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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19362-8.txt b/19362-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..af03b3d --- /dev/null +++ b/19362-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1056 @@ + +Project Gutenberg's In the Year 2889, by Jules Verne and Michel Verne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the Year 2889 + +Author: Jules Verne and Michel Verne + +Release Date: January 2, 2007 [EBook #19362] +[Original version posted on September 23, 2006] +[Last updated: February 7, 2018] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE YEAR 2889 *** + + + + +Produced by Norm Wolcott + + + + + + +IN THE YEAR 2889 + +By Jules Verne and Michel Verne + + + +[Redactor's note: _In the Year 2889_ was first published in the +_Forum_, February, 1889; p. 662. It was published in France the next +year. Although published under the name of Jules Verne, it is now +believed to be chiefly if not entirely the work of Jules' son, Michel +Verne. In any event, many of the topics in the article echo Verne's +ideas.] + + + +IN THE YEAR 2889. + +Little though they seem to think of it, the people of this twenty-ninth +century live continually in fairyland. Surfeited as they are with +marvels, they are indifferent in presence of each new marvel. To them +all seems natural. Could they but duly appreciate the refinements of +civilization in our day; could they but compare the present with the +past, and so better comprehend the advance we have made! How much fairer +they would find our modern towns, with populations amounting sometimes +to 10,000,000 souls; their streets 300 feet wide, their houses 1000 feet +in height; with a temperature the same in all seasons; with their lines +of aërial locomotion crossing the sky in every direction! If they would +but picture to themselves the state of things that once existed, when +through muddy streets rumbling boxes on wheels, drawn by horses--yes, by +horses!--were the only means of conveyance. Think of the railroads of +the olden time, and you will be able to appreciate the pneumatic tubes +through which to-day one travels at the rate of 1000 miles an hour. +Would not our contemporaries prize the telephone and the telephote more +highly if they had not forgotten the telegraph? + +Singularly enough, all these transformations rest upon principles which +were perfectly familiar to our remote ancestors, but which they +disregarded. Heat, for instance, is as ancient as man himself; +electricity was known 3000 years ago, and steam 1100 years ago. Nay, so +early as ten centuries ago it was known that the differences between the +several chemical and physical forces depend on the mode of vibration of +the etheric particles, which is for each specifically different. When at +last the kinship of all these forces was discovered, it is simply +astounding that 500 years should still have to elapse before men could +analyze and describe the several modes of vibration that constitute +these differences. Above all, it is singular that the mode of +reproducing these forces directly from one another, and of reproducing +one without the others, should have remained undiscovered till less than +a hundred years ago. Nevertheless, such was the course of events, for it +was not till the year 2792 that the famous Oswald Nier made this great +discovery. + +Truly was he a great benefactor of the human race. His admirable +discovery led to many another. Hence is sprung a pleiad of inventors, +its brightest star being our great Joseph Jackson. To Jackson we are +indebted for those wonderful instruments the new accumulators. Some of +these absorb and condense the living force contained in the sun's rays; +others, the electricity stored in our globe; others again, the energy +coming from whatever source, as a waterfall, a stream, the winds, etc. +He, too, it was that invented the transformer, a more wonderful +contrivance still, which takes the living force from the accumulator, +and, on the simple pressure of a button, gives it back to space in +whatever form may be desired, whether as heat, light, electricity, or +mechanical force, after having first obtained from it the work required. +From the day when these two instruments were contrived is to be dated +the era of true progress. They have put into the hands of man a power +that is almost infinite. As for their applications, they are numberless. +Mitigating the rigors of winter, by giving back to the atmosphere the +surplus heat stored up during the summer, they have revolutionized +agriculture. By supplying motive power for aërial navigation, they have +given to commerce a mighty impetus. To them we are indebted for the +continuous production of electricity without batteries or dynamos, of +light without combustion or incandescence, and for an unfailing supply +of mechanical energy for all the needs of industry. + +Yes, all these wonders have been wrought by the accumulator and the +transformer. And can we not to them also trace, indirectly, this latest +wonder of all, the great "Earth Chronicle" building in 253d Avenue, +which was dedicated the other day? If George Washington Smith, the +founder of the Manhattan "Chronicle," should come back to life to-day, +what would he think were he to be told that this palace of marble and +gold belongs to his remote descendant, Fritz Napoleon Smith, who, after +thirty generations have come and gone, is owner of the same newspaper +which his ancestor established! + +For George Washington Smith's newspaper has lived generation after +generation, now passing out of the family, anon coming back to it. When, +200 years ago, the political center of the United States was transferred +from Washington to Centropolis, the newspaper followed the government +and assumed the name of Earth Chronicle. Unfortunately, it was unable to +maintain itself at the high level of its name. Pressed on all sides by +rival journals of a more modern type, it was continually in danger of +collapse. Twenty years ago its subscription list contained but a few +hundred thousand names, and then Mr. Fritz Napoleon Smith bought it for +a mere trifle, and originated telephonic journalism. + +Every one is familiar with Fritz Napoleon Smith's system--a system made +possible by the enormous development of telephony during the last +hundred years. Instead of being printed, the Earth Chronicle is every +morning spoken to subscribers, who, in interesting conversations with +reporters, statesmen, and scientists, learn the news of the day. +Furthermore, each subscriber owns a phonograph, and to this instrument +he leaves the task of gathering the news whenever he happens not to be +in a mood to listen directly himself. As for purchasers of single +copies, they can at a very trifling cost learn all that is in the paper +of the day at any of the innumerable phonographs set up nearly +everywhere. + +Fritz Napoleon Smith's innovation galvanized the old newspaper. In the +course of a few years the number of subscribers grew to be 85,000,000, +and Smith's wealth went on growing, till now it reaches the almost +unimaginable figure of $10,000,000,000. This lucky hit has enabled him +to erect his new building, a vast edifice with four _façades_, each 3,250 +feet in length, over which proudly floats the hundred-starred flag of +the Union. Thanks to the same lucky hit, he is to-day king of +newspaperdom; indeed, he would be king of all the Americans, too, if +Americans could ever accept a king. You do not believe it? Well, then, +look at the plenipotentiaries of all nations and our own ministers +themselves crowding about his door, entreating his counsels, begging for +his approbation, imploring the aid of his all-powerful organ. Reckon up +the number of scientists and artists that he supports, of inventors that +he has under his pay. + +Yes, a king is he. And in truth his is a royalty full of burdens. His +labors are incessant, and there is no doubt at all that in earlier times +any man would have succumbed under the overpowering stress of the toil +which Mr. Smith has to perform. Very fortunately for him, thanks to the +progress of hygiene, which, abating all the old sources of +unhealthfulness, has lifted the mean of human life from 37 up to 52 +years, men have stronger constitutions now than heretofore. The +discovery of nutritive air is still in the future, but in the meantime +men today consume food that is compounded and prepared according to +scientific principles, and they breathe an atmosphere freed from the +micro-organisms that formerly used to swarm in it; hence they live +longer than their forefathers and know nothing of the innumerable +diseases of olden times. + +Nevertheless, and notwithstanding these considerations, Fritz Napoleon +Smith's mode of life may well astonish one. His iron constitution is +taxed to the utmost by the heavy strain that is put upon