A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future

by John Jacob Astor

  CHAPTER V.

  DR. CORTLANDT'S HISTORY CONTINUED.

  "In marine transportation we have two methods, one for freightand another for passengers. The old-fashioned deeply immersedship has not changed radically from the steam and sailing vesselsof the last century, except that electricity has superseded allother motive powers. Steamers gradually passed through the fivehundred-, six hundred-, and seven hundred-foot-long class, withother dimensions in proportion, till their length exceeded onethousand feet. These were very fast ships, crossing the Atlanticin four and a half days, and were almost as steady as houses, ineven the roughest weather.

  "Ships at this period of their development had also passedthrough the twin and triple screw stage to the quadruple, allfour together developing one hundred and forty thousand indicatedhorse-power, and being driven by steam. This, of course,involved sacrificing the best part of the ship to her engines,and a very heavy idle investment while in port. Storagebatteries, with plates composed of lead or iron, constantlyincreasing in size, had reached a fair state of development bythe close of the nineteenth century.

  "During the second decade of the twentieth century the engineersdecided to try the plan of running half of a transatlanticliner's screws by electricity generated by the engines fordriving the others while the ship was in port, this having been asuccess already on a smaller scale. For a time this plan gavegreat satisfaction, since it diminished the amount of coal to becarried and the consequent change of displacement at sea, andenabled the ship to be worked with a smaller number of men. Thebatteries could also, of course, be distributed along the entirelength, and placed where space was least valuable.

  "The construction of such huge vessels called for muchgovernmental river and harbour dredging, and a ship drawingthirty-five feet can now enter New York at any state of the tide.For ocean bars, the old system of taking the material out to seaand discharging it still survives, though a jet of water fromforce-pumps directed against the obstruction is also oftenemployed with quick results. For river work we have discovered abetter method. All the mud is run back, sometimes over a milefrom the river bank, where it is used as a fertilizer, by meansof wire railways strung from poles. These wire cables combine inthemselves the functions of trolley wire and steel rail, andcarry the suspended cars, which empty themselves and returnaround the loop for another load. Often the removed materialentirely fills small, saucer-shaped valleys or low places, inwhich case it cannot wash back. This improvement has ended thenecessity of building jetties.

  "The next improvement in sea travelling was the 'marine spider.'As the name shows, this is built on the principle of an insect.It is well known that a body can be carried over the water muchfaster than through it. With this in mind, builders at firstconstructed light framework decks on large water-tight wheels ordrums, having paddles on their circumferences to provide a holdon the water. These they caused to revolve by means of machineryon the deck, but soon found that the resistance offered to thebarrel wheels themselves was too great. They therefore made themmore like centipeds with large, bell-shaped feet, connected witha superstructural deck by ankle-jointed pipes, through which,when necessary, a pressure of air can be forced down upon theenclosed surface of water. Ordinarily, however, they go at greatspeed without this, the weight of the water displaced by the bellfeet being as great as that resting upon them. Thus they swingalong like a pacing horse, except that there are four rows offeet instead of two, each foot being taken out of the water as itis swung forward, the first and fourth and second and third rowsbeing worked together. Although, on account of their size, whichcovers several acres, they can go in any water, they give thebest results on Mediterraneans and lakes that are free from oceanrollers, and, under favourable conditions, make better speed thanthe nineteenth-century express trains, and, of course, goingstraight as the crow flies, and without stopping, they reach adestination in considerably shorter time.

  Some passengers and express packages still cross the Atlantic on'spiders,' but most of these light cargoes go in a far pleasanterand more rapid way. The deep-displacement vessels, for heavyfreight, make little better speed than was made by the same classa hundred years ago. But they are also run entirely byelectricity, largely supplied by wind, and by the tide turningtheir motors, which become dynamos while at anchor in any stream.They therefore need no bulky boilers, engines, sails, orcoal-bunkers, and consequently can carry unprecedentedly largecargoes with comparatively small crews. The officers on thebridge and the men in the crow's nest--the way to which is by aladder INSIDE the mast, to protect the climber from theweather--are about all that is needed; while disablement is madepractically impossible, by having four screws, each with its ownset of automatically lubricating motors.

  "This change, like other labour-saving appliances, at firstresulted in laying off a good many men, the least satisfactorybeing the first to go; but the increase in business was so greatthat the intelligent men were soon reemployed as officers athigher rates of pay and more interesting work than before, whilethey as consumers were benefited as much as any one else by thedecreased cost of production and transportation.

