"That it is half-past eight," replied Nicholl.
"Very well," retorted Michel; "then it is impossible for me to find even
the shadow of a reason why we should not go to breakfast."
Indeed the inhabitants of the new star could not live without eating, and
their stomachs were suffering from the imperious laws of hunger. Michel
Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function,
which raised no rival. The gas gave sufficient heat for the culinary
apparatus, and the provision-box furnished the elements of this first
feast.
The breakfast began with three bowls of excellent soup, thanks to the
liquefaction in hot water of those precious cakes of Liebig, prepared from
the best parts of the ruminants of the Pampas. To the soup succeeded some
beefsteaks, compressed by an hydraulic press, as tender and succulent as
if brought straight from the kitchen of an English eating-house. Michel,
who was imaginative, maintained that they were even "red."
Preserved vegetables ("fresher than nature," said the amiable Michel)
succeeded the dish of meat; and was followed by some cups of tea with
bread and butter, after the American fashion.
The beverage was declared exquisite, and was due to the infusion of the
choicest leaves, of which the Emperor of Russia had given some chests
for the benefit of the travellers.
And lastly, to crown the repast, Ardan brought out a fine bottle of Nuits,
which was found "by chance" in the provision-box. The three friends drank
to the union of the earth and her satellite.
And, as if he had not already done enough for the generous wine which
he had distilled on the slopes of Burgundy, the sun chose to be of the
party. At this moment the projectile emerged from the conical shadow
cast by the terrestrial globe, and the rays of the radiant orb struck
the lower disc of the projectile direct occasioned by the angle which
the moon's orbit makes with that of the earth.
"The sun!" exclaimed Michel Ardan.
"No doubt," replied Barbicane; "I expected it."
"But," said Michel, "the conical shadow which the earth leaves in space
extends beyond the moon?"
"Far beyond it, if the atmospheric refraction is not taken into
consideration," said Barbicane. "But when the moon is enveloped in this
shadow, it is because the centres of the three stars, the sun, the earth,
and the moon, are all in one and the same straight line. Then the -nodes-
coincide with the -phases- of the moon, and there is an eclipse. If we
had started when there was an eclipse of the moon, all our passage would
have been in the shadow, which would have been a pity."
Illustration: THE SUN CHOSE TO BE OF THE PARTY.
"Why?"
"Because, though we are floating in space, our projectile, bathed in the
solar rays, will receive their light and heat. It economizes the gas,
which is in every respect a good economy."
Indeed, under these rays which no atmosphere can temper, either in
temperature or brilliancy, the projectile grew warm and bright, as if
it had passed suddenly from winter to summer. The moon above, the sun
beneath, were inundating it with their fire.
"It is pleasant here," said Nicholl.
"I should think so," said Michel Ardan. "With a little earth spread on
our aluminium planet we should have green peas in twenty-four hours. I
have but one fear, which is that the walls of the projectile might melt."
"Calm yourself, my worthy friend," replied Barbicane; "the projectile
withstood a very much higher temperature than this as it slid through
the strata of the atmosphere. I should not be surprised if it did not
look like a meteor on fire to the eyes of the spectators in Florida."
"But then Joseph T. Maston will think we are roasted!"
"What astonishes me," said Barbicane, "is that we have not been. That
was a danger we had not provided for."
"I feared it," said Nicholl simply.
"And you never mentioned it, my sublime captain," exclaimed Michel Ardan,
clasping his friend's hand.
Barbicane now began to settle himself in the projectile as if he was
never to leave it. One must remember that this aerial car had a base
with a superficies of fifty-four square feet. Its height to the roof
was twelve feet. Carefully laid out in the inside, and little encumbered
by instruments and travelling utensils which each had their particular
place, it left the three travellers a certain freedom of movement. The
thick window inserted in the bottom could bear any amount of weight, and
Barbicane and his companions walked upon it as if it were solid plank;
but the sun striking it directly with its rays lit the interior of the
projectile from beneath, thus producing singular effects of light.
They began by investigating the state of their store of water and
provisions, neither of which had suffered, thanks to the care taken to
deaden the shock. Their provisions were abundant, and plentiful enough
to last the three travellers for more than a year. Barbicane wished to
be cautious, in case the projectile should land on a part of the moon
which was utterly barren. As to water and the reserve of brandy, which
consisted of fifty gallons, there was only enough for two months; but
according to the last observations of astronomers, the moon had a low,
dense, and thick atmosphere, at least in the deep valleys, and there
springs and streams could not fail. Thus, during their passage, and
for the first year of their settlement on the lunar continent, these
adventurous explorers would suffer neither hunger nor thirst.
