Other editions of book The Poison Belt

The Poison Belt was the second story, a novella, that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Professor Challenger. Written in 1913, roughly a year before the outbreak of World War I, much of it takes place--rather oddly, given that it follows The Lost World, a story set in the jungle--in a room in Challenger's house. This would be the last story written about Challenger until the 1920s, by which time Doyle's spiritualist beliefs had begun to affect his writing.

The Poison Belt was the second story, a novella, that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Professor Challenger. Written in 1913, roughly a year before the outbreak of World War I, much of it takes place--rather oddly, given that it follows The Lost World, a story set in the jungle--in a room in Challenger's house. This would be the last story written about Challenger until the 1920s, by which time Doyle's spiritualist beliefs had begun to affect his writing.

The Poison Belt was the second story, a novella, that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Professor Challenger. Written in 1913, roughly a year before the outbreak of World War I, much of it takes place--rather oddly, given that it follows The Lost World, a story set in the jungle--in a room in Challenger's house. This would be the last story written about Challenger until the 1920s, by which time Doyle's spiritualist beliefs had begun to affect his writing.

The legendary Professor Challenger hits the headlines once again. In a letter to 'The Times', he asserts that a change in the earth’s cosmic surroundings is resulting in the poisoning of the planet. He claims that seemingly unconnected worldwide disasters prove that the earth has swum into a poison belt of ether – and towards inevitable destruction. Ed Malone, the dynamic young journalist, is then invited to visit the Professor with the strange request to ‘bring oxygen’. The four members of 'The Lost World' expedition reunited, they settle down to a hearty lunch, with the Professor determined to enjoy his final few hours. Is this all a strange ruse of the Professor’s, or is total annihilation really only hours away?

Professor Challenger sends telegrams asking his three companions from The Lost World - Edward Malone, Lord John Roxton, and Professor Summerlee - to join him at his home outside London, and instructs each of them to 'bring oxygen'. On arrival they are ushered into a sealed room, along with Challenger and his wife. In the course of his researches into various phenomena, Challenger has predicted that the Earth is moving into a belt of poisonous ether which, based on its effect on the people of Sumatra earlier in the day, he expects to stifle humanity. Challenger seals them in the room with cylinders of oxygen, which he (correctly) believes will counter the effect of the ether.

Professor Challenger summons his three best friends to come to his country house, each one to bring a cylinder of pure oxygen. When they arrive, the reason for this strange request becomes terrifyingly clear. Professor Challenger has become convinced that the earth is entering a poison belt of ether and that life upon this planet is doomed. In a sealed room, to the sound of the slow hiss of escaping oxygen, Professor Challenger and his friends wait out the night as humanity prepares to meet its fate... Also included in this volume are two other famous Professor Challenger stories, "When the World Screamed" and "The Disintegration Machine."

The Poison Belt is the second story that Doyle wrote about Professor Challenger. Written in 1913, much of it takes place in a single room in Challenger's house in Sussex.In this novella, Challenger sends telegrams asking his three companions from The Lost World (first story about Prof. Challenger) Edward Malone, Lord John Roxton, and Professor Summerlee, to join him at his home, and instructs each of them to bring oxygen.On arrival they are ushered into a sealed room, along with Challenger and his wife. In the course of his researches into various phenomena, Challenger has predicted that the Earth is moving into a belt of poisonous ether which can be a threat to life on Earth. Challenger seals them in the room with cylinders of oxygen, which will counter the effect of the ether until the planet passes through the poison belt.

When, some years ago, I chronicled in the Daily Gazette our epoch-making journey in South America, I little thought that it should ever fall to my lot to tell an even stranger personal experience, one which is unique in all human annals and must stand out in the records of history as a great peak among the humble foothills which surround it. The event itself will always be marvellous, but the circumstances that we four were together at the time of this extraordinary episode came about in a most natural and, indeed, inevitable fashion. I will explain the events which led up to it as shortly and as clearly as I can, though I am well aware that the fuller the detail upon such a subject the more welcome it will be to the reader, for the public curiosity has been and still is insatiable.