FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS
AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT:
by
JULES VERNE,
Author of "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth."
Translated from the French by
Louis Mercier, M.A., (Oxon,) and Eleanor E. King.
New York:
Scribner, Armstrong & Company.
1874.
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
----
CHAPTER I.
THE GUN CLUB.
During the War of the Rebellion, a new and influential club was
established in the city of Baltimore in the State of Maryland. It is well
known with what energy the taste for military matters became developed
amongst that nation of ship-owners, shopkeepers, and mechanics. Simple
tradesmen jumped their counters to become extemporized captains, colonels,
and generals, without having ever passed the School of Instruction at
West Point: nevertheless, they quickly rivalled their compeers of the
old continent, and, like them, carried off victories by dint of lavish
expenditure in ammunition, money, and men.
But the point in which the Americans singularly distanced the Europeans
was in the science of -gunnery.- Not, indeed, that their weapons retained
a higher degree of perfection than theirs, but that they exhibited
unheard-of dimensions, and consequently attained hitherto unheard-of
ranges. In point of grazing, plunging, oblique, or enfilading, or
point-blank firing, the English, French, and Prussians have nothing to
learn; but their cannon, howitzers, and mortars are mere pocket-pistols
compared with the formidable engines of the American artillery.
This fact need surprise no one. The Yankees, the first mechanicians in
the world, are engineers--just as the Italians are musicians and the
Germans metaphysicians--by right of birth. Nothing is more natural,
therefore, than to perceive them applying their audacious ingenuity to
the science of gunnery. Witness the marvels of Parrott, Dahlgren, and
Rodman. The Armstrong, Palliser, and Beaulieu guns were compelled to bow
before their transatlantic rivals.
Now when an American has an idea, he directly seeks a second American to
share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries.
Given -four,- they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready
for work; -five,- they convene a general meeting, and the club is fully
constituted. So things were managed in Baltimore. The inventor of a new
cannon associated himself with the caster and the borer. Thus was formed
the nucleus of the "Gun Club." In a single month after its formation it
numbered 1833 effective members and 30,565 corresponding members.
One condition was imposed as a -sine qua non- upon every candidate for
admission into the association, and that was the condition of having
designed, or (more or less) perfected a cannon; or, in default of a
cannon, at least a firearm of some description. It may, however, be
mentioned that mere inventions of revolvers, five-shooting carbines,
and similar small arms, met with but little consideration. Artillerists
always commanded the chief place of favour.
The estimation in which these gentlemen were held, according to one
of the most scientific exponents of the Gun Club, was "proportional to
the masses of their guns, and in the direct ratio of the square of the
distances attained by their projectiles."
The Gun Club once founded, it is easy to conceive the result of the
inventive genius of the Americans. Their military weapons attained colossal
proportions, and their projectiles, exceeding the prescribed limits,
unfortunately occasionally cut in two some unoffending pedestrians.
These inventions, in fact, left far in the rear the timid instruments of
European artillery.
It is but fair to add that these Yankees, brave as they have ever proved
themselves to be, did not confine themselves to theories and formulæ,
but that they paid heavily, in -propriâ personâ,- for their inventions.
Amongst them were to be counted officers of all ranks, from lieutenants
to generals; military men of every age, from those who were just making
their -début- in the profession of arms up to those who had grown old on
the gun-carriage. Many had found their rest on the field of battle whose
names figured in the "Book of Honour" of the Gun Club; and of those who
made good their return the greater proportion bore the marks of their
indisputable valour. Crutches, wooden legs, artificial arms, steel hooks,
caoutchouc jaws, silver craniums, platinum noses, were all to be found in
the collection; and it was calculated by the great statistician Pitcairn
that throughout the Gun Club there was not quite one arm between four
persons and exactly two legs between six.
Nevertheless, these valiant artillerists took no particular account of
these little facts, and felt justly proud when the despatches of a battle
returned the number of victims at tenfold the quantity of the projectiles
expended.
One day, however--sad and melancholy day!--peace was signed between
the survivors of the war; the thunder of the guns gradually ceased,
the mortars were silent, the howitzers were muzzled for an indefinite
period, the cannon, with muzzles depressed, were returned into the
arsenal, the shot were repiled, all bloody reminiscences were effaced;
the cotton-plants grew luxuriantly in the well-manured fields, all
mourning garments were laid aside, together with grief; and the Gun Club
was relegated to profound inactivity.
Some few of the more advanced and inveterate theorists set themselves
again to work upon calculations regarding the laws of projectiles. They
reverted invariably to gigantic shells and howitzers of unparalleled
calibre. Still, in default of practical experience what was the value
of mere theories? Consequently, the club-rooms became deserted, the
servants dozed in the antechambers, the newspapers grew mouldy on the
tables, sounds of snoring came from dark corners, and the members of the
Gun Club, erstwhile so noisy in their seances, were reduced to silence
by this disastrous peace and gave themselves up wholly to dreams of a
Platonic kind of artillery.
"This is horrible!" said Tom Hunter one evening, while rapidly carbonizing
his wooden legs in the fireplace of the smoking-room; "nothing to do!
nothing to look forward to! what a loathsome existence! When again shall
the guns arouse us in the morning with their delightful reports?"