  "With a view to facilitating interchange still further, ourGovernment has gradually completed the double coast-line thatNature gave us in part. This was done by connecting islandsseparated from shore by navigable water, and leaving openings foringress and exit but a few hundred yards wide. The breakwatersrequired to do this were built with cribbing of incorrodiblemetal, affixed to deeply driven metallic piles, and filled withstones along coasts where they were found in abundance or excess.This, while clearing many fields and improving them forcultivation, provided just the needed material; since irregularstones bind together firmly, and, while also insoluble, combineconsiderable bulk with weight. South of Hatteras, where stonesare scarce, the sand dredged from parts of the channel was filledinto the crib, the surface of which has a concave metallic cover,a trough of still water being often the best barrier against thepassage of waves. This double coast-line has been a greatbenefit, and propelled vessels of moderate draught can range insmooth water, carrying very full loads, from Labrador to theOrinoco. The exits are, of course, protected by a line ofcribbing a few hundred feet to seaward.

  "The rocks have been removed from all channels about New York andother commercial centres, while the shallow places have beendredged to a uniform depth. This diminishes the dangers ofnavigation and considerably decreases the speed with which thetides rush through. Where the obstructions consisted of reefssurrounded by deep water, their removal with explosives was easy,the shattered fragments being allowed to sink to the bottom andremain there beneath the danger line.

  "Many other great works have also been completed. The canals atNicaragua have been in operation many years, it having been foundbest to have several sizes of locks, and to use the large onesonly for the passage of large vessels. The improved Erie andChamplain Canals also enable ships four hundred feet long toreach New York from the Great Lakes via the Hudson River.

  "For flying, we have an aeroplane that came in when we devised asuitable motor power. This is obtained from very lightpaper-cell batteries that combine some qualities of the primaryand secondary type, since they must first be charged from adynamo, after which they can supply full currents for one hundredhours--enough to take them around the globe--while partlyconsuming the elements in the cells. The power is appliedthrough turbine screws, half of which are capable of propellingthe flat deck in its inclined position at sufficient speed toprevent its falling. The moving parts have ball bearings andfriction rollers, lubrication being secured automatically, whenrequired, by a supply of vaseline that melts if any part becomeshot. All the framing is of thin but very durable galvanizedaluminum, which has superseded steel for every purpose in whichweight is not an advantage, as in the permanent way on railways.The air ships, whose length varies from fifty to five hundredfeet, have rudders for giving a vertical or a horizontal motion,and
several strengthening keels that prevent leeway when turning.They are entirely on the principle of birds, maintainingthemselves mechanically, and differing thus from the unwieldyballoon. Starting as if on a circular railway, against the wind,they rise to a considerable height, and then, shutting off thebatteries, coast down the aerial slope at a rate that sometimestouches five hundred miles an hour. When near the ground thehelmsman directs the prow upward, and, again turning on fullcurrent, rushes up the slope at a speed that far exceeds theeagle's, each drop of two miles serving to take the machinetwenty or thirty; though, if the pilot does not wish to soar, orif there is a fair wind at a given height, he can remain in thatstratum of the atmosphere by moving horizontally. He can alsomaintain his elevation when moving very slowly, and though theheadway be entirely stopped, the descent is gradual on account ofthe aeroplane's great spread, the batteries and motors beingsecured to the under side of the deck.

  "The motors are so light that they develop two horse power forevery pound of their weight; while, to keep the frames thin, thenecessary power is obtained by terrific speed of the movingparts, as though a steam engine, to avoid great pressure in itscylinders, had a long stroke and ran at great piston speed,which, however, is no disadvantage to the rotary motion of theelectric motor, there being no reciprocating cranks, etc., thatmust be started and stopped at each revolution.

  "To obviate the necessity of gearing to reduce the number ofrevolutions to those possible for a large screw, this member ismade very small, and allowed to revolve three thousand times aminute, so that the requisite power is obtained with greatsimplicity of mechanism, which further decreases friction. Theshafts, and even the wires connecting the batteries with themotors, are made large and hollow. Though the primary batterypure and simple, as the result of great recent advances inchemistry, seems to be again coming up, the best aeroplanebatteries are still of the combination- storage type. These havebeen so perfected that eight ounces of battery yield one horsepower for six hours, so that two pounds of battery will supply ahorse power for twenty-four hours; a small fifty-horse-poweraeroplane being therefore able to fly four days with a batteryweight of but four hundred pounds.

  "Limestone and clarified acid are the principal parts of thesebatteries. It was known long ago that there was about as muchimprisoned solar energy in limestone as in coal, but it was onlyrecently that we discovered this way of releasing and using it.

  "Common salt plays an important part in many of our chemicalreactions. By combining it with limestone, and treating thiswith acid jelly, we also get good results on raising to theboiling-point.

  "However enjoyable the manly sport of yachting is on water, howvastly more interesting and fascinating it is for a man to have ayacht in which he can fly to Europe in one day, and with whichthe exploration of tropical Africa or the regions about the polesis mere child's play, while giving him so magnificent abird's-eye view! Many seemingly insoluble problems are solved bythe advent of these birds. Having as their halo the enforcementof peace, they have in truth taken us a long step towards heaven,and to the co-operation and higher civilization that followed weshall owe much of the success of the great experiment on MotherEarth now about to be tried.

