Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 54 — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION *““Giddiness ?” Tyler smiled wanly. ““When you’ve seen some of the things I’ve seen happen, you can’t help your head spinning.” “T see.”’ Bleiker reached for his ophthalmoscope. “‘Let me examine your eyes...” _ When he had finished, he frowned. “‘Well, I can set your mind at rest about a tumour, Mr. Tyler—you haven’t one.” *“How can you tell?” “No papillitis. That means blood choking the aperture at the back of the eye.” *“The papilla?’ “Yes. The pressure of a growth in the brain forces the blood into the papilla. Not all cases of papillitis are caused by a tumour, but a tumour is always accompanied by papil- litis. That symptom, plus those of violent headaches, giddiness, and retching always add up to a tumour. You haven’t papillitis at all, and the other symptoms only slightly. Ergo, no tumour. We shall have to look somewhere else. I propose to take an encephalograph of the alpha wave rhythms of your DAIS 5 Bleiker did that and a lot more things before he con- vinced himself that Tyler was a liar, conscious or un- conscious. Then he said, irritably: “T can find nothing wrong with your brain, Mr. Tyler. If the delusions continue, then I advise you to see a qualified psychiatrist. What is your full name and address ?”’ Tyler told him, asked for and got a certificate of clear- ance, and left. He knew the bill would be pretty heavy. He would have to save for it. On the way home he bought a cheap thermometer. Scep- ticism of the instrument was a constant rule of the research worker, and he didn’t trust the thermometer in the lab. It was nice. to be able again to distrust something outside his own mind, and revive the hope that these improbable happenings had a material explanation. After all, if the reports were to be believed, there were a couple of places in the world where the laws of gravity seemed to be rather bent—where you had to accelerate to drive a car Gownhiill and where water comicloooks.conm