Now about the air in the projectile. There, too, they were secure.
Reiset and Regnaut's apparatus, intended for the production of oxygen,
was supplied with chlorate of potassium for two months. They necessarily
consumed a certain quantity of gas, for they were obliged to keep the
producing substance at a temperature of above 400°. But there again they
were all safe. The apparatus only wanted a little care. But it was not
enough to renew the oxygen; they must absorb the carbonic acid produced by
expiration. During the last twelve hours the atmosphere of the projectile
had become charged with this deleterious gas. Nicholl discovered the
state of the air by observing Diana panting painfully. The carbonic
acid, by a phenomenon similar to that produced in the famous Grotto del
Cane, had collected at the bottom of the projectile owing to its weight.
Poor Diana, with her head low, would suffer before her masters from the
presence of this gas. But Captain Nicholl hastened to remedy this state
of things, by placing on the floor several receivers containing caustic
potash which he shook about for a time, and this substance, greedy of
carbonic acid, soon completely absorbed it, thus purifying the air.
An inventory of instruments was then begun. The thermometers and
barometers had resisted, all but one minimum thermometer, the glass of
which was broken. An excellent aneroid was drawn from the wadded box
which contained it and hung on the wall. Of course it was only affected
by and marked the pressure of the air inside the projectile, but it also
showed the quantity of moisture which it contained. At that moment its
needle oscillated between 25.24 and 25.08.
It was fine weather.
Barbicane had also brought several compasses, which he found intact.
One must understand that under present conditions their needles were
acting -wildly-, that is without any -constant- direction. Indeed, at
the distance they were from the earth, the magnetic pole could have no
perceptible action upon the apparatus; but the box placed on the lunar
disc might perhaps exhibit some strange phenomena. In any case it would
be interesting to see whether the earth's satellite submitted like
herself to its magnetic influence.
A hypsometer to measure the height of the lunar mountains, a sextant
to take the height of the sun, glasses which would be useful as they
neared the moon, all these instruments were carefully looked over, and
pronounced good in spite of the violent shock.
As to the pickaxes and different tools which were Nicholl's especial
choice; as to the sacks of different kinds of grain and shrubs which
Michel Ardan hoped to transplant into Selenite ground, they were stowed
away in the upper part of the projectile. There was a sort of granary
there, loaded with things which the extravagant Frenchman had heaped up.
What they were no one knew, and the good-tempered fellow did not explain.
Now and then he climbed up by cramp-irons riveted to the walls, but kept
the inspection to himself. He arranged and rearranged, he plunged his
hand rapidly into certain mysterious boxes, singing in one of the falsest
of voices an old French refrain to enliven the situation.
Barbicane observed with some interest that his guns and other arms had
not been damaged. These were important, because, heavily loaded, they
were to help to lessen the fall of the projectile, when drawn by the
lunar attraction (after having passed the point of neutral attraction) on
to the moon's surface; a fall which ought to be six times less rapid than
it would have been on the earth's surface, thanks to the difference of
bulk. The inspection ended with general satisfaction, when each returned
to watch space through the side windows and the lower glass
coverlid.
There was the same view. The whole extent of the celestial sphere swarmed
with stars and constellations of wonderful purity, enough to drive an
astronomer out of his mind! On one side the sun, like the mouth of a
lighted oven, a dazzling disc without a halo, standing out on the dark
background of the sky! On the other, the moon returning its fire by
reflection, and apparently motionless in the midst of the starry world.
Then, a large spot seemingly nailed to the firmament, bordered by a
silvery cord: it was the earth! Here and there nebulous masses like large
flakes of starry snow; and from the zenith to the nadir, an immense ring
formed by an impalpable dust of stars, the "Milky Way," in the midst of
which the sun ranks only as a star of the fourth magnitude. The observers
could not take their eyes from this novel spectacle, of which no
description could give an adequate idea. What reflections it suggested!
What emotions hitherto unknown awoke in their souls! Barbicane wished
to begin the relation of his journey while under its first impressions,
and hour after hour took notes of all facts happening in the beginning
of the enterprise. He wrote quietly, with his large square writing, in
a businesslike style.
Illustration: ARDAN PLUNGED HIS HAND RAPIDLY INTO CERTAIN
MYSTERIOUS BOXES.
During this time Nicholl, the calculator, looked over the minutes of
their passage, and worked out figures with unparalleled dexterity. Michel
Ardan chatted first with Barbicane, who did not answer him, and then
with Nicholl, who did not hear him, with Diana, who understood none of
his theories, and lastly with himself, questioning and answering, going
and coming, busy with a thousand details; at one time bent over the
lower glass, at another roosting in the heights of the projectile, and
always singing. In this microcosm he represented French loquacity and
excitability, and we beg you to believe that they were well represented.