  "Another change that came in with a rush upon the discovery of abattery with insignificant weight, compact form, and greatcapacity, was the substitution of electricity for animal powerfor the movement of all vehicles. This, of necessity brought ingood roads, the results obtainable on such being so much greaterthan on bad ones that a universal demand for them arose. Thiswas in a sense cumulative, since the better the streets and roadsbecame, the greater the inducement to have an electric carriage.The work of opening up the country far and near, by straighteningand improving existing roads, and laying out new ones thatcombine the solidity of the Appian Way with the smoothness ofmodern asphalt, was largely done by convicts, working under thedirection of State and Government engineers. Every Statecontained a horde of these unprofitable boarders, who, as theyformerly worked, interfered with honest labour, and when idle gotinto trouble. City streets had been paved by the municipality;country roads attended to by the farmers, usually veryunscientifically. Here was a field in which convict labour wouldnot compete, and an important work could be done. When once thiswas made the law, every year showed improvement, while theconvicts had useful and healthful occupation.

  "The electric phaetons, as those for high speed are called, havethree and four wheels, and weigh, including battery and motor,five hundred to four thousand pounds. With hollow but immenselystrong galvanically treated aluminum frames and pneumatic orcushion tires, they run at thirty-five and forty miles an hour oncountry roads, and attain a speed over forty on city streets, andcan maintain this rate without recharging for several days. Theycan therefore roam over the roads of the entire hemisphere, fromthe fertile valley of the Peace and grey shores of Hudson Bay, tobeautiful Lake Nicaragua, the River Plate, and Patagonia,improving man by bringing him close to Nature, while they combinethe sensations of coasting with the interest of seeing thecountry well.

  "To recharge the batteries, which can be done in almost everytown and village, two copper pins attached to insulated copperwires are shoved into smooth-bored holes. These drop out ofthemselves by fusing a small lead ribbon, owing to the increasedresistance, when the acid in the batteries begins to 'boil,'though there is, of course, but little heat in this, the functionof charging being merely to bring about the condition in whichpart of the limestone can be consumed, the batteries themselves,when in constant use, requiring to be renewed about once a month.A handle at the box seat turns on any part of the attainablecurrent, for either going ahead or reversing, there being six oreight degrees of speed for both directions, while the steering isdone with a small wheel.

  "Light but powerful batteries and motors have also been fitted onbicycles, which can act either as auxiliaries for hill-climbingor in case of head wind, or they can propel the machinealtogether.

  "Gradually the width of the streets became insufficient for thetraffic, although the elimination of horses and the consequentincrease in speed greatly augmented their carrying capacity,until recently a new system came in. The whole width of theavenues and streets in the business parts of the city, includingthe former sidewalks, is given up to wheel traffic, an iron ridgeextending along the exact centre to compel vehicles to keep tothe right. Strips of nickel painted white, and showing a brightphosphorescence at night, are let into the metal pavement flushwith the surface, and run parallel to this ridge at distances often to fifteen feet, dividing each half of the avenue into fouror five sections, their width increasing as they approach themiddle. All trucks or drays moving at less than seven miles anhour are obliged to keep in the section nearest the buildingline, those running between seven and fifteen in the next,fifteen to twenty-five in the third, twenty-five to thirty-fivein the fourth, and everything faster than that in the sectionnext the ridge, unless the avenue or street is wide enough forfurther subdivisions. If it is wide enough for only four orless, the fastest vehicles must keep next the middle, and limittheir speed to the rate allowed in that section, which is markedat every crossing in white letters sufficiently large for himthat runs to read. It is therefore only in the widethoroughfares that very high speed can be attained. In additionto the crank that corresponds to a throttle, there is a gauge onevery vehicle, which shows its exact speed in miles per hour, bygearing operated by the revolutions of the wheels.

  "The policemen on duty also have instantaneous kodaks mounted ontripods, which show the position of any carriage at half- andquarter-second intervals, by which it is easy to ascertain theexact speed, should the officers be unable to judge it by theeye; so there is no danger of a vehicle's speed exceeding thatallowed in the section in which it happens to be; neither can aslow one remain on the fast lines.

  "Of course, to make such high speed for ordinary carriagespossible, a perfect pavement became a sine qua non. We havesecured this by the half-inch sheet of steel spread over
acarefully laid surface of asphalt, with but little bevel; andthough this might be slippery for horses' feet, it neverseriously affects our wheels. There being nothing harder thanthe rubber ties of comparatively light drays upon it--for theheavy traffic is carried by electric railways under ground--itwill practically never wear out.

  "With the application of steel to the entire surface, car-tracksbecame unnecessary, ordinary wheels answering as well as thosewith flanges, so that no new tracks were laid, and finally thecar companies tore up the existing ones, selling them in manyinstances to the municipalities as old iron. Our streets alsoneed but little cleaning; neither is the surface continuallyindented, as the old cobble-stones and Belgian blocks were, bythe pounding of the horses' feet, so that the substitution ofelectricity for animal power has done much to solve the problemof attractive streets.