it. Vain the +attempt to estimate the amount of labor he undergoes; an example alone +can give an idea of it. Let us then go about with him for one day as he +attends to his multifarious concernments. What day? That matters little; +it is the same every day. Let us then take at random September 25th of +this present year 2889. + +This morning Mr. Fritz Napoleon Smith awoke in very bad humor. His wife +having left for France eight days ago, he was feeling disconsolate. +Incredible though it seems, in all the ten years since their marriage, +this is the first time that Mrs. Edith Smith, the professional beauty, +has been so long absent from home; two or three days usually suffice for +her frequent trips to Europe. The first thing that Mr. Smith does is to +connect his phonotelephote, the wires of which communicate with his +Paris mansion. The telephote! Here is another of the great triumphs of +science in our time. The transmission of speech is an old story; the +transmission of images by means of sensitive mirrors connected by wires +is a thing but of yesterday. A valuable invention indeed, and Mr. Smith +this morning was not niggard of blessings for the inventor, when by its +aid he was able distinctly to see his wife notwithstanding the distance +that separated him from her. Mrs. Smith, weary after the ball or the +visit to the theater the preceding night, is still abed, though it is +near noontide at Paris. She is asleep, her head sunk in the lace-covered +pillows. What? She stirs? Her lips move. She is dreaming perhaps? Yes, +dreaming. She is talking, pronouncing a name--his name--Fritz! The +delightful vision gave a happier turn to Mr. Smith's thoughts. And now, +at the call of imperative duty, light-hearted he springs from his bed +and enters his mechanical dresser. + +Two minutes later the machine deposited him all dressed at the threshold +of his office. The round of journalistic work was now begun. First he +enters the hall of the novel-writers, a vast apartment crowned with an +enormous transparent cupola. In one corner is a telephone, through which +a hundred Earth Chronicle _littérateurs_ in turn recount to the public +in daily installments a hundred novels. Addressing one of these authors +who was waiting his turn, "Capital! Capital! my dear fellow," said he, +"your last story. The scene where the village maid discusses interesting +philosophical problems with her lover shows your very acute power of +observation. Never have the ways of country folk been better portrayed. +Keep on, my dear Archibald, keep on! Since yesterday, thanks to you, +there is a gain of 5000 subscribers." + +"Mr. John Last," he began again, turning to a new arrival, "I am not so +well pleased with your work. Your story is not a picture of life; it +lacks the elements of truth. And why? Simply because you run straight on +to the end; because you do not analyze. Your heroes do this thing or +that from this or that motive, which you assign without ever a thought +of dissecting their mental and moral natures. Our feelings, you must +remember, are far more complex than all that. In real life every act is +the resultant of a hundred thoughts that come and go, and these you must +study, each by itself, if you would create a living character. 'But,' +you will say, 'in order to note these fleeting thoughts one must know +them, must be able to follow them in their capricious meanderings.' Why, +any child can do that, as you know. You have simply to make use of +hypnotism, electrical or human, which gives one a two-fold being, +setting free the witness-personality so that it may see, understand, and +remember the reasons which determine the personality that acts. Just +study yourself as you live from day to day, my dear Last. Imitate your +associate whom I was complimenting a moment ago. Let yourself be +hypnotized. What's that? You have tried it already? Not sufficiently, +then, not sufficiently!" + +Mr. Smith continues his round and enters the reporters' hall. Here 1500 +reporters, in their respective places, facing an equal number of +telephones, are communicating to the subscribers the news of the world +as gathered during the night. The organization of this matchless service +has often been described. Besides his telephone, each reporter, as the +reader is aware, has in front of him a set of commutators, which enable +him to communicate with any desired telephotic line. Thus the +subscribers not only hear the news but see the occurrences. When an +incident is described that is already past, photographs of its main +features are transmitted with the narrative. And there is no confusion +withal. The reporters' items, just like the different stories and all +the other component parts of the journal, are classified automatically +according to an ingenious system, and reach the hearer in due +succession. Furthermore, the hearers are free to listen only to what +specially concerns them. They may at pleasure give attention to one +editor and refuse it to another. + +Mr. Smith next addresses one of the ten reporters in the astronomical +department--a department still in the embryonic stage, but which will +yet play an important part in journalism. + +"Well, Cash, what's the news?" + +"We have phototelegrams from Mercury, Venus, and Mars." + +"Are those from Mars of any interest?" + +"Yes, indeed. There is a revolution in the Central Empire." + +"And what of Jupiter?" asked Mr. Smith. + +"Nothing as yet. We cannot quite understand their signals. Perhaps ours +do not reach them." + +"That's bad," exclaimed Mr. Smith, as he hurried away, not in the best +of humor, toward the hall of the scientific editors. With their heads bent down over their electric computers, thirty +scientific men were absorbed in transcendental calculations. The coming +of Mr. Smith was like the falling of a bomb among them. + +"Well, gentlemen, what is this I hear? No answer from Jupiter? Is it +always to be thus? Come, Cooley, you have been at work now twenty years +on this problem, and yet--" + +"True enough," replied the man addressed. "Our science of optics is +still very defective, and through our mile-and-three-quarter telescopes--" + +"Listen to that, Peer," broke in Mr. Smith, turning to a second +scientist. "Optical science defective! Optical science is your +specialty. But," he continued, again addressing William Cooley, "failing +with Jupiter, are we getting any results from the moon?" + +"The case is no better there." + +"This time you do not lay the blame on the science of optics. The moon +is immeasurably less distant than Mars, yet with Mars our communication +is fully established. I presume you will not say that you lack +telescopes?" + +"Telescopes? O no, the trouble here is about--inhabitants!" + +"That's it," added Peer. + +"So, then, the moon is positively uninhabited?" asked Mr. Smith. + +"At least," answered Cooley, "on the face which she presents to us. As +for the opposite side, who knows?" + +"Ah, the opposite side! You think, then," remarked Mr. Smith, musingly, +"that if one could but--" + +"Could what?" + +"Why, turn the moon about-face." + +"Ah, there's something in that," cried the two men at once. And indeed, +so confident was their air, they seemed to have no doubt as to the +possibility of success in such an undertaking. + +"Meanwhile," asked Mr. Smith, after a moment's silence, "have you no +news of interest to-day?" + +"Indeed we have," answered Cooley. "The elements of Olympus are +definitively settled. That great planet gravitates beyond Neptune at the +mean distance of 11,400,799,642 miles from the sun, and to traverse its +vast orbit takes 1311 years, 294 days, 12 hours, 43 minutes, 9 seconds." + +"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" cried Mr. Smith. "Now inform the +reporters of this straightway. You know how eager is the curiosity of +the public with regard to these astronomical questions. That news must +go into to-day's issue." + +Then, the two men bowing to him, Mr. Smith passed into the next hall, an +enormous gallery upward of 3200 feet in length, devoted to atmospheric +advertising. Every one has noticed those enormous advertisements +reflected from the clouds, so large that they may be seen by the +populations of whole cities or even of entire countries. This, too, is +one of Mr. Fritz Napoleon Smith's ideas, and in the Earth Chronicle +building a thousand projectors are constantly engaged in displaying upon +the clouds these mammoth advertisements. + +When Mr. Smith to-day entered the sky-advertising department, he found +the operators sitting with folded arms at their motionless projectors, +and inquired as to the cause of their inaction. In response, the man +addressed simply pointed to the sky, which was of a pure blue. "Yes," +muttered Mr. Smith, "a cloudless sky! That's too bad, but what's to be +done? Shall we produce rain? That we might do, but is it of any use? +What we need is clouds, not rain. Go," said he, addressing the head +engineer, "go see Mr. Samuel Mark, of the meteorological division of the +scientific department, and tell him for me to go to work in earnest on +the question of artificial clouds. It will never do for us to be always +thus at the mercy of cloudless skies!" + +Mr. Smith's daily tour through the several departments of his newspaper +is now finished. Next, from the advertisement hall he passes to the +reception chamber, where the ambassadors accredited to the American +government are awaiting him, desirous of having a word of counsel or +advice from the all-powerful editor. A discussion was going on when he +entered. "Your Excellency will pardon me," the French Ambassador was +saying to the Russian, "but I see nothing in the map of Europe that +requires change. 