The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth

Several novels by H.G. Wells have shown his extraordinary power of vividly realizing the most daringly-imagined conditions. "The Food of the Gods" is a surpassing example of these powers; and in it Mr. Wells combines them with a curious but always very telling addition of humor and pathos. The night after his conversation with Redwood Mr. Bensington could scarcely sleep a wink. He did seem once to get into a sort of doze, but it was only for a moment, and then he dreamt he had dug a deep hole into the earth and poured in tons and tons of the Food of the Gods, and the earth was swelling and swelling, and all the boundaries of the countries were bursting, and the Royal Geographical Society was all at work like one great guild of tailors letting out the equator.... That of course was a ridiculous dream, but it shows the state of mental excitement into which Mr. Bensington got and the real value he attached to his idea, much better than any of the things he said or did when he was awake and on his guard.