X-Edited: Last modified on Sat Dec 9 13:20:32 1989 by stolfi ">" means I used it in some message ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: This should not surprise us. The Yankees, the world's greatest mechanics, are engineers the way Italians are musicians and Germans are metaphysicians---by birth. It was only natural for Americans to take their bold ingenuity with them when they ventured into the realm of ballistics. And so they developed their gigantic cannons, far less useful than their sewing machines, but equally amazing and much more admired. ----------- Now when an American has an idea, he looks for a second American to share it. When they become three, they elect a president and two secretaries. Four, they appoint an archivist, and now they're in business. Five, they call a general meeting, and the club is officially constituted. And so it was in Baltimore. The man who had invented a new cannon associated with the man who first cast it and the man who first bored it. This proved to be the nucleus of the Gun Club. Just one month after it was founded, the Club already numbered 1,833 active members and 30,575 corresponding members. ---------- We must mention too the formidable mortar invented by J. T. Maston, distinguished member and permanent secretary of the Gun Club, which was murderous in quite an unexpected way. At its first public trial, it killed 337 people---by bursting, we must admit. ---------- ``You don't mean to say,'' cried J. T. Maston in a booming voice, ``that we can't devote the rest of our days to perfecting our firearms? That we shall never have another chance to test the range of our projectiles? That the atmosphere will never again be lighted up with the flash of our cannon? That we shall never again be provoked into declaring war? Can't we count on the French to sink one of our steamers, or the English to hang three or four Americans in defiance of the rights of mankind?'' ``No, Maston,'' Colonel Blomsberry prophesied, ``we shall have no such luck!'' ---------- Baltimore, October 3 The President of the Gun Club has the honor to inform his colleagues that at the meeting called for October 5 he will deliver a message of the utmost importance. Consequently he urges them to put aside all other business and to give this meeting the highest priority. Very cordially yours, Impey Barbicane President, the Gun Club ---------- Chapter 2: When the storm has subsided, Barbicane resumed his discourse in a somewhat graver voice: ``You know what progress we have made in ballistics, how we could have greatly improved our weapons if only the war had lasted. You know that, generally speaking, the strength of cannon and the expansive force of gunpowder are unlimited. So, staring from this principle, I wonder whether, with a cannon large and strong enough to contain the explosion required, we could not send a projectile to the moon!'' ---------- ``Let me finish,'' he said calmly. ``I have attacked this problem from every possible angle. I have verified my calculations. I find that any projectile aimed at the moon with an initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second will arrive there out of necessity. And so, my esteemed colleagues, it gives me great honor to propose to you that we go ahead with this litte experiment!'' ---------- Chapter 7: ``...Putting off for another session the question of how to produce this velocity, I shall ask you, my dear colleagues, to consider the proper dimensions of our cannonball. You realize it is no longer a matter of projectiles weighing at most half a ton!'' ``Why not?'' asked the major. ``Because this cannonball,'' J. T. Maston quickly pointed out, ``must be big enough to attract the attention of the inhabitans of the moon---if there are any.'' ``And for another reason even more important,'' Barbicane added. ``What do you have in mind, Barbicane?'' the major asked. > ``I mean it is not enough to launch a projectile and give it no > further thought. We must follow it throughout its course, > until the moment it hits the target.'' > > ``Well!'' exclamed the general and the major, a bit taken aback > by the idea. > > ``Absolutely,'' Barbicane spoke with self-assurance. > ``Absolutely. Otherwise the experiment would be pointless.'' ---------- ``Hollow! So it is going to be a shell?'' ``In which we could send messages and documents,'' J. T. Maston added, ``and samples of terrestrial artifacts.'' ---------- ``Copper?'' said Morgan. ``No, that is still too heavy, and I can suggest something better.'' ``What?'' said the major. ``Aluminum,'' Barbicane replied. ``Aluminum!'' his three colleagues exclaimed in unison. --------- ``But my dear President,'' said the major, ``isn't it expensive to manufacture aluminum?'' ``It was when first discovered,'' replied Barbicane. ``Originally it cost $260 to $280 a pound. Then it fell to about twenty-seven dollars, and now it costs only nine dollars.'' ``But nine dollars a pound,'' persisted the major, who would not surrender so easily, ``that's still an enormous sum!'' ``No doubt, my major, but not beyond our reach.'' ----------- Chapter 8: > ``Now at the velocity of 12,000 yards per second, the projectile > will pass through the atmosphere in five seconds, and that is such a > short time that we can regard the air resistance as negligible.'' ---------- ``This cannon will weigh 68,040 metric tons.'' ``And at two cents a pound, it will cost?'' ``Two million, five hundred and ten thousand, seven hundred and one dollars.'' J. T. Maston, the major, and the general all turned nervously to Barbicane. ``But gentlemen,'' said the President, ``I repeat what I said yesterday. Keep calm. We'll have millions to work with.'' ---------- Chapter 9: > ``My dear major,'' J. T. Maston said, ``your theory seems to > imply that if we just make the projectile big enough, we shan't > need any powder at all.'' --------- This incident ended the third session of the committee. Barbicane and his daring cohorts, to whom nothing seemed impossible, had resolved the very thorny questions of the projectile, the cannon, and the powder. Their plans were complete. It remained only to put them in practice. ``A mere detail,'' J. T. Maston said, ``a bagatelle.'' --------- Chapter 10: More than a year would pass between the start of the work and its completion, but this would not be a period without excitement. The search for the proper site for the gun-emplacement, the construction of the mold, the casting of the Columbiad, the highly perilous loading, every step was sure to arouse public curiosity. Once the projectile was launched, it would