'The North for the Slavs?' Why, yes, of course; but the +South for the Latins. Our common frontier, the Rhine, it seems to me, +serves very well. Besides, my government, as you must know, will firmly +oppose every movement, not only against Paris, our capital, or our two +great prefectures, Rome and Madrid, but also against the kingdom of +Jerusalem, the dominion of Saint Peter, of which France means to be the +trusty defender." + +"Well said!" exclaimed Mr. Smith. "How is it," he asked, turning to the +Russian ambassador, "that you Russians are not content with your vast +empire, the most extensive in the world, stretching from the banks of +the Rhine to the Celestial Mountains and the Kara-Korum, whose shores +are washed by the Frozen Ocean, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the +Indian Ocean? Then, what is the use of threats? Is war possible in view +of modern inventions--asphyxiating shells capable of being projected a +distance of 60 miles, an electric spark of 90 miles, that can at one +stroke annihilate a battalion; to say nothing of the plague, the +cholera, the yellow fever, that the belligerents might spread among +their antagonists mutually, and which would in a few days destroy the +greatest armies?" + +"True," answered the Russian; "but can we do all that we wish? As for us +Russians, pressed on our eastern frontier by the Chinese, we must at any +cost put forth our strength for an effort toward the west." + +"O, is that all? In that case," said Mr. Smith, "the thing can be +arranged. I will speak to the Secretary of State about it. The attention +of the Chinese government shall be called to the matter. This is not the +first time that the Chinese have bothered us." + +"Under these conditions, of course--" And the Russian ambassador +declared himself satisfied. + +"Ah, Sir John, what can I do for you?" asked Mr. Smith as he turned to +the representative of the people of Great Britain, who till now had +remained silent. + +"A great deal," was the reply. "If the Earth Chronicle would but open a +campaign on our behalf--" + +"And for what object?" + +"Simply for the annulment of the Act of Congress annexing to the United +States the British islands." + +Though, by a just turn-about of things here below, Great Britain has +become a colony of the United States, the English are not yet reconciled +to the situation. At regular intervals they are ever addressing to the +American government vain complaints. + +"A campaign against the annexation that has been an accomplished fact +for 150 years!" exclaimed Mr. Smith. "How can your people suppose that +I would do anything so unpatriotic?" + +"We at home think that your people must now be sated. The Monroe +doctrine is fully applied; the whole of America belongs to the +Americans. What more do you want? Besides, we will pay for what we ask." + +"Indeed!" answered Mr. Smith, without manifesting the slightest +irritation. "Well, you English will ever be the same. No, no, Sir John, +do not count on me for help. Give up our fairest province, Britain? Why +not ask France generously to renounce possession of Africa, that +magnificent colony the complete conquest of which cost her the labor of +800 years? You will be well received!" + +"You decline! All is over then!" murmured the British agent sadly. "The +United Kingdom falls to the share of the Americans; the Indies to that +of--" + +"The Russians," said Mr. Smith, completing the sentence. + +"Australia--" + +"Has an independent government." + +"Then nothing at all remains for us!" sighed Sir John, downcast. + +"Nothing?" asked Mr. Smith, laughing. "Well, now, there's Gibraltar!" + +With this sally the audience ended. The clock was striking twelve, the +hour of breakfast. Mr. Smith returns to his chamber. Where the bed stood +in the morning a table all spread comes up through the floor. For Mr. +Smith, being above all a practical man, has reduced the problem of +existence to its simplest terms. For him, instead of the endless suites +of apartments of the olden time, one room fitted with ingenious +mechanical contrivances is enough. Here he sleeps, takes his meals, in +short, lives. + +He seats himself. In the mirror of the phonotelephote is seen the same +chamber at Paris which appeared in it this morning. A table furnished +forth is likewise in readiness here, for notwithstanding the difference +of hours, Mr. Smith and his wife have arranged to take their meals +simultaneously. It is delightful thus to take breakfast _tête-à-tête_ +with one who is 3000 miles or so away. Just now, Mrs. Smith's chamber +has no occupant. + +"She is late! Woman's punctuality! Progress everywhere except there!" +muttered Mr. Smith as he turned the tap for the first dish. For like all +wealthy folk in our day, Mr. Smith has done away with the domestic +kitchen and is a subscriber to the Grand Alimentation Company, which +sends through a great network of tubes to subscribers' residences all +sorts of dishes, as a varied assortment is always in readiness. A +subscription costs money, to be sure, but the _cuisine_ is of the best, +and the system has this advantage, that it does away with the pestering +race of the _cordons-bleus_. Mr. Smith received and ate, all alone, the +_hors-d'oeuvre_, _entrées_, _rôti_, and _legumes_ that constituted the +repast. He was just finishing the dessert when Mrs. Smith appeared in +the mirror of the telephote. + +"Why, where have you been?" asked Mr. Smith through the telephone. + +"What! You are already at the dessert? Then I am late," she exclaimed, +with a winsome _naïveté_. "Where have I been, you ask? Why, at my +dress-maker's. The hats are just lovely this season! I suppose I forgot +to note the time, and so am a little late." + +"Yes, a little," growled Mr. Smith; "so little that I have already +quite finished breakfast. Excuse me if I leave you now, but I must be +going." + +"O certainly, my dear; good-by till evening." + +Smith stepped into his air-coach, which was in waiting for him at a +window. "Where do you wish to go, sir?" inquired the coachman. + +"Let me see; I have three hours," Mr. Smith mused. "Jack, take me to my +accumulator works at Niagara." + +For Mr. Smith has obtained a lease of the great falls of Niagara. For +ages the energy developed by the falls went unutilized. Smith, applying +Jackson's invention, now collects this energy, and lets or sells it. His +visit to the works took more time than he had anticipated. It was four +o'clock when he returned home, just in time for the daily audience which +he grants to callers. + +One readily understands how a man situated as Smith is must be beset +with requests of all kinds. Now it is an inventor needing capital; again +it is some visionary who comes to advocate a brilliant scheme which must +surely yield millions of profit. A choice has to be made between these +projects, rejecting the worthless, examining the questionable ones, +accepting the meritorious. To this work Mr. Smith devotes every day two +full hours. + +The callers were fewer to-day than usual--only twelve of them. Of these, +eight had only impracticable schemes to propose. In fact, one of them +wanted to revive painting, an art fallen into desuetude owing to the +progress made in color-photography. Another, a physician, boasted that +he had discovered a cure for nasal catarrh! These impracticables were +dismissed in short order. Of the four projects favorably received, the +first was that of a young man whose broad forehead betokened his +intellectual power. + +"Sir, I am a chemist," he began, "and as such I come to you." + +"Well!" + +"Once the elementary bodies," said the young chemist, "were held to be +sixty-two in number; a hundred years ago they were reduced to ten; now +only three remain irresolvable, as you are aware." + +"Yes, yes." + +"Well, sir, these also I will show to be composite. In a few months, a +few weeks, I shall have succeeded in solving the problem. Indeed, it may +take only a few days." + +"And then?" + +"Then, sir, I shall simply have determined the absolute. All I want is +money enough to carry my research to