"Those days are gone by," said jolly Bilsby, trying to extend his missing
arms. "It was delightful once upon a time! One invented a gun, and hardly
was it cast, when one hastened to try it in the face of the enemy! Then
one returned to camp with a word of encouragement from Sherman or a
friendly shake of the hand from M'Clellan. But now the generals are gone
back to their counters; and in place of projectiles, they despatch bales
of cotton. By Jove, the future of gunnery in America is lost!"
"Ay! and no war in prospect!" continued the famous James T. Maston,
scratching with his steel hook his gutta-percha cranium. "Not a cloud in
the horizon! and that too at such a critical period in the progress of
the science of artillery! Yes, gentlemen! I who address you have myself
this very morning perfected a model (plan, section, elevation, &c.) of
a mortar destined to change all the conditions of warfare!"
"No! is it possible?" replied Tom Hunter, his thoughts reverting
involuntarily to a former invention of the Hon. J. T. Maston, by which,
at its first trial, he had succeeded in killing three hundred and
thirty-seven people.
Illustration: THE ARTILLERY MEN OF THE GUN CLUB.
"Fact!" replied he. "Still, what is the use of so many studies worked
out, so many difficulties vanquished? It's mere waste of time! The New
World seems to have made up its mind to live in peace; and our bellicose
-Tribune- predicts some approaching catastrophes arising out of this
scandalous increase of population."
"Nevertheless," replied Colonel Blomsberry, "they are always struggling
in Europe to maintain the principle of nationalities."
"Well?"
"Well, there might be some field for enterprise down there; and if they
would accept our services--"
"What are you dreaming of?" screamed Bilsby; "work at gunnery for the
benefit of foreigners?"
"That would be better than doing nothing here," returned the colonel.
"Quite so," said J. T. Maston; "but still we need not dream of that
expedient."
"And why not?" demanded the colonel.
"Because their ideas of progress in the Old World are contrary to our
American habits of thought. Those fellows believe that one can't become
a general without having served first as an ensign; which is as much as
to say that one can't point a gun without having first cast it oneself!"
"Ridiculous!" replied Tom Hunter, whittling with his bowie-knife the arms
of his easy-chair; "but if that be the case there, all that is left for
us is to plant tobacco and distil whale-oil."
"What!" roared J. T. Maston, "shall we not employ these remaining
years of our life in perfecting fire-arms? Shall there never be a fresh
opportunity of trying the ranges of projectiles? Shall the air never again
be lighted with the glare of our guns? No international difficulty ever
arise to enable us to declare war against some transatlantic power? Shall
not the French sink one of our steamers, or the English, in defiance of
the rights of nations, hang a few of our countrymen?"
"No such luck," replied Colonel Blomsberry; "nothing of the kind is likely
to happen; and even if it did, we should not profit by it. American
susceptibility is fast declining, and we are all going to the dogs."
"It is too true," replied J. T. Maston, with fresh violence; "there are
a thousand grounds for fighting, and yet we don't fight. We save up our
arms and legs for the benefit of nations who don't know what to do with
them! But stop--without going out of one's way to find a cause for
war--did not North America once belong to the English?"
"Undoubtedly," replied Tom Hunter, stamping his crutch with fury.
"Well then," replied J. T. Maston, "why should not England in her turn
belong to the Americans?"
"It would be but just and fair," returned Colonel Blomsberry.
"Go and propose it to the President of the United States," cried J. T.
Maston, "and see how he will receive you."
"Bah!" growled Bilsby between the four teeth which the war had left him;
"that will never do!"
"By Jove!" cried J. T. Maston, "he mustn't count on my vote at the next
election!"
"Nor on ours," replied unanimously all the bellicose invalids.
"Meanwhile," replied J. T. M., "allow me to say that, if I cannot get an
opportunity to try my new mortars on a real field of battle, I shall say
good-bye to the members of the Gun Club, and go and bury myself in the
prairies of Arkansas!"
"In that case we will accompany you," cried the others.
Matters were in this unfortunate condition, and the club was threatened
with approaching dissolution, when an unexpected circumstance occurred
to prevent so deplorable a catastrophe.
On the morrow after this conversation every member of the association
received a sealed circular couched in the following terms:--
"BALTIMORE, -Oct.- 3.
"The President of the Gun Club has the honour to inform his colleagues
that, at the meeting of the 5th instant, he will bring before them
a communication of an extremely interesting nature. He requests,
therefore, that they will make it convenient to attend in accordance
with the present invitation.--Very cordially,
Impey Barbicane, P.G.C."
CHAPTER II.
PRESIDENT BARBICANE'S COMMUNICATION.
On the 5th of October, at 8 p.m., a dense crowd pressed towards the
saloons of the Gun Club at No. 21, Union Square. All the members of
the association resident in Baltimore attended the invitation of their
president. As regards the corresponding members, notices were delivered
by hundreds throughout the streets of the city, and, large as was the
great hall, it was quite inadequate to accommodate the crowd of -savants-.
They overflowed into the adjoining rooms, down the narrow passages, into
the outer courtyards. There they ran against the vulgar herd who pressed
up to the doors, each struggling to reach the front ranks, all eager to
learn the nature of the important communication of President Barbicane;
all pushing, squeezing, crushing with that perfect freedom of action which
is peculiar to the masses when educated in ideas of "self-government."
On that evening a stranger who might have chanced to be in Baltimore
could not have gained admission for love or money into the great hall.
