:Stti CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Hkude Gillettre CORNELL UNIVERS TY LIBRARY III 924 086 273 913 All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE 9 onni \ %^\ GAYLORD PRirfTEDINU-SA Projectile trains for the moon. The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924086273913 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT BY JULES VERNE ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1905 3CJO CONTENTS FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON CHAPTER PAGE I. The Gun Club i II. President Barbicane's Communication . 8 III. Eefect of the President's Communication 15 IV. Reply from the Observatory of Cambridge 19 V. The Romance of the Moon .... 23 VI. The Permissive Limits of Ignorance and Belief in the United States ... 28 VII. The Hymn of the Cannon-Ball ... 33 VIII. History of the Cannon 40 IX. The Question of the Powders ... 44 X. One Enemy v. Twenty-five Millions of Friends 49 XI. Florida and Texas 54 XII. Urbi et Orbi 59 XIII. Stones Hill 65 XIV. Pickaxe and Trowel 70 XV. The Fete of the Casting . . . . 75 XVI. The Columbiad 80 XVII. A Telegraphic Despatch 85 XVIII. The Passenger of the "Atlanta" . . 86 XIX. A Monster Meeting 92 XX. Attack and Riposte 99 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE XXI. How A Frenchman Manages an Affair . . io8 XXII. The New Citken of the United States . 117 XXIII. The Projectile Vehicle 122 XXIV. The Telescope of the Rocky Moltntains . 125 XXV. Final Details 120 XXVI. Fire! 133 XXVII. Foul Weather 138 XXVIII. A New Star 141 ROUND THE MOON preliminary chapter Recapitulatory 145 CHAPTER I. From Twenty Minutes Past Ten to Forty- seven Minutes Past Ten p.m. . . .151 II. The First Half-hour 157 III. Their Place of Shelter 160 rV. A Little Algebra . ... . . . j^g V. The Cold of Space 185 VI. Question and Answer 104 VII. A Moment of Intoxication .... 202 VIII. At Seventy-eight Thousand Five Hundred AND Fourteen Leagues 212 IX. The Consequences of a Deviation . . 221 X. The Observers of the Moon . . . 228 XI. Fancy and Reality 232 XII. Orographic Details 236 XIII. Lunar Landscapes 24, CONTENTS. VH CHAPTER PAGE XIV. The Night of Three Hundred and Fiety- EOUR Hours and a half . . . -251 XV. Hyperbola or Parabola 260 XVI. The Southern Hemisphere .... 270 XVII. Tycho 273 XVIII. Grave Questions 281 XIX. A Struggle Against the Impossible . . 289 XX. The Soundings of the "Susquehanna" . 299 XXI. J. T. Maston Recalled 305 XXII. Recovered from the Sea 312 XXIII. The End 320 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Projectile trains for the moon Frontispiece PACING PAGE President Barbicane lo Ideal sketch of J. T. Maston's gun 42 Tampa town after the undertaking 82 Fire 136 The director at his post 140 They raised Barbicane . 160 The sun chose to be of the party ... .172 'I could have ventured out on the top of the projectile" . 206 The telescope at Parsontown 228 "It is the fault of the moon" 252 A. few feet nearer 304 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON CHAPTER I. THE GUN CLUB. DuEiNG the "War of the Rebellion, a new and influential club was established in the city of Baltimore in the State of Mary- land. It is well known with what energy the taste for military matters became developed amongst that nation of ship-owners, shopkeepers, and mechanics. Simple tradesmen jumped their counters to become extemporized captains, colonels, and gen- erals, without having ever passed the School of Instruction at West Point: nevertheless, they quickly rivalled their compeers of the old continent, and, like them, carried off victories by dint of lavish expenditure in ammunition, money, and men. But the point in which the Americans singularly distanced the Europeans was in the science of gunnery. Not, indeed, that their weapons retained a higher degree of perfection than theirs, but that they exhibited unheard-of dimensions, and consequently attained hitherto unheard-of ranges. In point of grazing, plung- ing, oblique, or enfilading, or point-blank firing, the English, French, and FruBsians have nothing to learn; but their cannon, hoitifzers, and mortars are mere pocket-pistols compared with the formidable engines of the American artillery. FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. This fact need surprise no one. The Yankees, the first me- chanicians in the world, are engineers — -just as the Italians are musicians and the Germans metaphysicians — by right of birth Nothing is moi'e natural, therefore, than to perceive them applying their audacious ingenuity to the science of gunnery. Witness the marvels of Parrott, Dahlgren, and Eodman. Ihe Ai-mstrong, Palliser, and Beaulieu guns were compelled to bow before their ti'ansatlantic rivals. Now when an American has an idea, he directly seeks a second American to share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries. Given four, they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready for work; five, they convene a general meeting, and the club is fully constituted. So things were managed in Baltimore. The inventor of a new cannon associated himself with the caster and the borer. Thus was formed the nucleus of the " Gun Club." In