a successful issue." + +"Very well," said Mr. Smith. "And what will be the practical outcome of +your discovery?" + +"The practical outcome? Why, that we shall be able to produce easily all +bodies whatever--stone, wood, metal, fibers--" + +"And flesh and blood?" queried Mr. Smith, interrupting him. "Do you +pretend that you expect to manufacture a human being out and out?" + +"Why not?" + +Mr. Smith advanced $100,000 to the young chemist, and engaged his +services for the Earth Chronicle laboratory. + +The second of the four successful applicants, starting from experiments +made so long ago as the nineteenth century and again and again repeated, +had conceived the idea of removing an entire city all at once from one +place to another. His special project had to do with the city of +Granton, situated, as everybody knows, some fifteen miles inland. He +proposes to transport the city on rails and to change it into a +watering-place. The profit, of course, would be enormous. Mr. Smith, +captivated by the scheme, bought a half-interest in it. + +"As you are aware, sir," began applicant No. 3, "by the aid of our solar +and terrestrial accumulators and transformers, we are able to make all +the seasons the same. I propose to do something better still. Transform +into heat a portion of the surplus energy at our disposal; send this +heat to the poles; then the polar regions, relieved of their snow-cap, +will become a vast territory available for man's use. What think you of +the scheme?" + +"Leave your plans with me, and come back in a week. I will have them +examined in the meantime." + +Finally, the fourth announced the early solution of a weighty scientific +problem. Every one will remember the bold experiment made a hundred +years ago by Dr. Nathaniel Faithburn. The doctor, being a firm believer +in human hibernation--in other words, in the possibility of our +suspending our vital functions and of calling them into action again +after a time--resolved to subject the theory to a practical test. To +this end, having first made his last will and pointed out the proper +method of awakening him; having also directed that his sleep was to +continue a hundred years to a day from the date of his apparent death, +he unhesitatingly put the theory to the proof in his own person. Reduced to the condition of a mummy, Dr. Faithburn was coffined and laid +in a tomb. Time went on. September 25th, 2889, being the day set for his +resurrection, it was proposed to Mr. Smith that he should permit the +second part of the experiment to be performed at his residence this +evening. + +"Agreed. Be here at ten o'clock," answered Mr. Smith; and with that the +day's audience was closed. + +Left to himself, feeling tired, he lay down on an extension chair. Then, +touching a knob, he established communication with the Central Concert +Hall, whence our greatest _maestros_ send out to subscribers their +delightful successions of accords determined by recondite algebraic +formulas. Night was approaching. Entranced by the harmony, forgetful of +the hour, Smith did not notice that it was growing dark. It was quite +dark when he was aroused by the sound of a door opening. "Who is there?" +he asked, touching a commutator. + +Suddenly, in consequence of the vibrations produced, the air became +luminous. + +"Ah! you, Doctor?" + +"Yes," was the reply. "How are you?" + +"I am feeling well." + +"Good! Let me see your tongue. All right! Your pulse. Regular! And your +appetite?" + +"Only passably good." + +"Yes, the stomach. There's the rub. You are over-worked. If your stomach +is out of repair, it must be mended. That requires study. We must think +about it." + +"In the meantime," said Mr. Smith, "you will dine with me." + +As in the morning, the table rose out of the floor. Again, as in the +morning, the _potage_, _rôti_, _ragoûts_, and _legumes_ were supplied +through the food-pipes. Toward the close of the meal, phonotelephotic +communication was made with Paris. Smith saw his wife, seated alone at +the dinner-table, looking anything but pleased at her loneliness. + +"Pardon me, my dear, for having left you alone," he said through the +telephone. "I was with Dr. Wilkins." + +"Ah, the good doctor!" remarked Mrs. Smith, her countenance lighting up. + +"Yes. But, pray, when are you coming home?" + +"This evening." + +"Very well. Do you come by tube or by air-train?" + +"Oh, by tube." + +"Yes; and at what hour will you arrive?" + +"About eleven, I suppose." + +"Eleven by Centropolis time, you mean?" + +"Yes." + +"Good-by, then, for a little while," said Mr. Smith as he severed +communication with Paris. + +Dinner over, Dr. Wilkins wished to depart. "I shall expect you at ten," +said Mr Smith. "To-day, it seems, is the day for the return to life of +the famous Dr. Faithburn. You did not think of it, I suppose. The +awakening is to take place here in my house. You must come and see. I +shall depend on your being here." + +"I will come back," answered Dr. Wilkins. + +Left alone, Mr. Smith busied himself with examining his accounts--a task +of vast magnitude, having to do with transactions which involve a daily +expenditure of upward of $800,000. Fortunately, indeed, the stupendous +progress of mechanic art in modern times makes it comparatively easy. +Thanks to the Piano Electro-Reckoner, the most complex calculations can +be made in a few seconds. In two hours Mr. Smith completed his task. +Just in time. Scarcely had he turned over the last page when Dr. Wilkins +arrived. After him came the body of Dr. Faithburn, escorted by a +numerous company of men of science. They commenced work at once. The +casket being laid down in the middle of the room, the telephote was got +in readiness. The outer world, already notified, was anxiously +expectant, for the whole world could be eye-witnesses of the +performance, a reporter meanwhile, like the chorus in the ancient drama, +explaining it all _viva voce_ through the telephone. + +"They are opening the casket," he explained. "Now they are taking +Faithburn out of it--a veritable mummy, yellow, hard, and dry. Strike +the body and it resounds like a block of wood. They are now applying +heat; now electricity. No result. These experiments are suspended for a +moment while Dr. Wilkins makes an examination of the body. Dr. Wilkins, +rising, declares the man to be dead. 'Dead!' exclaims every one present. +'Yes,' answers Dr. Wilkins, 'dead!' 'And how long has he been dead?' Dr. +Wilkins makes another examination. 'A hundred years,' he replies." + +The case stood just as the reporter said. Faithburn was dead, quite +certainly dead! "Here is a method that needs improvement," remarked Mr. +Smith to Dr. Wilkins, as the scientific committee on hibernation bore +the casket out. "So much for that experiment. But if poor Faithburn is +dead, at least he is sleeping," he continued. "I wish I could get some +sleep. I am tired out, Doctor, quite tired out! Do you not think that a +bath would refresh me?" + +"Certainly. But you must wrap yourself up well before you go out into +the hall-way. You must not expose yourself to cold." + +"Hall-way? Why, Doctor, as you well know, everything is done by +machinery here. It is not for me to go to the bath; the bath will come +to me. Just look!" and he pressed a button. After a few seconds a faint +rumbling was heard, which grew louder and louder. Suddenly the door +opened, and the tub appeared. + +Such, for this year of grace 2889, is the history of one day in the life +of the editor of the Earth Chronicle. And the history of that one day +is the history of 365 days every year, except leap-years, and then of +366 days--for as yet no means has been found of increasing the length of +the terrestrial year. + +Jules Verne. + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In the Year 2889, by Jules Verne and Michel Verne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE YEAR 2889 *** + +***** This file should be named 19362-8.txt or 19362-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/6/19362/ + +Produced by Norm Wolcott + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the Year 2889 + +Author: Jules Verne and Michel Verne + +Release Date: January 2, 2007 [EBook #19362] +[Original version posted on September 23, 2006] +[Last updated: February 7, 2018] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE YEAR 2889 *** + + + + +Produced by Norm Wolcott + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div style="height: 8em;"><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h1> + IN THE YEAR 2889 +</h1> +<center><b> +By Jules Verne and Michel Verne +</b></center> +<p> +[Redactor's note: <i>In the Year 2889</i> was first published in the +<i>Forum</i>, February, 1889; p. 662. It was published in France the next +year. Although published under the name of Jules Verne, it is now +believed to be chiefly if not entirely the work of Jules' son, Michel +Verne. In any event, many of the topics in the article echo Verne's +ideas.] +</p> +<center> +IN THE YEAR 2889. +</center> +<p> +Little though they seem to think of it, the people of this twenty-ninth +century live continually in fairyland. Surfeited as they are with +marvels, they are indifferent in presence of each new marvel. To them +all seems natural. Could they but duly appreciate the refinements of +civilization in our day; could they but compare the present with the +past, and so better comprehend the advance we have made! How much fairer +they would find our modern towns, with populations amounting sometimes +to 10,000,000 souls; their streets 300 feet wide, their houses 1000 feet +in height; with a temperature the same in all seasons; with their lines +of aërial locomotion crossing the sky in every direction! If they would +but picture to themselves the state of things that once existed, when +through muddy streets rumbling boxes on wheels, drawn by horses—yes, by +horses!