The day, or rather (for the expression is not correct) the lapse of
twelve hours, which forms a day upon earth, closed with a plentiful
supper carefully prepared. No accident of any nature had yet happened
to shake the travellers' confidence; so, full of hope, already sure of
success, they slept peacefully, whilst the projectile under an uniformly
decreasing speed was crossing the sky.
CHAPTER IV.
A LITTLE ALGEBRA.
The night passed without incident. The word "night," however, is scarcely
applicable.
The position of the projectile with regard to the sun did not change.
Astronomically, it was daylight on the lower part, and night on the upper;
so when during this narrative these words are used, they represent the
lapse of time between the rising and setting of the sun upon the earth.
The travellers' sleep was rendered more peaceful by the projectile's
excessive speed, for it seemed absolutely motionless. Not a motion
betrayed its onward course through space. The rate of progress, however
rapid it might be, cannot produce any sensible effect on the human frame
when it takes place in a vacuum, or when the mass of air circulates
with the body which is carried with it. What inhabitant of the earth
perceives its speed, which, however, is at the rate of 68,000 miles per
hour? Motion under such conditions is "felt" no more than repose; and
when a body is in repose it will remain so as long as no strange force
displaces it; if moving, it will not stop unless an obstacle comes in
its way. This indifference to motion or repose is called inertia.
Barbicane and his companions might have believed themselves perfectly
stationary, being shut up in the projectile; indeed, the effect would
have been the same if they had been on the outside of it. Had it not been
for the moon, which was increasing above them, they might have sworn that
they were floating in complete stagnation.
That morning, the 3rd of December, the travellers were awakened by a
joyous but unexpected noise; it was the crowing of a cock which sounded
through the car. Michel Ardan, who was the first on his feet, climbed
to the top of the projectile, and shutting a box, the lid of which
was partly open, said in a low voice, "Will you hold your tongue? That
creature will spoil my design!"
But Nicholl and Barbicane were awake.
"A cock!" said Nicholl.
"Why no, my friends," Michel answered quickly; "it was I who wished to
awake you by this rural sound." So saying, he gave vent to a splendid
cock-a-doodledoo, which would have done honour to the proudest of
poultry-yards.
The two Americans could not help laughing.
"Fine talent that," said Nicholl, looking suspiciously at his companion.
"Yes," said Michel; "a joke in my country. It is very Gallic; they play
the cock so in the best society."
Then turning the conversation,--
"Barbicane, do you know what I have been thinking of all night?"
"No," answered the president.
"Of our Cambridge friends. You have already remarked that I am an
ignoramus in mathematical subjects; and it is impossible for me to
find out how the savants of the Observatory were able to calculate what
initiatory speed the projectile ought to have on leaving the Columbiad
in order to attain the moon."
"You mean to say," replied Barbicane, "to attain that neutral point where
the terrestrial and lunar attractions are equal; for, starting from that
point, situated about nine-tenths of the distance travelled over, the
projectile would simply fall upon the moon, on account of its weight."
"So be it," said Michel; "but, once more; how could they calculate the
initiatory speed?"
"Nothing can be easier," replied Barbicane.
"And you knew how to make that calculation?" asked Michel Ardan.
"Perfectly. Nicholl and I would have made it, if the Observatory had not
saved us the trouble."
"Very well, old Barbicane," replied Michel; "they might have cut off my
head, beginning at my feet, before they could have made me solve that
problem."
"Because you do not know algebra," answered Barbicane quietly.
"Ah, there you are, you eaters of -x-¹; you think you have said all when
you have said 'Algebra.'"
"Michel," said Barbicane, "can you use a forge without a hammer, or
plough without a ploughshare?"
"Hardly."
"Well, algebra is a tool, like the plough or the hammer, and a good tool
to those who know how to use it."
"Seriously?"
"Quite seriously."
"And can you use that tool in my presence?"
"If it will interest you."
"And show me how they calculated the initiatory speed of our car?"
"Yes, my worthy friend; taking into consideration all the elements of
the problem, the distance from the centre of the earth to the centre of
the moon, of the radius of the earth, of its bulk, and of the bulk of
the moon, I can tell exactly what ought to be the initiatory speed of
the projectile, and that by a simple formula."
"Let us see."
"You shall see it; only I shall not give you the real course drawn
by the projectile between the moon and the earth in considering their
motion round the sun. No, I shall consider these two orbs as perfectly
motionless, which will answer all our purpose."