  "Scarcely a ton of coal comes to Manhattan Island or its vicinityin a year. Very little of it leaves the mines, at the mouths ofwhich it is converted into electricity and sent to the points ofconsumption by wire, where it is employed for all uses to whichfuel was put, and many others. Consequently there is no smoke,and the streets are not encumbered with coal-carts; the entirewidth being given up to carriages, etc. The ground floors in thebusiness parts are used for large warehouses, trucks running into load and unload. Pedestrians therefore have sidewalks levelwith the second story, consisting of glass floors let intoaluminum frames, while all street crossings are made on bridges.Private houses have a front door opening on the sidewalk, andanother on the ground level, so that ladies paying visits orleaving cards can do so in carriages. In business streets thesecond story is used for shops. In place of steel covering,country roads have a thick coating of cement and asphalt over afoundation of crushed stone, giving a capital surface, and have awidth of thirty-three feet (two rods) in thinly settleddistricts, to sixty-six feet (four rods) where the population isgreater. All are planted with shade and fruit trees, while thewide driveways have one or two broad sidewalks. The same rule ofmaking the slow-moving vehicles keep near the outside prevails,though the rate of increase in speed on approaching the middle ismore rapid than in cities, and there is usually no dividingridge. On reaching the top of a long and steep hill, if we donot wish to coast, we convert the motors into dynamos, whilerunning at full speed, and so change the kinetic energy of thedescent into potential in our batteries. This twentieth-centurystage-coaching is one of the delights to which we are heirs,though horses are still used by those that prefer them.

  We have been much aided in our material progress by the facilitywith which we obtain the metals. It was observed, some time ago,that when artesian and oil wells had reached a considerabledepth, what appeared to be drops of lead and antimony came upwith the stream. It finally occurred to a well-borer that if hecould make his drill hard enough and get it down far enough,keeping it cool by solidified carbonic acid during theproceeding, he would reach a point at which most of the metalswould be viscous, if not actually molten, and on being freed fromthe pressure of the crust they would expand, and reach thesurface in a stream. This experiment he performed near the hotgeysers in Yellowstone Park, and what was his delight, onreaching a depth scarcely half a mile beyond his usual stopping-place, to be rewarded by a stream of metal that heralded itsapproach by a loud explosion and a great rush of superheatedsteam! It ran for a month, completely filling the bed of asmall, dried-up river, and when it did stop there were tenmillion tons in sight. This proved the feasibility of thescheme, and, though many subsequent attempts were lesssuccessful, we have learned by experience where it is best todrill, and can now obtain almost any metal we wish.

  "'Magnetic eyes' are of great use to miners and Civil engineers.These instruments are something like the mariner's compass, withthe sensitiveness enormously increased by galvanic currents. The'eye,' as it were, sees what substances are underground, and atwhat distances. It also shows how many people are in anadjoining room--through the magnetic properties of the iron intheir blood--whether they are moving, and in what directions andat what speed they go. In connection with the phonograph andconcealed by draperies, it is useful to detectives, who, througha registering attachment, can obtain a record of everything saidand done.

  "Our political system remains with but little change. Each Statehas still two United States Senators, though the populationrepresented by each representative has been greatly increased, sothat the Senate has grown numerically much more than the House.It is the duty of each member of Congress to understand theconditions existing in every other member's State or district,and the country's interest always precedes that of party. Wehave a comprehensive examination system in the civil service, andevery officeholder, except members of the Cabinet, retains hisoffice while efficiently performing his duty, without regard topolitics. The President can also be re-elected any number oftimes. The Cabinet members, as formerly, usually remain inoffice while he does, and appear regularly in Congress to defendtheir measures.

  "The really rapid transit lines in New York are underground, andhave six tracks, two being used for freight. At all stations thelocal tracks rise several feet towards the street and slope offin both directions, while the express tracks do this only atstations at which the faster trains stop. This gives thepassengers a shorter distance to descend or rise in theelevators, and the ascent before the stations aids the brakes instopping, while the drop helps the motors to start the trainsquickly in getting away.

  "Photography has also made great strides, and there is now nodifficulty in reproducing exactly the colours of the objecttaken.

  "Telephones have been so improved that one person can speak inhis natural voice with another in any part of the globe, the wirethat enables him to hear also showing him the face of the speakerthough he be at the antipodes. All telephone wires beingunderground and kept by themselves, they are not interfered withby any high-tension electric-light or power wires, thunderstorms,or anything else.

  "Rain-making is another subject removed from the uncertainties,and has become an absolute science. We produce clouds byexplosions in the atmosphere's heights and by surface air forcedby blowers through large pipes up the side of a mountain ornatural elevation and there discharged through an opening in thetop of a tower built on the highest part. The aeriduct isincased in a poor heat-conductor, so that the air retains itswarmth until discharged, when it is cooled by expansion and thesurrounding cold air. Condensation takes place and soon servesto start a rain.

