THE SUN 253 



ing one another on the journey and uniting their 

 efforts, would not even be enough. " 



Vnd a locomotive, " asked Jules, "how long 

 would it take to get over that distance!" 



"Do you remember how fast it goes?" 



"I saw it myself the day we took the trip with 

 you. If one looks out, the road seems to fly back 

 BO fast it frightens you and makes you dizzy." 



"The locomotive that drew us went at the rate of 

 about ten leagues an hour. Let us suppose a loco- 

 motive that never stops and that goes still faster, or 

 fifteen leagues an hour. Bushing at that speed, the 

 engine would go from one end of France to the other 

 in less than a day; and yet, to cover the distance 

 from the earth to the sun, it would take more than 

 three centuries. For such a journey, the fastest 

 engine ever made by the hand of man is hardly more 

 than a sluggish snail ambitious to make the tour of 

 the word." 



"And I who thought, not long ago," said Emile, 

 "that by climbing to the roof and with the aid of a 

 long reed I could touch the sun!" 



' ' To one who trusts to appearances the sun is only 

 a dazzling disc, at the most as large as a grind- 

 stone." 



"That is what I said yesterday," observed Jules. 

 "But, as it is so far away, it might well be as large 

 as a millstone." 



"In the first place, the sun is not flat like a grind- 

 stone; it has, like tin- <-arth, the shape of a ball. 

 Furthermore, it is much larger than a grindstone, or 

 even than a millstone. 



