_Official Statement from the Carnegie Institution_

In consequence of the popular excitement caused by the
sensational utterance of a notorious pretender to scientific
knowledge in New York, the council of this institution
authorizes the statement that it has examined the alleged
grounds on which the prediction of a great flood, to be caused
by a nebula encountering the earth, is based, and finds, as all
real men of science knew beforehand, that the entire matter is
simply a canard.

The nebulae are not composed of water; if they were composed of
water they could not cause a flood on the earth; the report that
some strange, misty object is visible in the starry heavens is
based on a misapprehension; and finally, the so-called
calculations of the author of this inexcusable hoax are baseless
and totally devoid of validity.

The public is earnestly advised to pay no further attention to
the matter. If there were any danger to the earth--and such a
thing is not to be seriously considered--astronomers would know
it long in advance, and would give due and official warning.

Unfortunately for the popular effect of this pronouncement, on the very
morning when it appeared in print, thirty thousand people were crowded
around the old aviation field at Mineola, excitedly watching Cosmo
Versal, with five hundred workmen, laying the foundations of a huge
platform, while about the field were stretched sheets of canvas
displaying the words: