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the top of the projectile, constituted a kind of spring; and the wooden disc,
supplied with extremely powerful plugs, could not strike the lowest plate
except after breaking successively the different partitions. Undoubtedly the
travelers would still have to encounter a violent recoil after the complete
escapement of the water; but the first shock would be almost entirely
destroyed by this powerful spring. The upper parts of the walls were lined
with a thick padding of leather, fastened upon springs of the best steel,
behind which the escape tubes were completely concealed; thus all imaginable
precautions had been taken for averting the first shock; and if they did get
crushed, they must, as Michel Ardan said, be made of very bad materials.
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The entrance into this metallic tower was by a narrow aperture contrived in
the wall of the cone. This was hermetically closed by a plate of aluminum,
fastened internally by powerful screw-pressure. The travelers could therefore
quit their prison at pleasure, as soon as they should reach the moon.
Light and view were given by means of four thick lenticular glass scuttles,
two pierced in the circular wall itself, the third in the bottom, the fourth
in the top. These scuttles then were protected against the shock of departure
by plates let into solid grooves, which could easily be opened outward by
unscrewing them from the inside. Reservoirs firmly fixed contained water and
the necessary provisions; and fire and light were procurable by means of gas,
contained in a special reservoir under a pressure of several atmospheres.
They had only to turn a tap, and for six hours the gas would light and warm
this comfortable vehicle.
There now remained only the question of air; for allowing for the consumption
of air by Barbicane, his two companions, and two dogs which he proposed taking
with him, it was necessary to renew the air of the projectile. Now air
consists principally of twenty-one parts of oxygen and seventy-nine of
nitrogen.
The lungs absorb the oxygen, which is indispensable for the support of life,
and reject the nitrogen. The air expired loses nearly five per cent. of the
former and contains nearly an equal volume of carbonic acid, produced by the
combustion of the elements of the blood. In an air-tight enclosure, then,
after a certain time, all the oxygen of the air will be replaced by the
carbonic acid-- a gas fatal to life. There were two things to be done
FROM EARTH TO THE MOON
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84
then-- first, to replace the absorbed oxygen; secondly, to destroy the expired
carbonic acid; both easy enough to do, by means of chlorate of potassium and
caustic potash. The former is a salt which appears under the form of white
crystals; when raised to a temperature of 400 degrees it is transformed into
chlorure of potassium, and the oxygen which it contains is entirely liberated.
Now twenty-eight pounds of chlorate of potassium produces seven pounds of
oxygen, or 2,400 litres-- the quantity necessary for the travelers during
twenty-four hours.
Caustic potash has a great affinity for carbonic acid; and it is sufficient to
shake it in order for it to seize upon the acid and form bicarbonate of
potassium. By these two means they would be enabled to restore to the
vitiated air its life-
supporting properties.
It is necessary, however, to add that the experiments had hitherto been made
_in anima vili_. Whatever its scientific accuracy was, they were at present
ignorant how it would answer with human beings. The honor of putting it to
the proof was energetically claimed by J. T. Maston.
"Since I am not to go," said the brave artillerist, "I may at least live for a
week in the projectile."
It would have been hard to refuse him; so they consented to his wish. A
sufficient quantity of chlorate of potassium and of caustic potash was placed
at his disposal, together with provisions for eight days. And having shaken
hands with his friends, on the 12th of November, at six o'clock A.M., after
strictly informing them not to open his prison before the 20th, at six o'clock
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P.M., he slid down the projectile, the plate of which was at once hermetically
sealed. What did he do with himself during that week? They could get no
information.
The thickness of the walls of the projectile prevented any sound reaching from
the inside to the outside. On the 20th of November, at six P.M. exactly, the
plate was opened.
The friends of J. T. Maston had been all along in a state of much anxiety; but
they were promptly reassured on hearing a jolly voice shouting a boisterous
hurrah.
Presently afterward the secretary of the Gun Club appeared at the top of the
cone in a triumphant attitude. He had grown fat!
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
On the 20th of October in the preceding year, after the close of the
subscription, the president of the Gun Club had credited the
Observatory of Cambridge with the necessary sums for the
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85
construction of a gigantic optical instrument. This instrument was designed
for the purpose of rendering visible on the surface of the moon any object
exceeding nine feet in diameter.
At the period when the Gun Club essayed their great experiment, such
instruments had reached a high degree of perfection, and produced some
magnificent results. Two telescopes in particular, at this time, were
possessed of remarkable power and of gigantic dimensions. The first,
constructed by Herschel, was thirty-six feet in length, and had an
object-glass of four feet six inches; it possessed a magnifying power of
6,000.
The second was raised in Ireland, in Parsonstown Park, and belongs to Lord
Rosse. The length of this tube is forty-eight feet, and the diameter of its
object-glass six feet; it magnifies 6,400
times, and required an immense erection of brick work and masonry for the
purpose of working it, its weight being twelve and a half tons. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]