Of the condition of the moon sexes, marrying and giving in marriage, and

of birth and so forth among the Selenites, I have as yet been able to

learn very little. With the steady progress of Phi-oo in English, however,

my ignorance will no doubt as steadily disappear. I am of opinion that, as

with the ants and bees, there is a large majority of the members in this

community of the neuter sex. Of course on earth in our cities there are

now many who never live that life of parentage which is the natural life

of man. Here, as with the ants, this thing has become a normal condition

of the race, and the whole of such replacement as is necessary falls upon

this special and by no means numerous class of matrons, the mothers of the

moon-world, large and stately beings beautifully fitted to bear the larval

Selenite. Unless I misunderstand an explanation of Phi-oo's, they are

absolutely incapable of cherishing the young they bring into the moon;

periods of foolish indulgence alternate with moods of aggressive violence,

and as soon as possible the little creatures, who are quite soft and

flabby and pale coloured, are transferred to the charge of celibate

females, women 'workers' as it were, who in some cases possess brains of

almost masculine dimensions."

Just at this point, unhappily, this message broke off. Fragmentary and

tantalising as the matter constituting this chapter is, it does

nevertheless give a vague, broad impression of an altogether strange and

wonderful world--a world with which our own may have to reckon we know

not how speedily. This intermittent trickle of messages, this whispering

of a record needle in the stillness of the mountain slopes, is the first

warning of such a change in human conditions as mankind has scarcely

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The First Men In The Moon