The Moon Metal — Context and Discussion

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In Category - Machines Inventions Early Science Fiction

Authors: Serviss, Garrett Putman, 1851-1929 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2005 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Science fiction Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 27,969

Reading time 122 min

Text sections 3

The Moon Metal — Context and Discussion can be approached with a clearer sense of reading commitment from its source measurements: 27,969 words, 2 hr 2 min estimated reading time, and 3 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 19.6 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Science fiction,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #8199

Garrett P. Serviss's 1900 science fiction novel follows the discovery of a mysterious new metal, artemisium, at the South Pole, leading to global economic upheaval and a scientific mystery involving the Grand Teton mountain.

Editorial Edition Score 4.5/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg8199

Read the Text

There were elegantly formed vases, adorned with artistic figures, embossed and incised, and glowing with delicate colors which shimmered in tiny waves with the slightest motion of the tray. Cups, pins, finger-rings, earrings, watch-chains, combs, studs, lockets, medals, tableware, models of coins--in brief, almost every article in the fabrication of which precious metals have been employed was to be seen there in profusion, and all composed of the strange new metal which everybody on the spot declared was far more splendid than gold.

"Do you think it will answer?" asked Dr. Syx.

"We do," was the unanimous reply.

All then resumed their seats at the table, the tray with its magnificent array having been placed in the centre of the board. This display had a remarkable influence. Confidence awoke in the breasts of the financiers. The dark clouds that had oppressed them rolled off, and the prospect grew decidedly brighter.

"What terms do you demand?" at length asked Mr. Boon, cheerfully rubbing his hands.

"I must have military protection for my mine and reducing works," replied Dr. Syx. "Then I shall ask the return of one per cent, on the circulating medium, together with the privilege of disposing of a certain amount of the metal--to be limited by agreement--to the public for use in the arts. Of the proceeds of this sale I will pay ten per cent. to the government in consideration of its protection."

"But," exclaimed President Boon, "that will make you the richest man who ever lived!"

"Undoubtedly," was the reply.

"Why," added Mr. Boon, opening his eyes wider as the facts continued to dawn upon him, "you will become the financial dictator of the whole earth!"

"Undoubtedly," again responded Dr. Syx, unmoved. "That is what I purpose to become. My discovery entitles me to no less. But, remember, I place myself under government inspection and restriction. I should not be allowed to flood the market, even if I were disposed to do so. But my own interest would restrain me. It is to my advantage that artemisium, once adopted, shall remain stable in value."

A shadow of doubt suddenly crossed the president's face.

"Suppose your secret is discovered," he said. "Surely your mine will not remain the only one. If you, in so short a time, have been able to accumulate an immense quantity of the new metal, it must be extremely abundant. Others will discover it, and then where shall we be?"

While Mr. Boon uttered these words, those who were watching Dr. Syx (as the president was not) resembled persons whose startled eyes are fixed upon a wild beast preparing to spring. As Mr. Boon ceased speaking he turned towards the visitor, and instantly his lips fell apart and his face paled.

Dr. Syx had drawn himself up to his full stature, and his features were distorted with that peculiar mocking smile which had now returned with a concentrated expression of mingled self-confidence and disdain.

"Will you have relief, or not?" he asked in a dry, hard voice. "What can you do? I alone possess the secret which can restore industry and commerce. If you reject my offer, do you think a second one will come?"

President Boon found voice to reply, stammeringly:

"I did not mean to suggest a rejection of the offer. I only wished to inquire if you thought it probable that there would be no repetition of what occurred after gold was found at the south pole?"

"The earth may be full of my metal," returned Dr. Syx, almost fiercely, "but so long as I alone possess the knowledge how to extract it, is it of any more worth than common dirt? But come," he added, after a pause and softening his manner, "I have other schemes. Will you, as representatives of the leading nations, undertake the introduction of artemisium as a substitute for gold, or will you not?"

"Can we not have time for deliberation?" asked President Boon.

"Yes, one hour. Within that time I shall return to learn your decision," replied Dr. Syx, rising and preparing to depart. "I leave these things," pointing to the tray, "in your keeping, and," significantly, "I trust your decision will be a wise one."

