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If This Goes On by Robert Heinlein ” NOTE HOW LISTERINE REDUCED GERMS: The two drawings above illustrate height of range in germ reductions on mouth and throat surfaces in test cases before and after gargling Listerine Antiseptic. Fifteen minutes after gargling, germ reductions up to 96.7% were noted; and even one hour after, germs were still reduced as much as 80%. several industrial plants over 8 years revealed this aston- ishing truth; That those who gargled Listerine Antiseptic twice daily had fewer colds and milder colds than non- users, and fewer sore throats. This impressive record is explained by Listerine Anti- septic’s germ -killing action Listerine Antiseptic reaches way hack on the ... its ability to kill threatening “secondary invad- — throat surfaces to kill "secondary invaders ers” the very types of germs that breed in the mouth and throat and are largely responsible, many . the very types of germs that make a cold authorities say, for the bothersome aspects of a cold. more troublesome. Germ Reductions Up to This prompt and frequent use of full strength 96.7% Listerine Antiseptic may keep a cold from getting Even 15 minutes after Listerine Antiseptic gargle, serious, or head it off entirely. at the time same tests have shown bacterial reductions on mouth and relieving throat irritation when due to a cold. throat surfaces ranging to 96.7%. Up to 80% an hour This is the experience of countless people and it afterward. is backed up by some of the sanest, most impressive In view of this evidence, don’t you think it’s a sen- research work ever attempted in connection with sible precaution against colds to gargle with Listerine cold prevention and relief. Antiseptic systematically twice a day and oftener when Fewer Colds, Tests Showed you feel a cold getting started? Actual tests conducted on all types of people in Lambert Pharmacal Company, St . Louis, Mo. 1 —. Answer this call! Investigate this remarkable discovery that trims dollars off gasoline bills —gives you worthwhile gas savings—more power — greater speed — quicker pickup — faster acceleration. Proven so efficient, it is guaranteed to save up to 3(1% and give better performance or the trial costs you nothing. QMamati^- Supercharge Principle Vacu-matic is entirely different! 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Easy To Install Vacu-matic is constructed of six parts assem- bled and fused into one unit, adjusted and sealed at the factory . Nothing to regulate. Any motorist can install in ten minutes. City State facts. Mail it today! The free offer coupon will bring all the Check her® it intended to Agency Proposition. The Vacu-matl* Co. Wauwatosa, Wis. AST— —— — ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION TITLE REGISTERED U. S. PATENT OFFICE CONTENTS FEBRUARY, 1940 VOL. XXIV NO. 6 The entire contents of this magazine has not been published before and is pro- tected by copyright and must not be reprinted without the publishers’ permission. SERIAL IF THIS GOES ON— Robert Heinlein ... 9 First of Two Parts An Astounding Nova story—one of the most powerful sto- - ries science-fiction has produced—the tale of a dictator- ship hiding behind the mask of a false cult in America! NOVELETTES AND THEN THERE WAS ONE . Ross Rocklynne ... 53 The Voice taught the selfish ones what real selfishness was! THE PROFESSOR WAS A THIEF . L. Ron Hubbard . .130 He stole odds and ends—the Empire State Building—Grant’s Tomb—the Pennsylvania Station—for his model railroad. , SHORT STORIES LOCKED OUT ........ H. B. Fyfe 42 It’s dumb foolishness to get locked out of your own car but it’s worse when you’re locked out of your spaceship! MARTIAN QUEST Leigh Brackett ... 78 There’s more than one way to kill a cat—hut the best way to get a Martian Khom was to drown it in cream! HIGH FREQUENCY WAR .... Harl Vincent . .102 Pinky had forgotten, when the frequency hit him—hut ' somehow—somewhere—he had something he had to do BOMBARDMENT IN REVERSE . Norman L. Knight . 124 Problem for artillery plotters: spot an enemy gun two miles away firing from the middle of next week! ARTICLES BOTANICAL INVASION . , . Willy Ley 91 Plants that ought to have come from Mars or Venus but didn’t. Plants as screwy as de Camp’s animals! LUNA OBSERVATORY NO. 1 , . R. S. Richardson . .113 A professional astronomer suggests detailed plans of what would be needed in an astronomical observatory on the Moon. READERS' DEPARTMENTS THE EDITOR'S PAGE 5 BRASS TACKS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSIONS . 6 The Open House of Controversy. IN TIMES TO COME 41 Department of Prophecy and Future Issues. ANALYTICAL LABORATORY ' . 41 An Analysis of Readers’ Opinions. Illustrations by M. Isip, R. Isip, Kolliker, Kramer, Ley, Rogers and Schneeman COVER BY ROGERS Monthly publication issued by Street & Smith Publications, Incorporated, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y. Allen L. Grammer, President; Henry W. Balston, Vice President anti Treasurer. Copyright, 1940, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc., New York. Copyright, 1940, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc., Great Britain. Reentered as Second-class' Matter, February 7, 1938, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under, Act of Congress of Mareh 3, 1879. Subscriptions to Canada, Cuba, Dom. Republic, Haiti, Spain, Central and South American Countries, except The Guianas and British Honduras, $2.25 per year. To all other Foreign Countries, including The Guianas and British Honduras, $2.75 per year. All characters used in fiction and semi-fiction stories in this magazine are fictitious. Any similarity in name or characterization to persons, living or dead, is coincidental. We do not accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. To facilitato handling, the author should inclose a self-addressed envelope with the requisite postage attached, and artists should Inclose or forward return postage. SMITH PUBLICATIONS, INC. • 79 7th AVE., NEW YORK, N. Y. IT ISfl’T fl scitnct— yfT! Robert Heinlein, in his “If This Goes On— presents a civilization in which mob psychology and propaganda have become sciences. They aren’t, yet—and maybe Americans can be as thankful for that as for their two great and good friends—the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. (The Pacific merits the name; it does more to enforce pacific intention than any other thing on Earth, being the widest.) Psychology isn’t a science, so long as a trained psychologist does—and must—say “there’s no telling how an individual man will react to a given stimulus.” Properly developed, psychology could determine that; the corol- lary is that it could then select the precisely correct stimulus to bring forth any desired reaction. This would, unquestionably, make for a far more orderly world, this ability to select the right push-button in a man’s mind, and make him react as dependably as any other machine. Unfortunately, an insane man is one who sees things—the world, the Universe, his fellow men—in a way different from that seen by the rest of the world. Now that means two possibilities; he may be wrong, or the world may be wrong. If he’s wrong, he goes where he’d do the least harm to the world. If he’s right and the world’s wrong, he goes to a university and becomes another Einstein or Newton. But if psychology were a real science, able accurately to control the immaterial “material” of its study, there’d be a rather strong tendency to decide first that, since one man says the regiment is out of step, the one man needs a few psychological push-button stimuli readjusted. It would make for an infinitely more orderly world, such psychology of the individual, and propaganda, which is the psychology of the mass, but someone, or some organization, is going to make the decisions as to whether the world or the man is wrong.

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