be out of sight in a few tenths of a second. After that, only a few privileged scientists would be able to see with their own eyes how it behaved in space, how it reached the moon. All the more reason, then, for the people at large to take passionate interest in the part they could follow closely: the exact details of the preparatory work. But the drama was not destined to be entirely scientific in nature: it was soon heightened by an unexpected development in the realm of human relations. Barbicane's project, as we have seen, had won him legions of admirers and friends. Still, it must be admitted that however honorable, however extraordinary his vast following was, it fell short of unanimous support. One solitary individual, one person alone in all the states of the Union, took issue with the Gun Club's plans; he attacked them violently on every occasion. Human nature is so constituted the Barbicane was affected more by this one man's opposition than by all the other's praise. ------------ As soon as Barbicane invented a new cannonball, Nicholl produced a better armor plate. The president of the Gun Club spent his life penetrating, the captain spent his preventing penetration. This professional rivalry soon became personal. Nicholl appeared in Barbicane's dreams as an unperforable carapace against which he splattered himself, and Barbicane appeared in Nicholl's nightmares as a cannonball that cut right through him. Although they were pursuing divergent courses, these scientists had inevitably to meet each other, all axioms of geometry to the contrary: but that meeting would have to be on the dueling ground. ------------ He began systematically to attack the work of the Gun Club by writing a series of letters which the newspaers did not refuse to print. He tried to demolish the scientific basis of Barbicane's project. Once he had declared war, he felt that the end justified the means, and so, to tell the truth, he argued speciously and in bad faith. ----------- > Then Nicholl, using his own calculations, demonstrated that it > was absolutely impossible to give any object at all the > velocity of 12,000 yards per second. And, algebra in hand, he > maintained that even if such a velocity could be attained, such > a heavy projectile could never be lifted beyond the limits of > the Earth's atmosphere! It would never reach even an altitude > of twenty miles. And furthermore! Even if such a speed could > be attained, even if it would suffice, the shell could not > withstand the pressure of the gases produced by igniting > 1,600,000 pounds of powder. And even if it could resist the > pressure, it could not withstand the temperature, it would melt > as it left the Columbiad, and a red-hot rain would fall on the > heads of the foolish spectators. > > Barbicane did not even wince at these attacks; he simply got on > with his work. Now Nicholl approached the question from different angles. Passing over the uselessness of the project, he considered the extreme danger both for citizens who condoned the wretched experiment by watching it, and for towns unlucky enough to be situated near the deplorable gunsite. > He also pointed out that if the projectile could not reach its > target---and it certainly could not---then obviously it would fall back > onto the earth, and the fall of such a mass, multiplied by the square of > its velocity, would cause great damage to some point in the globe. ------------ He made himself the defender of a cause doomed to failure; he was heard but not listened to, and he did not alienate a single admirer from the president of the Gun Club. Barbicane did not even take the trouble to answer his rival's arguments. ------------ Chapter 11 ``I insist on the free discussion of ideas,'' said the ebullient J. T. Maston, ``and I maintain that the soil from which we launch our glorious projectile must belong to the Union.'' ``Of course! Without a doubt!'' several members said. ``Well then, since our frontiers are not extended far enough, since the sea poses an impassable barrier to the south, since we must find that twenty-eight parallel beyond our borders but in a neighboring country, I see this as a legitimate /casus belli/. I therefore move that we declare war on Mexico!'' ``But no! No!'' came from every quarter of the hall. ``No?'' replied J. T. Maston. ``That's a word I am astonished to hear within these walls.'' ------------ It was the sense of the meeting that the Columbiad would be cast on the soil of either Texas or Florida. But this decision was to create a rivalry without precedent between the towns of those two states. ------------ President Barbicane did not know which way to turn. Notes, messages, letters rained down on his house. Which side should he take? All things considered---suitability of the soil, communications facilities, rapidity of transportation---the two states seemed about evenly matched. As for the politicians and their pressures, they should not count. This dilemma, Barbicane decided, had persisited for too long, and he determined to resolve it. He convenend his colleagues, and the soluton he proposed was profoundly sensible. ``Consider what's going on now between Florida and Texas,'' he said. ``Obviously, the same kind of competition will develop among the cities of whichever state we favor. The rivalry will simply descend from the genus to the species, from state to city, and so on down. Now Texas comprises eleven towns that meet our needs, and they would all fight for the project and create new problems for us. But Florida has only one town that qualifies. So let's go for Florida and Tampa!'' When it was announced, the decision floored the representatives from Texas. In great rage, they sent letters to each Gun Club member challenging him to a duel. The Baltimore authorities saw only one course to take and took it. They chartered a special train, herded the Texans aboard willy-nilly, and sent them out of the city at a speed of thirty miles an hour. Still, from the trains windows the Texans managed to fling one last sarcastic threat at their rivals. Alluding to the narrowness of Florida, a mere peninsula stretched out between two seas, they predicted that it would not survive the firing of the cannon, it would blow up at the very first shot. ``So let it blow up!'' The Floridian's laconism was worthy of ancient times. ----------- Cahpter 12 > Now that the astronomical, mechanical, and geographical problems had > been solved, there loomed the question of money. This project would > cost an enormous sum. No private individual, and no national treasury, > could afford to