From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It

by Jules Verne

  CHAPTER VIII.

  AT SEVENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN LEAGUES.

  What had happened? Whence the cause of this singular intoxication, theconsequences of which might have been very disastrous? A simple blunderof Michel's, which, fortunately, Nicholl was able to correct in time.

  After a perfect swoon, which lasted some minutes, the captain, recoveringfirst, soon collected his scattered senses. Although he had breakfastedonly two hours before, he felt a gnawing hunger, as if he had not eatenanything for several days. Everything about him, stomach and brain, wereoverexcited to the highest degree. He got up and demanded from Michel asupplementary repast. Michel, utterly done up, did not answer.

  Nicholl then tried to prepare some tea destined to help the absorptionof a dozen sandwiches. He first tried to get some fire, and struck amatch sharply. What was his surprise to see the sulphur shine with soextraordinary a brilliancy as to be almost unbearable to the eye. Fromthe gas-burner which he lit rose a flame equal to a jet of electriclight.

  A revelation dawned on Nicholl's mind. That intensity of light, thephysiological troubles which had arisen in him, the overexcitement ofall his moral and quarrelsome faculties,--he understood all.

  "The oxygen!" he exclaimed.

  And leaning over the air apparatus, he saw that the tap was allowingthe scentless colourless gas to escape freely, life-giving, but in itspure state producing the gravest disorders in the system. Michel hadblunderingly opened the tap of the apparatus to the full.

  Illustration: "THE OXYGEN!" HE EXCLAIMED.

  Nicholl hastened to stop the escape of oxygen with which the atmospherewas saturated, which would have been the death of the travellers, not bysuffocation, but by combustion. An hour later, the air less charged withit restored the lungs to their normal condition. By degrees the threefriends recovered from their intoxication; but they were obliged to sleepthemselves sober over their oxygen as a drunkard does over his wine.

  When Michel learnt his share of the responsibility of this incident,he was not much disconcerted. This unexpected drunkenness broke themonotony of the journey. Many foolish things had been said while underits influence, but also quickly forgotten.

  "And then," added the merry Frenchman, "I am not sorry to have tasteda little of this heady gas. Do you know, my friends, that a curiousestablishment might be founded with rooms of oxygen, where people whosesystem is weakened could for a few hours live a more active life. Fancyparties where the room was saturated with this heroic fluid, theatreswhere it should be kept at high pressure; what passion in the souls ofthe actors and spectators! what fire, what enthusiasm! And if, instead ofan assembly only a whole people could be saturated, what activity in itsfunctions, what a supplement to life it would derive. From an exhaustednation they might make a great and strong one, and I know more than onestate in old Europe which ought to put itself under the regime of oxygenfor the sake of its health!"

  Michel spoke with so much animation that one might have fancied that thetap was still too open. But a few words from Barbicane soon scatteredhis enthusiasm.

  "That is all very well, friend Michel," said he, "but will you informus where these chickens came from which have mixed themselves up in ourconcert?"

  "Those chickens?"

  "Yes."

  Indeed, half a dozen chickens and a fine cock were walking about, flappingtheir wings and chattering.

  "Ah, the awkward things!" exclaimed Michel. "The oxygen has made themrevolt."

  "But what do you want to do with these chickens?" asked Barbicane.

  "To acclimatize them in the moon, by Jove!"

  "Then why did you hide them?"

  "A joke, my worthy president, a simple joke, which has proved a miserablefailure. I wanted to set them free on the lunar continent, withoutsaying anything. Oh, what would have been your amazement on seeing theseearthly-winged animals pecking in the lunar fields!"

  "You rascal, you unmitigated rascal," replied Barbicane, "you do notwant oxygen to mount to the head. You are always what _we_ were underthe influence of the gas; you are always foolish!"

  "Ah, who says that we were not wise then?" replied Michel Ardan.

  After this philosophical reflection, the three friends set about restoringthe order of the projectile. Chickens and cock were reinstated in theircoup. But whilst proceeding with this operation, Barbicane and his twocompanions had a most desired perception of a new phenomenon. From themoment of leaving the earth, their own weight, that of the projectile,and the objects it enclosed, had been subject to an increasing diminution.If they could not prove this loss of the projectile, a moment wouldarrive when it would be sensibly felt upon themselves and the utensilsand instruments they used.

  It is needless to say that a _scale_ would not show this loss; for theweight destined to weigh the object would have lost exactly as much asthe object itself; but a spring steelyard for example, the tension ofwhich was independent of the attraction, would have given a just estimateof this loss.