  "Yet, until the earth's axis is straightened, we must be more orless dependent on the eccentricities of the weather, withextremes of heat and cold, droughts and floods, which last are ofcourse largely the result of several months' moisture held on theground in the form of snow, the congestion being relievedsuddenly by the warm spring rains.

  "Medicine and surgery have kept pace with otherimprovements--inoculation and antiseptics, as already seen,rendering most of the germ diseases and formerly dreadedepidemics impotent; while through the potency of electricalaffinity we form wholesome food-products rapidly, instead ofhaving to wait for their production by Nature's slow processes.

  "The metric system, now universal, superseded the old-fashionedarbitrary standards, so prolific of mistakes and confusion, abouta century ago.

  "English, as we have seen, is already the language of 600,000,000people, and the number is constantly increasing through itsadoption by the numerous races of India, where, even before theclose of the last century, it was about as important as Latinduring the greatness of Rome, and by the fact that the Spanishand Portuguese elements in Mexico and Central and South Americashow a constant tendency to die out, much as the population ofSpain fell from 30,000,000 to 17,000,000 during the nineteenthcentury. As this goes on, in the Western hemisphere, the placesleft vacant are gradually filled by the more progressiveAnglo-Saxons, so that it looks as if the study of ethnology inthe future would be very simple.

  "The people with cultivation and leisure, whose number isincreasing relatively to the
population at each generation, spendmuch more of their year in the country than formerly, where theyhave large and well-cultivated country seats, parts of which arealso preserved for game. This growing custom on the part ofsociety, in addition to being of great advantage to theout-of-town districts, has done much to save the forests andpreserve some forms of game that would otherwise, like thebuffalo, have become extinct.

  "In astronomy we have also made tremendous strides. Theold-fashioned double-convex lens used in telescopes became soheavy as its size grew, that it bent perceptibly from its ownweight, when pointed at the zenith, distorting the vision; whilewhen it was used upon a star near the horizon, though the glasson edge kept its shape, there was too much atmosphere between itand the observed object for successful study. Our recenttelescopes have, therefore, concave plate-glass mirrors, twentymetres in diameter, like those used for converging the sun's raysin solar engines, but with curves more mathematically exact,which collect an immense amount of light and focus it on asensitive plate or on the eye of the observer, whose back isturned to the object he is studying. An electrical field alsoplays an important part, the electricity being as great an aid tolight as in the telephone it is to sound. With these placedgenerally on high mountain peaks, beyond the reach of clouds, wehave enormously increased the number of visible stars, thoughthere are still probably boundless regions that we cannot see.These telescopes have several hundred times the power of thelargest lenses of the nineteenth century, and apparently bringMars and Jupiter, when in opposition, within one thousand and tenthousand miles, respectively, so that we study their physicalgeography and topography; and we have good maps of Jupiter, andeven of Saturn, notwithstanding their distance and atmosphericenvelopes, and we are able to see the disks of third-magnitudestars.

  "It seems as if, when we wish any particular discovery orinvention, in whatever field, we had but to turn our efforts inits direction to obtain our desire. We seem, in fact, to haveawakened in the scenes of the Arabian Nights; yet the mysteriousgenius which we control, and which dims Aladdin's lamp, is thegift of no fairy godmother sustained by the haze of dreams, butshines as the child of science with fadeless and growingsplendour, and may yet bring us and our little planet much closerto God.

  "We should indeed be happy, living as we do at this apex ofattained civilization, with the boundless possibilities of thefuture unfolding before us, on the horizon of which we may fairlybe said to stand.

  "We are freed from the rattling granite pavement of only acentury ago, which made the occupant of an omnibus feel like afly inside of a drum; from the domination of our local politicsby ignorant foreigners; and from country roads that either filledthe eyes, lungs, and hair of the unfortunates travelling uponthem with dust, or, resembling ploughed and fertilized fields,saturated and plastered them with mud. These miseries, togetherwith sea-sickness in ocean travelling, are forever passed, and wefeel that 'Excelsior!' is indeed our motto. Our new andincreasing sources of power have so stimulated production andmanufacturing that poverty or want is scarcely known; while thedevelopment of the popular demand, as a result of the suppliedneed, is so great that there is no visible limit to thediversification of industry or the possibilities of the arts.

  "It may seem strange to some that apparently so disproportionatea number of inventions have been made in the last century. Thereare several reasons. Since every discovery or advance inknowledge increases our chance of obtaining more, it becomescumulative, and our progress is in geometric instead ofarithmetical ratio. Public interest and general appreciation ofthe value of time have also effectively assisted progress. Atthe beginning of each year the President, the Governors of theStates, and the Mayors of cities publish a prospectus of thegreat improvements needed, contemplated, and under way withintheir jurisdiction--it may be planning a new boulevard, a newpark, or an improved system of sewers; and at the year's end theyissue a resume of everything completed, and the progress ineverything else; and though there is usually a great differencebetween the results hoped for and those attained, the effect isgood. The newspapers publish at length the recommendations ofthe Executives, and also the results obtained, and keep up publicinterest in all important matters.