finance this experiment. And so, although it was an American experiment, President barbicane decided to make it a global enterprise, and to ask for the financial cooperation of all peoples. It was both the right and the duty of the whole Earth to intervene in the affairs of her satellite. ---------- The subscription was to succeed beyond all reasonable expectation, even though it was a question of giving, not lending. It was a purely disinterested operation in the most literal sense of the word, since it offered not the slightest chance of profit. ---------- > On the whole, though, the reaction was excellent in the scientific > world, and from there it passed on to the general public who took a > passionate interest in the question. > That was important, since the > masses were expected to subscribe huge sums. ---------- Russia contributed the enormous sum of 368,733 rubles, about $273,000. This will surprise no one aware of the Russians' strong interest in science, especially their progress in astronomical research, thanks to their numerous observatories, the greatest of which cost two million rubles. ---------- > Two hundred and fifty-seven francs, about $50, was Switzerland's modest > donation to the American project. We must say it outright, Switzerland > could not see any practical value in the experiment. She could not > imagine that sending a projectile to the moon would stir up any > business there. It did not seem wise to sink any capital in so risky a > ventur. And after all, maybe she was right. ---------- ... Barbicane's men found themselves in posession of a considerable capital sum, as follows: Subscriptions from the United States $4,000,000 Subscriptions from foreign countries $1,446,675 ------------ Total $5,446,675 Let no one be surprised at the size of the sums that flowed into the coffers of the Gun Club. > The members estimated that casting and boring > the cannon; the masonry; relocating the workers, housing them in a > still uninhabited area; building furnaces, workshops, and plant; buying > the powder and the shell; and paying all the operating, maintenance, > and capital expenses would easily absorb most of the five and a half > million dollars subscribed. > Certain cannonades in the Civil War had > cost one thousand dollars a shot. President Barbicane's shot, unique > in the annals of gunnery, might cost five thousand times as much. ---------- On October 20, the Club signed a contract with the foundry at Cold Spring, new York, which had furnished Parrott with his largest cast iron cannon. The contracting parties agreed that Cold Spring would send to Tampa, in southern Florida, all materials required for casting the Columbiad. This operation was to be completed, at the latest, by October 15 of the following year. The cannon was to be turned over to the Club in good working condition under penalty of an indemnity of one hundred dollars a day until the time the moon would once again present herself in the same conditions, that is to say, eighteen years and eleven days later! Cold Spring also agreed to recruit and manage the work force. --------- ``We'll do it, gentlemen,'' the engineer replied. ``Believe me, Cold Spring won't owe you a nickel's indemnity for lateness.'' ``By Saint Barbara, you better be right!'' eclaimed J. T. Maston. ``One hundred dollars a day until the moon returns to the same conditions---which won't be for eighteen years and eleven days---do you realize that would add up to $658,000?'' ``No sir, we do not realize it,'' the engineer answered, ``and we'll never have to.'' --------- Chapter 13 ``This place is situated 1,800 feet above sea level in 27o 7' north latitude, 5o 7' west longitude [from Washington]. Its dry and rocky character makes it a good site for our experiment. So, right on this plain is where we'll biuld our magazines, workshops, furnaces, houses for the work crew, and from this very spot''---he stamped his foot on the summit of Stony Hill---``we'll launch our projectile into the lunar world!'' --------- Chapter 14 But now that America, the land of liberty, counted only free men within her borders, they were willing to go anyplace where there were good-paying jobs. Since the Gun Club was not short of money, they offered their men high pay and very attractive bonuses. Any man who worked on the project until its completion could count on having a large sum deposited in his name on the Bank of Baltimore. Therefore Murchison had many applicants to choose from and was able to set high standards of intelligence and skill. Hence it is easy to see that his work force comprised the finest mechanics, stokers, foundrymen, lime-burners, miners, brickmakers, laborers, and artisans of all kinds, white and black, chosen without regard to race or color. --------- Several workmen, it is true, had paid with their lives for the rashness inherent in such dangerous projects. But these fatal accidents are impossible to prevent, and Americans worry very little about such details. They show more concern for humanity in general than for individuals in particular. Barbicane, however, profesed conrary principles, and tried to carry them out at every opportunity. Because of his concern, his intelligence, his efective intervention in threatening situations, his prodigous an humane sagacity, the accident rate did not exceed that of countries overseas noted for their extreme precautions, France among others, where they reckon one casualty for every 200,000 francs of work. --------- Chapter 15 All the furnaces were built on the same plan, with a tall rectangular chimney, and they created a singular spectacle. J. T. Maston saw it as a superb architectural arrangement. It reminded him of the monuments in Washington. For him there was nothing more beautiful, not even in Greece, where, he admited, ``I've never been anyhow.'' --------- It would have cost too much to send 136,000,000 pounds of iron by rail. The price of transportation would have doubled the price of the material. --------- Twelve hundred tapholes were opened simultaneously, one thousand two hundred fiery serpents unfolded their incandescent coils and crept towards the central pit. There with a terrific noise they dropped nine hundred feet. It was a moving, magnificent spectacle. --------- It was man alone who had created these reddish vapors, these gigantic flames worthy of a volcano, these loud tremors like the shock of an earthquake, these reverberations rivaling the sound of hurricanes. It was his hand that had flung---into an abyss he had created---a whole Niagara of molten metal. --------- Chapter 16 Hordes of