Doc Savage 42

The Midas Man

August 1936

Mental Telepathy: The subject is again used in the form of a machine that can read thoughts. As we so plainly learned in Mystery Under the Sea that such a device was possible we now are treated to the actual existence of one. There are many small isolated items in the story that independently are minor but when taken all together seem unusual.

We meet a young lady named Sylvan Niles. What is odd about this you ask? Well "sylvan" has several meanings if you check the dictionary: a wooded area, a spirit that lives in the woods, a disembodied spirit. Niles is rooted in the name of the great river that ran through the heart of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Edgar Cayce had referred to this area as being a rich green region during an ancient age. Is Dent making a subtle reference to this idea? Is her name a double entandre - a word with two meanings; one being woody Nile and referring to an ancient age when the Sahara was a lush region, or another - meaning spirit of the Nile? Sylvan Niles makes several pointed statements alluding to mind reading and crystal balls. The comments are sarcastic in nature but indicate that mind reading and clairvoyant powers are in people's thoughts.

Before we meet Sylvan Niles, Johnny Littlejohn has an appointment with one of the mind reading machines. The criminals use some stolen Egyptian tablets as bait to wet his whistle. Johnny ends up flat on his back inside an Egyptian mummy case while his mind is being read. The crooks want to determine what possible knowledge Doc Savage has about their criminal scheme. One more odd little fact is the use of a "blue" cab by the outlaw gang. The Egyptian Pharaohs believed blue helped protect them from evil.

Nikola Tesla: The September 10, 1933 Kansas City Journal-Post printed some amazing statements attributable to Tesla. "I expect to photograph thoughts, . . ."

Tesla proposed an idea that thoughts were transmitted to the eye's retina and could consequently be captured. Something along the lines of thought photography crops up in one particular Doc adventure from August 1936, The Midas Man. Hando Lancaster develops a machine that will pick up thought waves and read them.

While the realm of physic phenomenon certainly calls to mind Edgar Cayce, the idea behind an actual thought machine may have been the germ of a newspaper interview given by Nikola Tesla in 1933. During the discourse, the aged scientist calmly makes his announcement. "I expect to photograph thoughts," announced Mr. Tesla calmly, in the same tone of voice that a person occupied with some trivial things in the scheme of life might announce that it was going to rain. Tesla goes into a minor discussion of the idea and alluding to television as a possible mechanism for implementing this novel idea.

If this were a simple solitary story I would say that it was solely based on Tesla's ideas and leave it at that. But the succeeding stories discussed in the following paragraphs progressively advance the applications of mental telepathy and projection to a degree that can only be attributable to the current ongoing psychic movement of that era.

August 1, 1936 – The 1936 Summer Olympics begin in Berlin, Germany.

August 3, 1936 – Jessie Owens wins the 100-meter dash.

August 8, 1936 – The New York Times reports that at least fifty armored trains will be needed to move the government’s supply of gold bullion to the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

August 14, 1936 – The last public execution in the United States takes place.