I began to comfort her and myself by repeating all that Ogilvy had
told me of the impossibility of the Martians establishing themselves
on the earth.  In particular I laid stress on the gravitational
difficulty.  On the surface of the earth the force of gravity is three
times what it is on the surface of Mars.  A Martian, therefore, would
weigh three times more than on Mars, albeit his muscular strength
would be the same.  His own body would be a cope of lead to him.  That,
indeed, was the general opinion.  Both _The Times_ and the _Daily
Telegraph_, for instance, insisted on it the next morning, and both
overlooked, just as I did, two obvious modifying influences.