From Clive Ewing
I was delighted to see the controversial “dark sucker” theory mentioned in
Â鶹´«Ã½
(Last Word, 24 February). It reminded me of Flann
O’Brien’s The Third Policeman, which mentions the following theories of
the supposedly fictional scientist de Selby: “…all commentators have treated
de Selby’s disquisitions on night and sleep with considerable reserve… he held
(a) that darkness was simply an accretion of ‘black air’, i.e. a staining of the
atmosphere due to volcanic eruptions too fine to be seen with the naked eye and
also to certain ‘regrettable’ industrial activities involving coal-tar
by-products and vegetable dyes; and (b) that sleep was simply a succession of
fainting-fits brought on by semi-asphyxiation due to (a) . . .’black air’ is
highly combustible, enormous masses of it being instantly consumed by the
smallest flame, even an electrical luminance isolated in a vacuum. . .”
Heiloo, The Netherlands