That was reserved exclusively for resident or corresponding members; no
one else could possibly have obtained a place; and the city magnates,
municipal councillors, and "select men" were compelled to mingle with the
mere townspeople in order to catch stray bits of news from the interior.
Nevertheless the vast hall presented a curious spectacle. Its immense
area was singularly adapted to the purpose. Lofty pillars formed of
cannon, superposed upon huge mortars as a base, supported the fine
ironwork of the arches, a perfect piece of cast-iron lacework. Trophies
of blunderbuses, matchlocks, arquebuses, carbines, all kinds of fire-arms,
ancient and modern, were picturesquely interlaced against the walls.
The gas lit up in full glare myriads of revolvers grouped in the form
of lustres, whilst groups of pistols, and candelabra formed of muskets
bound together, completed this magnificent display of brilliance. Models
of cannon, bronze castings, sights covered with dents, plates battered by
the shots of the Gun Club, assortments of rammers and sponges, chaplets
of shells, wreaths of projectiles, garlands of howitzers--in short, all
the apparatus of the artillerist, enchanted the eye by this wonderful
arrangement and induced a kind of belief that their real purpose was
ornamental rather than deadly.
At the further end of the saloon the president, assisted by four
secretaries, occupied a large platform. His chair, supported by a carved
gun-carriage, was modelled upon the ponderous proportions of a 32-inch
mortar. It was pointed at an angle of ninety degrees, and suspended upon
trunnions, so that the president could balance himself upon it as upon
a rocking-chair, a very agreeable fact in the very hot weather. Upon the
table (a huge iron plate supported upon six carronnades) stood an inkstand
of exquisite elegance, made of a beautifully chased Spanish piece, and a
sonnette, which, when required, could give forth a report equal to that
of a revolver. During violent debates this novel kind of bell scarcely
sufficed to drown the clamour of these excitable artillerists.
In front of the table benches arranged in zigzag form, like the
circumvallations of a retrenchment, formed a succession of bastions and
curtains set apart for the use of the members of the club; and on this
especial evening one might say, "All the world was on the ramparts." The
president was sufficiently well known, however, for all to be assured
that he would not put his colleagues to discomfort without some very
strong motive.
Impey Barbicane was a man of forty years of age, calm, cold, austere;
of a singularly serious and self-contained demeanour, punctual as a
chronometer, of imperturbable temper and immovable character; by no means
chivalrous, yet adventurous withal, and always bringing practical ideas
to bear upon the very rashest enterprises; an essentially New-Englander,
a Northern colonist, a descendant of the old anti-Stuart Roundheads,
and the implacable enemy of the gentlemen of the South, those ancient
Cavaliers of the mother-country. In a word, he was a Yankee to the
backbone.
Barbicane had made a large fortune as a timber-merchant. Being nominated
Director of Artillery during the war, he proved himself fertile in
invention. Bold in his conceptions, he contributed powerfully to
the progress of that arm and gave an immense impetus to experimental
researches.
He was a personage of the middle height, having, by a rare exception
in the Gun Club, all his limbs complete. His strongly-marked features
seemed drawn by square and rule; and if it be true that, in order to
judge of a man's character one must look at his profile, Barbicane, so
examined, exhibited the most certain indications of energy, audacity,
and -sang-froid.-
At this moment he was sitting in his armchair, silent, absorbed, lost in
reflection, sheltered under his high-crowned hat--a kind of black silk
cylinder which always seems firmly screwed upon the head of an American.
Just when the deep-toned clock in the great hall struck eight, Barbicane,
as if he had been set in motion by a spring, raised himself up. A profound
silence ensued, and the speaker, in a somewhat emphatic tone of voice,
commenced as follows:--
"My brave colleagues, too long already a paralyzing peace has plunged
the members of the Gun Club in deplorable inactivity. After a period of
years full of incidents we have been compelled to abandon our labours,
and to stop short on the road of progress. I do not hesitate to state,
boldly, that any war which should recall us to arms would be welcome!"
(-Tremendous applause!-)
Illustration: PRESIDENT BARBICANE.
"But war, gentlemen, is impossible under existing circumstances; and,
however we may desire it, many years may elapse before our cannon shall
again thunder in the field of battle. We must make up our minds, then,
to seek in another train of ideas some field for the activity which we
all pine for."
The meeting felt that the president was now approaching the critical
point, and redoubled their attention accordingly.
"For some months past, my brave colleagues," continued Barbicane, "I
have been asking myself whether, while confining ourselves to our own
particular objects, we could not enter upon some grand experiment worthy
of the nineteenth century; and whether the progress of artillery science
would not enable us to carry it out to a successful issue. I have been
considering, working, calculating; and the result of my studies is the
conviction that we are safe to succeed in an enterprise which to any
other country would appear wholly impracticable. This project, the result
of long elaboration, is the object of my present communication. It is
worthy of yourselves, worthy of the antecedents of the Gun Club; and it
cannot fail to make some noise in the world."
A thrill of excitement ran through the meeting.
Barbicane, having by a rapid movement firmly fixed his hat upon his head,
calmly continued his harangue:--
"There is no one among you, my brave colleagues, who has not seen -the
Moon,- or, at least, heard speak of it. Don't be surprised if I am about
to discourse to you regarding this Queen of the Night. It is perhaps
reserved for us to become the Columbuses of this unknown world. Only enter
into my plans, and second me with all your power, and I will lead you
to its conquest, and its name shall be added to those of the thirty-six
States which compose this Great Union."