His curious smile again curved his lips and shot the ends of his mustache upward, and the influence of that smile remained in the room when he had closed the door behind him. The financiers gazed at one another for several minutes in silence, then they turned towards the coruscating metal that filled the tray.

Continue Reading →

The Moon Metal opens not with a spaceship but with a gold rush—to the South Pole. Garrett P. Serviss grounds his tale in a recognizable 1900 setting, where newsboys cry “Extra!” and skeptical readers dismiss Antarctic gold reports as hoaxes. The narrator, a journalist, describes a world where silver has vanished from coinage and gold is king, only to have that economic order upended by a new element called artemisium. The excerpts show Serviss blending adventure, mystery, and speculative science: a scarlet tanager falls dead with scorched feathers and a film of the new metal, and the protagonist climbs the unclimbed east face of the Grand Teton in search of answers. The catalog subject “Science Fiction” fits, but the novel reads more like a detective story with a scientific puzzle at its core.

Gold Rush to the South Pole

The first chapter, “South Polar Gold,” establishes a premise that would be recycled in later disaster fiction: a resource discovery so vast it destabilizes the global economy. Serviss does not linger on the rush itself, promising to describe it “some time” but instead focusing on the aftermath. The narrator notes that silver had been “absent from the coinage of the world” for years, a detail that roots the story in late-19th-century monetary debates. The gold is described as a “seam … which can be cut with a knife,” emphasizing its abundance and softness. This is not a vein to be mined with picks; it is a geological anomaly that defies known science. The excerpts give no indication of how the gold formed or who first found it—only that the discovery was initially dismissed as a hoax, then confirmed by a New York newspaper’s cable. Serviss uses this setup to introduce the idea that the gold is merely a prelude to something stranger.

The Magician of Science and the New Metal

Chapter titles like “The Magician of Science” and “Wonders of the New Metal” hint at a figure who can manipulate the mysterious substance. The excerpts do not reveal Dr. Syx’s full role, but his name appears in the table of contents and in the mountain-climbing scene: “the Syx works, with their black smoke rising almost vertically.” The new metal, artemisium, is first mentioned when the narrator notices a “film of artemisium” on the dead tanager. The bird’s feathers are “scorched” and “shrivelled,” suggesting that the metal is associated with intense heat or energy. Hall, the scientist companion, already knows about these phenomena, having “picked up birds in that condition on this mountain before.” The mystery is physical and localized: something on the Grand Teton is killing birds and coating them with artemisium. Serviss does not explain the metal’s properties in the excerpts, but the implication is that it is not naturally occurring—it is a product of some process or device.

Climbing the Unclimbable

The ascent of the Grand Teton occupies a substantial portion of the excerpts, and Serviss describes it with specific, technical detail. The narrator and Hall carry “a very light but exceedingly strong rope, about five hundred feet long,” wear “nail-shod shoes,” and use “metal-pointed staff and a small hatchet” instead of an axe. They choose the east face, which “appears to be absolutely unclimbable,” because they know from Alpine experience that “the hardest places sometimes turn out to be next to the easiest.” This is not mere adventure padding; the climb is directly tied to the mystery. Hall states, “If it didn’t have an important relation to the clearing up of that dark thing I wouldn’t risk my neck.” The setting is vivid: the air is “deliciously clear,” the sky “wonderfully blue,” and the moon appears as a “pale crescent face slightly blued by the atmosphere.” The dead tanager falls during the climb, linking the physical challenge to the scientific puzzle. The excerpts end before the summit, leaving the reader to wonder what they will find.

Serviss’s novel is a hybrid: part economic speculation, part mountain-climbing thriller, part early science mystery. Readers should pay attention to the way the narrator’s voice shifts from journalistic reportage to personal involvement, and to the clues scattered in the landscape—the scorched bird, the smoke from the Syx works, the unclimbed peak. The excerpts do not reveal the nature of artemisium or Dr. Syx’s plans, but they establish a world where the rules of nature are about to be rewritten.

The Grand Teton’s hidden metal made me think of my grandfather’s story—he’d smile at that odd, gleaming hope. Reading L.P.M. : The End of the Great War — A Closer Reading years later felt like finding that same quiet ache again, where a single discovery quietly undoes the whole known world.