"And why?"
"Because it will be trying to solve the problem called 'the problem of
the three bodies,' for which the integral calculus is not yet far enough
advanced."
"Then," said Michel Ardan, in his sly tone, "mathematics have not said
their last word?"
"Certainly not," replied Barbicane.
"Well, perhaps the Selenites have carried the integral calculus farther
than you have; and, by the bye, what is 'integral calculus?'"
"It is a calculation the converse of the differential," replied Barbicane
seriously.
"Much obliged; it is all very clear, no doubt."
"And now," continued Barbicane, "a slip of paper and a bit of pencil,
and before a half-hour is over I will have found the required formula."
Half an hour had not elapsed before Barbicane, raising his head, showed
Michel Ardan a page covered with algebraical signs, in which the general
formula for the solution was contained.
"Well, and does Nicholl understand what that means?"
"Of course, Michel," replied the captain. "All these signs, which seem
cabalistic to you, form the plainest, the clearest, and the most logical
language to those who know how to read it."
"And you pretend, Nicholl," asked Michel, "that by means of these
hieroglyphics, more incomprehensible than the Egyptian Ibis, you can find
what initiatory speed it was necessary to give to the projectile?"
"Incontestably," replied Nicholl; "and even by this same formula I can
always tell you its speed at any point of its transit."
"On your word?"
"On my word."
"Then you are as cunning as our president."
"No, Michel; the difficult part is what Barbicane has done; that is, to
get an equation which shall satisfy all the conditions of the problem.
The remainder is only a question of arithmetic, requiring merely the
knowledge of the four rules."
"That is something!" replied Michel Ardan, who for his life could not
do addition right, and who defined the rule as a Chinese puzzle, which
allowed one to obtain all sorts of totals.
"The expression -v- zero, which you see in that equation, is the speed
which the projectile will have on leaving the atmosphere."
"Just so," said Nicholl; "it is from that point that we must calculate
the velocity, since we know already that the velocity at departure was
exactly one and a half times more than on leaving the atmosphere."
"I understand no more," said Michel.
"It is a very simple calculation," said Barbicane.
"Not as simple as I am," retorted Michel.
"That means, that when our projectile reached the limits of the terrestrial
atmosphere it had already lost one-third of its initiatory speed."
"As much as that?"
"Yes, my friend; merely by friction against the atmospheric strata. You
understand that the faster it goes the more resistance it meets with from
the air."
"That I admit," answered Michel; "and I understand it, although your x's
and zero's, and algebraic formulæ, are rattling in my head like nails
in a bag."
"First effects of algebra," replied Barbicane; "and now, to finish, we
are going to prove the given number of these different expressions, that
is, work out their value."
"Finish me!" replied Michel.
Barbicane took the paper, and began again to make his calculations with
great rapidity. Nicholl looked over and greedily read the work as it
proceeded.
"That's it! that's it!" at last he cried.
"Is it clear?" asked Barbicane.
Illustration: "DO I UNDERSTAND IT?" CRIED ARDAN;
"MY HEAD IS SPLITTING WITH IT."
"It is written in letters of fire," said Nicholl.
"Wonderful fellows!" muttered Ardan.
"Do you understand it at last?" asked Barbicane.
"Do I understand it?" cried Ardan; "my head is splitting with it."
"And now," said Nicholl, "to find out the speed of the projectile when
it left the atmosphere, we have only to calculate that."
The captain, as a practical man equal to all difficulties, began to write
with frightful rapidity. Divisions and multiplications grew under his
fingers; the figures were like hail on the white page. Barbicane watched
him, whilst Michel Ardan nursed a growing headache with both hands.
"Very well?" asked Barbicane, after some minutes' silence.
"Well!" replied Nicholl; "every calculation made, -v- zero, that is to
say, the speed necessary for the projectile on leaving the atmosphere,
to enable it to reach the equal point of attraction, ought to be--"
"Yes?" said Barbicane.
"Twelve thousand yards."
"What!" exclaimed Barbicane, starting; "you say--"
"Twelve thousand yards."
"The devil!" cried the president, making a gesture of despair.
"What is the matter?" asked Michel Ardan, much surprised.
"What is the matter! why, if at this moment our speed had already
diminished one-third by friction, the initiatory speed ought to have
been--"
"Seventeen thousand yards."
"And the Cambridge Observatory declared that 12,000 yards was enough at
starting; and our projectile, which only started with that speed--"
"Well?" asked Nicholl.
"Well, it will not be enough."
"Good."
"We shall not be able to reach the neutral point."