a single month after its forma- tion it numbered 1833 effective members and 30,563 corre- sponding members. One condition was imposed as a sitie gud non upon every can- didate fc^ admission into the association, and that was the condition of having designed, or (more or less) perfected a cannon; or, in default of a cannon, at least a fire-arm of some description. It may, however, be mentioned that mere inventions of revolvers, five-shooting carbines, and similar small arms, me*^ with but little consideration. ArtUlerists always commanded the chief place of favour. The estimation in which these gentlemen were held, according to one of the most scientific exponents of the Gun Club, was " proportional to the masses of their guns, and in the direct ratio of the square of the distances attained by their projectiles." The Gun Club once founded, it is easy to conceive the result of the inventive genius of the Americans. Their military weapons attained colossal proportions, and their projectiles, ex- ceeding the prescribed limits, unfortunately occasionally c it in THE GUN CLUB. two some unoffending pedestrians. These inventions, in fact, left far in the rear tlie timid instruments of European artil- leiy. It is but fair to add that these Yankees, bra\'e as they have ever proved themselves to be, did not confine themselves to theories and formula;, but that they paid heavily, in propriA persond, for their inventions. Amongst them were to he counted ofiScers of all ranks, from lieutenants to generals; military men of every age, from those who were just making their debut in the profession of arms up to those who had grown old on the gun- carriage. Mary had found their rest on the field of battle whose names figured in the " Book of Honour " of the Gun Club ; and of those who made good their return the greater proportion bore the marks of their indisputable valour. Crutches, wooden legs, arti ficial arms, steel hooks, caoutchouc jaws, silver craniums, pla- tinum noses, were all to be found in the collection; and it was calculated by the great statistician Pitcairn that throughout the Gun Club there was not quite one arm between four persons, and exactly two legs between six. Nevertheless, these valiant artillerists took no particular account of these little facts, and felt justly proud when the despatches of a battle returned the number of victims at tenfold the quantity of the projectiles expended. One day, however — sad and melancholy day ! — peace was signed between the survivors of the war; the thunder of the guns gi-adually ceased, the mortars were silent, the howitzers were muzzled for an indefinite period, the cannon, with muzzles depressed, were returned into the arsenal, the shot were replied, all bloody reminiscences were effaced; the cotton-plants grow luxuriantly in the well-manured fields, all mourning garments were laid aside, together with grief j and the Gun Club was relegated to profound inactivity. Some few of the more advanced and inveterate theorists set themselves again to work upon calculations regarding the laws of B 2 FEOM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. projectiles. They reverted invariably to gigantic shells and howitzers of unparalleled calibre. Still, in default of practical experience, what was the value of mere theories ? Consequently, the club-rooms became deserted, the servants dozed in the ante- chambers, the newspapers grew mouldy on the tables, sounds of snoring came from dark corners, and the members of the Gun Club, erstwhile so noisy in their seances, were reduced to silence by this disastrous peace and gave themselves up wholly to dreams of a Platouic kind of artillery. "This is horrible!" said Tom Hunter one evening, -while rapidly carbonizing his wooden legs in the fire-place of the smoking-room ; " nothing to do ! nothing to look forward to .' what a loathsome existence ! When again shall the guns arouse us in the morning with their delightful reports?" " Those days are gone by," said jolly Bilsby, trying to extend his missing arms. " It was delightful once upon a time ! One invented a gun, and hardly was it cast, when one hastened to try it in the face of the enemy ! Then one retui-ned to camp with a word of encouragement from Sherman or a friendly shake of the hand from M'Clellan. But now the generals atC gone back to their counters; and in place of projectiles, they despatch bales of cotton. By Jove, the future of gunnery in America is lost! " " Ay I and no war in prospect ! " continued the famous James T. Maston, scratching with his steel hook his gutta percha cranium. " Not a cloud in the horizon ! and that too at such a critical period in the progress of the science of artillery ! Yes, gentlemen I I who address you have myself this very morning perfected a model (plan, section, elevation, &c.) of a mortar destined to change all the conditions of warfare I " "No! is it possible?" replied Tom Hunter, his thoughts reverting involuntarily to a former invention of the Hon. J. T. Maston, by which, at its first trial, he had succeeded in killing three hundred and thirty-seven people. THE GUN CLUB. "Fact I" replied he. "Still, vfha.t is the use of so manj