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diff --git a/41941.txt b/41941.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3bac0cc..0000000 --- a/41941.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5870 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Urania, by Camille Flammarion - -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: Urania - -Author: Camille Flammarion - -Illustrator: De Bieler, Myrbach, and Gambard - -Translator: Augusta Rice Stetson - -Release Date: January 28, 2013 [EBook #41941] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK URANIA *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Bergquist, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -URANIA - - - - - URANIA - - BY - CAMILLE FLAMMARION - - _ILLUSTRATED BY_ - DE BIELER, MYRBACH, AND GAMBARD - - _TRANSLATED BY_ - AUGUSTA RICE STETSON - - BOSTON - ESTES AND LAURIAT - Publishers - - - - - _Copyright, 1890_, - BY ESTES & LAURIAT. - - University Press: - JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - Part First. - - THE HEAVENLY MUSE. - - PAGE - I. A DREAM OF YOUTH 9 - - II. UNKNOWN HUMANITIES 18 - - III. THE INFINITE VARIETY OF BEINGS 35 - - IV. ETERNITY AND THE INFINITE 44 - - V. THE LIGHT OF THE PAST 57 - - - Part Second. - - GEORGE SPERO. - - I. LIFE 71 - - II. THE APPARITION 86 - - III. "TO BE, OR NOT TO BE?" 101 - - IV. AMOR 122 - - V. THE AURORA BOREALIS 141 - - VI. ETERNAL PROGRESS 152 - - - Part Third. - - HEAVEN AND EARTH. - - I. TELEPATHY 161 - - II. ITER EXTATICUM COELESTE 207 - - III. THE PLANET MARS 227 - - IV. THE FIXED POINT IN THE UNIVERSE 257 - - V. AD VERITATEM PER SCIENTIAM 302 - - - - -Part First. - -THE HEAVENLY MUSE. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -I. - -A DREAM OF YOUTH. - - -I was seventeen years old; her name was Urania. - -Was Urania a fair, blue-eyed maiden, a dream of spring, an innocent but -inquisitive daughter of Eve? No; she was simply, as in days of yore, -that one of the nine Muses who presided over astronomy, and whose -celestial glance inspired and directed the chorus of the spheres; she -was the angelic idea which soars above terrestrial dulness. She had not -the disturbing flesh, nor the heart whose palpitations are communicated -at a distance, nor the gentle ardor of human life; but she existed -nevertheless in a sort of ideal world,--lofty and always pure,--and yet -she was human enough in name and form to produce a strong and deep -impression upon an adolescent soul, to arouse in that soul an -indefinite, indefinable feeling of admiration,--almost of love. - -In his hours of solitude, and even through the intellectual labors with -which the education of the day overloads his brain, a young man whose -hand has never plucked the divine fruit from the tree of Paradise, whose -lips are still untouched, whose heart has not yet spoken, whose senses -are beginning to awaken amid vague new aspirations, thrills with a -presentiment of the divinity to which he is soon to sacrifice, and -personifies beforehand in ever-varying forms the unknown being who -floats through the airy fabric of his dreams. He wishes, longs to reach -this unknown being, but dares not yet, perhaps may never dare, in the -purity of his admiration, unless some helping hand come to his aid. If -Chloe is not well informed, indiscreet and talkative Lycinion must take -it upon herself to instruct Daphnis. - -Whatever tells us of the yet unknown attraction can charm, interest, -delight, and captivate us. A cold engraving, showing the oval of a pure -face, even an old-fashioned painting, a sculpture,--a sculpture -especially,--awakens a new feeling in our hearts; the blood flows -faster, or seems to stop; the idea crosses our reddening brow like a -flash, and remains floating in our pensive mind. It is the beginning of -desires, the beginning of life, the dawn of a beautiful summer day, -harbinger of the sunrise. - -As for me, my first love, my adolescent passion, had, not for its object -assuredly, but as a determining cause--a clock! It is rather odd, but so -it is! Humdrum calculations used up all my afternoons from two until -four; it was merely correcting observations, made the night before, of -stars or planets by applying the reductions arising from atmospheric -refraction, which itself depends on the height of the barometer and the -temperature. These calculations are as simple as they are tiresome; -they are made mechanically, by the help of prepared tables, while -thinking of something else. - -The illustrious Le Verrier was then director of the Paris Observatory. -Although in no way artistic, he had in his study a golden bronze clock -of very beautiful design, dating from the end of the First Empire,--the -work of Pradier's chisel. The pedestal of this clock represented in -bas-relief the birth of astronomy on the Egyptian plains. A massive -celestial sphere surrounded by the zodiacal circle, supported by -sphinxes, held the dial; Egyptian gods adorned the sides. But the chief -beauty of this artistic work consisted of an