There's something about ether.returnreturnI don't know what it is, but early 20th century British writers were obsessed with it. Just as Huxley used it as a stupefying agent in "Brave New World" Doyle uses it as an agent to bring upon death to the world. returnreturnProfessor Challenger observes changes in the light spectrum through his telescope, and proclaims that the world is about to experience a change larger than the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs (excepting of course their lost world). returnreturnOf course the world laughs at him again, and of course again he is right. The Earth was sent through a poisons belt of ether that is a "universal agent."return-returnThe best parts where the descriptions of how the people went coo-koo when exposed, like Professor Summerly barking like a dog and proving he could do all the barn yard animals. returnreturnSome surprising parts are reminder of how closely we still live to a racist world when the smartest man in the universe refers to non-whites as "the lower races" and "the less evolved humans" and no one bats an eye. returnreturnI would have given a higher rating overall, but the ending was predictable and unimaginative.