studies worked out, so many difficulties vanquished ? It's mere waste of time ! The New World seems to have made up its mind to live in peace; and our bellicose Tribune predicts some approach- ing catastrophes arising out of this scandalous increase of popu- lation." " Nevertheless," replied Colonel Blomsberry, " they are always struggling in Europe to maintain the principle of nalionali ties." "Well?" " Well, there might be some field for enterprise down there; and if they would accept our services — " " What are you dreaming of?" screamed Bilsby; " work at gun- nery for the benefit of foreigners ?" " That would be better than doing nothing here," returned the colonel. "Quite so," said J. T. Maston; "but still we need not dream of that expedient." " And why not ? " demanded the colonel. " Because their ideas of progress in the Old World are contrary to our American habits of thought. Those fellows believe that one can't become a general without having served first as an ensign; which is as much as to say that one can't point a gun without having first cast it oneself!" " Ridiculous ! " replied Tom Hunter, whittling with his bowie- knife the arms of his easy-chair; "but if that be the case there, aU that is left for us is to plant tobacco and distil whale- oil." " What ! " roared J. T. Maston, " shall we not employ these remaining years of our life in perfecting fire-arms ? Shall there never be a fresh opportunity of trying the ranges of projectiles ? Shall the air never again be lighted with the glare of our guns ? No international difllculty ever arise to enable us to declare war against some transatlantic power ? Shall not the French sink one FROM THE EARTH TO THE UOON. of our steamers, or the Englisli, in defiance of the rights ol nations, hang a few of our countrymen ? " "No such luck," replied Colonel Blomsberry; "nothing of the kind is likely to happen; and even if it did, we should not profit by it. American susceptibility is fast declining, and we are all going to the dogs." " It is too true," replied J. T. Maston, with fresh violence; " there are a thousand grounds for fighting, and yet we don't fight. We save up our arms and legs for the benefit of nations who don't know what to do with them! But stop — without going out of one's way to find a cause for war — did not North America once belong to the English ? " " Undoubtedly," replied Tom Hunter, stamping his crutch with fury. " Well then," replied J. T. Maston, "why should not England in her turn belong to the Americans ? " " It would be but just and fair," returned Colonel Blomsberry, " Go and propose it to the Pi-esident of the United Slates," cried J. T. Maston, " and see how he will receive you." " Bah ! " growled Bilsby between the four teeth which the war had left him; " that will never do I " " By Jove ! " cried J. T. Maston, " he mustn't count on my vote at the next election! " " Nor on ours," replied unanimously aU the bellicose in- valids. " Meanwhile," replied J. T. M., " allow me to say that, if I can- not get an opportunity to tiy my new mortars on a real field of battle, I shall say good-bye to the members of the Gun Club, and go and bury myself in the prairies of Arkansas 1 " " In that case we will accompany you," cried the others. Matters were in this unfortunate condition, and the club was threatened with approaching dissolution, when an unexpected circumstance occurred to prevent so deplorable a catastrophe. On the morrow after this conversation every membr' of the THE GUN CLUB. association received a sealed circular couched in the following terms:— " BAirmoBE, Oct. S. " The President of the Gun Clnb has the honour to inform his ooUeaguea that, at the meeting of the oth instant, be will bring before them a com- munication of an extremely interesting nature. He requests, therefore, that they will make it convenient to attend in accordance with the present iuTitatiou. — ^Very cordi&Uy " Utrai BlBBIOANE, P.G.O." CHAPTER II PRESIDENT BARBICANE'S COMMUJnCATIOJT. Osr the 5th of October, at 8 p.m., a dense crowd pressed towards the saloons of the Gun Club at No. 21, Union Square. All the members of the association resident in Baltimore attended the invitation of their president. As regards the corresponding mem - bars, notices were delivered by hundreds throughout the streets of the city, and, large as was the great hall, it was quite inadequate to accommodate the crowd of savants. They overflowed into the adjoining rooms, down the narrow passages, into the outer court- yards. There they ran against the vulgar herd who pressed up to the doors, each struggling to reach the front ranks, all eager to learn the nature of the important communication oi President Barbicane ; all pushing, squeezing, crushing with that perfect freedom of action which is peculiar to the masses when educated in ideas of " self-government." On that evening a stranger who might have chanced to be in Baltimore could not have gained admission for love or money into the great hall. That was reserved exclusively for resident or corresponding members ; no one else could possibly have obtained a place ; and the city magnates, municipal councillors, and " select men " were compelled to mingle with the mere townspeople in order to catch stray bits of news from the interior, Nevertheless the vast hall presented a curious spectacle. Its immense area was singularly adapted to the purpose. Lofty pillars formed of cannon, superposed upon huge mortars as a baso, BUpported the fine ironwork of the arches, a perfect piece of cast- PRESIDENT BARBICANE'S COMMUNICATION. 