{"product_id":"2940013744998","title":"From Pole to Pole","description":"\"Well, Professor, what is it? Something pretty important, I suppose,\u003cbr\u003efrom the wording of your note. What is the latest achievement? Have\u003cbr\u003eyou solved the problem of aerial navigation, or got a glimpse into the\u003cbr\u003erealms of the fourth dimension, or what?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No, not any of those as yet, my friend, but something that may be\u003cbr\u003equite as wonderful of its sort,\" replied Professor Haffkin, putting\u003cbr\u003ehis elbows down on the table and looking keenly across it under his\u003cbr\u003eshaggy, iron-grey eyebrows at the young man who was sitting on the\u003cbr\u003eopposite side pulling meditatively at a good cigar and sipping a\u003cbr\u003ewhisky-andsoda.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, if it is something really extraordinary and at the same time\u003cbr\u003epracticable--as you know, my ideas of the practicable are fairly\u003cbr\u003ewide--I'm there as far as the financial part goes. As regards the\u003cbr\u003escientific end of the business, if you say 'Yes,' it is 'Yes.'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMr. Arthur Princeps had very good reasons for thus \"going blind\" on a\u003cbr\u003eproject of which he knew nothing save that it probably meant a sort of\u003cbr\u003escientific gamble to the tune of several thousands of pounds. He had\u003cbr\u003ehad the good fortune to sit under the Professor when he was a student\u003cbr\u003eat, the Royal School of Mines, and being possessed of that rarest of\u003cbr\u003eall gifts, an intuitive imagination, he had seen vast possibilities\u003cbr\u003ethrough the meshes of the verbal network of the Professor's lectures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFurther, the kindly Fates had blessed him with a twofold dowry. He had\u003cbr\u003ea keen and insatiable thirst for that kind of knowledge which is\u003cbr\u003esatisfied only by the demonstration of hard facts. He was a student of\u003cbr\u003ephysical science simply because he couldn't help it; and his\u003cbr\u003egrandfather had left him groundrents in London, Birmingham, and\u003cbr\u003eManchester, and coal and iron mines in half-adozen counties, which\u003cbr\u003eproduced an almost preposterous income.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the same time, he had inherited from his mother and his grandmother\u003cbr\u003ethat kind of intellect which enabled him to look upon all this wealth\u003cbr\u003eas merely a means to an end.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLater on, Profeesor Haffkin had been his examiner in Applied\u003cbr\u003eMathematics at London University, and he had done such an astonishing\u003cbr\u003epaper that he had come to him after he had taken his D.Sc. degree and\u003cbr\u003easked him in brief but pregnant words for the favour of his personal\u003cbr\u003eacquaintance. This had led to an intellectual intimacy which not only\u003cbr\u003eproved satisfactory from the social and scientific points of view, but\u003cbr\u003ealso materialised on many profitable patents.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Professor was a man rich in ideas, but comparatively poor in\u003cbr\u003emoney. Arthur Princeps had both ideas and money, and as a result of\u003cbr\u003ethis conjunction of personalities the man of science had made\u003cbr\u003ethousands out of his inventions, while the scientific man of business\u003cbr\u003ehad made tens of thousands by exploiting them; and that is how matters\u003cbr\u003estood between them on this particular evening when they were dining\u003cbr\u003etete-a-tete in the Professor's house in Russell Square","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47173912396016,"sku":"2940013744998","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013744998_p0.jpg?v=1763589682","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013744998","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}