—were the only means of conveyance. Think of the railroads of +the olden time, and you will be able to appreciate the pneumatic tubes +through which to-day one travels at the rate of 1000 miles an hour. +Would not our contemporaries prize the telephone and the telephote more +highly if they had not forgotten the telegraph? +</p> +<p> +Singularly enough, all these transformations rest upon principles which +were perfectly familiar to our remote ancestors, but which they +disregarded. Heat, for instance, is as ancient as man himself; +electricity was known 3000 years ago, and steam 1100 years ago. Nay, so +early as ten centuries ago it was known that the differences between the +several chemical and physical forces depend on the mode of vibration of +the etheric particles, which is for each specifically different. When at +last the kinship of all these forces was discovered, it is simply +astounding that 500 years should still have to elapse before men could +analyze and describe the several modes of vibration that constitute +these differences. Above all, it is singular that the mode of +reproducing these forces directly from one another, and of reproducing +one without the others, should have remained undiscovered till less than +a hundred years ago. Nevertheless, such was the course of events, for it +was not till the year 2792 that the famous Oswald Nier made this great +discovery. +</p> +<p> +Truly was he a great benefactor of the human race. His admirable +discovery led to many another. Hence is sprung a pleiad of inventors, +its brightest star being our great Joseph Jackson. To Jackson we are +indebted for those wonderful instruments the new accumulators. Some of +these absorb and condense the living force contained in the sun's rays; +others, the electricity stored in our globe; others again, the energy +coming from whatever source, as a waterfall, a stream, the winds, etc. +He, too, it was that invented the transformer, a more wonderful +contrivance still, which takes the living force from the accumulator, +and, on the simple pressure of a button, gives it back to space in +whatever form may be desired, whether as heat, light, electricity, or +mechanical force, after having first obtained from it the work required. +From the day when these two instruments were contrived is to be dated +the era of true progress. They have put into the hands of man a power +that is almost infinite. As for their applications, they are numberless. +Mitigating the rigors of winter, by giving back to the atmosphere the +surplus heat stored up during the summer, they have revolutionized +agriculture. By supplying motive power for aërial navigation, they have +given to commerce a mighty impetus. To them we are indebted for the +continuous production of electricity without batteries or dynamos, of +light without combustion or incandescence, and for an unfailing supply +of mechanical energy for all the needs of industry. +</p> +<p> +Yes, all these wonders have been wrought by the accumulator and the +transformer. And can we not to them also trace, indirectly, this latest +wonder of all, the great "Earth Chronicle" building in 253d Avenue, +which was dedicated the other day? If George Washington Smith, the +founder of the Manhattan "Chronicle," should come back to life to-day, +what would he think were he to be told that this palace of marble and +gold belongs to his remote descendant, Fritz Napoleon Smith, who, after +thirty generations have come and gone, is owner of the same newspaper +which his ancestor established! +</p> +<p> +For George Washington Smith's newspaper has lived generation after +generation, now passing out of the family, anon coming back to it. When, +200 years ago, the political center of the United States was transferred +from Washington to Centropolis, the newspaper followed the government +and assumed the name of Earth Chronicle. Unfortunately, it was unable to +maintain itself at the high level of its name. Pressed on all sides by +rival journals of a more modern type, it was continually in danger of +collapse. Twenty years ago its subscription list contained but a few +hundred thousand names, and then Mr. Fritz Napoleon Smith bought it for +a mere trifle, and originated telephonic journalism. +</p> +<p> +Every one is familiar with Fritz Napoleon Smith's system—a system made +possible by the enormous development of telephony during the last +hundred years. Instead of being printed, the Earth Chronicle is every +morning spoken to subscribers, who, in interesting conversations with +reporters, statesmen, and scientists, learn the news of the day. +Furthermore, each subscriber owns a phonograph, and to this instrument +he leaves the task of gathering the news whenever he happens not to be +in a mood to listen directly himself. As for purchasers of single +copies, they can at a very trifling cost learn all that is in the paper +of the day at any of the innumerable phonographs set up nearly +everywhere. +</p> +<p> +Fritz Napoleon Smith's innovation galvanized the old newspaper. In the +course of a few years the number of subscribers grew to be 85,000,000, +and Smith's wealth went on growing, till now it reaches the almost +unimaginable figure of $10,000,000,000. This lucky hit has enabled him +to erect his new building, a vast edifice with four <i>façades</i>, each 3,250 +feet in length, over which proudly floats the hundred-starred flag of +the Union. Thanks to the same lucky hit, he is to-day king of +newspaperdom; indeed, he would be king of all the Americans, too, if +Americans could ever accept a king. You do not believe it? Well, then, +look at the plenipotentiaries of all nations and our own ministers +themselves crowding about his door, entreating his counsels, begging for +his approbation, imploring the aid of his all-powerful organ. Reckon up +the number of scientists and artists that he supports, of inventors that +he has under his pay. +</p> +<p> +Yes, a king is he. And in truth his is a royalty full of burdens. His +labors are incessant, and there is no doubt at all that in earlier times +any man would have succumbed under the overpowering stress of the toil +which Mr. Smith has to perform. Very fortunately for him, thanks to the +progress of hygiene, which, abating all the old sources of +unhealthfulness, has lifted the mean of human life from 37 up to 52 +years, men have stronger constitutions now than heretofore. The +discovery of nutritive air is still in the future, but in the meantime +men today consume food that is compounded and prepared according to +scientific principles, and they breathe an atmosphere freed from the +micro-organisms that formerly used to swarm in it; hence they live +longer than their forefathers and know nothing of the innumerable +diseases of olden times. +</p> +<p> +Nevertheless, and notwithstanding these considerations, Fritz Napoleon +Smith's mode of life may well astonish one. His iron constitution is +taxed to the utmost by the heavy strain that is put upon it. Vain the +attempt to estimate the amount of labor he undergoes; an example alone +can give an idea of it. Let us then go about with him for one day as he +attends to his multifarious concernments. What day? That matters little; +it is the same every day. Let us then take at random September 25th of +this present year 2889. +</p> +<p> +This morning Mr. Fritz Napoleon Smith awoke in very bad humor. His wife +having left for France eight days ago, he was feeling disconsolate. +Incredible though it seems, in all the ten years since their marriage, +this is the first time that Mrs. Edith Smith, the professional beauty, +has been so long absent from home; two or three days usually suffice for +her frequent trips to Europe. The first thing that Mr. Smith does is to +connect his phonotelephote, the wires of which communicate with his +Paris mansion. The telephote! Here is another of the great triumphs of +science in our time. The transmission