in the blackness, `
` with patches of green and crimson swimming before my eyes. I wished I `
` had a light to smoke by, little suspecting the meaning of the minute `
` gleam I had seen and all that it would presently bring me. Ogilvy `
` watched till one, and then gave it up; and we lit the lantern and `
` walked over to his house. Down below in the darkness were Ottershaw `
` and Chertsey and all their hundreds of people, sleeping in peace. `
` `
` He was full of speculation that night about the condition of Mars, `
` and scoffed at the vulgar idea of its having inhabitants who were `
` signalling us. His idea was that meteorites might be falling in a `
` heavy shower upon the planet, or that a huge volcanic explosion was in `
` progress. He pointed out to me how unlikely it was that organic `
` evolution had taken the same direction in the two adjacent planets. `
` `
` "The chances against anything manlike on Mars are a million to `
` one," he said. `
` `
` Hundreds of observers saw the flame that night and the night after `
` about midnight, and again the night after; and so for ten nights, a `
`
` `
` by H. G. Wells [1898] `
` `
` `
` But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be `
` inhabited? . . . Are we or they Lords of the `
` World? . . . And how are all things made for man?-- `
` KEPLER (quoted in The Anatomy of Melancholy) `
` `
` `
` `
` BOOK ONE `
` `
` THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER ONE `
` `
` THE EVE OF THE WAR `
` `
` `
` No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth `
` century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by `
` intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as `
` men busied themselves about their various concerns they were `
` scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a `
` microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and `
` multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to `
` and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their `
` assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the `
` infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to `
` the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of `
` them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or `
` improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of `
` those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be `
` other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to `
` welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds `
` that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, `
` intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with `
` envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And `
` early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment. `
` `
` The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the `
` sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it `
` receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world. `
` It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our `
` world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its `
` surface must have begun its course. The fact that it is scarcely one `
` seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling `
` to the temperature at which life could begin. It has air and water `
` and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence. `
` `
` Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, `
` up to the very end of the nineteenth century, expressed any idea that `
` intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, `
` beyond its earthly level. Nor was it generally understood that since `
` Mars is older than our earth, with scarcely a quarter of the `
` superficial area and remoter from the sun, it necessarily follows that `
` it is not only more distant from time's beginning but nearer its end. `
` `
` The secular cooling that must someday overtake our planet has `
` already gone far indeed with our neighbour. Its physical condition is `
` still largely a mystery, but we know now that even in its equatorial `
` region the midday temperature barely approaches that of our coldest `
` winter. Its air is much more attenuated than ours, its oceans have `
` shrunk until they cover but a third of its surface, and as its slow `
` seasons change huge snowcaps gather and melt about either pole and `
` periodically inundate its temperate zones. That last stage of `
` exhaustion, which to us is still incredibly remote, has become a `
` present-day problem for the inhabitants of Mars. The immediate `
` pressure of necessity has brightened their intellects, enlarged their `
` powers, and hardened their hearts. And looking across space with `
` instruments, and intelligences such as we have scarcely dreamed of, `
` they see, at its nearest distance only 35,000,000 of miles sunward of `
` them, a morning star of hope, our own warmer planet, green with `
` vegetation and grey with water, with a cloudy atmosphere eloquent of `
` fertility, with glimpses through its drifting cloud wisps of broad `
` stretches of populous country and narrow, navy-crowded seas. `
` `
` And we men, the creatures who inhabit this earth, must be to them `
` at least as alien and lowly as are the monkeys and lemurs to us. The `
` intellectual side of man already admits that life is an incessant `
` struggle for existence, and it would seem that this too is the belief `
` of the minds upon Mars. Their world is far gone in its cooling and `
` this world is still crowded with life, but crowded only with what they `
` regard as inferior animals. To carry warfare sunward is, indeed, `
` their only escape from the destruction that, generation after `
` generation, creeps upon them. `
` `
` And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what `
` ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only `
` upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its `
` inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, `
` were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged `
` by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such `
` apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same `
