And here the
nauseous odour, which had struck them before, was so overpowering that
for a while they could not go in. It was indescribably foul. Even Arthur
thought it would make him sick, and he looked at the windows to see if it
was possible to open them; but it seemed they were hermetically closed.
The extreme warmth made the air more overpowering. There were four
furnaces here, and they were all alight. In order to give out more heat
and to burn slowly, the fronts of them were open, and one could see that
they were filled with glowing coke.
The room was furnished no differently from the others, but to the various
instruments for chemical operations on a large scale were added all
manner of electrical appliances. Several books were lying about, and one
had been left open face downwards on the edge of a table. But what
immediately attracted their attention was a row of those large glass
vessels like that which they had seen in the adjoining room. Each was
covered with a white cloth. They hesitated a moment, for they knew that
here they were face to face with the great enigma.
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