  "Free to delve in the allurement and fascination of science,emancipated man goes on subduing Nature, as his Maker said heshould, and turning her giant forces to his service in hisconstant struggle to rise and become more like Him who gave thecommandments and showed him how he should go.

  "Notwithstanding our strides in material progress, we are notentirely content. As the requirements of the animal become fullysupplied, we feel a need for something else. Some say this islike a child that cries for the moon, but others believe it theawakening and craving of our souls. The historian narrates butthe signs of the times, and strives to efface himself; yet thereis clearly a void, becoming yearly more apparent, whichmaterialism cannot fill. Is it some new subtle force for whichwe sigh, or would we commune with spirits? There is, so far aswe can see, no limit to our journey, and I will add, in closing,that, with the exception of religion, we have most to hope fromscience."

  CHAPTER VI.

  FAR-REACHING PLANS.

  Knowing that the rectification of the earth's axis wassatisfactorily begun, and that each year would show an increasingimprovement in climate, many of the delegates, after hearingBearwarden's speech, set out for their homes. Those from thevalley of the Amazon and the eastern coast of South Americaboarded a lightning express that rushed them to Key West at therate of three hundred miles an hour. The railroad had sixtracks, two for through passengers, two for locals, and two forfreight. There they took a "water-spider," six hundred feet longby three hundred in width, the deck of which was one hundred feetabove the surface, which carried them over the water at the rateof a mile a minute, around the eastern end of Cuba, throughWindward Passage, and so to the South American mainland, wherethey continued their journey by rail.

  The Siberian and Russian delegates, who, of course, felt a keeninterest in the company's proceedings, took a magneticdouble-ender car to Bering Strait. It was eighteen feet high,one hundred and fifty feet long, and had two stories. The upper,with a toughened glass dome running the entire length, descendedto within three feet of the floor, and afforded an unobstructedview of the rushing scenery. The rails on which it ran were tenfeet apart, the wheels being beyond the sides, like those of acarriage, and fitted with ball bearings to ridged axles. Thecar's flexibility allowed it to follow slight irregularities inthe track, while the free, independent wheels gave it a greatadvantage in rounding curves over cars with wheels and axle inone casting, in which one must slip while traversing a greater orsmaller arc than the other, except when the slope of the treadand the centrifugal force happen to correspond exactly. The factof having its supports outside instead of underneath, whileincreasing its stability, also enabled the lower floor to comemuch nearer the ground, while still the wheels were large.Arriving in just twenty hours, they ran across on an electricferry-boat, capable of carrying several dozen cars, to East Cape,Siberia, and then, by running as far north as possible, had ashort cut to Europe.

  The Patagonians went by the all-rail Intercontinental Line,without change of cars, making the run of ten thousand miles inforty hours. The Australians entered a flying machine, and weresoon out of sight; while the Central Americans and members fromother States of the Union returned for the most part in theirmechanical phaetons.

  "A prospective improvement in travelling," said Bearwarden, as heand his friends watched the crowd disperse, "will be when we canrise beyond the limits of the atmosphere, wait till the earthrevolves beneath us, and descend in twelve hours on the otherside."

  "True," said Cortlandt, "but then we can travel westward only,and shall have to make a complete circuit when we wish to goeast."

  A few days later there was a knock at President Bearwarden'sdoor, while he was seated at his desk looking over some papersand other matters. Taking h
is foot from a partly opened deskdrawer where it had been resting, he placed it upon the handle ofa handsome brass-mounted bellows, which proved to bearticulating, for, as he pressed, it called lustily, "Come in!"The door opened, and in walked Secretary of State Stillman,Secretary of the Navy Deepwaters, who was himself an old sailor,Dr. Cortlandt, Ayrault. Vice-President Dumby, of the T. A. S.Co., and two of the company's directors.

  "Good-morning," said Bearwarden, as he shook hands with hisvisitors. "Charmed to see you."

  "That's a great invention," said Secretary Stillman, examiningthe bellows. "We must get Congress to make an appropriation forits introduction in the department buildings in Washington. Youhave no idea how it dries my throat to be all the time shouting,'Come in!'"

  "Do you know, Bearwarden," said Secretary Deepwaters, "I'm afraidwhen we have this millennium of climate every one will be so wellsatisfied that our friend here (pointing to Secretary Stillmanwith his thumb) will have nothing to do."

  "I have sometimes thought some of the excitement will be gone,and the struggle of the 'survival of the fittest' will becomeless problematical," said Bearwarden.

  "The earth seems destined to have a calm old age," saidCortlandt, "unless we can look to the Cabinet to prevent it."

  "This world will soon be a dull place. I wish we could leave itfor a change," said Ayrault. "I don't mean forever, of course,but just as people have grown tired of remaining like plants inthe places in which they grew. Alan has been a caterpillar foruntold ages; can he not become the butterfly?"