` spirit? `
` `
` The Martians seem to have calculated their descent with amazing `
` subtlety--their mathematical learning is evidently far in excess of `
` ours--and to have carried out their preparations with a well-nigh `
` perfect unanimity. Had our instruments permitted it, we might have `
` seen the gathering trouble far back in the nineteenth century. Men `
` like Schiaparelli watched the red planet--it is odd, by-the-bye, that `
` for countless centuries Mars has been the star of war--but failed to `
` interpret the fluctuating appearances of the markings they mapped so `
` well. All that time the Martians must have been getting ready. `
` `
` During the opposition of 1894 a great light was seen on the `
` illuminated part of the disk, first at the Lick Observatory, then by `
` Perrotin of Nice, and then by other observers. English readers heard `
` of it first in the issue of _Nature_ dated August 2. I am inclined to `
` think that this blaze may have been the casting of the huge gun, in `
` the vast pit sunk into their planet, from which their shots were fired `
` at us. Peculiar markings, as yet unexplained, were seen near the site `
` of that outbreak during the next two oppositions. `
` `
` The storm burst upon us six years ago now. As Mars approached `
` opposition, Lavelle of Java set the wires of the astronomical exchange `
` palpitating with the amazing intelligence of a huge outbreak of `
` incandescent gas upon the planet. It had occurred towards midnight of `
` the twelfth; and the spectroscope, to which he had at once resorted, `
` indicated a mass of flaming gas, chiefly hydrogen, moving with an `
` enormous velocity towards this earth. This jet of fire had become `
` invisible about a quarter past twelve. He compared it to a colossal `
` puff of flame suddenly and violently squirted out of the planet, "as `
` flaming gases rushed out of a gun." `
` `
` A singularly appropriate phrase it proved. Yet the next day there `
` was nothing of this in the papers except a little note in the _Daily `
` Telegraph_, and the world went in ignorance of one of the gravest `
` dangers that ever threatened the human race. I might not have heard of `
` the eruption at all had I not met Ogilvy, the well-known astronomer, `
` at Ottershaw. He was immensely excited at the news, and in the excess `
` of his feelings invited me up to take a turn with him that night in a `
` scrutiny of the red planet. `
` `
` In spite of all that has happened since, I still remember that `
` vigil very distinctly: the black and silent observatory, the shadowed `
` lantern throwing a feeble glow upon the floor in the corner, the `
` steady ticking of the clockwork of the telescope, the little slit in `
` the roof--an oblong profundity with the stardust streaked across it. `
` Ogilvy moved about, invisible but audible. Looking through the `
` telescope, one saw a circle of deep blue and the little round planet `
` swimming in the field. It seemed such a little thing, so bright and `
` small and still, faintly marked with transverse stripes, and slightly `
` flattened from the perfect round. But so little it was, so silvery `
` warm--a pin's-head of light! It was as if it quivered, but really this `
` was the telescope vibrating with the activity of the clockwork that `
` kept the planet in view. `
` `
` As I watched, the planet seemed to grow larger and smaller and to `
` advance and recede, but that was simply that my eye was tired. Forty `
` millions of miles it was from us--more than forty millions of miles of `
` void. Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust `
` of the material universe swims. `
` `
` Near it in the field, I remember, were three faint points of light, `
` three telescopic stars infinitely remote, and all around it was the `
` unfathomable darkness of empty space. You know how that blackness `
` looks on a frosty starlight night. In a telescope it seems far `
` profounder. And invisible to me because it was so remote and small, `
` flying swiftly and steadily towards me across that incredible `
` distance, drawing nearer every minute by so many thousands of miles, `
` came the Thing they were sending us, the Thing that was to bring so `
` much struggle and calamity and death to the earth. I never dreamed of `
` it then as I watched; no one on earth dreamed of that unerring `
` missile. `
` `
` That night, too, there was another jetting out of gas from the `
` distant planet. I saw it. A reddish flash at the edge, the slightest `
` projection of the outline just as the chronometer struck midnight; and `
` at that I told Ogilvy and he took my place. The night was warm and I `
` was thirsty, and I went stretching my legs clumsily and feeling my way `
` in the darkness, to the little table where the siphon stood, while `
` Ogilvy exclaimed at the streamer of gas that came out towards us. `
` `
` That night another invisible missile started on its way to the `
` earth from Mars, just a second or so under twenty-four hours after the `
` first one. I remember how I sat on the table there in the blackness, `
` with patches of green and crimson swimming before my eyes. I wished I `
` had a light to smoke by, little suspecting the meaning of the minute `
` gleam I had seen and all that it would presently bring me. Ogilvy `
` watched till one, and then gave it up; and we lit the lantern and `
` walked over to his house. Down below in the darkness were Ottershaw `
` and Chertsey and all their hundreds of people, sleeping in peace. `
` `
` He was full of speculation that night about the condition of Mars, `
` and scoffed at the vulgar idea of its having inhabitants who were `
` signalling us. His idea was that meteorites might be falling in a `
` heavy shower upon the planet, or that a huge volcanic explosion was in `
` progress. He pointed out to me how unlikely it was that organic `
` evolution had taken the same direction in the two adjacent planets. `
` `
` "The chances against anything manlike on Mars are a million to `
` one," he said. `
` `
` Hundreds of observers saw the flame that night and the night after `
` about midnight, and again the night after; and so for ten nights, a `
`