of speech is an old story; the +transmission of images by means of sensitive mirrors connected by wires +is a thing but of yesterday. A valuable invention indeed, and Mr. Smith +this morning was not niggard of blessings for the inventor, when by its +aid he was able distinctly to see his wife notwithstanding the distance +that separated him from her. Mrs. Smith, weary after the ball or the +visit to the theater the preceding night, is still abed, though it is +near noontide at Paris. She is asleep, her head sunk in the lace-covered +pillows. What? She stirs? Her lips move. She is dreaming perhaps? Yes, +dreaming. She is talking, pronouncing a name—his name—Fritz! The +delightful vision gave a happier turn to Mr. Smith's thoughts. And now, +at the call of imperative duty, light-hearted he springs from his bed +and enters his mechanical dresser. +</p> +<p> +Two minutes later the machine deposited him all dressed at the threshold +of his office. The round of journalistic work was now begun. First he +enters the hall of the novel-writers, a vast apartment crowned with an +enormous transparent cupola. In one corner is a telephone, through which +a hundred Earth Chronicle <i>littérateurs</i> in turn recount to the public +in daily installments a hundred novels. Addressing one of these authors +who was waiting his turn, "Capital! Capital! my dear fellow," said he, +"your last story. The scene where the village maid discusses interesting +philosophical problems with her lover shows your very acute power of +observation. Never have the ways of country folk been better portrayed. +Keep on, my dear Archibald, keep on! Since yesterday, thanks to you, +there is a gain of 5000 subscribers." +</p> +<p> +"Mr. John Last," he began again, turning to a new arrival, "I am not so +well pleased with your work. Your story is not a picture of life; it +lacks the elements of truth. And why? Simply because you run straight on +to the end; because you do not analyze. Your heroes do this thing or +that from this or that motive, which you assign without ever a thought +of dissecting their mental and moral natures. Our feelings, you must +remember, are far more complex than all that. In real life every act is +the resultant of a hundred thoughts that come and go, and these you must +study, each by itself, if you would create a living character. 'But,' +you will say, 'in order to note these fleeting thoughts one must know +them, must be able to follow them in their capricious meanderings.' Why, +any child can do that, as you know. You have simply to make use of +hypnotism, electrical or human, which gives one a two-fold being, +setting free the witness-personality so that it may see, understand, and +remember the reasons which determine the personality that acts. Just +study yourself as you live from day to day, my dear Last. Imitate your +associate whom I was complimenting a moment ago. Let yourself be +hypnotized. What's that? You have tried it already? Not sufficiently, +then, not sufficiently!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Smith continues his round and enters the reporters' hall. Here 1500 +reporters, in their respective places, facing an equal number of +telephones, are communicating to the subscribers the news of the world +as gathered during the night. The organization of this matchless service +has often been described. Besides his telephone, each reporter, as the +reader is aware, has in front of him a set of commutators, which enable +him to communicate with any desired telephotic line. Thus the +subscribers not only hear the news but see the occurrences. When an +incident is described that is already past, photographs of its main +features are transmitted with the narrative. And there is no confusion +withal. The reporters' items, just like the different stories and all +the other component parts of the journal, are classified automatically +according to an ingenious system, and reach the hearer in due +succession. Furthermore, the hearers are free to listen only to what +specially concerns them. They may at pleasure give attention to one +editor and refuse it to another. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Smith next addresses one of the ten reporters in the astronomical +department—a department still in the embryonic stage, but which will +yet play an important part in journalism. +</p> +<p> +"Well, Cash, what's the news?" +</p> +<p> +"We have phototelegrams from Mercury, Venus, and Mars." +</p> +<p> +"Are those from Mars of any interest?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, indeed. There is a revolution in the Central Empire." +</p> +<p> +"And what of Jupiter?" asked Mr. Smith. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing as yet. We cannot quite understand their signals. Perhaps ours +do not reach them." +</p> +<p> +"That's bad," exclaimed Mr. Smith, as he hurried away, not in the best +of humor, toward the hall of the scientific editors. With their heads bent down over their electric computers, thirty +scientific men were absorbed in transcendental calculations. The coming +of Mr. Smith was like the falling of a bomb among them. +</p> +<p> +"Well, gentlemen, what is this I hear? No answer from Jupiter? Is it +always to be thus? Come, Cooley, you have been at work now twenty years +on this problem, and yet—" +</p> +<p> +"True enough," replied the man addressed. "Our science of optics is +still very defective, and through our mile-and-three-quarter telescopes—" +</p> +<p> +"Listen to that, Peer," broke in Mr. Smith, turning to a second +scientist. "Optical science defective! Optical science is your +specialty. But," he continued, again addressing William Cooley, "failing +with Jupiter, are we getting any results from the moon?" +</p> +<p> +"The case is no better there." +</p> +<p> +"This time you do not lay the blame on the science of optics. The moon +is immeasurably less distant than Mars, yet with Mars our communication +is fully established. I presume you will not say that you lack +telescopes?" +</p> +<p> +"Telescopes? O no, the trouble here is about—inhabitants!" +</p> +<p> +"That's it," added Peer. +</p> +<p> +"So, then, the moon is positively uninhabited?" asked Mr. Smith. +</p> +<p> +"At least," answered Cooley, "on the face which she presents to us. As +for the opposite side, who knows?" +</p> +<p> +"Ah, the opposite side! You think, then," remarked Mr. Smith, musingly, +"that if one could but—" +</p> +<p> +"Could what?" +</p> +<p> +"Why, turn the moon about-face." +</p> +<p> +"Ah, there's something in that," cried the two men at once. And indeed, +so confident was their air, they seemed to have no doubt as to the +possibility of success in such an undertaking. +</p> +<p> +"Meanwhile," asked Mr. Smith, after a moment's silence, "have you no +news of interest to-day?" +</p> +<p> +"Indeed we have," answered Cooley. "The elements of Olympus are +definitively settled. That great planet gravitates beyond Neptune at the +mean distance of 11,400,799,642 miles from the sun, and to traverse its +vast orbit takes 1311 years, 294 days, 12 hours, 43 minutes, 9 seconds." +</p> +<p> +"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" cried Mr. Smith. "Now inform the +reporters of this straightway. You know how eager is the curiosity of +the public with regard to these astronomical questions. That news must +go into to-day's issue." +</p> +<p> +Then, the two men bowing to him, Mr. Smith passed into the next hall, an +enormous gallery upward of 3200 feet in length, devoted to atmospheric +advertising. Every one has noticed those enormous advertisements +reflected from the clouds, so large that they may be seen by the +populations of whole cities or even of entire countries. This, too, is +one of Mr. Fritz Napoleon Smith's ideas, and in the Earth Chronicle +building a thousand projectors are constantly engaged in displaying upon +the clouds these mammoth advertisements. +</p> +<p> +When Mr. Smith to-day entered the sky-advertising department, he found +the operators sitting with folded arms at their motionless projectors, +and inquired as to the cause of their inaction. In response, the man +addressed simply pointed to the sky, which was of a pure blue. "Yes," +muttered Mr. Smith, "a cloudless sky! That's too bad, but what's to be +done? Shall we produce rain? That we might do, but is it of any use? +What we need is clouds, not rain. Go," said he, addressing the head +engineer, "go see Mr. Samuel Mark, of the meteorological division of the +scientific department, and tell him for me to go to work in earnest on +the question of artificial clouds. It will never do for us to be always +thus at the mercy of cloudless skies!