  "Since we have found out how to straighten the axis," saidDeepwaters, "might we not go one better, and improve the orbit aswell?--increase the difference between aphelion and perihelion,and give those that still like a changing climate a chance, whileincidentally we should see more of the world--I mean the solarsystem--and, by enlarging the parallax, be able to measure thedistance of a greater number of fixed stars. Put your helm harddown and shout 'Hard-a-lee!' You see, there is nothing simpler.You keep her off now, and six months hence you let her luff."

  "That's an idea!" said Bearwarden. "Our orbit could be enoughlike that of a comet to cross the orbits of both Venus and Mars;and the climatic extremes would not be inconvenient. The wholeearth being simultaneously warmed or cooled, there would be noequinoctials or storms resulting from changes on one part of thesurface from intense heat to intense cold; every part would havea twelve-hour day and night, and none would be turned towards orfrom the sun for six months at a time; for, however eccentric theorbit, we should keep the axis absolutely straight. Atperihelion there would simply be increased evaporation and cloudsnear the equator, which would shield those regions from the sun,only to disappear again as the earth receded.

  "The only trouble," said Cortlandt, "is that we should have nofulcrum. Straightening the axis is simple enough, for we havethe attraction of the sun with which to work, and we have but toincrease it at one end while decreasing it at the other, andchange this as the poles change their inclination towards thesun, to bring it about. If a comet with a sufficiently largehead would but come along and retard us, or opportunely give us apull, or if we could increase the attraction of the other planetsfor us, or decrease it at times, it might be done. If the force,the control of which was discovered too late to help usstraighten the axis, could be applied on a sufficiently largescale; if apergy----"

  "I have it!" exclaimed Ayrault, jumping up. "Apergy will do it.We can build an airtight projectile, hermetically seal ourselveswithin, and charge it in such a way that it will be repelled bythe magnetism of the earth, and it will be forced from it withequal or greater violence than that with which it is ordinarilyattracted. I believe the earth has but the same relation tospace that the individual molecule has to any solid, liquid, orgaseous matter we know; and that, just as molecules strive to flyapart on the application of heat, this earth will repel thatprojectile when electricity, which we are coming to look upon asanother form of heat, is properly applied. It must be so, and itis the manifest destiny of the race to improve it. Man is aspirit cursed with a mortal body, which glues him to the earth,and his yearning to rise, which is innate, is, I believe, only apart of his probation and trial."

  "Show us how it can be done," shouted his listeners in chorus.

  "Apergy is and must be able to do it," Ayrault continued."Throughout Nature we find a system of compensation. Thecentripetal force is offset by the centrifugal; and when,according to the fable, the crystal complained of its hard lot inbeing unable to move, while the eagle could soar through theupper air and see all the glories of the world, the bird replied,'My life is but for a moment, while you, set in the rock, willlive forever, and will see the last sunrise that flashes upon theearth.'

  "We know that Christ, while walking on the waves, did not sink,and that he and Elijah were carried up into heaven. What becameof their material bodies we cannot tell, but they were certainlysuperior to the force of gravitation. We have no reason tobelieve that in miracles any natural law was broken, or even setaside, but simply that some other law, whose workings we do notunderstand, became operative and modified the law that otherwisewould have had things its own way. In apergy we undoubtedly havethe counterpart of gravitation, which must exist, or Nature'ssystem of compensation is broken. May we not believe that inChrist's transfiguration on the mount, and in the appearance ofMoses and Elias with him--doubtless in the flesh, since otherwisemortal eyes could not have seen them--apergy came into play andupheld them; that otherwise, and if no other modification hadintervened, they would have fallen to the ground; and that apergywas, in other words, the working principle of those miracles?"

  "May we not also believe," added Cortlandt, "that in thetransfiguration Christ's companions took the substance of theirmaterial bodies--the oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon--fromthe air and the moisture it contained; for, though spiritualbodies, be their activity magnetic or any other, could of coursepass the absolute cold and void of space without being affected,no mortal body could; and that in the same manner Elijah's bodydissolved into air without the usual intervention ofdecomposition; for we know that, though matter can easily changeits form, it can never be destroyed."

