From the Earth to the Moon | Page 7

the Night. It is
perhaps reserved for us to become the Columbuses of this unknown
world. Only enter into my plans, and second me with all your power,
and I will lead you to its conquest, and its name shall be added to those
of the thirty-six states which compose this Great Union."
"Three cheers for the Moon!" roared the Gun Club, with one voice.
"The moon, gentlemen, has been carefully studied," continued
Barbicane; "her mass, density, and weight; her constitution, motions,
distance, as well as her place in the solar system, have all been exactly
determined. Selenographic charts have been constructed with a
perfection which equals, if it does not even surpass, that of our
terrestrial maps. Photography has given us proofs of the incomparable
beauty of our satellite; all is known regarding the moon which
mathematical science, astronomy, geology, and optics can learn about

her. But up to the present moment no direct communication has been
established with her."
A violent movement of interest and surprise here greeted this remark of
the speaker.
"Permit me," he continued, "to recount to you briefly how certain
ardent spirits, starting on imaginary journeys, have penetrated the
secrets of our satellite. In the seventeenth century a certain David
Fabricius boasted of having seen with his own eyes the inhabitants of
the moon. In 1649 a Frenchman, one Jean Baudoin, published a
`Journey performed from the Earth to the Moon by Domingo
Gonzalez,' a Spanish adventurer. At the same period Cyrano de
Bergerac published that celebrated `Journeys in the Moon' which met
with such success in France. Somewhat later another Frenchman,
named Fontenelle, wrote `The Plurality of Worlds,' a chef-d'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 with horns of ivory, a white species of deer and
inhabitants with membranous wings, like bats. This brochure, the work
of an American named Locke, had a great sale. But, to bring this rapid
sketch to a close, I will only add that a certain Hans Pfaal, of Rotterdam,
launching himself in a balloon filled with a gas extracted from nitrogen,
thirty-seven times lighter than hydrogen, reached the moon after a
passage of nineteen hours. This journey, like all previous ones, was
purely imaginary; still, it was the work of a popular American author--
I mean Edgar Poe!"
"Cheers for Edgar Poe!" roared the assemblage, electrified by their
president's words.
"I have now enumerated," said Barbicane, "the experiments which I
call purely paper ones, and wholly insufficient to establish serious

relations with the Queen of the Night. Nevertheless, I am bound to add
that some practical geniuses have attempted to establish actual
communication with her. Thus, a few days ago, a German geometrician
proposed to send a scientific expedition to the steppes of Siberia. There,
on those vast plains, they were to describe enormous geometric figures,
drawn in characters of reflecting luminosity, 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 shall enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the
moon.' So spoke the German geometrician; but his project was never
put into practice, and up to the present day there is no bond in existence
between the Earth and her satellite. It is reserved for the practical
genius of Americans to establish a communication with the sidereal
world. The means of arriving thither are simple, easy, certain,
infallible-- and that is the purpose of my present proposal."
A storm of acclamations greeted these words. There was not a single
person in the whole audience who was not overcome, carried away,
lifted out of himself by the speaker's words!
Long-continued applause resounded from all sides.
As soon as the excitement had partially subsided, Barbicane resumed
his speech in a somewhat graver voice.
"You know," said he, "what progress artillery science has made during
the last few years, and what a degree of perfection firearms of every
kind have reached. Moreover, you are well aware that, in general terms,
the resisting power of cannon and the expansive force of gunpowder
are practically unlimited. Well! starting from this principle, I ask
myself whether, supposing sufficient apparatus could be obtained