"Three cheers for the Moon!" roared the Gun Club, with one voice.
"The moon, gentlemen, has been carefully studied," continued Barbicane;
"her mass, density, and weight; her constitution, motions, distance, as
well as her place in the solar system, have all been exactly determined.
Selenographic charts have been constructed with a perfection which equals,
if it does not even surpass, that of our terrestrial maps. Photography
has given us proofs of the incomparable beauty of our satellite; in short,
all is known regarding the moon which mathematical science, astronomy,
geology, and optics can learn about her. But up to the present moment no
direct communication has been established with her."
A violent movement of interest and surprise here greeted this remark of
the speaker.
"Permit me," he continued, "to recount to you briefly how certain ardent
spirits, starting on imaginary journeys, have penetrated the secrets
of our satellite. In the seventeenth century a certain David Fabricius
boasted of having seen with his own eyes the inhabitants of the moon. In
1649 a Frenchman, one Jean Baudoin, published a 'Journey performed from
the Earth to the Moon by Domingo Gonzalez,' a Spanish Adventurer. At
the same period Cyrano de Bergerac published that celebrated 'Journeys
in the Moon' which met with such success in France. Somewhat later
another Frenchman, named Fontenelle, wrote 'The Plurality of Worlds,'
a -chef-d'œuvre- of its time. About 1835 a small treatise, translated
from the -New York American-, related how Sir John Herschell, having
been despatched to the Cape of Good Hope for the purpose of making there
some astronomical calculations, had, by means of a telescope brought to
perfection by means of internal lighting, reduced the apparent distance of
the moon to eighty yards! He then distinctly perceived caverns frequented
by hippopotami, green mountains bordered by golden lace-work, sheep with
horns of ivory, a white species of deer and inhabitants with membranous
wings, like bats. This -brochure,- the work of an American named Locke,
had a great sale. But, to bring this rapid sketch to a close, I will
only add that a certain Hans Pfaal, of Rotterdam, launching himself in
a balloon filled with a gas extracted from nitrogen, thirty-seven times
lighter than hydrogen, reached the moon after a passage of nineteen
hours. This journey, like all the previous ones, was purely imaginary;
still, it was the work of a popular American author--I mean Edgar Poe!"
Illustration: MEETING OF THE GUN CLUB.
"Cheers for Edgar Poe!" roared the assemblage, electrified by their
president's words.
"I have now enumerated," said Barbicane, "the experiments which I
call purely paper ones, and wholly insufficient to establish serious
relations with the Queen of Night. Nevertheless, I am bound to add that
some practical geniuses have attempted to establish actual communication
with her. Thus, a few years ago, a German geometrician proposed to
send a scientific expedition to the steppes of Siberia. There, on those
vast plains, they were to describe enormous geometric figures, drawn
in characters of reflecting luminosity, amongst which was the prop.
regarding the 'square of the hypothenuse,' commonly called the '-Ass's
bridge-' by the French. 'Every intelligent being,' said the geometrician,
'must understand the scientific meaning of that figure. The Selenites, do
they exist, will respond by a similar figure; and, a communication being
thus once established, it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall
enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.' So spoke the
German geometrician; but his project was never put into practice, and up
to the present day there is no bond in existence between the earth and
her satellite. It is reserved for the practical genius of Americans to
establish a communication with the sidereal world. The means of arriving
thither are simple, easy, certain, infallible--and that is the purpose
of my present proposal."
A storm of acclamations greeted these words. There was not a single
person in the whole audience who was not overcome, carried away, lifted
out of himself by the speaker's words!
Long continued applause resounded from all sides.
As soon as the excitement had partially subsided, Barbicane resumed his
speech in a somewhat graver voice.
"You know," said he, "what progress artillery science has made during
the last few years, and what a degree of perfection firearms of every
kind have reached. Moreover, you are well aware that, in general terms,
the resisting power of cannon and the expansive force of gunpowder are
practically unlimited. Well! starting from this principle, I ask myself
whether, supposing sufficient apparatus could be obtained constructed
upon the conditions of ascertained resistance, it might not be possible
to project a shot up to the moon?"
At these words a murmur of amazement escaped from a thousand panting
chests; then succeeded a moment of perfect silence, resembling that
profound stillness which precedes the bursting of a thunderstorm. In
point of fact, a thunderstorm did peal forth, but it was the thunder of
applause, of cries, and of uproar which made the very hall tremble. The
president attempted to speak, but could not. It was fully ten minutes
before he could make himself heard.
"Suffer me to finish," he calmly continued. "I have looked at the
question in all its bearings, I have resolutely attacked it, and by
incontrovertible calculations I find that a projectile endowed with an
initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second, and aimed at the moon, must
necessarily reach it. I have the honour, my brave colleagues, to propose
a trial of this little experiment."
CHAPTER III.
EFFECT OF THE PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION.
It is impossible to describe the effect produced by the last words of
the honorable president--the cries, the shouts, the succession of roars,
hurrahs, and all the varied vociferations which the American language
is capable of supplying. It was a scene of indescribable confusion and
uproar. They shouted, they clapped, they stamped on the floor of the
hall. All the weapons in the museum discharged at once could not have more
violently set in motion the waves of sound. One need not be surprised at
this. There are some cannoneers nearly as noisy as their
own guns.