"The deuce!"
"We shall not even get half way."
"In the name of the projectile!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, jumping as if
it was already on the point of striking the terrestrial globe.
"And we shall fall back upon the earth!"
CHAPTER V.
THE COLD OF SPACE.
This revelation came like a thunderbolt. Who could have expected such an
error in calculation? Barbicane would not believe it. Nicholl revised
his figures: they were exact. As to the formula which had determined
them, they could not suspect its truth; it was evident that an initiatory
velocity of 17,000 yards in the first second was necessary to enable them
to reach the neutral point.
The three friends looked at each other silently. There was no thought
of breakfast. Barbicane, with clenched teeth, knitted brows, and hands
clasped convulsively, was watching through the window. Nicholl had
crossed his arms, and was examining his calculations. Michel Ardan was
muttering,--
"That is just like those scientific men: they never do anything else. I
would give twenty pistoles if we could fall upon the Cambridge Observatory
and crush it, together with the whole lot of dabblers in figures which
it contains."
Suddenly a thought struck the captain, which he at once communicated to
Barbicane.
"Ah!" said he; "it is seven o'clock in the morning; we have already been
gone thirty-two hours; more than half our passage is over, and we are
not falling that I am aware of."
Barbicane did not answer, but after a rapid glance at the captain,
took a pair of compasses wherewith to measure the angular distance
of the terrestrial globe; then from the lower window he took an exact
observation, and noticed that the projectile was apparently stationary.
Then rising and wiping his forehead, on which large drops of perspiration
were standing, he put some figures on paper. Nicholl understood that the
president was deducting from the terrestrial diameter the projectile's
distance from the earth. He watched him anxiously.
"No," exclaimed Barbicane, after some moments, "no, we are not falling!
no, we are already more than 50,000 leagues from the earth. We have
passed the point at which the projectile would have stopped if its speed
had only been 12,000 yards at starting. We are still going up."
"That is evident," replied Nicholl; "and we must conclude that our
initial speed, under the power of the 400,000 lbs. of gun-cotton, must
have exceeded the required 12,000 yards. Now I can understand how, after
thirteen minutes only, we met the second satellite, which gravitates
round the earth at more than 2000 leagues' distance."
"And this explanation is the more probable," added Barbicane, "because,
in throwing off the water enclosed between its partition-breaks, the
projectile found itself lightened of a considerable weight."
"Just so," said Nicholl.
"Ah, my brave Nicholl, we are saved!"
"Very well then," said Michel Ardan quietly; "as we are safe, let us have
breakfast."
Nicholl was not mistaken. The initial speed had been, very fortunately,
much above that estimated by the Cambridge Observatory; but the Cambridge
Observatory had nevertheless made a mistake.
The travellers, recovered from this false alarm, breakfasted merrily. If
they ate a great deal, they talked more. Their confidence was greater
after than before "the incident of the algebra."
"Why should we not succeed?" said Michel Ardan; "why should we not arrive
safely? We are launched; we have no obstacle before us, no stones in our
way; the road is open, more so than that of a ship battling with the sea;
more open than that of a balloon battling with the wind; and if a ship
can reach its destination, a balloon go where it pleases, why cannot our
projectile attain its end and aim?"
"It -will- attain it," said Barbicane.
"If only to do honour to the Americans," added Michel Ardan, "the only
people who could bring such an enterprise to a happy termination, and
the only one which could produce a President Barbicane. Ah, now we are
no longer uneasy, I begin to think, What will become of us? We shall get
right royally weary."
Barbicane and Nicholl made a gesture of denial.
"But I have provided for the contingency, my friends," replied Michel;
"you have only to speak, and I have chess, draughts, cards, and dominoes
at your disposal; nothing is wanting but a billiard-table."
"What!" exclaimed Barbicane; "you brought away such trifles?"
"Certainly," replied Michel, "and not only to distract ourselves, but
also with the laudable intention of endowing the Selenite smoking divans
with them."
"My friend," said Barbicane, "if the moon is inhabited, its inhabitants
must have appeared some thousands of years before those of the earth, for
we cannot doubt that their star is much older than ours. If then these
Selenites have existed their hundreds of thousands of years, and if their
brain is of the same organization as the human brain, they have already
invented all that we have invented, and even what we may invent in future
ages. They have nothing to learn from -us-, and we have everything to
learn from -them-."
"What!" said Michel; "you believe that they have artists like Phidias,
Michael Angelo, or Raphael?"
"Yes."
"Poets like Homer, Virgil, Milton, Lamartine, and Hugo?"
"I am sure of it."
"Philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant?"