sight-seers and curiosity-seekers, hailing from all parts of the country, converged on Florida. --------- Everyone knows that Yankees are born businessmen; wherever fate may lead them, to the frozen north or the torrid south, their talent for business must assert itself in some useful way. --------- It was obvious that on the actual day of the experiment, the spectators would number in the millions, for they were already descending on this narrow peninsula from all over the world. Europe was emigrating to America. But so far, it must be admitted, the curiosity of these numerous newcomers had been poorly satisfied. --------- There was much grumbling, discontent, dark murmuring: they accused the president of dictatorial conduct, they called his behavior ``un-American.'' A riot almost erupted outside the stockade around Stony Hill. But Barbicane stood by his decision. --------- > Of course it was something just to contemplate this immense > Columbiad, but to descend into its depths, that seemed to > Americans the _ne plus ultra_ of happiness on Earth. > There was not one curiosity-seeker who did not want to give > himself the pleasure of visiting the interior of that iron > abyss. > A small carriage, let down by a steam-winch, made it easy for > them to satisfy their curiosity. They went wild. Women, children, > elderly people, everybody assumed the duty of penetrating the mysteries > of the colossal cannon. > The fare for the descent was five dollars per > person, and despite of this high price, during the two months preceding > the launching, the influx of visitors enabled the Gun Club to pocket > nearly five hundred thousand dollars. Chapter 17 The great engineering work undertaken by the Gun Club was, pratically speaking, finished, and yet it would be two months before they could launch their projectile towards the moon. To the impatient public, these two months would seem like two years. Until now the minutest details of the project had been reported in the daily press, which the public devoured passionately with eager eyes. But now it seemed that this ``dividend of interest'' distributed to the public would be greatly reduced. Everyone was afraid he would no longer collect his daily share of excitement. Everyone was wrong. For the most unexpected, extraordinary, incredible and improbable development was yet to come, one that would carry public excitement to new heights and throw the entire world into a state of keen anticipation --------- FRANCE, PARIS September 30, 4 a.m. To Barbicane, Tampa, Florida, U.S.A. Replace the spherical shell by a cylindro-conical projectile. I shall be inside when she leaves. Arriving on steamer _Atlanta_. Michel Ardan Chapter 18 ``Impossible!'' ``That's unrealistic!'' ``Pure facetiousness!'' ``He's mocking us!'' ``Ridiculous!'' ``Preposterous!'' Thus they ran through the whole vocabulary of doubt, incredulity, scorn, and derision, accompanying the words with the usual gestures, each man grinning, laughing, or shrugging his shoulders, according to his disposition. --------- [Verne is stressing his point that these artillerists can see the moonshot only in very limited terms: to them it's mainly a chance to engage in target practice on a cosmic scale. This heightens the contrast with Ardan's broader conception of the project.] --W.J.Miller, _The Annotated Jules Verne: From the Earth to the Moon_ (1978) --------- ``What a great idea!'' he exclaimed. ``Yes,'' the major agreed, ``it's all right sometimes to have ideas like that, so long as you don't try to carry them out.'' ``And why not?'' the secretary of the Gun Club replied warmly, all set for an argument. But no one pursued the matter. --------- When Barbicane first proposed sending a projectile to the moon, everyone had greeted it as a natural and practicable undertaking, a simple question of ballistics. But for a sane man to offer to go aboard the projectile as a passenger, to offer to make such an improbable voyage, that was a fantastic proposal, a joke, a farce, and, to use a word for which the French have an exact equivalent in their everyday speech, a ``humbug.'' The joking persisted without interruption until evening. The entire union was seized with a laughing fit. This was strange in a country where any impossible enterprise can always drum up its strong advocates, supporters, and partisans. Nevertheless, Michel Ardan's proposal, like all new ideas, did trouble a few minds. It upset their usual patterns of thought. ``How is it that no one ever thought of it before!'' The incident soon became an obssesion precisely because it was so strange. People couldn't get it ou of their heads. How many things are denied one day only to become realities the next! Why shouldn't somebody go to the moon someday? But, in any case, the man willing to risk his life that way would have to be crazy, and obviously, since the project could not be taken seriously, he should have kept quiet, instead of upsetting a whole population with this idle stuff. --------- He had made no statement about the telegram. When J. T. Maston had expressed his opinion, Barbicane neither agreed nor disagreed. He remained silent, waiting to see what would happen. But he had not considered the impatience of the public, and he looked with small satisfaction on the population of Tampa crowding beneath his windows. Their mutterings, their clamor soon forced him to make an appearance. It was obvious he had all the duties, hence all the vexations of a celebrity. --------- > ``Gentlemen,'' Barbicane replied, ``I know as much about it as you do.'' > > ``But we've got to know,'' others cried impatiently. ``Time will tell,'' the president said dispassionately. ``Time has no right to keep a whole nation in suspense,'' the spokesman replied. ``Are you redesigning the projectile, as the telegram requested?'' --------- Among his other idiosyncracies, he proclaimed himself ``a sublime ignoramus,'' like Shakespeare, and professed contempt for scholars and scientists: ``people,'' he said, ``who can only keep score while we play the game.'' --------- ``Now,'' said Barbicane, getting right to the point, ``are you still determined to go?'' ``Absolutely determined.'' ``Nothing will stop you?'' ``Nothing. Have you redesigned your projectile as I suggested in my telegram?'' ``I was waiting for your arrival. But,'' he insisted, ``have you thought this thing through?'' ``Thought it through! Do I have time to kill? I have a chance to take a trip to the moon, and I'm taking it, and that is all there is to it. What's there to think through?'' Barbicane stared at this man who spoke of this