Barbicane remained calm in the midst of this enthusiastic clamour; perhaps
he was desirous of addressing a few more words to his colleagues, for by
his gestures he demanded silence, and his powerful alarum was worn out
by its violent reports. No attention, however, was paid to his request.
He was presently torn from his seat and passed from the hands of his
faithful colleagues into the arms of a no less excited crowd.
Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word
"impossible" is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived
by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for
mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise. Between
Barbicane's proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have
allowed even the semblance of a difficulty to be possible. A thing with
them is no sooner said than done.
The triumphal progress of the president continued throughout the evening.
It was a regular torchlight procession. Irish, Germans, French, Scotch,
all the heterogeneous units which make up the population of Maryland
shouted in their respective vernaculars; and the "vivas," "hurrahs," and
"bravos" were intermingled in inexpressible enthusiasm.
Just at this crisis, as though she comprehended all this agitation
regarding herself, the Moon shone forth with serene splendour, eclipsing
by her intense illumination all the surrounding lights. The Yankees
all turned their gaze towards her resplendent orb, kissed their hands,
called her by all kinds of endearing names. Between eight o'clock and
midnight one optician in Jones'-Fall Street made his fortune by the sale
of opera-glasses.
Midnight arrived, and the enthusiasm showed no signs of diminution.
It spread equally among all classes of citizens--men of science,
shopkeepers, merchants, porters, chair-men, as well as "greenhorns,"
were stirred in their innermost fibres. A national enterprise was at
stake. The whole city, high and low, the quays bordering the Patapsco,
the ships lying in the basins, disgorged a crowd drunk with joy, gin,
and whisky. Every one chattered, argued, discussed, disputed, applauded,
from the gentleman lounging upon the barroom settee with his tumbler of
sherry-cobbler before him down to the waterman who got drunk upon his
"knock-me-down" in the dingy taverns of Fell Point.
About 2 a.m., however, the excitement began to subside. President
Barbicane reached his house, bruised, crushed, and squeezed almost
to a mummy. A Hercules could not have resisted a similar outbreak of
enthusiasm. The crowd gradually deserted the squares and streets. The
four railways from Philadelphia and Washington, Harrisburg and Wheeling,
which converge at Baltimore, whirled away the heterogeneous population
to the four corners of the United States, and the city subsided into
comparative tranquillity.
Illustration: THE TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION.
On the following day, thanks to the telegraphic wires, five hundred
newspapers and journals, daily, weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly, all
took up the question. They examined it under all its different aspects,
physical, meteorological, economical, or moral, up to its bearings on
politics or civilization. They debated whether the moon was a finished
world, or whether it was destined to undergo any further transformation.
Did it resemble the earth at the period when the latter was destitute as
yet of an atmosphere? What kind of spectacle would its hidden hemisphere
present to our terrestrial spheroid? Granting that the question at
present was simply that of sending a projectile up to the moon, every one
must see that that involved the commencement of a series of experiments.
All must hope that some day America would penetrate the deepest secrets
of that mysterious orb; and some even seemed to fear lest its conquest
should not sensibly derange the equilibrium of Europe.
The project once under discussion, not a single paragraph suggested a doubt
of its realization. All the papers, pamphlets, reports--all the journals
published by the scientific, literary, and religious societies enlarged
upon its advantages; and the Society of Natural History of Boston, the
Society of Science and Art of Albany, the Geographical and Statistical
Society of New York, the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and the
Smithsonian of Washington sent innumerable letters of congratulation to
the Gun Club, together with offers of immediate assistance and money.
From that day forward Impey Barbicane became one of the greatest citizens
of the United States, a kind of Washington of Science. A single trait of
feeling, taken from many others, will serve to show the point which this
homage of a whole people to a single individual attained.
Some few days after this memorable meeting of the Gun Club, the manager
of an English company announced, at the Baltimore theatre, the production
of "Much ado about Nothing." But the populace, seeing in that title an
allusion damaging to Barbicane's project, broke into the auditorium,
smashed the benches, and compelled the unlucky director to alter his
playbill. Being a sensible man, he bowed to the public will and replaced
the offending comedy by "As you like it;" and for many weeks he realized
fabulous profits.
Illustration: CAMBRIDGE OBSERVATORY.
CHAPTER IV.
REPLY FROM THE OBSERVATORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
Barbicane, however, lost not one moment amidst all the enthusiasm of which
he had become the object. His first care was to reassemble his colleagues
in the board-room of the Gun Club. There, after some discussion, it was
agreed to consult the astronomers regarding the astronomical part of the
enterprize. Their reply once ascertained, they could then discuss the
mechanical means, and nothing should be wanting to ensure the success of
this great experiment.
A note couched in precise terms, containing special interrogatories,
was then drawn up and addressed to the Observatory of Cambridge in
Massachusetts. This city, where the first University of the United States
was founded, is justly celebrated for its astronomical staff. There are
to be found assembled all the most eminent men of science. Here is to
be seen at work that powerful telescope which enabled Bond to resolve
the nebula of Andromeda, and Clarke to discover the satellite of Sirius.
