From the Earth to the Moon; and, Round the Moon by Jules Verne Read Free Book Online

directly over the head of the spectator, are of
necessity comprised between the twenty-eighth parallels and
the equator. Hence the importance of the advice to try the
experiment upon some point of that part of the globe, in order
that the projectile might be discharged perpendicularly, and so
the soonest escape the action of gravitation. This was an
essential condition to the success of the enterprise, and
continued actively to engage the public attention.
    Regarding the path described by the moon in her revolution round
the earth, the Cambridge Observatory had demonstrated that this
path is a re-entering curve, not a perfect circle, but an
ellipse, of which the earth occupies one of the foci . It was
also well understood that it is farthest removed from the earth
during its apogee , and approaches most nearly to it at its perigee .
    Such was then the extent of knowledge possessed by every
American on the subject, and of which no one could decently
profess ignorance. Still, while these principles were being
rapidly disseminated many errors and illusory fears proved less
easy to eradicate.
    For instance, some worthy persons maintained that the moon was
an ancient comet which, in describing its elongated orbit round
the sun, happened to pass near the earth, and became confined
within her circle of attraction. These drawing-room astronomers
professed to explain the charred aspect of the moon— a disaster
which they attributed to the intensity of the solar heat; only,
on being reminded that comets have an atmosphere, and that the
moon has little or none, they were fairly at a loss for a reply.
    Others again, belonging to the doubting class, expressed certain
fears as to the position of the moon. They had heard it said
that, according to observations made in the time of the Caliphs,
her revolution had become accelerated in a certain degree.
Hence they concluded, logically enough, that an acceleration of
motion ought to be accompanied by a corresponding diminution in
the distance separating the two bodies; and that, supposing the
double effect to be continued to infinity, the moon would end by
one day falling into the earth. However, they became reassured
as to the fate of future generations on being apprised that,
according to the calculations of Laplace, this acceleration of
motion is confined within very restricted limits, and that a
proportional diminution of speed will be certain to succeed it.
So, then, the stability of the solar system would not be deranged
in ages to come.
    There remains but the third class, the superstitious.
These worthies were not content merely to rest in ignorance;
they must know all about things which had no existence whatever,
and as to the moon, they had long known all about her. One set
regarded her disc as a polished mirror, by means of which people
could see each other from different points of the earth and
interchange their thoughts. Another set pretended that out of
one thousand new moons that had been observed, nine hundred and
fifty had been attended with remarkable disturbances, such as
cataclysms, revolutions, earthquakes, the deluge, etc. Then they
believed in some mysterious influence exercised by her over human
destinies— that every Selenite was attached to some inhabitant
of the earth by a tie of sympathy; they maintained that the
entire vital system is subject to her control, etc. But in time
the majority renounced these vulgar errors, and espoused the true
side of the question. As for the Yankees, they had no other
ambition than to take possession of this new continent of the sky,
and to plant upon the summit of its highest elevation the star-
spangled banner of the United States of America.
CHAPTER VII
THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL
    The Observatory of Cambridge in its memorable letter had treated the
question from a purely astronomical point of view. The mechanical
part still remained.
    President Barbicane had, without loss of time, nominated a
working committee of the Gun Club. The