  We know that the attraction, otherwise called the _weight_, is inproportion to the densities of bodies, and inversely as the squares ofthe distances. Hence this effect: If the earth had been alone in space, ifthe other celestial bodies had been suddenly annihilated, the projectile,according to Newton's laws, would weigh less as it got farther from theearth, but without ever losing its weight _entirely_, for the terrestrialattraction would always have made itself felt, at whatever distance.

  But, in reality, a time must come when the projectile would no longerbe subject to the law of weight, after allowing for the other celestialbodies whose effect could not be set down as zero. Indeed, theprojectile's course was being traced between the earth and the moon.As it distanced the earth, the terrestrial attraction diminished: butthe lunar attraction rose in proportion. There must then come a pointwhere these two attractions would neutralize each other: the projectilewould possess weight no longer. If the moon's and the earth's densitieshad been equal, this point would have been at an equal distance betweenthe two orbs. But taking the different densities into consideration, itwas easy to reckon that this point would be situated at 47-60ths of thewhole journey, i.e. at 78,114 leagues from the earth. At this point, abody having no principle of speed or displacement in itself, would remainimmovable for ever, being attracted equally by both orbs, and not beingdrawn more towards one than towards the other.

  Now if the projectile's impulsive force had been correctly calculated, itwould attain this point without speed, having lost all trace of weight,as well as all the objects within it. What would happen then? Threehypotheses presented themselves.

  1. Either it would retain a certain amount of motion, and pass the pointof equal attraction, and fall upon the moon by virtue of the excess ofthe lunar attraction over the terrestrial.

  2. Or, its speed failing, and unable to reach the point of equalattraction, it would fall upon the moon by virtue of the excess of thelunar attraction over the terrestrial.

  3. Or, lastly, animated with sufficient speed to enable it to reach theneutral point, but not sufficient to pass it, it would remain for eversuspended in that spot like the pretended tomb of Mahomet, between thezenith and the nadir.

  Such was their situation; and Barbicane clearly explained the consequencesto his travelling companions, which greatly interested them. But howshould they know when the projectile had reached this neutral pointsituated at that distance, especially when neither themselves, nor theobjects enclosed in the projectile, would be any longer subject to thelaws of weight?

  Up to this time, the travellers, whilst admitting that this action wasconstantly decreasing, had not yet become sensible to its total absence.

  But that day, about eleven o'clock in the morning, Nicholl havingaccidentally let a glass slip from his hand, the glass, instead offalling, remained suspended in the air.

  "Ah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "that is rather an amusing piece of naturalphilosophy."

  And immediately divers other objects, f
irearms and bottles, abandonedto themselves, held themselves up as by enchantment. Diana too, placedin space by Michel, reproduced, but without any trick, the wonderfulsuspension practised by Caston and Robert Houdin. Indeed the dog did notseem to know that she was floating in air.

  The three adventurous companions were surprised and stupefied, despitetheir scientific reasonings. They felt themselves being carried into thedomain of wonders! they felt that _weight_ was really wanting to theirbodies. If they stretched out their arms, they did not attempt to fall.Their heads shook on their shoulders. Their feet no longer clung to thefloor of the projectile. They were like drunken men having no stabilityin themselves.

  Illustration: "AH! IF RAPHAEL HAD SEEN US THUS."

  Fancy has depicted men without reflection, others without shadow. Buthere _reality,_ by the neutralisation of attractive forces, produced menin whom nothing had any weight, and who weighed nothing themselves.

  Suddenly Michel, taking a spring, left the floor and remained suspendedin the air, like Murillo's monk of the _Cusine des Anges._

  The two friends joined him instantly, and all three formed a miraculous"Ascension" in the centre of the projectile.

  "Is it to be believed? is it probable? is it possible?" exclaimed Michel;"and yet it is so. Ah! if Raphael had seen us thus, what an 'Assumption'he would have thrown upon canvas!"

  "The 'Assumption' cannot last," replied Barbicane. "If the projectilepasses the neutral point, the lunar attraction will draw us to the moon."

  "Then our feet will be upon the roof," replied Michel.

  "No," said Barbicane, "because the projectile's centre of gravity is verylow; it will only turn by degrees."

  "Then all our portables will be upset from top to bottom, that is afact."

  "Calm yourself, Michel," replied Nicholl; "no upset is to be feared; nota thing will move, for the projectile's evolution will be imperceptible."

  "Just so," continued Barbicane; "and when it has passed the point of equalattraction, its base, being the heavier, will draw it perpendicularly tothe moon; but, in order that this phenomenon should take place, we musthave passed the neutral line."

  "Pass the neutral line!" cried Michel; "then let us do as the sailors dowhen they cross the equator."