voyage so lightly, with such complete nonchalance, such perfect freedom from anxiety. ``But at least,'' he said, ``you have a plan, some idea of how to proceed---'' --------- Chapter 19 Of this crowd of spectators, a third perhaps could see and hear; another third could see poorly and hear nothing; and the rest could neither see nor hear, but they were the loudest in their applause. --------- ``[...] First of all, do not forget you are dealing with an ignoramus, but his ignorance has an advantage: he does not even know enough to fear the difficulties. And so it seemed to him to be a simple, natural, easy thing to book passage in a projectile and go to the moon. Thi svoyage must be made sooner or later, and as for the means fo locomotion, that simply follows the law of progress. [...]'' --------- > ``My dear listeners,'' he went on, ``if we are to believe certain > narrow-minded people --- and what else can we call them? --- humanity > is confined within a circle of Popilius from which there is no escape, > condemned to vegetate in this globe, never able to venture into > interplanetary space! That is not so! > We are going to the moon, we > shall go to the planets, we shall travel to the stars just as today > we go from Liverpool to New York, easily, rapidly, surely, and the > oceans of space will be crosed like the seas of the moon! Distance is only a relative term, and ultimately it will be reduced to zero!'' The audience, although generally in favor of the French hero's ideas, were obviously quite taken aback by this bold theory, and Ardan seemed to sense that. --------- ``[...] Would you like to hear my theory? It's very simple. To me, the solar system is a solid, homogeneous body; the planets that compose it are touching, pressing against, adhering to each other, and the space between them is no more than the space that separates the molecules of the most compact metal, silver or iron, gold or platinum! I have then the right to insist, and I repeat it with a conviction that I hope you will share: `Distance is an empty word, distance does not exist!' '' ``Well said! Bravo! Hurrah!'' cried the audience as one man. They were electrified by his gestures, his oratory, and the audacity of his thinking. --------- ``My friends, I think that settles that question. If I have not convinced everybody, it's because I'm timid in my illustrations, feeble in my arguments, and you will have to put the blame on my inexperience with theoretical studies. Be as it may, I say it again, the distance from the Earth to the moon is really insignificant, unworthy of serious consideration. I do not believe I go too far when I say that in the future we shall have trains of projectiles in which people will be able to travel comfortably from the Earth to the moon. There will be no accidents, no jolts, no derailments. Passengers will reach their destination swiftly, with no fatigue, on a straight course, `in a bee line,' to use the language of your trappers. Within twenty years, half of the Earth's population will have visited the moon!'' --------- Up to this point the president of the Gun Club had good reason to be satisfied with the nature of the discussion. It was concerned with speculation, in which Michel Ardan, with his vivid imagination, was so brilliant. But now Barbicane felt he must prevent the discussion from turning towards technical questions, with which Ardan might not do so well. And so Barbicane hastened to ask his new friend whether he thought the moon or the other planets were inhabited. ``That is a big question you pose for me, my dear president,'' the orator replied with a smile. [...] I would say, friend Barbicane, that if the worlds are inhabitable, either they are inhabited, or they have been, or they are going to be.'' ``Right!'' cried the first row of spectators, whose opinion had the force of law for those in the back. ``A logical and fair answer,'' said the president of the Gun Club. ``No one could od better. The question comes down to that: Are the worlds inhabitable? For my part, I believe they are.'' ``And for mine, I am sure they are,'' said Michel Ardan. ``However,'' a member of the audience joined in, ``arguments have been raised against the inhabitability of the worlds. It's obvious that on most of them, the principles of life as we know it would have to be modified. To mention only the planets, we would be burned alive on some of them and frozen to death on th eothers, depending on their distance from the sun.'' ``I regret that I don't know my honorable adversary personally,'' Michel Ardan replied, ``because I would try to answer him. His objection is valid, but I believe that this and all other arguments against the inhabitability of the worlds can be met successfully. If I were a physicist, I would tell him that if less heat were generated on planets near the sun, and more on planets far from the sun, that simple phenomenon would suffice to equalize the temperature on those worlds and make them more supportive of creatures like us. If I were a naturalist, I would tell him, as would many illustriuos scientists, that nature gives us right here on Earth many examples of animals that live under greatly varied conditions of inhabitability; that fish breathe in a milieu that is fatal for other animals; that amphibians lead a double life that is difficult to explain; that certain creatures live at great depths in the sea, where they withstand pressures of fifty or sixty atmospheres without being crushed; that certain aquatic insects, indifferent to temperature, can be found in springs of boiling water or on the ice fields of the polar seas; and finally, that he must recognize in nature a great diversity of means of action often incomprehensible but none he less real and verging on omnipotence. If I were a chemist, I would tell him that analysis of meteorites, bodies obviously formed outside our planet, reveals that they contain traces of carbon; that that substance owes its origin solely to living organisms, and that according to Reichenbach's experiments, it must of necessity have been `animalized.' Finally, if I were a theologian, I would say to him that divine redemption seems, according to Saint Paul, to apply not only to the Earth but to all celestial bodies. However, I am not a theologian, not a chemist, not a naturalist, not a physiscist. Hence, in my perfect ignorance of the great laws that regulate the universe, I'll say only this: I do not know whether other worlds are inhabited, and since I do not know, I'll go there and see!'' --------- `... The Earth has but one satellite, while