by Jules Verne
CHAPTER XIX
A MONSTER MEETING
On the following day Barbicane, fearing that indiscreetquestions might be put to Michel Ardan, was desirous of reducingthe number of the audience to a few of the initiated, his owncolleagues for instance. He might as well have tried tocheck the Falls of Niagara! he was compelled, therefore, togive up the idea, and let his new friend run the chances of apublic conference. The place chosen for this monster meetingwas a vast plain situated in the rear of the town. In a fewhours, thanks to the help of the shipping in port, an immenseroofing of canvas was stretched over the parched prairie, andprotected it from the burning rays of the sun. There threehundred thousand people braved for many hours the stifling heatwhile awaiting the arrival of the Frenchman. Of this crowd ofspectators a first set could both see and hear; a second set sawbadly and heard nothing at all; and as for the third, it couldneither see nor hear anything at all. At three o'clock MichelArdan made his appearance, accompanied by the principal membersof the Gun Club. He was supported on his right by PresidentBarbicane, and on his left by J. T. Maston, more radiant thanthe midday sun, and nearly as ruddy. Ardan mounted a platform,from the top of which his view extended over a sea of black hats.
He exhibited not the slightest embarrassment; he was just asgay, familiar, and pleasant as if he were at home. To thehurrahs which greeted him he replied by a graceful bow; then,waving his hands to request silence, he spoke in perfectlycorrect English as follows:
"Gentlemen, despite the very hot weather I request your patiencefor a short time while I offer some explanations regarding theprojects which seem to have so interested you. I am neither anorator nor a man of science, and I had no idea of addressing youin public; but my friend Barbicane has told me that you wouldlike to hear me, and I am quite at your service. Listen to me,therefore, with your six hundred thousand ears, and pleaseexcuse the faults of the speaker. Now pray do not forget thatyou see before you a perfect ignoramus whose ignorance goes sofar that he cannot even understand the difficulties! It seemedto him that it was a matter quite simple, natural, and easyto take one's place in a projectile and start for the moon!That journey must be undertaken sooner or later; and, as for themode of locomotion adopted, it follows simply the law of progress.Man began by walking on all-fours; then, one fine day, on twofeet; then in a carriage; then in a stage-coach; and lastlyby railway. Well, the projectile is the vehicle of the future,and the planets themselves are nothing else! Now some of you,gentlemen, may imagine that the velocity we propose to impart toit is extravagant. It is nothing of the kind. All the starsexceed it in rapidity, and the earth herself is at this momentcarrying us round the sun at three times as rapid a rate, andyet she is a mere lounger on the way compared with many othersof the planets! And her velocity is constantly decreasing.Is it not evident, then, I ask you, that there will some day appearvelocities far greater than these, of which light or electricitywill probably be the mechanical agent?
"Yes, gentlemen," continued the orator, "in spite of theopinions of certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up thehuman race upon this globe, as within some magic circle which itmust never outstep, we shall one day travel to the moon, theplanets, and the stars, with the same facility, rapidity, andcertainty as we now make the voyage from Liverpool to New York!Distance is but a relative expression, and must end by beingreduced to zero."
The assembly, strongly predisposed as they were in favor of theFrench hero, were slightly staggered at this bold theory.Michel Ardan perceived the fact.
"Gentlemen," he continued with a pleasant smile, "you do notseem quite convinced. Very good! Let us reason the matter out.Do you know how long it would take for an express train to reachthe moon? Three hundred days; no more! And what is that?The distance is no more than nine times the circumference ofthe earth; and there are no sailors or travelers, of evenmoderate activity, who have not made longer journeys than thatin their lifetime. And now consider that I shall be only ninety-seven hours on my journey. Ah! I see you are reckoning that themoon is a long way off from the earth, and that one must thinktwice before making the experiment. What would you say, then,if we were talking of going to Neptune, which revolves at adistance of more than two thousand seven hundred and twentymillions of miles from the sun! And yet what is that comparedwith the distance of the fixed stars, some of which, such as Arcturus,are billions of miles distant from us? And then you talk of thedistance which separates the planets from the sun! And thereare people who affirm that such a thing as distance exists.Absurdity, folly, idiotic nonsense! Would you know what I thinkof our own solar universe? Shall I tell you my theory? It isvery simple! In my opinion the solar system is a solidhomogeneous body; the planets which compose it are in actualcontact with each other; and whatever space exists between themis nothing more than the space which separates the molecules ofthe densest metal, such as silver, iron, or platinum! I havethe right, therefore, to affirm, and I repeat, with theconviction which must penetrate all your minds, `Distance isbut an empty name; distance does not really exist!'"
"Hurrah!" cried one voice (need it be said it was that ofJ. T. Maston). "Distance does not exist!" And overcome by theenergy of his movements, he nearly fell from the platform tothe ground. He just escaped a severe fall, which would haveproved to him that distance was by no means an empty name.
"Gentlemen," resumed the orator, "I repeat that the distancebetween the earth and her satellite is a mere trifle, andundeserving of serious consideration. I am convinced thatbefore twenty years are over one-half of our earth will havepaid a visit to the moon. Now, my worthy friends, if you haveany question to put to me, you will, I fear, sadly embarrass apoor man like myself; still I will do my best to answer you."