exquisite little statue of -Urania, lithe, elegant,--I had almost said majestic. - -[Illustration] - -The celestial Muse was standing. With her right hand she measured the -degrees of the starry sphere by the aid of a compass; her drooping left -hand held a small astronomical telescope. Superbly draped, she looked -down in an attitude of stately grandeur. I had never before seen so -beautiful a face as hers. With the light falling directly upon it, the -pure countenance looked grave and austere. If the light came to it -obliquely, it appeared somewhat meditative; but coming from above and -from the side, the enchanting face brightened with a mysterious smile, -her glance grew almost caressing, her exquisite serenity gave place to -an expression of joy, amiability, and happiness delightful to -contemplate. It was like a song of the soul, a poetic melody. These -changes of expression fairly made the statue alive. Muse and goddess, -she was beautiful, she was enchanting, she was adorable. - -[Illustration] - -Whenever I had occasion to go to the eminent mathematician it was not -his world-wide reputation which impressed me most. I forgot the formulas -of logarithms, and even the immortal discovery of the planet Neptune, to -bow beneath the charm of Pradier's work. The beautiful figure so -admirably modelled beneath its antique drapery, the graceful throat, the -expressive face, attracted my eyes and captivated my thoughts. Very -often, as we were leaving the office about four o'clock to go back to -Paris, I would peep through the half-open door to see if the director -were absent. Monday and Wednesday were the best days,--the first because -of the Institute meetings, which he seldom missed; the second on account -of the Bureau of Longitudes sessions, which he avoided with the most -profound disdain: he would even leave the observatory expressly, to make -his contempt for them more emphatic. Then I would stand before my dear -Urania and look at her to my heart's content, enraptured by her beauty -of form and face, and go away more satisfied, but not happier,--she -charmed, but filled me with regrets. - -One evening--the evening on which I discovered how the light could -change her face--I found the library-door wide open. A lamp stood on the -chimney-piece shedding its rays over the Muse in one of her most -bewitching aspects. The slanting light lovingly caressed the brow, -cheeks, lips, and throat. Her expression was wonderful. I went in, and -for a while stood there in motionless contemplation. Then I tried -changing the position of the lamp, making the light play over the -shoulders, arms, neck, and hair. The statue seemed to live, to think, to -awake, and smile again! Odd, whimsical idea; strange feeling! I had -actually fallen in love! I had changed from admirer to lover! If I had -been told then that what I felt was not real love, and that this -platonism was but a childish dream, I should have been very incredulous. -The director came in, but did not seem so much surprised at my presence -as I might have feared. (The study was often used to reach the -observation rooms.) "You are late for Jupiter," he said, as I replaced -the lamp on the chimney-piece; and when I reached the threshold he -added, "Can it be possible that you are a poet?" lengthening out the -last syllable as though he had said "poet." - -I might have answered him by quoting Kepler, Galileo, D'Alembert, the -two Herschels, and other famous savants who were poets and astronomers -at the same time. I could have reminded him that the first director of -this very observatory, Jean-Dominique Cassini, sang of Urania in Latin, -French, and Italian verse. But the observatory pupils were not in the -habit of answering the senator-director in any way whatever; senators -were personages of importance in those days, and the directorship of the -observatory was a life-office. Then too the great geometrician would -have looked upon the most wonderful poem by Dante, Ariosto, or Hugo with -the same profound disdain that a big Newfoundland dog would show if one -should put a glass of wine to his mouth. Besides, I was clearly in the -wrong. - -How that charming figure of Urania haunted me, with all the delicious -changes of expression! Her smile was so gracious, and sometimes her -bronze eyes had such a real look. She lacked nothing but speech. - -That night, just as I fell asleep, I saw the divine goddess again; and -this time she spoke. - -Oh, she was really living now! And what a pretty mouth! I could have -kissed each word. "Come," she said, "come up into the sky. Far away from -the earth, you shall look down upon this lower world, you shall -contemplate the great universe in its grandeur. Come and see." - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -II. - -UNKNOWN HUMANITIES. - - -Then I saw the Earth sinking down into the yawning depths of immensity; -the cupolas of the observatory, Paris with its lights, were rapidly -fading away. Although feeling as if I were motionless, I had the same -sensation which one experiences