“The New Accelerator” introduces an elixir, invented by Prof. Gibberne, that accelerates all of an individual’s physiological and cognitive processes by some orders of magnitude, such that although the individual perceives no change in themselves, the external world appears almost frozen into immobility, and only the motion of most rapidly moving objects – such as the tip of a cracked whip – can be perceived. The exploration of the consequences of this is incomplete; for example, the inventor and his companion find that while under the influence of the elixir they can easily singe their clothing from the heat produced by friction against the air as they walk, such is the rapidity of their motion; but this same air friction would render it impossible to breathe at a correspondingly accelerated rate, and this difficulty is ignored. The drug has considerable advantages, as well as risks, drawing upon a trope present in other of Wells’ literary works that describes the possibility of scientific discoveries to be both a blessing and a curse.
First Appearance “The New Accelerator” by H. G. Wells in The Strand Magazine (December 1901)
First Publisher George Newnes, Ltd.
Appearance List “The New Accelerator” by H. G. Wells in The Strand Magazine (December 1901); “The New Accelerator” included in the short-story collection Twelve Stories and a Dream (Macmillan, London, 1903) by H. G. Wells; “The New Accelerator” in The Country of the Blind and Other Stories (1911) by H. G. Wells; “The New Accelerator” included in first edition of Amazing Stories (April 1926); “The New Accelerator” in The Valley of Spiders and Other Stories (Haldeman-Julius, 1931) by H. G. Wells. TV: “The Night of the Burning Diamond” episode of The Wild, Wild West (season 1, episode 26, originally aired 8 April 1966); “The New Accelerator” adapted for the first episode of the 2001 miniseries The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells.
Description “The New Accelerator” introduces an elixir, invented by Prof. Gibberne, that accelerates all of an individual’s physiological and cognitive processes by some orders of magnitude, such that although the individual perceives no change in themselves, the external world appears almost frozen into immobility, and only the motion of most rapidly moving objects – such as the tip of a cracked whip – can be perceived. The exploration of the consequences of this is incomplete; for example, the inventor and his companion find that while under the influence of the elixir they can easily singe their clothing from the heat produced by friction against the air as they walk, such is the rapidity of their motion; but this same air friction would render it impossible to breathe at a correspondingly accelerated rate, and this difficulty is ignored. The drug has considerable advantages, as well as risks, drawing upon a trope present in other of Wells’ literary works that describes the possibility of scientific discoveries to be both a blessing and a curse.
