The Lynx

There was a chaotic tumult of ideas in his head, a cerebral activity a hundred times more intense than that of the most exalting drunkenness. He clasped his forehead with his hand, thinking that he was going mad. Gabriel Mirande inherits a serum from a friend, the chemist Brion, which enables him to read minds. The Lynx (1911) is notable as one of the earliest significant treatments of telepathy. It represents a point in the evolution of the genre when it became possible to discuss the alteration of human nature in the context of a suspenseful thriller. Here, Mirande must use the serum to thwart the schemes of Dr. Castellan, a powerful villain, although the odds are stacked against him. Michel Corday was the author of The Eternal Flame; André Couvreur that of the Dr. Caresco and Professor Tornada novels, all published by Black Coat Press. The Lynx is one of the most interesting marriages of minds within the genre.