This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ...from looking upon him as a crank. They inspected the objects before them in turn, passing them from hand to hand with blank looks. Only the Secretary of War, who in his earlier years had been a metallurgist, showed any signs of surprise or amazement. He turned excitedly away and crossed the room to a side light, against which glare he held the little plate, staring at it fixedly. The inventor smiled, and the others renewed their interest. The secretary hurried back. "What on earth is it, Dr. Roberts? " he asked, and then without waiting for an explanation continued, "I never saw a metal that looked or felt like it. What is it?" "Gentlemen," said the inventor, recovering the slab and balancing it in his hands, "that is a new plate that can be made cheaply and quickly. If it does what the laboratory tests show, it will, when applied to cruisers which can now steam twenty knots an hour, make fifty knots an easy gait for them." There was a gasp of astonishment amounting almost to incredulity among those who crowded round, and the scientist, enjoying the effect of his words, smiled and smoked. A moment's pause ensued while the possibilities of the discovery dawned on them. Those who knew him least were again questioning his sanity, and then, as if all at once they could wait no longer for him to explain, they burst into a chorus of questions, which he did not answer. He waited until no voice was heard, and then began. "That plate practically overcomes friction. My assistant, my daughter Norma, and I have made several tests before I came here with it. These were cast and tested last night. I am not going into scientific details; but this much I'll make plain: A ship coated along certain lines with...