As Arthur writes in the preface that.The Title story of this volume was written about eighteen months before the outbreak of the war and was intended to direct public attention to the great danger which threatened their country. It is a matter of history how fully this warning has been justified and how, even down to the smallest details, the prediction has been fulfilled.
"Nothing could be done. The thing was universal and beyond our human knowledge or control. It was death for young and old, for weak and strong, for rich and poor, without hope or possibility of escape." Must Professor George Challenger and friends, barricaded in a room, see Earth die? As globe passes through a belt of poisonous ether, terror sweeps mankind; cities riot; communications cease