Up to this point the president of the Gun Club had beensatisfied with the turn which the discussion had assumed.It became now, however, desirable to divert Ardan fromquestions of a practical nature, with which he was doubtlessfar less conversant. Barbicane, therefore, hastened to get ina word, and began by asking his new friend whether he thoughtthat the moon and the planets were inhabited.
"You put before me a great problem, my worthy president,"replied the orator, smiling. "Still, men of great intelligence,such as Plutarch, Swedenborg, Bernardin de St. Pierre, andothers have, if I mistake not, pronounced in the affirmative.Looking at the question from the natural philosopher's point ofview, I should say that nothing useless existed in the world;and, replying to your question by another, I should venture toassert, that if these worlds are habitable, they either are,have been, or will be inhabited."
"No one could answer more logically or fairly," replied thepresident. "The question then reverts to this: Are theseworlds habitable? For my own part I believe they are."
"For myself, I feel certain of it," said Michel Ardan.
"Nevertheless," retorted one of the audience, "there are manyarguments against the habitability of the worlds. The conditionsof life must evidently be greatly modified upon the majorityof them. To mention only the planets, we should be eitherbroiled alive in some, or frozen to death in others, accordingas they are more or less removed from the sun."
"I regret," replied Michel Ardan, "that I have not the honor ofpersonally knowing my contradictor, for I would have attemptedto answer him. His objection has its merits, I admit; but Ithink we may successfully combat it, as well as all others whichaffect the habitability of other worlds. If I were a naturalphilosopher, I would tell him that if less of caloric were setin motion upon the planets which are nearest to the sun, andmore, on the contrary, upon those which are farthest removedfrom it, this simple fact would alone suffice to equalize theheat, and to render the temperature of those worlds supportableby beings organized like ourselves. If I were a naturalist,I would tell him that, according to some illustrious men ofscience, nature has furnished us with instances upon the earthof animals existing under very varying conditions of life;that fish respire in a medium fatal to other animals; thatamphibious creatures poss
ess a double existence very difficultof explanation; that certain denizens of the seas maintain lifeat enormous depths, and there support a pressure equal to thatof fifty or sixty atmospheres without being crushed; thatseveral aquatic insects, insensible to temperature, are met withequally among boiling springs and in the frozen plains of thePolar Sea; in fine, that we cannot help recognizing in nature adiversity of means of operation oftentimes incomprehensible, butnot the less real. If I were a chemist, I would tell him thatthe aerolites, bodies evidently formed exteriorly of ourterrestrial globe, have, upon analysis, revealed indisputabletraces of carbon, a substance which owes its origin solely toorganized beings, and which, according to the experiments ofReichenbach, must necessarily itself have been endued withanimation. And lastly, were I a theologian, I would tell himthat the scheme of the Divine Redemption, according to St. Paul,seems to be applicable, not merely to the earth, but to all thecelestial worlds. But, unfortunately, I am neither theologian,nor chemist, nor naturalist, nor philosopher; therefore, in myabsolute ignorance of the great laws which govern the universe,I confine myself to saying in reply, `I do not know whether theworlds are inhabited or not: and since I do not know, I am goingto see!'"
Whether Michel Ardan's antagonist hazarded any further argumentsor not it is impossible to say, for the uproarious shouts of thecrowd would not allow any expression of opinion to gain a hearing.On silence being restored, the triumphant orator contented himselfwith adding the following remarks:
"Gentlemen, you will observe that I have but slightly touchedupon this great question. There is another altogether differentline of argument in favor of the habitability of the stars,which I omit for the present. I only desire to call attentionto one point. To those who maintain that the planets are _not_inhabited one may reply: You might be perfectly in the right,if you could only show that the earth is the best possibleworld, in spite of what Voltaire has said. She has but _one_satellite, while Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune have eachseveral, an advantage by no means to be despised. But thatwhich renders our own globe so uncomfortable is the inclinationof its axis to the plane of its orbit. Hence the inequality ofdays and nights; hence the disagreeable diversity of the seasons.On the surface of our unhappy spheroid we are always either toohot or too cold; we are frozen in winter, broiled in summer;it is the planet of rheumatism, coughs, bronchitis; while on thesurface of Jupiter, for example, where the axis is but slightlyinclined, the inhabitants may enjoy uniform temperatures.It possesses zones of perpetual springs, summers, autumns, andwinters; every Jovian may choose for himself what climate helikes, and there spend the whole of his life in security fromall variations of temperature. You will, I am sure, readilyadmit this superiority of Jupiter over our own planet, to saynothing of his years, which each equal twelve of ours!Under such auspices and such marvelous conditions of existence,it appears to me that the inhabitants of so fortunate a worldmust be in every respect superior to ourselves. All we require,in order to attain such perfection, is the mere trifle of havingan axis of rotation less inclined to the plane of its orbit!"
"Hurrah!" roared an energetic voice, "let us unite our efforts,invent the necessary machines, and rectify the earth's axis!"
A thunder of applause followed this proposal, the author ofwhich was, of course, no other than J. T. Maston. And, in allprobability, if the truth must be told, if the Yankees couldonly have found a point of application for it, they would haveconstructed a lever capable of raising the earth and rectifyingits axis. It was just this deficiency which baffled thesedaring mechanicians.