This celebrated institution fully justified on all points the confidence
reposed in it by the Gun Club.
So, after two days, the reply so impatiently awaited was placed in the
hands of President Barbicane.
It was couched in the following terms:--
"-The Director of the Cambridge Observatory to the President of the Gun
Club at Baltimore.-
"CAMBRIDGE, -Oct.- 7.
"On the receipt of your favour of the 6th inst., addressed to the
Observatory of Cambridge in the name of the Members of the Baltimore
Gun Club, our staff was immediately called together, and it was judged
expedient to reply as follows:--
"The questions which have been proposed to it are these,--
"'1. Is it possible to transmit a projectile up to the moon?
"'2. What is the exact distance which separates the earth from its
satellite?
"'3. What will be the period of transit of the projectile when endowed
with sufficient initial velocity? and, consequently, at what moment ought
it to be discharged in order that it may touch the moon at a particular
point?
"'4. At what precise moment will the moon present herself in the most
favourable position to be reached by the projectile?
"'5. What point in the heavens ought the cannon to be aimed at which is
intended to discharge the projectile?
"'6. What place will the moon occupy in the heavens at the moment of the
projectile's departure?'
"Regarding the -first- question, 'Is it possible to transmit a projectile
up to the moon?'
"-Answer-.--Yes; provided it possess an initial velocity of 1200 yards
per second; calculations prove that to be sufficient. In proportion as
we recede from the earth the action of gravitation diminishes in the
inverse ratio of the square of the distance; that is to say, -at three
times a given distance the action is nine times less.- Consequently, the
weight of a shot will decrease, and will become reduced to zero at the
instant that the attraction of the moon exactly counterpoises that of
the earth; that is to say, at 47/52 of its passage. At that instant the
projectile will have no weight whatever; and, if it passes that point,
it will fall into the moon by the sole effect of the lunar attraction.
The -theoretical possibility- of the experiment is therefore absolutely
demonstrated; its success must depend upon the power of the engine
employed.
"As to the -second question-, 'What is the exact distance which separates
the earth from its satellite?'
"-Answer.---The moon does not describe a circle round the earth, but
rather an -ellipse-, of which our earth occupies one of the -foci;- the
consequence, therefore, is, that at certain times it approaches nearer
to, and at others it recedes farther from, the earth; in astronomical
language, it is at one time in -apogee-, at another in -perigee.- Now the
difference between its greatest and its least distance is too considerable
to be left out of consideration. In point of fact, in its apogee the moon
is 247,552 miles, and in its perigee, 218,657 miles only distant; a fact
which makes a difference of 28,895 miles, or more than one ninth of the
entire distance. The perigee distance, therefore, is that which ought to
serve as the basis of all calculations.
"To the -third- question:--
"-Answer.---If the shot should preserve continuously its initial velocity
of 12,000 yards per second, it would require little more than nine
hours to reach its destination; but, inasmuch as that initial velocity
will be continually decreasing, it results that, taking everything into
consideration, it will occupy 300,000 seconds, that is 83hrs. 20m. in
reaching the point where the attraction of the earth and moon will be
-in equilibrio.- From this point it will fall into the moon in 50,000
seconds, or 13hrs. 53m. 20sec. It will be desirable, therefore, to
discharge it 97hrs. 13m. 20sec. before the arrival of the moon at the
point aimed at.
"Regarding question -four-, 'At what precise moment will the moon present
herself in the most favourable position, &c.?'
"-Answer-.--After what has been said above, it will be necessary, first
of all, to choose the period when the moon will be in perigee, and also
the moment when she will be crossing the zenith, which latter event will
further diminish the entire distance by a length equal to the radius of
the earth, i.e. 3919 miles; the result of which will be that the final
passage remaining to be accomplished will be 214,976 miles. But although
the moon passes her perigee every month, she does not reach the zenith
always at -exactly the same moment.- She does not appear under these two
conditions simultaneously, except at long intervals of time. It will be
necessary, therefore, to wait for the moment when her passage in perigee
shall coincide with that in the zenith. Now, by a fortunate circumstance,
on the 4th December in the ensuing year the moon -will- present these two
conditions. At midnight she will be in perigee, that is, at her shortest
distance from the earth, and at the same moment she will be crossing the
zenith.
"On the -fifth- question, 'At what point in the heavens ought the cannon
to be aimed?'
"-Answer-.--The preceding remarks being admitted, the cannon ought to
be pointed to the zenith of the place. Its fire, therefore, will be
perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; and the projectile will soonest
pass beyond the range of the terrestrial attraction. But, in order that
the moon should reach the zenith of a given place, it is necessary that
the place should not exceed in latitude the declination of the luminary;
in other words, it must be comprised within the degrees 0° and 28° of
lat. N. or S. In every other spot the fire must necessarily be oblique,
which would seriously militate against the success of the experiment.
"As to the -sixth- question, 'What place will the moon occupy in the
heavens at the moment of the projectile's departure?'
"-Answer-.--At the moment when the projectile shall be discharged
into space, the moon, which travels daily forward 13° 10' 35", will be
distant from the zenith point by four times that quantity, i.e. by 52°
42' 20", a space which corresponds to the path which she will describe
during the entire journey of the projectile. But, inasmuch as it is
equally necessary to take into account the deviation which the rotary
motion of the earth will impart to the shot, and as the shot cannot reach
the moon until after a deviation equal to 16 radii of the earth, which,
calculated upon the moon's orbit, are equal to about eleven degrees, it
becomes necessary to add these eleven degrees to those which express the
retardation of the moon just mentioned: that is to say, in round numbers,
about 64 degrees. Consequently, at the moment of firing the visual radius
applied to the moon will describe, with the vertical line of the place,
an angle of sixty-four degrees.
