198 



NATURE 



{Jan. 10, 1878 



there has been no attempt made to reach the vraisemblable ; 

 indeed in most cases there has not been sufficient know- 

 ledge on the part of the author to connect his catastrophe 

 either with any law or the breaking of one. But with Jules 

 Verne for once grant the possibility of his chief incident, 

 and all the surroundings are secundem artem. The time 

 at which the projectile was to be shot out of the columbiad 

 towards the moon was correctly fixed on true astronomical 

 grounds, and the boy who follows its flight will have 

 a more concrete idea of, and interest in, what gravity 

 is and does, possibly, than if he were to read half-a- 

 dozen text-books in the ordinary way. Once grant the 

 submarine vessel and the use made of electricity, and the 

 various scenes through which the strange ship passes are 

 sketched by no 'prentice hand. To take the most extreme 

 case, if it be possible to imagine one in such a connection — 

 Algeria torn from the earth by a comet and started on an 

 orbit of its own ; the astronomical phenomena have been 

 most carefully thought out, and children of larger growth 

 will, if they choose, find much to learn as well as to amuse 

 them. Indeed it is very rare that one finds our author 

 tripping in such matters, although he does sometimes. 

 One case that occurs tons is when, in the "Fur Country,'' 

 he refers to the midnight sun touching the edges of the 

 western horizon without dipping beneath it > and even this 

 may be due to the translator, for we have not the original 

 French edition to refer to. 



Thus much premised let us see how, in " Hector 

 Servadac," his last work, the author attempts, as part of 

 his task, to inculcate scientific truths, remarking that his 

 plot is carefully kept out of view till the end of the volume. 

 He and his faithful servant are stunned by a crash, in 

 •which the earth groaned as if the whole framework of the 

 globe were ruptured, while the sea and air became one, 

 and both glowed in a radiance intenserthan the effulgence 

 of the northern lights. In the midst of a gigantic earth- 

 quake-wave he founa ^he moon's discbecoming much larger 

 than it was before, and a new blazing star appearing sud- 

 denly in the firmament. Strange to say watches, which 

 are not stopped, mark two as the sun rises in the west ! 

 Next point. Their respiration became more forced and 

 rapid, like that of a mountaineer when he has reached an 

 altitude where the pressure of the circumambient air 

 has become reduced ; when they jump they fly. The 

 horizon is contracted. There are more surprises : a 

 strange body (the retreating earth) seems to contend in 

 splendour with the sun ; but the true condition of affairs 

 has not revealed itself yet, for he is anxious to go and 

 look for his fellow-men ; en attendant, however, they 

 must eat. 



" ' By jingo ! * he exclaimed, '■ this is a precious hot fire.' 

 Servadac reflected. In a few minutes he said : — 



" ' It cannot be that the fire is hotter, the peculiarity 

 must be in the water.' 



" And, taking down a centigrade thermometer which he 

 had hung upon the wall, he plunged it into the skillet. 

 Instead of 100° he found that the instrument registered 

 only 66°. 



" ' Take my advice, Ben Zoof,' he said ; ' leave your 

 eggs in the saucepan a good quarter of an hour.'" 



So much for the careful treatment of the first forty 

 pages. At last the truth dawns upon Hector, and he 

 finds others on the newly torn-off fragment, including 

 even the very astronomer who predicted the comet. 



A new point in favour of the metric system is here in- 

 troduced ; for our astronomer, anxious to determine the 

 density and mass of Gallia, as the fragment bad now 

 been named (this is more pardonable than Gallium), finds 

 that not only the metre of the archives, but all other 

 measures whatever had disappeared. He shows that — 



10 5-franc pieces 37 mm. in diameter 

 10 2-franc ,, 27 mm. ,, 

 20 50-cent. ,, 18 mm. ,, 



exactly make a metre. 



A German Jew (M. Verne has his ideas of the different 

 nationalities) is made to lend this sum at an enormous 

 rate of interest, and the experiment proceeds. 



"By the appointed time the engineer had finished his 

 task, and with all due care had prepared a cubic deci- 

 metre of the material of the comet. 



" ' Now, gentlemen,' said the Prof. Rosette, ' we are in 

 a position to complete our calculations ; we can now 

 arrive at Gallia's attraction, density, and mass.' 



" Every one gave him their complete attention. 



" ' Before I proceed,' he resumed, ' I must recall to your 

 minds Newton's general law, "that the attraction of two 

 bodies is directly proportional to the product of their 

 masses, and inversely proportional to the square of their 

 distances." ' 



"' Yes, then,' continued the professar, ' keep " 



" * Yes,' said Servadac ; ' we remember that.' 



" ' Well, then,' continued the professor, ' keep it in mind 

 for a few minutes now. Look here ! In this bag are 

 forty five-franc pieces — altogether they weigh exactly a 

 kilogramme, by which I mean that if we were on the 

 earth, and I were to hang the bag on the hook of the 

 steel yard, the indicator on the dial would register one 

 kilogramme ; this is clear enough, I suppose ? ' 



" As he spoke the professor designedly kept his eyes 

 fixed upon Ben Zoof. He was avowedly following the 

 example of Arago, who was accustomed always in lecturing 

 to watch the countenance of the least intelligent of his 

 audience, and when he felt he had made his meaning 

 clear to him, be concluded that he must have succeeded 

 with all the rest. In this case, however, it was technical 

 ignorance, rather than any lack of intelligence, that justi- 

 fied the selection of the object of this special attention. 



" Satisfied with his scrutiny of B^'n Zoof's face, the pro- 

 fessor went on : — 



" ' And now, gentlemen, we have to see what these coins 

 weigh here upon Gallia.' 



" He suspended the money bag to the hook; the needle 

 oscillated, and stopped. 



" * Read it off ! ' he said. 



" The weight registered was one hundred and thirty- 

 three grammes. 



"'There, gentlemen, one hundred and thirty-three 

 grammes ! Less than one-seventh of a kilogramme ! 

 You see, consequently, that the force of gravity here on 

 Gallia is not one-seventh of what it is upon the earth ! ' 



"'Interesting!' cried Servadac, 'most interesting 

 But let us go on and compute the mass.' 



" ' No, captain, the density first,' said Rosette. 



" ' Certainly,' said the lieutenant ; ' for, as we already 

 know the volume, we can determine the mass as soon as 

 we have ascertained the density.' 



" The professor took up the cube of rock. 



" * You know what this is,' he went on to say. ' You 

 know, gentlemen, that the block is a cube hewn from the 

 substance of which everywhere, all throughout your 



' " On this subject an amusing anecdote is related by the lUustrious astro- 

 nomer himselt. One day, just after he had been aUuding to th s, as his 

 usual hafcit, a young man entered the room, and feeling sure the lecturer 

 knew him well, sa uced him accordingly. ' I regret 1 have not the pleasure 

 of your acquaintance,' said M. Arago. ' You surprise me,' replied the 

 young student. ' Not oniy am I most regular in my attendance at your 

 lectnres, but you never take your eyes off me from the beginning to the 

 end.'" 



