The Ideal

In Short

Set in twenty-first-century New York, this tongue-in-cheek science-fiction story follows the wealthy, perpetually tardy Dixon Wells as he visits his eccentric former physics professor, Haskel van Manderpootz. The self-proclaimed genius constructs an "idealizator"—a machine capable of projecting a person's subconscious ideal onto a rotating mirror. Dixon gazes into the device and falls hopelessly in love with the ultimate image of female perfection. His obsession derails his personal life until he discovers the vision belongs to a past era. When a new love interest uses the machine with disastrous results, Dixon faces the comedic tragedy of human desire.

The Story

Dixon Wells is an engineer in name only, cursed with terrible timing, dependent on his wealthy father, and prone to falling in love with chorus girls and television stars. He frequently visits Professor Haskel van Manderpootz, a man whose immense intellect is matched only by his absolute, hilarious vanity. Van Manderpootz demonstrates a crude metal robot named Isaak, built to hunt down automobiles. From this mechanical predator, the professor lectures Dixon on the nature of perfection, logic, and the physics of space and time, announcing his discovery of "psychons"—the fundamental particles of thought.

To convert psychons into visible light, van Manderpootz builds the idealizator. He drafts Dixon as a test subject. Looking down the tube of the spinning mirror device, Dixon concentrates on the concept of a girl. The machine projects a synthetic face of breathtaking, agonizing beauty, combining and refining the finest features of every woman Dixon has ever admired. The experience leaves Dixon completely entranced and miserable, as no living woman can compete with the mental projection of absolute perfection.

Seeing Dixon’s despair, van Manderpootz looks into the apparatus himself and identifies the image: it is an idealized version of de Lisle d'Agrion, a famous star from twenty-five years prior with whom the professor was once intimate. Though the star is now in her fifties, van Manderpootz reveals that her daughter, Denise, is arriving in New York to study literature.

Dixon meets Denise, a sharp, impudent young writer with sea-green eyes and dark hair. Though she lacks the submissive air of his ideal, her striking resemblance to the vision and her quick wit win him over completely. The two begin dating, and Dixon falls genuinely in love.

During a visit to the laboratory, Denise notices the idealizator. Curious about its power, she insists on trying it despite Dixon's warnings. Wanting inspiration for her writing, she tries to visualize absolute horror. Van Manderpootz calls Dixon away to settle a technical dispute with his staff, leaving Denise alone with the machine for half an hour.

When Dixon returns, he finds Denise paralyzed in a mask of pure terror. As he lunges to turn off the current, his face passes directly in front of the mirror, overlapping with the horrifying, unspeakable images she has projected. Denise faints from the shock. In the aftermath, the trauma associates Dixon's face with the ultimate nightmare she witnessed. While recovering at the hospital, she cannot bear the sight of him and ultimately marries her attending psychiatrist. A heartbroken Dixon resigns himself to his old life, arriving late for a date with a former flame.

How It Unfolds

A lesson in logic Dixon Wells visits Professor van Manderpootz, who uses a crude, automobile-hunting metal robot to deliver rambling lectures on philosophy and physics. The professor explains his discovery of "psychons," the basic units of human thought.

The vision in the mirror Van Manderpootz tests his new invention, the idealizator, on an reluctant Dixon. By thinking of the word "girl," Dixon summons an image of unimaginable beauty that ruins his appreciation for ordinary women.

Unmasking the ideal Struggling with profound heartache, Dixon returns to the lab, where the professor identifies the face as a famous beauty from decades past. Van Manderpootz reveals that the woman's daughter, Denise, is moving to New York.

A new romance Dixon meets Denise, whose striking looks and sharp, sarcastic personality immediately captivate him. As they spend time together in the city, his obsession with the mirror's ghost gives way to real affection.

The terror in the glass While left unattended with the idealizator, Denise attempts to visualize absolute horror to help her creative writing. Dixon returns to find her frozen in sheer agony as terrible, nightmarish forms swirl across the mirror.

An unfortunate association Dixon cuts the power, but his face passes across the line of vision, forever entangling his image with the horrific sights in Denise's mind. The traumatized girl is hospitalized and refuses to see him.

The final late arrival Dixon devises a plan to fix her memory, only to learn that Denise has already married her psychiatrist. Defeated, Dixon accepts his fate and falls back on his old habit of keeping people waiting.

The People

• Dixon Wells wants romantic fulfillment and professional respect, but his perpetual lateness and foolish heart keep standing in his way. After peering into the idealizator, he becomes obsessed with an impossible standard of beauty. His attempt to build a real relationship with Denise ends in heartbreak when his face becomes associated with her worst nightmare, leaving him right back where he started.
• Professor Haskel van Manderpootz wants to prove his supreme intellectual dominance to the scientific community and the world at large. Egotistical and overbearing, he views everyone else as an imbecile. While his brilliant inventions work as intended, his total disregard for human emotion causes the disasters that follow.
• Denise wants to experience the full spectrum of human sensation to fuel her career as a writer. Confident, direct, and unbothered by social conventions, she resists Dixon's protective warnings. Her fearless attempt to visualize pure horror shatters her composure, leaving her psychologically scarred and tied to a different man.

In Its Own Voice

"Iron without, skill within, my son," said Roger Bacon. "It will speak, at the proper time and in its own manner, for so have I made it." The story opens with a legendary tale of Friar Bacon's lost attempt to build a speaking iron head.

"The psychon, the unit of thought, is one electron plus one proton, which are bound so as to form one neutron, embedded in one cosmon, occupying a volume of one spation, driven by one quantum for a period of one chronon." Professor van Manderpootz proudly details the bizarre scientific theory behind his latest invention.

"It was like looking into another world and seeing the embodiment of all longings, dreams, aspirations, and ideals." Dixon describes the overwhelming emotional impact of looking into the idealizator for the first time.

What It's Really About

Beneath its comedic premise, the story explores the danger of preferring abstract perfection over flawed reality. The idealizator does not reveal external truth; it merely reflects the user's internal desires back at them. By turning intangible thoughts into vivid physical light, the machine traps Dixon in a prison of his own standards. He becomes unable to appreciate living women because they fail to match a synthetic illusion built from his own memories. When Denise uses the device to conjure pure nightmare, the narrative demonstrates that human imagination holds equal capacity for destructive terror. Ultimately, the story argues that chasing an unblemished ideal blinds us to the genuine, complicated world right in front of us.

Why Read It Today

This short story offers an entertaining slice of early pulp science fiction, blending clever satirical humor with light speculative ideas. Readers who enjoy lighthearted classic sci-fi, mad-scientist tropes, and ironic twist endings will appreciate the snappy dialogue and fast-paced plot. The writing feels remarkably modern in its humor, using the pompous self-importance of Professor van Manderpootz as a reliable engine for comedy.

The main hurdle for modern readers lies in the story's period-specific casualness regarding romantic pursuits and its mid-twentieth-century vision of futuristic fashion, such as characters wearing minimal athletic wear around town. Dixon's rapid shifts in romantic devotion can seem shallow, but this surface-level whimsy is deliberate. It keeps the tone light even as the plot touches on psychological trauma. The core theme—how obsessing over curated, idealized images ruins our ability to connect with real people—feels surprisingly relevant in an age dominated by digital filters and curated online lives. It is a quick, charming read that lingers like a funny, slightly sad cautionary tale.