02691cam a22003853u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000360011324500310014926400510018030000470023133600260027833700260030433800360033049000700036650000310043650801030046752013250057053400720189565300200196765300180198765300260200565300300203170000280206183000700208985600840215985600430224399900190228677756UtSlPG20260610134812.0mcr n260607r20261955utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aThomas, Theodore L.,d1920-200514aThe magnificent profession 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2026  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aProduced from Fantastic Universe, November 1955 (Vol. 4, No. 4.).  aRelease date is 2026-01-23  aTom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)  aThe magnificent profession by Theodore L. Thomas is a satirical science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It skewers the culture of patent law and government bureaucracy through a comic premise: an “underground diving suit” powered by a strange crystal that lets its wearer pass through solid matter.

Carl Saddle, a young patent attorney under the flamboyant Helix Spardleton, visits their brilliant, chaotic client “Doc” Marchare, who has built a suit that uses a cabbagite crystal to soften solid materials so a person can walk through earth, walls, and floors. When the fearsome examiner Herbert Krome rejects the patent as obvious and inoperable, he insists on trying the suit himself—and promptly sinks floor by floor through the Patent Office, sowing panic and slapstick ruin as his intangible field melts furniture, fans, and desks. Saddle races after him, witnessing escalating chaos until Krome finally reaches ground level and hurries to a meeting with the Commissioner and a Defense Department general. Thinking fast, Saddle frames the mishap as a successful demonstration, mutes Krome’s protests, and leverages the moment into a government licensing deal, neatly turning bureaucratic logic and bravado to his client’s advantage. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York: King-Size Publications, Inc., 1955  aScience fiction  aShort stories  aInventions -- Fiction  aPatent lawyers -- Fiction1 aHunter, Mel,d1927-2004 0aProduced from Fantastic Universe, November 1955 (Vol. 4, No. 4.).4 uhttps://archive.org/details/Fantastic_Universe_v04n04_1955-11/page/n89/mode/2up40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77756  c118476d118476