"These are our answers to the questions proposed to the Observatory of
Cambridge by the members of the Gun Club:--
"To sum up,--
"1st. The cannon ought to be planted in a country situated between
between 0° and 28° of N. or S. lat.
"2ndly. It ought to be pointed directly towards the zenith of the place.
"3rdly. The projectile ought to be propelled with an initial velocity of
12,000 yards per second.
"4thly. It ought to be discharged at 10hrs. 46m. 40sec. of the 1st
December of the ensuing year.
"5thly. It will meet the moon four days after its discharge, precisely
at midnight on the 4th December, at the moment of its transit across the
zenith.
"The members of the Gun Club ought, therefore, without delay, to commence
the works necessary for such an experiment, and to be prepared to set
to work at the moment determined upon; for, if they should suffer this
4th December to go by, they will not find the moon again under the same
conditions of perigee and of zenith until eighteen years and eleven days
afterwards.
"The Staff of the Cambridge Observatory place themselves entirely at
their disposal in respect of all questions of theoretical astronomy; and
herewith add their congratulations to those of all the rest of America.
"For the Astronomical Staff,
"J. M. BELFAST,
"-Director of the Observatory of Cambridge.-"
CHAPTER V.
THE ROMANCE OF THE MOON.
An observer endued with an infinite range of vision, and placed in
that unknown centre around which the entire world revolves, might have
beheld myriads of atoms filling all space during the chaotic epoch of
the universe. Little by little, as ages went on, a change took place;
a general law of attraction manifested itself, to which the hitherto
errant atoms became obedient: these atoms combined together chemically
according to their affinities, formed themselves into molecules, and
composed those nebulous masses with which the depths of the heavens are
strewed.
These masses became immediately endued with a rotary motion around
their own central point. This centre, formed of indefinite molecules,
began to revolve round its own axis during its gradual condensation;
then, following the immutable laws of mechanics, in proportion as its
bulk diminished by condensation, its rotary motion became accelerated,
and these two effects continuing, the result was the formation of one
principal star, the centre of the nebulous mass.
By attentively watching, the observer would then have perceived the
other molecules of the mass, following the example of this central
star, become likewise condensed by gradually accelerated rotation, and
gravitating round it in the shape of innumerable stars. Thus was formed
the -Nebulæ,- of which astronomers have reckoned up nearly 5000.
Amongst these 5000 nebulæ there is one which has received the name of
the Milky Way, and which contains eighteen millions of stars, each of
which has become the centre of a solar world.
If the observer had then specially directed his attention to one of the
more humble and less brilliant of these stellar bodies, a star of the
fourth class, that which is arrogantly called the Sun, all the phenomena
to which the formation of the Universe is to be ascribed would have
been successively fulfilled before his eyes. In fact, he would have
perceived this sun, as yet in the gaseous state, and composed of moving
molecules, revolving round its axis in order to accomplish its work of
concentration. This motion, faithful to the laws of mechanics, would
have been accelerated with the diminution of its volume; and a moment
would have arrived when the centrifugal force would have overpowered the
centripetal, which causes the molecules all to tend towards the centre.
Another phenomenon would now have passed before the observer's eye, and
the molecules situated on the plane of the equator escaping, like a stone
from a sling of which the cord had suddenly snapped, would have formed
around the sun sundry concentric rings resembling that of Saturn. In
their turn, again, these rings of cosmical matter, excited by a rotary
motion round the central mass, would have been broken up and decomposed
into secondary nebulosities, that is to say, into planets. Similarly he
would have observed these planets throw off one or more rings each, which
became the origin of the secondary bodies which we call satellites.
Thus, then, advancing from atom to molecule, from molecule to nebulous
mass, from that to a principal star, from star to sun, from sun to planet,
and hence to satellite, we have the whole series of transformations
undergone by the heavenly bodies during the first days of the world.
Now, of those attendant bodies which the sun maintains in their elliptical
orbits by the great law of gravitation, some few in their turn possess
satellites. Uranus has eight, Saturn eight, Jupiter four, Neptune possibly
three, and the Earth -one.- This last, one of the least important of the
entire solar system, we call -the Moon-; and it is she whom the daring
genius of the Americans professed their intention of conquering.
Illustration: THE MOON'S DISC.
The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying
appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a
considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth.
From the time of Thales of Miletus, in the fifth century b.c., down to
that of Copernicus in the fifteenth and Tycho Brahé in the sixteenth
century a.d., observations have been from time to time carried on with
more or less correctness, until in the present day the altitudes of the
lunar mountains have been determined with exactitude. Galileo explained
the phenomena of the lunar light produced during certain of her phases
by the existence of mountains, to which he assigned a mean altitude of
27,000 feet. After him Hévelius, an astronomer of Dantzic, reduced the
highest elevations to 15,000 feet; but the calculations of Riccioli
brought them up again to 21,000 feet.
