From the Earth to the Moon

re attended the invitation of their president. As regards the corresponding members, notices were delivered by hundreds throughout the streets of the city, and, large as was

eager to learn the nature of the important communication of President Barbicane; all pushing, squeezing, crushing

at was reserved exclusively for resident or corresponding members; no one else could possibly have obtained a place; and the city magnates, mu

firearms, ancient and modern, were picturesquely interlaced against the walls. The gas lit up in full glare myriads of revolvers grouped in the form of lustres, while groups of pistols, and candelabra formed of muskets bound together, completed this magnificent display of brilliance. Models of cannon, bronze castings, sights covered with

s, and suspended upon truncheons, so that the president could balance himself upon it as upon a rocking-chair, a very agreeable fact in the very hot weather. Upon the table (a huge iron plate supported upon six carronades) stood an inkstand of exquisite elega

set apart for the use of the members of the club; and on this especial evening one might say, “All the world was on the ramparts.” The presiden

aracter; by no means chivalrous, yet adventurous withal, and always bringing practical ideas to bear upon the very rashest enterprises; an essentially New Englander, a Northern colonist, a d

during the war, he proved himself fertile in invention. Bold in his conceptions, he contributed

y marked features seemed drawn by square and rule; and if it be true that, in order to judge a man’s character one must

in reflection, sheltered under his high-crowned hat — a kind of black

he had been set in motion by a spring, raised himself up. A profound silence ens

short on the road of progress. I do not hesitate to state, baldly, that any war which would recall us to arms would be welcome!” (Tremendous applause!) “But war, gentlemen, is impossible under existing circumstances; and, how

now approaching the critical point, an

he progress of artillery science would not enable us to carry it out to a successful issue. I have been considering, working, calculating; and the result of my studies is the conviction that we are safe to succeed in an enterprise which to any other co

itement ran thr

ent firmly fixed his hat upon his

to you regarding the Queen of the Night. It is perhaps reserved for us to become the Columbuses of this unknown world. Only enter into my plans, and second

Moon!” roared the Gu

ermined. Selenographic charts have been constructed with a perfection which equals, if it does not even surpass, that of our terrestrial maps. Photography has given us proofs of the incomparable beauty of our

st and surprise here greeted

nother Frenchman, named Fontenelle, wrote ‘The Plurality of Worlds,’ a chef-d’oeuvre of its time. About 1835 a small treatise, translated from the New York American, related how Sir John Herschel, having been despatched to the Cape of Good Hope for the purpose of making there some astronomical calculations, had, by means of a telescope brought to perfection by means of internal lighting, reduced the apparent distance of the moon to eighty yards! He then distinctly perceived caverns frequented by hippopotami, green mountains bordered by golden lace-work, sheep

ed the assemblage, electrifi

ormous geometric figures, drawn in characters of reflecting luminosity, among which was the proposition regarding the ‘square of the hypothenuse,’ commonly called the ‘Ass’s Bridge’ by the French. ‘Every intelligent being,’ said the geometrician, ‘must understand the scientific meaning of that figure. The Selenites, do they exist, will respond by a similar figure; and, a communication being thus once established, it will be easy to form an alphabet which

a single person in the whole audience who was not overcome,

pplause resounde

ally subsided, Barbicane resumed hi

well aware that, in general terms, the resisting power of cannon and the expansive force of gunpowder are practically unlimited. Well! starting from this principle, I ask myself

ness which precedes the bursting of a thunderstorm. In point of fact, a thunderstorm did peal forth, but it was the thunder of applause, or cries, and

nd by incontrovertible calculations I find that a projectile endowed with an initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second, and ai