9 iron lacework. Trophies of blnnderbuses, matchlocks, arquebusoR, carbines, all kinds of fire-arms, ancient and modem, weie pic- turesquely interlaced against the walls. The gas lit up in full glare myriads of revolvers grouped in the form of lustres, ■whilst groups of pistols, and candelabra formed of muskets bound together, completed this magnificent display of brilliance. Models of cannon, bronze castings, sights covered with dents, plates battered by the shots of the Gun Club, assortments of rammers and sponges, chaplets of shells, wreaths of projectiles, garlands of howitzers — in short, all the apparatus of the artillerist, en- chanted the eye by this wonderful arrangement and induced i kind of belief that their real purpose was ornamental rather than deadly. At the further end of the saloon the president, assisted by foui secretaries, occupied a large platform. His chair, supported by u carved gun-carriage, was modelled upon the ponderous propor- tions of a 32-inch mortar. It was pointed at an angle of ninety degrees, and suspended upon trunnions, so that the president could balance himself upon it as upon a rocking-chair, a very agreeable fact in the very hot weather. Upon the table (a huge iron plate supported upon six carronnades) stood an inkstand of exquisite elegance, made of a beautifully chased Spanish piece, and a sonnette, which, when required, could give forth a repoi-t equal to that of a revolver. During violent debates this novel kind of bell scarcely sufficed to drown the clamour of these excitable artillerists. In front of the table benches arranged in zigzag form, like the circumvallations of a retrenchment, foiTned a succession of bastions and curtains set apart for the use of the members of the club ; and on this especial evening one might say, " All the world was on the ramparts." The president was sufiiciently well known, however, for all to be assured that he would not put his col- leagues to discomfort without some vei-y strong motive. Impey Barbicane was a man of forty years of age, calm, cold. lO FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. iustere ; of a singularly serious and self-contained deraeanouTj punctual as a chronometer, of imperturbable temper and immoT- able character ; by no means chivalrous, yet adventurous withal, and always bringing practical ideas to bear upon the very rashest enterprises ; an essentially New-Englander, a Northern colonist, a descendant of the old anti-Stuart Eonndheads, and the implar cable enemy of the gentlemen of the South, those ancient Cava, liers of the mother-country. In a word, he was a Yankee to the backbone. Barbicane had made a large fortune as a timber-merchant. Being nominated Director of Artillery during the war, he proved himself fertile in invention. Bold in his conceptions, he contri buted powerfully to the progress of that arm and gave an immense impetus to experimental researches. He was a personage of the middle height, having, by a rare exception in the Gun Club, all his limbs complete. His strongly, marked features seemed drawn by square and rule j and if it be true that, in order to judge of a man's character one must look at his profile, Barbicane, so examined, exhibited the most certain indications of energy, audacity, and sang-froid. At this moment he was sitting in his armchair, silent, absorbed, lost in reflection, sheltered under his high-crowned hat — a kind of black silk cylinder which always seems firmly screwed upon the head of an American. Just when the deep-toned clock in the great hall struck eight, Barbicane, as if he had been set in motion by a spring, raised himself up. A profound silence ensued, and the speaker, in a somewhat emphatic tone of voice, commenced as follows : " My brave colleagues, too long already a paralyzing peace has plunged the members of the Gun Club in deplorable inactivity. After a period of years full of incidents we have been compelled to abandon our labours, and to stop short on the road of progress. I do not hesitate to state, boldly, that any war which should recall us to arms would be welcome ! " ( Tremendous applavM ! ) !li|i|||||ifjii|i|t|f <« President Barbicane. PRESroENT BAEBICANE'S COMMUNICATION. II " But -wax, gentlemen, is impossible under existing circntn^ stances ; and, however we may desire it, many years may elapse before our cannon shall again thunder in the field of battle. We must make up our minds, then, to seek in another train of ideas some field for the activity which we all pine for." The meeting felt that the president was now approaching the critical point, and redoubled their attention accordingly. " For some months past, my brave colleagues," continued Bar- bic.ine, " I have been asking myself whether, while confining our- selves to our own particular objects, we could