A Night of Horror, 1886

On: By: Romeyn

(Edited for length… Mr Oufle, hosting a party at carnival time, and quite drunk, decides to wear his son’s masquerade costume, which was a combination of a suit of green and gold, intended as a foresters dress; a costume of the time of Francois L, covered with spangles; and last, but not least, a bear-skin suit, so contrived that the wearer of it was covered with fur from head to foot, and looked precisely like a black-bear escaped from a traveling caravan.)

[…] Continue reading “A Night of Horror, 1886” →

Gilderfluke Perfected Locomotive, 1897

On: By: Romeyn

A spoof article written in the December issue of Locomotive Engineering, A Practical Journal of Railway Motive Power and Rolling Stock, by Eli Gilderfluke

The scope of this elaborate joke can be seen in the various components described below, Ive highlighted just a few of the many jokes, not to mention, the machine in the engraving would not be able to move thanks to the configuration of the wheels (52-57). Continue reading “Gilderfluke Perfected Locomotive, 1897” →

Canals of Mars

On: By: Romeyn

“It is, then, a system whose end and aim is the tapping of the snow-cap for the water there semi-annually let loose ; then to distribute it over the planet’s face” – Percival Lowell (1855-1916)

His reasoning for the canals being artificial were such:

1) Their straightness
2) Their individually uniform size.
3) Their extreme tenuity.
4) The dual character of some of them.
5) Their position in the fundamental planetary features.
6) Their relation to the oases.
7) The character of these oases.
8) The systematic networking by both canals and oases of the whole surface of the planet.

The San Francisco Sunday Call, January 06, 1907

The Book of Knowledge: The Children’s Encyclopedia. Volume 9 McLoughlin E.V., Thompson H. 1943.