Jupier, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune have several in their service, an advantage not to be despised. ...' --------- ``... Moreover, it is evident to me at least that living under such auspices, under such marvelous conditions, the inhabitants of that lucky world are superior beings, that their scientists are more scientific, their artists more artistic, their villains less villainous, their saints more saintly. > Alas! What does our globe need to achieve this > Jovian perfection? Not much! Only an axis of rotation less inclined > to the plane of our orbit!'' ``Well then!'' cried an impetuous voice. ``Let us unite our efforts, let us invent the machines, and let us correct the Earth's axis!'' --------- Chapter 20 That incident, apparently, had closed the discussion. It provided the ``last word'' on the subject, it could not be improved upon. Yet, as soon as the excitement had died down, a strong and severe voice called out: ``Now that the speaker has indulged his imagination, would he please return to his subject, play less with theories, and face the practical problems posed by this expedition?'' --------- Getting no reply, he repeated his question with the same sharp and precise enunciation, adding: ``We are here to discuss the moon, not the Earth.'' ``You are right, sir,'' Michel Ardan answered, ``We have digressed. Let us get back to the moon.'' ``Sir,'' the stranger went on, ``you claim our satellite is inhabited. Perhaps. But if there really are any Selenites, they must exist without breathing, because --- and I warn you for your own good --- there is not a molecule of air on the surface of the moon.'' Ardan ran his hand through his tawny mane; he realized this man was going to force him to grapple with basic realities. Trying to outstare the stranger, he said: > ``No air on the moon! Would you please cite your authority for that > remark?'' > > ``Science.'' > > ``Really?'' > > ``Really.'' ``Sir,'' Ardan replied, ``all jokes aside, I have great respect for scientists who know but deep disdain for those who don't.'' ``Do you know of any who deserve to be placed on your second category?'' ``Oh yes. In France we have one who can prove `mathematically' that birds can't fly, and another whose theories demonstrate that the fish was never made to live in water.'' ``They have no bearing on our question. But to support my argument I could cite names you would have to respect.'' > ``Sir, you would be embarassing a poor ignoramus who, indeed, seeks > only a chance to learn!'' > > ``Then why tackle scientific problems if you are not prepared for > them?'' the stranger asked bluntly. ``Why?'' replied Ardan. ``For the simple reason that a man can always be brave if he's unaware of the danger. I know nothing, it's true, but it is precisely that weakness that is the source of my strength.'' ``Your weakness verges on folly!'' the stranger shouted in irritaton. ``All the better,'' the frenchman riposted, ``if my folly takes me to the moon!'' --------- The audience seemed concerned, disquieted, for this debate was calling attention to the dangers, maybe even to the impossibilities of the expedition. --------- `` ... But I prefer to gainsay you with undeniable facts.'' ``Gainsay, my dear sir,'' Ardan said with perfect gallantry, ``gainsay all you want.'' --------- > All eyes turned to the Frenchman. If he granted the truth of this > observation, the consequences could be drastic. ``Actually,'' he said, ``that is your best if not your only real argument, and a scientific man might be at aloss how to answer it. ...'' --------- ``Let's leave that kind of argument and pass on to things taht have actually been observed. But I warn you, I shall name names.'' ``Name them.'' --------- ``You see, my dear sir, we cant afford to rule out the possibility of a lunar atmosphere. It's probably not very dense, it's probably very thin, but science today generally admits it's there.'' ``Not in the mountains, if you please,'' the stranger riposted, unwilling to give in entirely. ``No, but it's in the bottom of the valleys, at least to a height of a few hundred feet.'' ``In any case, you would have to take extreme percautions, because that air would be rarefied.'' ``Oh my dear sir, there will always be enough for one man; and once I'm up there, I'll live very economically: I'll breathe only on special occasions!'' --------- ``Now that we agree that there's at least some air on the moon,'' Ardan said lightly, ``we are forced to acknowledge too the presence of a certain amount of water. And that's also good for me. Moreover, my admiable adversary, let me make one furtehr observation. We know but one side of the moon, and if there is very little air on the side we see, it's still possible there's plenty on the opposite side.'' ---------- ``Pure fantasy!'' cried the stranger. ``Pure theory, you mean, based on the laws of mechnics, and I think it would be difficult to disprove. I appeal to this asembly, and I call for a voice vote on this question: Is life, as it exists on Earth, possible on the surface of the moon?'' Three hundred thousand people voted by applauding loud and long. Ardan's adversary wanted to speak again, but he couldn't make himself heard. Curses and threats fell on him like hail. ``We've had enough!'' some were saying. ``Chase him out!'' other shouted. ``Out with the intruder!'' cried the furous crowd. --------- ``But you unhappy man, the dreadful impact of the explosion will crush you at the very start!'' ``My dear adversary, you have put your finger on the only real problem; but I have too great opinion of American industrial genius to believe it won't be solved.'' ``But the heat the projectile will generate as it speeds through the air?'' ``Oh, its walls will be thick, and I will be out of the atmosphere in no time at all!'' ``But food? And water?'' ``I figure I can take along a year's supply, and the trip will last only four days!'' ``But air to breathe on the way?'' ``I'll make it chemically.'' ``But your fall on the moon, if you ever get there?'' ``It will be six times slower than a fall on the Earth, since the force of gravity is only one-sixth as great on the face of the moon.'' ``But that will still be great enough to shatter you like glass!'' ``And why can't I slow down my descent by firing rockets?'' > ``But--- suppose all these problems can be solved solved, all these > obstacles overcome, suppose everything does work out in your favor, > suppose you do arrive safe and sound on the moon --- then how can > you get back?'' > > ``I won't come back.'' --------- Chapter 21. ``Friend Barbicane believes