not enter upon some grand experiment worthy of the nineteenth century; and whether the progress of artilleiy science would not enable us to carry it out to a successful issue. I have been considering, working, calculating; and the result of my studies is the con- viction that we are safe to succeed in an enterprise which to any other country would appear wholly impracticable. This project, the result of long elaboration, is the object of my present cotiimu- nication. It is worthy of yourselves, worthy of the antecedents of the Gun Club; and it cannot fail to make some noise in the world." A thrill of excitement ran through the meeting. Barbicane, having by a rapid movement firmly fixed his hat upon his head, calmly continued his harangue:^ " There is no one among you, my brave colleagues, who has not seen the Moon, or, at least, heard speak of it. Don't be sur- prised if I am about to discourse to you regarding this Queen of the Night. It is perhaps reserved for us to become the Colum- bnses of this unknown world. Oniy enter into my plans, acd second me with all your power, and I will lead you to its con- quest, and its name shall bo added to those of the thii'ty-six Slates which compose this Great Union." " Three cheers for the Moon ! " roared the Gun Club, wfth one voice. " The moon, gentlemen, has been carefully stttdied," continued 12 TROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. BarbicRne; "her mass, density, and weight; her constitution, motions, distance, as well as her place in the solar system, have all been exactly determined. Selenographic charts have been con- structed with a perfection which equals, if it does not even sur- pass, that of our terrestrial maps. Photography has given us proofs of the incomparable beauty of our satellite; in short, all is known regarding the moon which mathematical science, astro- nomy, geology, and optics can learn about her. But up to the present moment no direct communication has been established with her." A violent movement of interest and surprise here greeted this ;emark of the speaker. "Permit me," he continued, "to recount to you briefly how certain ardent spirits, starting on imaginary journeys, have pene- trated the secrets of our satellite. In the seventeenth century a certain David Fabricius boasted of having seen with his own eyes the inhabitants of the moon. In 1649 a Frenchman, one Jean Baudoin, published a ' Journey performed from the Earth to the Moon by Domingo Gonzalez,' a Spanish Adventurer. At the same period Cyrano de Bergerao published that celebrated ' Joui'neys in the Moon ' which met with such success in France. Somewhat later another Frenchman, named Fontenelle, wrote ' The Plui-ality of Worlds,' a chef-d'oeuvre of its time. About 1835 a small treatise, translated from the New York American, related how Sir John Herschell, having been despatched to the Cape of Good Hope for the purpose of making there some astro- nomioal calculations, had, by means of a telescope brought to perfection by means of internal lighting, reduced the apparent distance of the moon to eighty yards ! He then distinctly per- ceived caverns frequented by hippopotami, green mountains bordered by golden lace- work, sheep with horns of ivoiy, a white species of deer, and inhabitants with membranous wings, like bats. This brochure, the work of an American named Locke, had a great sale. But, to bring this rapid sketch to a dote, PRESIDENT BARBICANE S COMMUNICATION. 1 3 I will only add that a certain Hans Pfaal, of Eotterdam, launching himself in a balloon filled with a gas extracted from nitrogen, thirty-seven times lighter than hydrogen, reached the moon after a passage of nineteen hours. This journey, like all the previous ones, was purely imaginary; still, it was the work of a popular American author — I mean, Edgar Poe ! " " Cheers for Edgar Poe ! " roared the assemblage, electrified by their president's words. " I have now enumerated," said Barbicane, "the experiments which I call purely paper ones, and wholly insufficient to establish serious relations with the Queen of Night. Nevertheless, I am bound to add that some practical geniuses have attempted to establish actual communication with her. Thus, a few years ago, a German geometrician proposed to send a scientific expedition to the steppes of Siberia. There, on those vast plains, they were to describe enormous geometric figures, drawn in characters of reflecting luminosity, amongst which was the prop, regarding the * square of the hypothenuse,' commonly called the ' Ass's bridge ' by the French. 'Every intelligent being,' said the geometrician, •must understand the scientific meaning of that figure. The Selenites, do they exist, will respond by a similar figure; and, a communication being thus once established, it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall enable us to converse with the inha- bitants of the moon.' So spoke the German geometrician ; but his project was never put into practice, and up to the present day there is no bond in existence between the earth and her satellite. Tf is reserved for the practical genius of Americans to establish a communication with the sidereal world. The means of arriving thither are simple, easy, certain, infallible — and that is the purpose of my present proposal." A storm of acclamations greeted these words. There was not a single person in the whole audience who was not overcome, carried away, lifted out of himself by the speaker's words ! Long continued applause resounded from all sides. 