heaven, and he knows that the fire which he has brought down with him is divine.
This so-called secret is an open secret, which, after it is known, may be read everywhere,—in the revolution of the planets as well as in the crystallization of minerals and in the growth of a flower.
"But why does not Mr. Keely share his knowledge with others?" "Why does he not proclaim his secret to the world?" are questions that are often asked.
He is not yet ready to do so. He has made out his programme of unfinished work, ranging from its present operations to the concluding tests with dynamometer and by rail; but no one can say when the latter tests will be made. All depends upon the degree and measure of his success in the line of research that he is now following. Every man who has passed the mere threshold of science ought to be aware that it is quite possible to be in possession of a series of facts long before he incapable of giving a rational and satisfactory explanation of them,—in short, before he is enabled to discover their causes even. This "dead-work" has occupied many years of Mr. Keely's life; and only within the last five years has he reached that degree of perfection which warranted the erection of a scaffolding for the construction of the true edifice of philosophy.
We have only to recall the wonderful discoveries which have been made in modern times, relative to the properties of heat, of electricity, of galvanism, etc., in order to acknowledge that had any man ventured to anticipate the powers and uses of the steam-engine, the voltaic pile, the electrical battery, or of any other of those mighty instruments by means of which the mind of man has acquired so vast a dominion over the world of matter, he would probably have been considered a visionary; and had he been able to exhibit the effects of any of these instruments, before the principles which regulate their action had become generally known to philosophers, they would in all likelihood have been attributed to fraud or to juggling. Herein lies the secret of Mr. Keely's delay. His work is not yet completed to that point where he can experimenting and publish the results of his "dead-work" to the world.
"When will he be ready?" is a question often asked: but it is one that God only can answer, as to the year and day. Now that continuity of action in his engine has been attained, and every impediment and obstacle to eventual triumphant success has been overcome, it would seem that the time is near at hand,—within this very year; but not even Mr. Keely himself can fix the date, until he has finished his present course of experiment, his necessary "dead-work."
"But what are his hypotheses? and what the tenets of his new