his projectile wil go straight to the moon.'' ``Yes, of course, '' said the preseident. ``And friend Nicholl beleives it will fall back to Earth.'' ``I am absolutely certain it will,'' cried the captain. ``Now I can't make you agree with each other, but I can suggest this: Come with me, and see for yourselves how far we get.'' --------- Among the deputations of all types that assailed him were the ``lunatics,'' who especially acknowledged their debt to the future conquereor of the moon. One day, several of these poor people, quite numerous in America, visited him to ask whether they could return with him to their ``native land.'' Some of them claimed to be able to talk ``Selenese'' and volunteered to teach it to Michel Ardan. He played along with their harmeless self-delusions, agreeing for example to take messages to their friends on the moon. > ``Strange, this lunacy,'' he said to Barbicane after the delegation > left, ``and it's at type of madness that often hits the best minds. > One of our most famous scientists, Arago, told me that many perfectly > sane and respectable people will experience great excitement and behave > incredibly whenever the moon posesses them. Now would you believe that the moon could affect people's health?'' ``Hardly'', said the president of the Gun Club. --------- Chapter 22. ``At least,'' he said, ``this canon isn't meant to hurt anybody, and that's quite astonishing for a cannon. But as for your guns that destroy, burn, smash, and kill, let's not talk about those, don't tell me they have `a soul,' because I just won't believe it.'' --------- ``Yes, my good friend. Suppose we met inhabitants up there on the moon. Would you want to give them a depressing picture of what happens down here, telling them what war is, that we spend our time devouring each other, breaking each other's arms and legs, and all that on a globe that could nourish one hundred billion inhabitants, and right now has one billion two hundred million? Come, come now, my good friend, you would make them throw us out!'' --------- Chapter 23. ``No one could deny that it was a beautiful piece of metal, a metallurgical product that was a great credit to the industrial genius of the Americans. It was the first time aluminum had been obtained in such a considerable quantity, and that alone was a prodigious feat. The precious projectile scintillated in the sunlight. ... --------- The projectile measured nine feet in outside diameter and twelve feet in height: in order not to exceed the assigned weight, they had slightly reduced the thickness of the walls. ... They would enter this metal tower through an opening in the wall of the cone; it resembled the manhole in a steam boiler. They could close it hermetically with an aluminum plate bolted from the inside. Thus they would be able to leave their mobile prison at will when they reached the moon. --------- But it was not enough simply to get there, they had also to see en route. Nothing coul dbe easier. Under the padding were four portholes fitted with biconvex panes, two in the circular wall, a third at the bottom, and a fourth in the conical cap. On their trip then, the passengers would be able to observe the Earth they were leaving behind, th emoon they were approaching, and the stars in the sky. For protection against th einitial impact, these portholes were covered with tight-fitting plates that could be unscrewed from the inside and swung outward. In this way, they could look out in any direction without permitting air to escape. These mechanisms were neatly installed and easy to use; and the engineers had been equally ingenious in laying out the interior of the vehicle-projectile. There were built-in containers for their food and water, and a special reservoir for compressed gas provided them with a six-day supply for heat and light. They had only to open the tap. They lacked nothing essential for life or even for well-being. Moreover, thanks to Michel Ardan's good taste, the useful was supplemented by th ebeautiful in the form of _objets d'art_; if space had permitted, he would have turned the projectile into an artists's studio. Still it would be wrong to suppose that three people would be crowded in that metal tower. They had an area of fifty-four square feet, a height of about ten feet, which allowed them a certain freedom of movement. They could not have been better off in the most comfortable railway car in the United States. Once the question of food and light was settled, there remained the question of air. It was obvious that the air enclosed in the projectile would not be enough to keep three men breathing for four days. Actually every person consumes in one hour just about all the oxygen contained in one hundred liters of air. Barbicane, his two companions, and the two dogs they planned to take along would consume about two thousand four hundred liters of oxygen, or seven pounds, every twenty-four hours. Clearly they would have to be able to renew the air inside the projectile. But how? By a very simple process, developed by Reiset and Regnault, which Michel Ardan had mentioned at the mass meeting. -------- The question then could be reduced to this: with the nitrogen kept intact, first, to replace the oxygen consumed; second, to destroy the carbon dioxide exhaled. This could be done easily with potassium chlorate and caustic potash. -------- But, it must be acnowledged, the experiment had so far been performed only on animals. Scientific and precise as the experiment had been, it still had not been tried on human beings. -------- Chapter 24 Barbicane had specified that this apparatus --- whether it would be a reflecting telescope or a refracting telescope had yet to be determined --- must be powerful enough to detect an object nine feet wide on the moon's surface. -------- Therefore ... they decided to use a reflector, which can be made more rapidly and has greater magnifying power. --------- Fortunately, just a few years earler a scientist at th eInstitut de France, L'eon Foucault, had made it easier and faster to polish the objective by replacing the metal mirror with one made of silvered glass. All they had to do was to cast a mass of molten glass of the desired dimensions an plate it with silver. --------- [The telescope] had cost more than $400,000. The first time the observers trained it on the moon, they experienced both curiosity and anxiety. What would they discover in the field of that telescope that magnified objects 48,000 times? Populations, herds of animals, villages, lakes, oceans? No, nothing not already known to science, although in