"I have no doubt of it."
"Scientific men like Archimedes, Euclid, Pascal, Newton?"
"I could swear it."
"Comic writers like Arnal, and photographers like--like Nadar?"
"Certain."
"Then, friend Barbicane, if they are as strong as we are, and even
stronger--these Selenites--why have they not tried to communicate
with the earth? why have they not launched a lunar projectile to our
terrestrial regions?"
"Who told you that they have never done so?" said Barbicane seriously.
"Indeed," added Nicholl, "it would be easier for them than for us, for
two reasons; first, because the attraction on the moon's surface is six
times less than on that of the earth, which would allow a projectile to
rise more easily; secondly, because it would be enough to send such a
projectile only at 8000 leagues instead of 80,000, which would require
the force of projection to be ten times less strong."
"Then," continued Michel, "I repeat it, why have they not done it?"
"And I repeat," said Barbicane; "who told you that they have not done
it?"
"When?"
"Thousands of years before man appeared on earth."
"And the projectile--where is the projectile? I demand to see the
projectile."
"My friend," replied Barbicane, "the sea covers five-sixths of our globe.
From that we may draw five good reasons for supposing that the lunar
projectile, if ever launched, is now at the bottom of the Atlantic or
the Pacific, unless it sped into some crevasse at that period when the
crust of the earth was not yet hardened."
"Old Barbicane," said Michel, "you have an answer for everything, and I
bow before your wisdom. But there is one hypothesis that would suit me
better than all the others, which is, that the Selenites, being older
than we, are wiser, and have not invented -gunpowder-."
At this moment Diana joined in the conversation by a sonorous barking.
She was asking for her breakfast.
"Ah!" said Michel Ardan, "in our discussion we have forgotten Diana and
Satellite."
Immediately a good-sized pie was given to the dog, which devoured it
hungrily.
"Do you see, Barbicane," said Michel, "we should have made a second
Noah's Ark of this projectile, and borne with us to the moon a couple of
every kind of domestic animal."
"I dare say; but room would have failed us."
"Oh!" said Michel, "we might have squeezed a little."
"The fact is," replied Nicholl, "that cows, bulls, and horses, and all
ruminants, would have been very useful on the lunar continent, but
unfortunately the car could neither have been made a stable nor a shed."
"Well, we might at least have brought a donkey, only a little donkey;
that courageous beast which old Silenus loved to mount. I love those old
donkeys; they are the least favoured animals in creation; they are not
only beaten while alive, but even after they are dead."
"How do you make that out?" asked Barbicane.
"Why," said Michel, "they make their skins into drums."
Barbicane and Nicholl could not help laughing at this ridiculous remark.
But a cry from their merry companion stopped them. The latter was leaning
over the spot where Satellite lay. He rose, saying,--
"My good Satellite is no longer ill."
"Ah!" said Nicholl.
"No," answered Michel, "he is dead! There," added he, in a piteous tone,
"that is embarrassing. I much fear, my poor Diana, that you will leave
no progeny in the lunar regions!"
Indeed the unfortunate Satellite had not survived its wound.
It was quite dead. Michel Ardan looked at his friends with a rueful
countenance.
"One question presents itself," said Barbicane. "We cannot keep the dead
body of this dog with us for the next forty-eight hours."
"No! certainly not," replied Nicholl; "but our scuttles are fixed on
hinges; they can be let down. We will open one, and throw the body out
into space."
The president thought for some moments, and then said,--
"Yes, we must do so, but at the same time taking very great precautions."
"Why?" asked Michel.
"For two reasons which you will understand," answered Barbicane. "The
first relates to the air shut up in the projectile, and of which we must
lose as little as possible."
"But we manufacture the air?"
"Only in part. We make only the oxygen, my worthy Michel; and with
regard to that, we must watch that the apparatus does not furnish the
oxygen in too great a quantity; for an excess would bring us very serious
physiological troubles. But if we make the oxygen, we do not make the
azote, that medium which the lungs do not absorb, and which ought to
remain intact; and that azote will escape rapidly through the open
scuttles."
"Oh! the time for throwing out poor Satellite?" said Michel.
"Agreed; but we must act quickly."
"And the second reason?" asked Michel.
"The second reason is that we must not let the outer cold, which is
excessive, penetrate the projectile or we shall be frozen to death."
"But the sun?"
"The sun warms our projectile, which absorbs its rays; but it does not
warm the vacuum in which we are floating at this moment. Where there is
no air, there is no more heat than diffused light; and the same with
darkness: it is cold where the sun's rays do not strike direct. This
temperature is only the temperature produced by the radiation of the
stars; that is to say, what the terrestrial globe would undergo if the
sun disappeared one day."