At the close of the eighteenth century Herschell, armed with a powerful
telescope, considerably reduced the preceding measurements. He assigned
a height of 11,400 feet to the maximum elevations, and reduced the mean
of the different altitudes to little more than 2400 feet. But Herschell's
calculations were in their turn corrected by the observations of Halley,
Nasmyth, Bianchini, Gruithuysen, and others; but it was reserved for
the labours of Bœer and Mædler finally to solve the question. They
succeeded in measuring 1905 different elevations, of which six exceed
15,000 feet, and twenty-two exceed 14,400 feet. The highest summit of all
towers to a height of 22,606 feet above the surface of the lunar disc. At
the same period the examination of the moon was completed. She appeared
completely riddled with craters, and her essentially volcanic character
was apparent at each observation. By the absence of refraction in the
rays of the planets occulted by her we conclude that she is absolutely
devoid of an atmosphere. The absence of air entails the absence of water.
It became, therefore, manifest that the Selenites, to support life under
such conditions, must possess a special organization of their own, must
differ remarkably from the inhabitants of the earth.
At length, thanks to modern art, instruments of still higher perfection
searched the moon without intermission, not leaving a single point of
her surface unexplored; and notwithstanding that her diameter measures
2150 miles, her surface equals the 1-15th part of that of our globe, and
her bulk the 1-49th part of that of the terrestrial spheroid--not one
of her secrets was able to escape the eyes of the astronomers; and these
skilful men of science carried to even greater degree their prodigious
observations.
Thus they remarked that, during full moon, the disc appeared scored in
certain parts with -white- lines; and, during the phases, with -black.-
On prosecuting the study of these with still greater precision, they
succeeded in obtaining an exact account of the nature of these lines.
They were long and narrow furrows sunk between parallel ridges, bordering
generally upon the edges of the craters. Their length varied between
ten and 100 miles, and their width was about 1600 yards. Astronomers
called them chasms, but they could not get any farther. Whether these
chasms were the dried-up beds of ancient rivers or not they were unable
thoroughly to ascertain.
The Americans, amongst others, hoped one day or other to determine this
geological question. They also undertook to examine the true nature
of that system of parallel ramparts discovered on the moon's surface
by Gruithuysen, a learned professor of Munich, who considered them to
be "a system of fortifications thrown up by the Selenitic engineers."
These two points, yet obscure, as well as others, no doubt, could not be
definitively settled except by direct communication with the moon.
Regarding the degree of intensity of its light, there was nothing more
to learn on this point. It was known that it is 300,000 times weaker
than that of the sun, and that its heat has no appreciable effect upon
the thermometer. As to the phenomenon known as the "ashy light," it is
explained naturally by the effect of the transmission of the solar rays
from the earth to the moon, which give the appearance of completeness to
the lunar disc, while it presents itself under the crescent form during
its first and last phases.
Such was the state of knowledge acquired regarding the earth's satellite,
which the Gun Club undertook to perfect in all its aspects, cosmographic,
geological, political, and moral.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PERMISSIVE LIMITS OF IGNORANCE AND BELIEF IN THE
UNITED STATES.
The immediate result of Barbicane's proposition was to place upon the
orders of the day all the astronomical facts relative to the Queen of
Night. Everybody set to work to study assiduously. One would have thought
that the moon had just appeared for the first time, and that no one had
ever before caught a glimpse of her in the heavens. The papers revived
all the old anecdotes in which the "sun of the wolves" played a part;
they recalled the influences which the ignorance of past ages ascribed
to her; in short, all America was seized with seleno-mania, or had become
moon-mad.
The scientific journals, for their part, dealt more especially with the
questions which touched upon the enterprise of the Gun Club. The letter
of the Observatory of Cambridge was published by them, and commented upon
with unreserved approval.
Until that time most people had been ignorant of the mode in which the
distance which separates the moon from the earth is calculated. They took
advantage of this fact to explain to them that this distance was obtained
by measuring the parallax of the moon. The term parallax proving "caviare
to the general," they further explained that it meant the angle formed
by the inclination of two straight lines drawn from either extremity
of the earth's radius to the moon. On doubts being expressed as to the
correctness of this method, they immediately proved that not only was
the mean distance 234,347 miles, but that astronomers could not possibly
be in error in their estimate by more than 70 miles either way.
To those who were not familiar with the motions of the moon, they
demonstrated that she possesses two distinct motions, the first being
that of rotation upon her axis, the second that of revolution round the
earth, accomplishing both together in an equal period of time, that is
to say, in 27⅓ days.
The motion of rotation is that which produces day and night on the
surface of the moon; save that there is only one day and one night in
the lunar month, each lasting 354⅓ hours. But, happily for her, the
face turned towards the terrestrial globe is illuminated by it with an
intensity equal to the light of fourteen moons. As to the other face,
always invisible to us, it has of necessity 354 hours of absolute night,
tempered only by that "pale glimmer which falls upon it from the stars."
Some well-intentioned but rather obstinate persons, could not at first
comprehend how, if the moon displays invariably the same face to the earth
during her revolution, she can describe one turn round herself. To such
they answered, "Go into your dining-room, and walk round the table in
such a way as always to keep your face turned towards the centre; by the
time you will have achieved one complete round you will have completed
one turn round yourself, since your eye will have traversed successively
every point of the room. Well, then, the room is the heavens, the table
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