14 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. As soon as the excitement had partially subsided, Barbicaoa resumed his speech in a somewhat graver voice. " You know," said he, " what progress artillery science has made during the last few years, and what a degree of perfection fire-arms of every kind have reached. Moreover, you ai"e well aware that, in general terms, the resisting power of cannon and the expansive force of gunpowder are practically unlimited. Well ! starting from this principle, I ask myself whether, sup- posing sufficient apparatus could be obtained constructed upon the conditions of ascertained resistance, it might not be possible to project a shot up to the moon ? " At these words a murmur of amazement escaped from a thousand pantiag chests ; then succeeded a moment of perfect silence, resembling that profound stillness which precedes the bursting of a thunderstorm. In point of fact, a thunderstorm did peal forth, but it was the thunder of applause, of cries, and of uproar which made the veiy hall tremble. The president at- tempted to speak, but could not. It was fully ten minutes before he could make himself heard. " Suffer me to finish,'' he calmly continued. " I have looked at the question in all its bearings, I have resolutely attacked it, and by incontrovertible calculations I find that a projectile endowed with an initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second, and aimed at the moon, must necessarily reach it. I have the honour, my brave colleagues, to propose a trial of this little experi ment." CHAPTER IIL EFFECT OP. THE PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION. It is impossible to describe the effect produced by the last words of the hon. president — the cries, the shouts, the succession of roars, hurrahs, and all the varied vociferations which the American language is capable of supplying. It was a scene of indescribable confusion and uproar. They shouted, they clapped, they stamped on the floor of the hall. All the weapons in the museum discharged at once could not have more violently set in motion the waves of sound. One need not be surprised at this. There are some cannoneers nearly as noisy as their own guus. Barbioatie remained calm in the midst of this enthusiastic clamour; perhaps he was desirous of addressing a few more words to his colleagues, for by his gestures he demanded silence, and his powerful alarum was worn out by its violent reports. No attention, however, was paid to his request. Ho was presently torn from his seat and passed from the hands of his faithful col- leagues into the arms of a no less excited crowd. Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word " impossible " is not s Fren'ih one. People have evidently been deceived by the dictionary In America, aJ is easy, all is simple ; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise. Between Barbicane'a proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have allowed even the semblance of a difRculty to be possible. A thing with them is no sooner said than done. 1 6 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. The triumphal progress of the president continued throughout the evening. It was a regular torchlight procession. Irish, Ger- mans, French, Scotch, all the heterogeneous units which make up the population of Maryland shouted in their respective vernacu- lars ; and the " vivas," " hurrahs," and " braves ■* were inter- mingled in inexpressible enthusiasm. Just at this crisis, as though she comprehended all this agita- tion regarding herself, the Moon shone forth with serene splendour, eclipsing by her intense illumination all the surrounding lights. The Yankees all turned their gaze towards her resplendent orb, kissed their hands, called her by all kinds of endearing names. Between eight o'clock and midnight one optician in Jones'-Fali Street made his fortune by the sale of opera-glasses. Midnight arrived, and the enthusiasm showed no signs of dimi- nution. It spread equally among all classes of citizens — men of science, shopkeepers, merchants, porters, chair-men, as well as "greenhorns," were stirred in their innermost fibres. A national enterprise was at stake. The whole city, high and low, the quays bordering the Patapsco, the ships lying in the basins, disgorged a crowd drunk with joy, gin, and whisky. Every one chattered, argued, discussed, disputed, applauded, from the gentle- man lounging upon the bai--room settee with his tumbler of sherry-cobbler before him down to the waterman who got drunk upon his " knock-me-down " in the dingy taverns of Fell Point. About 2 a.m., however, the excitement began to subside. President Barbicane reached his house, bruised, crushed, and squeezed almost to a mummy. A Hercules could not have re- sisted a similar outbreak of enthusiasm. The crowd gradually desert