"Which is not to be feared," replied Nicholl.
"Who knows?" said Michel Ardan. "But, in admitting that the sun does not
go out, might it not happen that the earth might move away from it?"
"There!" said Barbicane, "there is Michel with his ideas."
"And," continued Michel, "do we not know that in 1861 the earth passed
through the tail of a comet? Or let us suppose a comet whose power of
attraction is greater than that of the sun. The terrestrial orbit will
bend towards the wandering star, and the earth, becoming its satellite,
will be drawn such a distance that the rays of the sun will have no
action on its surface."
"That -might- happen, indeed," replied Barbicane, "but the consequences
of such a displacement need not be so formidable as you suppose."
"And why not?"
"Because the heat and the cold would be equalized on our globe. It has
been calculated that, had our earth been carried along in its course by
the comet of 1861, at its perihelion, that is, its nearest approach to
the sun, it would have undergone a heat 28,000 times greater than that
of summer. But this heat, which is sufficient to evaporate the waters,
would have formed a thick ring of cloud, which would have modified that
excessive temperature; hence the compensation between the cold of the
aphelion and the heat of the perihelion."
"At how many degrees," asked Nicholl, "is the temperature of the planetary
spaces estimated?"
"Formerly," replied Barbicane, "it was greatly exaggerated; but now,
after the calculations of Fourier, of the French Academy of Science, it
is not supposed to exceed 60° Centigrade below zero."
"Pooh!" said Michel, "that's nothing!"
"It is very much," replied Barbicane; "the temperature which was observed
in the polar regions, at Melville Island and Fort Reliance, that is 76°
Fahrenheit below zero."
"If I mistake not," said Nicholl, "M. Pouillet, another savant, estimates
the temperature of space at 250° Fahrenheit below zero. We shall,
however, be able to verify these calculations for ourselves."
"Not at present; because the solar rays, beating directly upon our
thermometer, would give, on the contrary, a very high temperature. But,
when we arrive in the moon, during its fifteen days of night at either
face, we shall have leisure to make the experiment, for our satellite
lies in a vacuum."
"What do you mean by a -vacuum?-" asked Michel. "Is it perfectly such?"
"It is absolutely void of air."
"And is the air replaced by nothing whatever?"
"By the ether only," replied Barbicane.
"And pray what is the ether?"
"The ether, my friend, is an agglomeration of imponderable atoms, which,
relatively to their dimensions, are as far removed from each other as
the celestial bodies are in space. It is these atoms which, by their
vibratory motion, produce both light and heat in the universe."
They now proceeded to the burial of Satellite. They had merely to drop
him into space, in the same way that sailors drop a body into the sea;
but, as President Barbicane suggested, they must act quickly, so as to
lose as little as possible of that air whose elasticity would rapidly
have spread it into space. The bolts of the right scuttle, the opening
of which measured about twelve inches across, were carefully drawn,
whilst Michel, quite grieved, prepared to launch his dog into space.
The glass, raised by a powerful lever, which enabled it to overcome the
pressure of the inside air on the walls of the projectile, turned rapidly
on its hinges, and Satellite was thrown out. Scarcely a particle of air
could have escaped, and the operation was so successful, that later on
Barbicane did not fear to dispose of the rubbish which encumbered the
car.
Illustration: SATELLITE WAS THROWN OUT.
CHAPTER VI.
QUESTION AND ANSWER.
On the 4th of December, when the travellers awoke after fifty-four
hours' journey, the chronometer marked five o'clock of the terrestrial
morning. In time it was just over five hours and forty minutes, half of
that assigned to their sojourn in the projectile; but they had already
accomplished nearly seven-tenths of the way. This peculiarity was due to
their regularly decreasing speed.
Now when they observed the earth through the lower window, it looked
like nothing more than a dark spot, drowned in the solar rays. No more
crescent, no more cloudy light! The next day, at midnight, the earth
would be -new-, at the very moment when the moon would be full. Above,
the orb of night was nearing the line followed by the projectile, so
as to meet it at the given hour. All around the black vault was studded
with brilliant points, which seemed to move slowly; but, at the great
distance they were from them, their relative size did not seem to change.
The sun and stars appeared exactly as they do to us upon earth. As to
the moon, she was considerably larger; but the travellers' glasses, not
very powerful, did not allow them as yet to make any useful observations
upon her surface, or reconnoitre her topographically or
geologically.
Thus the time passed in never-ending conversations all about the
moon. Each one brought forward his own contingent of particular facts;
Barbicane and Nicholl always serious, Michel Ardan always enthusiastic.