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Smith's daily tour through the several departments of his newspaper +is now finished. Next, from the advertisement hall he passes to the +reception chamber, where the ambassadors accredited to the American +government are awaiting him, desirous of having a word of counsel or +advice from the all-powerful editor. A discussion was going on when he +entered. "Your Excellency will pardon me," the French Ambassador was +saying to the Russian, "but I see nothing in the map of Europe that +requires change. 'The North for the Slavs?' Why, yes, of course; but the +South for the Latins. Our common frontier, the Rhine, it seems to me, +serves very well. Besides, my government, as you must know, will firmly +oppose every movement, not only against Paris, our capital, or our two +great prefectures, Rome and Madrid, but also against the kingdom of +Jerusalem, the dominion of Saint Peter, of which France means to be the +trusty defender." +</p> +<p> +"Well said!" exclaimed Mr. Smith. "How is it," he asked, turning to the +Russian ambassador, "that you Russians are not content with your vast +empire, the most extensive in the world, stretching from the banks of +the Rhine to the Celestial Mountains and the Kara-Korum, whose shores +are washed by the Frozen Ocean, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the +Indian Ocean? Then, what is the use of threats? Is war possible in view +of modern inventions—asphyxiating shells capable of being projected a +distance of 60 miles, an electric spark of 90 miles, that can at one +stroke annihilate a battalion; to say nothing of the plague, the +cholera, the yellow fever, that the belligerents might spread among +their antagonists mutually, and which would in a few days destroy the +greatest armies?" +</p> +<p> +"True," answered the Russian; "but can we do all that we wish? As for us +Russians, pressed on our eastern frontier by the Chinese, we must at any +cost put forth our strength for an effort toward the west." +</p> +<p> +"O, is that all? In that case," said Mr. Smith, "the thing can be +arranged. I will speak to the Secretary of State about it. The attention +of the Chinese government shall be called to the matter. This is not the +first time that the Chinese have bothered us." +</p> +<p> +"Under these conditions, of course—" And the Russian ambassador +declared himself satisfied. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, Sir John, what can I do for you?" asked Mr. Smith as he turned to +the representative of the people of Great Britain, who till now had +remained silent. +</p> +<p> +"A great deal," was the reply. "If the Earth Chronicle would but open a +campaign on our behalf—" +</p> +<p> +"And for what object?" +</p> +<p> +"Simply for the annulment of the Act of Congress annexing to the United +States the British islands." +</p> +<p> +Though, by a just turn-about of things here below, Great Britain has +become a colony of the United States, the English are not yet reconciled +to the situation. At regular intervals they are ever addressing to the +American government vain complaints. +</p> +<p> +"A campaign against the annexation that has been an accomplished fact +for 150 years!" exclaimed Mr. Smith. "How can your people suppose that +I would do anything so unpatriotic?" +</p> +<p> +"We at home think that your people must now be sated. The Monroe +doctrine is fully applied; the whole of America belongs to the +Americans. What more do you want? Besides, we will pay for what we ask." +</p> +<p> +"Indeed!" answered Mr. Smith, without manifesting the slightest +irritation. "Well, you English will ever be the same. No, no, Sir John, +do not count on me for help. Give up our fairest province, Britain? Why +not ask France generously to renounce possession of Africa, that +magnificent colony the complete conquest of which cost her the labor of +800 years? You will be well received!" +</p> +<p> +"You decline! All is over then!" murmured the British agent sadly. "The +United Kingdom falls to the share of the Americans; the Indies to that +of—" +</p> +<p> +"The Russians," said Mr. Smith, completing the sentence. +</p> +<p> +"Australia—" +</p> +<p> +"Has an independent government." +</p> +<p> +"Then nothing at all remains for us!" sighed Sir John, downcast. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing?" asked Mr. Smith, laughing. "Well, now, there's Gibraltar!" +</p> +<p> +With this sally the audience ended. The clock was striking twelve, the +hour of breakfast. Mr. Smith returns to his chamber. Where the bed stood +in the morning a table all spread comes up through the floor. For Mr. +Smith, being above all a practical man, has reduced the problem of +existence to its simplest terms. For him, instead of the endless suites +of apartments of the olden time, one room fitted with ingenious +mechanical contrivances is enough. Here he sleeps, takes his meals, in +short, lives. +</p> +<p> +He seats himself. In the mirror of the phonotelephote is seen the same +chamber at Paris which appeared in it this morning. A table furnished +forth is likewise in readiness here, for notwithstanding the difference +of hours, Mr. Smith and his wife have arranged to take their meals +simultaneously. It is delightful thus to take breakfast <i>tête-à-tête</i> +with one who is 3000 miles or so away. Just now, Mrs. Smith's chamber +has no occupant. +</p> +<p> +"She is late! Woman's punctuality! Progress everywhere except there!" +muttered Mr. Smith as he turned the tap for the first dish. For like all +wealthy folk in our day, Mr. Smith has done away with the domestic +kitchen and is a subscriber to the Grand Alimentation Company, which +sends through a great network of tubes to subscribers' residences all +sorts of dishes, as a varied assortment is always in readiness. A +subscription costs money, to be sure, but the <i>cuisine</i> is of the best, +and the system has this advantage, that it does away with the pestering +race of the <i>cordons-bleus</i>. Mr. Smith received and ate, all alone, the +<i>hors-d'oeuvre</i>, <i>entrées</i>, <i>rôti</i>, and <i>legumes</i> that constituted the +repast. He was just finishing the dessert when Mrs. Smith appeared in +the mirror of the telephote. +</p> +<p> +"Why, where have you been?" asked Mr. Smith through the telephone. +</p> +<p> +"What! You are already at the dessert? Then I am late," she exclaimed, +with a winsome <i>naïveté</i>. "Where have I been, you ask? Why, at my +dress-maker's. The hats are just lovely this season! I suppose I forgot +to note the time, and so am a little late." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, a little," growled Mr. Smith; "so little that I have already +quite finished breakfast. Excuse me if I leave you now, but I must be +going." +</p> +<p> +"O certainly, my dear; good-by till evening." +</p> +<p> +Smith stepped into his air-coach, which was in waiting for him at a +window. "Where do you wish to go, sir?" inquired the coachman. +</p> +<p> +"Let me see; I have three hours," Mr. Smith mused. "Jack, take me to my +accumulator works at Niagara." +</p> +<p> +For Mr. Smith has obtained a lease of the great falls of Niagara. For +ages the energy developed by the falls went unutilized. Smith, applying +Jackson's invention, now collects this energy, and lets or sells it. His +visit to the works took more time than he had anticipated. It was four +o'clock when he returned home, just in time for the daily audience which +he grants to callers. +</p> +<p> +One readily understands how a man situated as Smith is must be beset +with requests of all kinds. Now it is an inventor needing capital; again +it is some visionary who comes to advocate a brilliant scheme which must +surely yield millions of profit. A choice has to be made between these +projects, rejecting the worthless, examining the questionable ones, +accepting the meritorious. To this work Mr. Smith devotes every day two +full hours. +</p> +<p> +The callers were fewer to-day than usual—only twelve of them. Of these, +eight had only impracticable schemes to propose. In fact, one of them +wanted to revive painting, an art fallen into desuetude owing to the +progress made in color-photography. Another, a physician, boasted that +he had discovered a cure for nasal catarrh! These impracticables were +dismissed in short order. Of the four projects favorably received, the +first was that of a young man whose broad forehead betokened his +intellectual power. +</p> +<p> +"Sir, I am a chemist," he began, "and as such I come to you." +</p> +<p> +"Well!" +</p> +<p> +"Once the elementary bodies," said the young chemist, "were held to be +sixty-two in number; a hundred years ago they were reduced to ten; now +only three remain irresolvable, as you are aware." