32 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



orbs ;' or whether, like the author of the ' Neue Eeisen 

 in den Mond, in die Sonne, &c.,' he obtained his 

 information through the agency of clairvoyance ; or, 

 lastly, whether spiritualistic communications from 

 departed astronomers are here in question. According 

 to the ideas which the readers of these lines may 

 severally entertain respecting the manner in which 

 such facts as are here described may have been ascer- 

 tained, they will doubtless decide for themselves among 

 these explanations, and others which may, for aught 

 the writer knows, be available. Nay, there may even be 

 some who may be disposed to regard the whole of what 

 follows as a mere effort of imagination. For his own part 

 the writer must be content to present, without comment 

 or explanation, the information which has reached him ; 

 there are, indeed, some circumstances in the account 

 which he could not explain if he would. It will be 

 noticed that from time to time the narrator refers to 

 explanatory communications having reference to the 

 real nature of the voyage. These communications 

 belong to the details, which it is not desirable to enter 

 upon at present.] 



Our voyage commenced shortly before noon on 

 January 9, of the year 1872. As we started from the 

 central part of London or, to be more particular, 

 from the rooms of the Astronomical Society in Somerset 

 House, our course was directed, in the first instance, 

 towards a part of the sky lying southwards, and some 

 sixteen degrees above the horizon. From what we have 