  All assented to this, and Ayrault continued: "If apergy canannul gravitation, I do not see why it should not do more, for toannul it the repulsion of the earth that it produces must be asgreat as its attraction, unless we suppose gravitation for thetime being to be suspended; but whether it is or not, does notaffect the result in this case, for, after the apergeticrepulsion is brought to the degree at which a body does not fall,any increase in the current's strength will cause it to rise, andin the case of electro-magnets we know that the attraction orrepulsion has practically no limit. This will be of greatadvantage to us," he continued, "for if a projectile could moveaway from the earth with no more rapid acceleration than thatwith which it approaches, it would take too long to reach thenearest planet, but the maximum repulsion being at the start byreason of its proximity to the earth--for apergy, being thecounterpart of gravitation, is subject to Newton's and Kepler'slaws--the acceleration of a body apergetically charged will begreatest at first. Two inclined planes may have the same fall,but a ball will reach the bottom of one that is steepest near thetop in less time than on any other, because the maximumacceleration is at the start. We are all tired of being stuck tothis cosmical speck, with its monotonous ocean, leaden sky, andsingle moon that is useless more than half the time, while itssize is so microscopic compared with the universe that we cantraverse its great circle in four days. Its possibilities areexhausted; and just as Greece became too small for thecivilization of the Greeks, and as reproduction is growth beyondthe individual, so it seems to me that the future glory of thehuman race lies in exploring at least the solar system, withoutwaiting to become shades."

  "Should you propose to go to Mars or Venus?" asked Cortlandt.

  "No," replied Ayrault, "we know all about Mars; it is but oneseventh the size of the earth, and as the axis is inc
lined morethan ours, it would be a less comfortable globe than this; while,as our president here told us in his T. A. S. Company's report,the axis of Venus is inclined to such a degree that it would bealmost uninhabitable for us. It would be as if colonists triedto settle Greenland, or had come to North America during itsGlacial period. Neither Venus nor Mars would be a good placenow."

  "Where should you propose to go?" asked Stillman.

  "To Jupiter, and, if possible, after that to Saturn," repliedAyrault; "the former's mean distance from the sun is 480,000,000miles; but, as our president showed us, its axis is so nearlystraight that I think, with its internal warmth, there will benothing to fear from cold. Though, on account of the planet'svast size, objects on its surface weigh more than twice as muchas here, if I am able to reach it by means of apergy, the sameforce will enable me to regulate my weight. Will any one go withme?"

  "Splendid!" said Bearwarden. "If Mr. Dumby, our vice-president,will temporarily assume my office, nothing will give me greaterpleasure."

  "So will I go, if there is room for me," said Cortlandt. "I willat once resign my place as Government expert, and consider it thegrandest event of my life."

  "If I were not afraid of leaving Stillman here to his owndevices, I'd ask for a berth as well," said Deepwaters.

  "I am afraid," said Stillman, "if you take any more, you will beovercrowded."

  "Modesty forbids his saying," said Deepwaters, "that it wouldn'tdo for the country to have all its eggs in one basket."

  "Are you not afraid you will find the surface hot, or evenmolten?" asked Vice-President Dumby. "With its eighty-sixthousand five hundred mile diameter, the amount of originalinternal heat must have been terrific."

  "No, said Cortlandt, "it cannot be molten, or even in the leastdegree luminous, for, if it were, its satellites would be visiblewhen they enter its shadow, whereas they entirely disappear."

  "I do not believe Jupiter's surface is even perceptibly warm,"said Bearwarden. "We know that Algol, known to the ancients asthe 'Demon Star,' and several other variable stars, areaccompanied by a dark companion, with which they revolve about acommon centre, and which periodically obscures part of theirlight. Now, some of these non-luminaries are nearly as large asour sun, and, of course, many hundred times the size of Jupiter.If these bodies have lost enough heat to be invisible, Jupiter'ssurface at least must be nearly cold."

  "In the phosphorescence of seawater," said Cortlandt, "and inother instances in Nature, we find light without heat, and we maysoon be able to produce it in the arts by oxidizing coal withoutthe intervention of the steam engine; but we never find anyconsiderable heat without light."

  "I am convinced," said Bearwarden, "that we shall find Jupiterhabitable for intelligent beings who have been developed on amore advanced sphere than itself, though I do not believe it hasprogressed far enough in its evolution to produce them. I expectto find it in its Palaeozoic or Mesozoic period, while over ahundred years ago the English astronomer, Chambers, thought thaton Saturn there was good reason for suspecting the presence ofsnow."

  "What sort of spaceship do you propose to have?" asked thevice-president.

  "As you have to pass through but little air," said Deepwaters, "Ishould suggest a short-stroke cylinder of large diameter, with aflat base and dome roof, composed of aluminum, or, still better,of glucinum or beryllium as it is sometimes called, which istwice as good a conductor of electricity as aluminum, four timesas strong, and is the lightest of all known metals, having aspecific gravity of only two, which last property will be ofgreat use to you, for of course the more weight you have topropel the more apergetic repulsion you will have to develop."

  "I will get some drawing-paper I left outside in my trap," saidAyrault, "when with your ideas we may arrive at somethingdefinite," saying which, he left the room.

  "He seems very cynical in his ideas of life and the world ingeneral," said Secretary Stillman, "for a man of his age, and onethat is engaged."

  "You see," replied Bearwarden, "his fiancee is not yet a senior,being in the class of two thousand and one at Vassar, and socannot marry him for a year. Not till next June can this sweetgirl graduate come forth with her mortar-board and sheepskin toenlighten the world and make him happy. That is, I suspect, onereason why he proposed this trip."