all areas of the moon they were able absolutely to verify its volcanic nature. -------- Chapter 25 They had one more task to complete to bring the project to its climax, an operation delicate and perilous, requiring infinite precaution. ... This was the task of loading the cannon, of putting 400,000 pounds of guncotton into it. Nicholl thought, perhaps not without good reason, that in handling such a large quantity of pyroxylin they would trigger off a catastrophe, and that in any case, this exceedingly explosive mass would ignite itself under the pressure of the projectile. > The hazards involved were greatly increased by the notorious nonchalance > of American cannoneers; during the civil war, they had actually loaded > their guns with cigars in their mouths. But Barbicane, determined to succeed, did not intend to sink within sight of port; he selected his best workmen, he supervised them in person, never once taking his eyes off them, and through prudence and precaution, he enlisted luck on his side. First of all, he took the precaution of not storing al he powder in the Stony Hill enclosure at the same time. He had it brought in bit by bit, always in tightly sealed ammunition-wagons. They put the 400,000 pounds of guncotton into 800 bags, holding 500 pounds each, made by the best artificers in Pensacola. They loaded ten bags to the wagon and shipped the wagons, one at a time, by rail from Tampa; thus they were sure never to have more than 5,000 pounds of pyroxylin in the enclosure at the same time. As soon as each wagon arrived, it was unloaded by men working in bare feet; they carried each bag to the orifice of the Columbiad and lowered it with cranes operated by hand. All steam engines had been moved far away, and indeed no flames at all were permitted within a two-mile radius. Even in November, they took pains to protect that mass of guncotton from the heat of th esun. They preferred to work at night by light produced in a vacuum, that is, by the R\"uhmkorff apparatus, which created artificial day in the very depths of the Columbiad.There they stacked the bags in perfect order, connecting them with wires that would bring an electric spark to them at the same time. -------- All 800 bags had been stacked at the bottom of the Clumbiad by November 28. This part of the operation was a complete success. But poor president Barbicane, what confusion, what anxieties, what pressures he had suffered! In vain he had closed the gates to Stony Hill; every day curiosity-seekers scaled the fences, and some of these, pushing imprudence to the point of folly, smoked cigars while standing near thebales of guncotton. Barbicane was in a perpetual state of fury. J. T. Maston helped out as best as he could, chasing trespassers with great vigor and picking up th elighted cigar butts th eYankees had tossed here and there. A hard job, for there were 300,000 people milling around the enclosure. Michel Ardan had offered to escort the powder-wagons to the Columbiad; but Barbicane once caught Ardan with an enormous cigar in his mouth, even as he was chasing away visitors to whom he himself offered such a bad example; the president of the Gun Club, seeing he could not count on this bold smoker, put him under special surveillance. But since there is a God for artillerymen, nothing blew up, and the loading was completed. --------- > But before they did that, they had to load the vehicle-projectile with > all the things they needed fr the trip. And these were numerous. > If Ardan had his way entirely, there would have been no space left for > passengers. What that amiable Frenchman wanted to take to the moon! A veritable collection of useless items! But Barbicane intervened, weeding out everything not absolutely necessary. In their instrument compartment they stored several thermomemeters, barometers, and telescopes. -------- > In their gun-rack they placed three rifles and three hunting-pieces > that could fire explosive bullets, along with a good supply of powder > and ammunition. > > ``Who knows whom or what we will have to deal with,'' said Michel > Ardan. ``Men or beasts may take a dim view of our visit. And so we > must take every precaution.'' In addition to these weapons they stowed away some picks, shovels, hand saws, and other necessary tools, not to mention clothing for every climate, from the cold of polar regions to the heat of the torrid zone. Michel Ardan had hoped to tak eon their edxpedition a certain number of animals, although not necessarily a pair of every known species, for he did not see the need to populate the moon with serpents, tigers, alligators, and other harmful creatures. ``But some beasts of burden, an ox or a cow, a mule or a horse, they would add a nice touch to the landscape, and they would prove useful to us.'' ``Yes, my dear Ardan,'' replied the president of the Gun Club, ``but our vehicle-projectile is not Noah's Ark, it has neitehr the same capacity nor the same purpose. Let's stay within the confines of the possible.'' At last, after a lengthy discussion, they greed to limit themselves to an excellent hunting dog belonging to capitain Nicholl and a vigorous, prodigiously powerful Newfoundland. > They also considered certain seeds > to be essential, and they took several boxes. --------- There was still the important question of food, for suppose they landed in a barren region of the moon? Barbicane actually managed to take a full year's supply. If this sounds impossible, we must explain that these victuals consisted of preserved meats and vegetables which had been greatly reduced in volume under hydraulic pressure. Hence they would enjoy much nourishment if not much variety, but they could not afford to be fussy on such an expedition. They also found room for fifty gallons of brandy, but took enough water for only two months, because they expected, in accordance with the latest observations by astronomers, to find a certain amount of water on the surface of the moon. As for provision generally, it would have been insane to think that men from the Earth would not know how to find nourishment on the moon. Michel Ardan never entertained the slightest doubt about this If he had, he would have decided not to go. =========================================================================== ROUND THE MOON Chapter 5. > 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 for 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. Chapter 6. > 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 bullet which falls burning hot after having struck a 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.''