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, yes." +</p> +<p> +"Well, sir, these also I will show to be composite. In a few months, a +few weeks, I shall have succeeded in solving the problem. Indeed, it may +take only a few days." +</p> +<p> +"And then?" +</p> +<p> +"Then, sir, I shall simply have determined the absolute. All I want is +money enough to carry my research to a successful issue." +</p> +<p> +"Very well," said Mr. Smith. "And what will be the practical outcome of +your discovery?" +</p> +<p> +"The practical outcome? Why, that we shall be able to produce easily all +bodies whatever—stone, wood, metal, fibers—" +</p> +<p> +"And flesh and blood?" queried Mr. Smith, interrupting him. "Do you +pretend that you expect to manufacture a human being out and out?" +</p> +<p> +"Why not?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Smith advanced $100,000 to the young chemist, and engaged his +services for the Earth Chronicle laboratory. +</p> +<p> +The second of the four successful applicants, starting from experiments +made so long ago as the nineteenth century and again and again repeated, +had conceived the idea of removing an entire city all at once from one +place to another. His special project had to do with the city of +Granton, situated, as everybody knows, some fifteen miles inland. He +proposes to transport the city on rails and to change it into a +watering-place. The profit, of course, would be enormous. Mr. Smith, +captivated by the scheme, bought a half-interest in it. +</p> +<p> +"As you are aware, sir," began applicant No. 3, "by the aid of our solar +and terrestrial accumulators and transformers, we are able to make all +the seasons the same. I propose to do something better still. Transform +into heat a portion of the surplus energy at our disposal; send this +heat to the poles; then the polar regions, relieved of their snow-cap, +will become a vast territory available for man's use. What think you of +the scheme?" +</p> +<p> +"Leave your plans with me, and come back in a week. I will have them +examined in the meantime." +</p> +<p> +Finally, the fourth announced the early solution of a weighty scientific +problem. Every one will remember the bold experiment made a hundred +years ago by Dr. Nathaniel Faithburn. The doctor, being a firm believer +in human hibernation—in other words, in the possibility of our +suspending our vital functions and of calling them into action again +after a time—resolved to subject the theory to a practical test. To +this end, having first made his last will and pointed out the proper +method of awakening him; having also directed that his sleep was to +continue a hundred years to a day from the date of his apparent death, +he unhesitatingly put the theory to the proof in his own person. Reduced to the condition of a mummy, Dr. Faithburn was coffined and laid +in a tomb. Time went on. September 25th, 2889, being the day set for his +resurrection, it was proposed to Mr. Smith that he should permit the +second part of the experiment to be performed at his residence this +evening. +</p> +<p> +"Agreed. Be here at ten o'clock," answered Mr. Smith; and with that the +day's audience was closed. +</p> +<p> +Left to himself, feeling tired, he lay down on an extension chair. Then, +touching a knob, he established communication with the Central Concert +Hall, whence our greatest <i>maestros</i> send out to subscribers their +delightful successions of accords determined by recondite algebraic +formulas. Night was approaching. Entranced by the harmony, forgetful of +the hour, Smith did not notice that it was growing dark. It was quite +dark when he was aroused by the sound of a door opening. "Who is there?" +he asked, touching a commutator. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly, in consequence of the vibrations produced, the air became +luminous. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! you, Doctor?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," was the reply. "How are you?" +</p> +<p> +"I am feeling well." +</p> +<p> +"Good! Let me see your tongue. All right! Your pulse. Regular! And your +appetite?" +</p> +<p> +"Only passably good." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, the stomach. There's the rub. You are over-worked. If your stomach +is out of repair, it must be mended. That requires study. We must think +about it." +</p> +<p> +"In the meantime," said Mr. Smith, "you will dine with me." +</p> +<p> +As in the morning, the table rose out of the floor. Again, as in the +morning, the <i>potage</i>, <i>rôti</i>, <i>ragoûts</i>, and <i>legumes</i> were supplied +through the food-pipes. Toward the close of the meal, phonotelephotic +communication was made with Paris. Smith saw his wife, seated alone at +the dinner-table, looking anything but pleased at her loneliness. +</p> +<p> +"Pardon me, my dear, for having left you alone," he said through the +telephone. "I was with Dr. Wilkins." +</p> +<p> +"Ah, the good doctor!" remarked Mrs. Smith, her countenance lighting up. +</p> +<p> +"Yes. But, pray, when are you coming home?" +</p> +<p> +"This evening." +</p> +<p> +"Very well. Do you come by tube or by air-train?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, by tube." +</p> +<p> +"Yes; and at what hour will you arrive?" +</p> +<p> +"About eleven, I suppose." +</p> +<p> +"Eleven by Centropolis time, you mean?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"Good-by, then, for a little while," said Mr. Smith as he severed +communication with Paris. +</p> +<p> +Dinner over, Dr. Wilkins wished to depart. "I shall expect you at ten," +said Mr Smith. "To-day, it seems, is the day for the return to life of +the famous Dr. Faithburn. You did not think of it, I suppose. The +awakening is to take place here in my house. You must come and see. I +shall depend on your being here." +</p> +<p> +"I will come back," answered Dr. Wilkins. +</p> +<p> +Left alone, Mr. Smith busied himself with examining his accounts—a task +of vast magnitude, having to do with transactions which involve a daily +expenditure of upward of $800,000. Fortunately, indeed, the stupendous +progress of mechanic art in modern times makes it comparatively easy. +Thanks to the Piano Electro-Reckoner, the most complex calculations can +be made in a few seconds. In two hours Mr. Smith completed his task. +Just in time. Scarcely had he turned over the last page when Dr. Wilkins +arrived. After him came the body of Dr. Faithburn, escorted by a +numerous company of men of science. They commenced work at once. The +casket being laid down in the middle of the room, the telephote was got +in readiness. The outer world, already notified, was anxiously +expectant, for the whole world could be eye-witnesses of the +performance, a reporter meanwhile, like the chorus in the ancient drama, +explaining it all <i>viva voce</i> through the telephone. +</p> +<p> +"They are opening the casket," he explained. "Now they are taking +Faithburn out of it—a veritable mummy, yellow, hard, and dry. Strike +the body and it resounds like a block of wood. They are now applying +heat; now electricity. No result. These experiments are suspended for a +moment while Dr. Wilkins makes an examination of the body. Dr. Wilkins, +rising, declares the man to be dead. 'Dead!' exclaims every one present. +'Yes,' answers Dr. Wilkins, 'dead!' 'And how long has he been dead?' Dr. +Wilkins makes another examination. 'A hundred years,' he replies." +</p> +<p> +The case stood just as the reporter said. Faithburn was dead, quite +certainly dead! "Here is a method that needs improvement," remarked Mr. +Smith to Dr. Wilkins, as the scientific committee on hibernation bore +the casket out. "So much for that experiment. But if poor Faithburn is +dead, at least he is sleeping," he continued. "I wish I could get some +sleep. I am tired out, Doctor, quite tired out! Do you not think that a +bath would refresh me?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly. But you must wrap yourself up well before you go out into +the hall-way. You must not expose yourself to cold." +</p> +<p> +"Hall-way? Why, Doctor, as you well know, everything is done by +machinery here. It is not for me to go to the bath; the bath will come +to me. Just look!" and he pressed a button. After a few seconds a faint +rumbling was heard, which grew louder and louder. Suddenly the door +opened, and the tub appeared. +</p> +<p> +Such, for this year of grace 2889, is the history of one day in the life +of the editor of the Earth Chronicle. And the history of that one day +is the history of 365 days every year, except leap-years, and then of +366 days—for as yet no means has been found of increasing the length of +the terrestrial year. +</p> +<p> +Jules Verne. +</p> + + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br><br><br><br><br><br></div> + +<pre> + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In the Year 2889, by Jules Verne and Michel Verne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE YEAR 2889 *** + +***** This file should be named 19362-h.htm or 19362-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/6/19362/ + +Produced by Norm Wolcott + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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