  A slight side movement brought Michel back towards the padded side;thence he took a bottle and glasses, placed them "in space" before hiscompanions, and, drinking merrily, they saluted the line with a triplehurrah. The influence of these attractions scarcely lasted an hour;the travellers felt themselves insensibly drawn towards the floor, andBarbicane fancied that the conical end of the projectile was varying alittle from its normal direction towards the moon. By an inverse motionthe base was approaching first; the lunar attraction was prevailingover the terrestrial; the fall towards the moon was beginning, almostimperceptibly as yet, but by degrees the attractive force would becomestronger, the fall would be more decided, the projectile, drawn by itsbase, would turn its cone to the earth, and fall with ever-increasingspeed on to the surface of the Selenite continent; their destinationwould then be attained. Now nothing could prevent the success of theirenterprise, and Nicholl and Michel Ardan shared Barbicane's joy.

  Then they chatted of all the phenomena which had astonished them oneafter the other, particularly the neutralization of the laws of weight.Michel Ardan, always enthusiastic, drew conclusions which were purelyfanciful.

  "Ah, my worthy friends," he exclaimed, "what progress we should makeif on earth we could throw off some of that weight, some of that chainwhich binds us to her; it would be the prisoner set at liberty; no morefatigue of either arms or legs. Or, if it is true that in order to flyon the earth's surface, to keep oneself suspended in the air merely bythe play of the muscles, there requires a strength a hundred and fiftytimes greater than that which we possess, a simple act of volition, acaprice, would bear us into space, if attraction did not exist."

  "Just so," said Nicholl, smiling; "if we could succeed in suppressingweight as they suppress pain by anaesthesia, that would change the faceof modern society!"

  "Yes," cried Michel, full of his subject, "destroy weight, and no moreburdens!"

  "Well said," replied Barbicane; "but if nothing had any weight, nothingwould keep in its place, not even your hat on your head, worthy Michel;nor your house, whose stones only adhere by weight; not a boat, whosestability on the water is caused only by weight; not even the ocean,whose waves would no longer be equalized by terrestrial attraction; andlastly, not even the _atmosphere,_ whose atoms, being no longer held intheir places, would disperse in space!"

  "That is tiresome," retorted Michel; "nothing like these matter-of-factpeople for bringing one back to the bare reality."

  "But console yourself, Michel," continued Barbicane, "for if no orbexists from whence all laws of weight are banished, you are at leastgoing to visit one where it is much less than on the earth."

  "The moon?"

  "Yes, the moon, on whose surface objects weigh six times less than onthe earth, a phenomenon easy to prove."

  "And we shall feel it?" asked Michel.

  "Evidently, as 200 lbs. will only weigh 30 pounds on the surface of themoon."

  "And our muscular strength will not diminish?"

  "Not at all; instead of jumping one yard high, you will rise eighteenfeet high."

  "But we shall be regular Herculeses in the moon!" exclaimed Michel.

  "Yes," replied Nicholl; "for if the height of the Selenites is inproportion to the density of their globe, they will be scarcely a foothigh."

  "Lilliputians!" ejaculated Michel; "I shall play the part of Gulliver.We are going to realize the fable of the giants. This is the advantageof leaving one's own planet and overrunning the solar world."

  "One moment, Michel," answered Barbicane; "if you wish to play the partof Gulliver, only visit the inferior planets, such as Mercury, Venus, orMars, whose density is a little less than that of the earth; but do notventure into the great planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; forthere the order will be changed, and you will become Lilliputian."

  "And in the sun?"

  "In the sun, if its density is thirteen hundred and twenty-four thousandtimes greater, and the attraction is twenty-seven times greater thanon the surface of our globe, keeping everything in proportion, theinhabitants ought to be at least two hundred feet high."

  "By Jove!" exclaimed Michel; "I should be nothing more than a pigmy, ashrimp!"

  "Gulliver with the giants," said Nicholl.

  "Just so," replied Barbicane.

  "And it would not be quite useless to carry some pieces of artillery todefend oneself."

  "Good," replied Nicholl; "your projectiles would have no effect on thesun; they would fall back on the earth after some minutes."

  "That is a strong remark."

  "It is certain," replied Barbicane; "the attraction is so great on thisenormous orb, that an object weighing 70,000 lbs. on the earth wouldweigh but 1920 lbs. on the surface of the sun. If you were to fall uponit you would weigh--let me see--about 5000 lbs., a weight which youwould never be able to raise again."

  "The devil!" said Michel; "one would want a portable crane. However, wewill be satisfied with the moon for the present; there at least we shallcut a great figure. We will see about the sun by and by."