Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 44 — page 77: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTI@N because one of the plant viruses, yellow tobacco mosaic, has the largest known virus, which makes it particu- larly suitable for general re- search and _ investigation. There are scores of tobacco plants in the house now, in every stage of growth and decay. They have been treated with ultra-violet light, high frequency vibrations, cosmic rays, chemical injections and other processes which I could not pretend to understand. Sometimes, in the evening, we would sit on the veranda, listening to the records, smoking Peter’s special brand of tobacco and drinking his inimitable coffee. Under these circumstances even the mak- ing of the coffee seemed to have a faint tinge of ritual about it. As the music died away we would be conscious of the enveloping Australian night about us. Vaster and more unreal than night ever seems to be away from the interior. A vague and lumi- nous land stretched out to an indefinable horizon, a limitless tapestry of stars spreading _ overhead and beyond. “See this tobacco,” Peter once said, ‘‘and those stars out there? There is a power- ful and horrible connection. 76 Let me tell you why these inconsiderable or uncon- sidered things are far more important than anyone can be persuaded to believe. Have you ever laughed at astrology? You think it is perhaps just something published in maga- zines which are primarily de- voted to the entertainment and lighter interests of women. But how many people catch just a glimpse of the article without reading the little piece about their own birthday? And, when they’ve read it, do they smilingly turn to the next page? Perhaps you do laugh, and yet a tiny part of your mind insists that there might be something in it after all; nothing of any significance of course. Now let your rhind try to reason out just what is in it and you will find that it leads to some _ disturbing thoughts. “Do you realise that only in this last year we have dis- covered that special con- figurations of the planets have a far greater effect on radio transmission than sunspot ac- tivity? Imagine a child suffer- ing from poliomyelitis almost anywhere in the outback of Australia. Bad radio recep- tion might delay medical ad- vice or treatment until it comicbooks.com | ae