The projectile, its situation, its direction, incidents which might
happen, the precautions necessitated by their fall on to the moon, were
inexhaustible matters of conjecture.
As they were breakfasting, a question of Michel's, relating to the
projectile, provoked rather a curious answer from Barbicane, which is
worth repeating. Michel, supposing it to be roughly stopped, while still
under its formidable initial speed, wished to know what the consequences
of the stoppage would have been.
"But," said Barbicane, "I do not see how it could have been stopped."
"But let us suppose so," said Michel.
"It is an impossible supposition," said the practical Barbicane; "unless
the impulsive force had failed; but even then its speed would diminish
by degrees, and it would not have stopped suddenly."
"Admit that it had struck a body in space."
"What body?"
"Why that enormous meteor which we met."
"Then," said Nicholl, "the projectile would have been broken into a
thousand pieces, and we with it."
"More than that," replied Barbicane; "we should have been burnt to
death."
"Burnt?" exclaimed Michel, "by Jove! I am sorry it did not happen, 'just
to see.'"
"And you would have seen," replied Barbicane. "It is known now that heat
is only a modification of motion. When water is warmed--that is to say,
when heat is added to it--its particles are set in motion."
"Well," said Michel, "that is an ingenious theory!"
"And a true one, my worthy friend; for it explains every phenomenon of
caloric. Heat is but the motion of atoms, a simple oscillation of the
particles of a body. When they apply the brake to a train, the train
comes to a stop; but what becomes of the motion which it had previously
possessed? It is transformed into heat, and the brake becomes hot.
Why do they grease the axles of the wheels? To prevent their heating,
because this heat would be generated by the motion which is thus lost by
transformation."
"Yes, I understand," replied Michel, "perfectly. For example, when I
have run a long time, when I am swimming, when I am perspiring in large
drops, why am I obliged to stop? Simply because my motion is changed into
heat."
Barbicane could not help smiling at Michel's reply; then, returning to
his theory, said,--
"Thus, in case of a shock, it would have been with our projectile as
with a ball which falls in a burning state after having struck the metal
plate; it is its motion which is turned into heat. Consequently I affirm
that, if our projectile had struck the meteor, its speed thus suddenly
checked would have raised a heat great enough to turn it into vapour
instantaneously."
"Then," asked Nicholl, "what would happen if the earth's motion were to
stop suddenly?"
"Her temperature would be raised to such a pitch," said Barbicane, "that
she would be at once reduced to vapour."
"Well," said Michel, "that is a way of ending the earth which will
greatly simplify things."
"And if the earth fell upon the sun?" asked Nicholl.
"According to calculation," replied Barbicane, "the fall would develope
a heat equal to that produced by 16,000 globes of coal, each equal in
bulk to our terrestrial globe."
"Good additional heat for the sun," replied Michel Ardan, "of which the
inhabitants of Uranus or Neptune would doubtless not complain; they must
be perished with cold on their planets."
"Thus, my friends," said Barbicane, "all motion suddenly stopped produces
heat. And this theory allows us to infer that the heat of the solar disc
is fed by a hail of meteors falling incessantly on its surface. They have
even calculated--"
"Oh, dear!" murmured Michel, "the figures are coming."
"They have even calculated," continued the imperturbable Barbicane, "that
the shock of each meteor on the sun ought to produce a heat equal to that
of 4000 masses of coal of an equal bulk."
"And what is the solar heat?" asked Michel.
"It is equal to that produced by the combustion of a stratum of coal
surrounding the sun to a depth of forty-seven miles."
"And that heat--"
"Would be able to boil two billions nine hundred millions of cubic
myriameters* of water."
*The myriameter is equal to rather more than 10,936 cubic yards
English.--(Ed.)
"And it does not roast us!" exclaimed Michel.
"No," replied Barbicane, "because the terrestrial atmosphere absorbs
four-tenths of the solar heat; besides, the quantity of heat intercepted
by the earth is but a billionth part of the entire radiation."
"I see that all is for the best," said Michel, "and that this atmosphere
is a useful invention; for it not only allows us to breathe, but it
prevents us from roasting."
"Yes!" said Nicholl, "unfortunately, it will not be the same in the
moon."
"Bah!" said Michel, always hopeful. "If there are inhabitants, they must
breathe. If there are no longer any, they must have left enough oxygen
for three people, if only at the bottom of ravines, where its own weight
will cause it to accumulate, and we will not climb the mountains; that
is all." And Michel, rising, went to look at the lunar disc, which shone
with intolerable brilliancy.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000