on rising in a balloon and seeing the -earth descend. I went up, up, in a magic flight toward the inaccessible -zenith. Urania was with me, a little higher up, looking at me kindly and -pointing out the kingdoms below. Day had come again. I recognized -France, the Rhine, Germany, Austria, Italy, the Mediterranean, Spain, -the Atlantic Ocean, the Channel, England. But all this liliputian -geography soon shrank away. Speedily the terrestrial globe was reduced -to the dimensions of the moon in its last quarter; then to a little full -moon. - -"There," said she, "is the famous terrestrial globe on which so many -passions stir, within whose narrow limits the thought of so many -millions of human beings is confined, whose sight cannot extend beyond -it. See how its apparent size diminishes as our horizon develops. We can -no longer distinguish Europe from Asia; and there is North America. How -very small it all is!" - -As we passed through the Moon's neighborhood I had noticed our -satellite's hilly landscapes, the mountain crests radiant with light, -deep valleys filled with shadows, and I should have liked to stop for a -nearer study of the surroundings; but Urania did not deign to bestow so -much as a passing glance at it, and drew me on in a rapid flight toward -the sidereal regions. - -We were still ascending. The Earth grew smaller and smaller as we -receded from it, until it looked like a simple star shining from solar -illumination on the bosom of dark and empty space. We turned toward the -Sun, which shone in space, but without filling it with light, so that we -could see stars and planets at the same time, no longer obscured by its -rays, because it could not illumine empty space. The angelic goddess -showed me Mercury, in close neighborhood to the Sun, Venus, shining on -the other side, the Earth, equalling Venus in appearance and brilliancy, -Mars, whose inland seas and canals I recognized, Jupiter, with its four -enormous moons, Saturn, Uranus. "All these worlds," said she, "are -upheld in vacancy by the attraction of the Sun, around which they -revolve with great speed. It is an harmonious choir gravitating about -its centre. The Earth is but a floating island, a little hamlet of this -great solar country; and the solar empire itself is but a little -province on the breast of sidereal vastness." - -We rose still higher. The Sun and its system were rapidly passing. The -Earth was but a little spot now; Jupiter himself, that colossal world, -had melted away, like Mars and Venus, to a tiny little dot scarcely -larger than the Earth. We passed within sight of Saturn, surrounded by -his gigantic rings, whose study alone would be sufficient to prove the -immense and unimaginable variety reigning in the universe. Saturn is a -whole system in itself, with its rings composed of particles torn from -it in its dizzy revolution, and with its eight satellites accompanying -it like a celestial retinue. - -[Illustration] - -As we soared aloft, our Sun decreased in grandeur. Soon it had descended -to the rank of a planet, then lost all majesty, all superiority over the -sidereal population, and was nothing more than a star, scarcely more -brilliant than the others. I looked about me at all this vast extent, -on whose spangled bosom we were still going upward, and tried to -recognize the constellations; but their forms were beginning to change -perceptibly, from the lengthening perspective caused by my journey. I -thought I could see that our Sun had insensibly dwindled to a tiny star -and joined the constellation of the Centaur; while a new light, pale, -bluish, and very strange, seemed to greet me from the direction toward -which Urania was bearing me. This new brightness had nothing terrestrial -about it, and reminded me of no effect that I had ever seen on the Earth -among the changing tints of the sunset after a storm, or in the -undefined mists of morning, or during the calm and silent moonlight -hours on the mirror of the sea. This last effect is nearer its -appearance; but the strange light was, and became more and more, of a -real blue,--blue, not like a reflection of celestial azure, nor like a -contrast analogous to that produced by an electric light compared with -gas, but blue, as if the Sun itself were blue. - -[Illustration] - -Imagine my amazement when I discovered that we were approaching the -influence of an absolutely blue sun, like a shining disk, which might -have been cut from one of our most beautiful terrestrial skies, standing -out luminously upon a perfectly black background all thickly studded -with stars. This sapphire sun was the centre of a planetary system -lighted by its rays. We were to pass quite near one of the planets. The -blue sun increased perceptibly in size; but--another phenomenon as -singular as the first--the light it threw upon this planet seemed to be -tinged on one side with green. I looked into the sky again, and saw a -second sun,--this one a beautiful emerald green. I could not believe my -eyes! - -Urania said: "We are crossing the solar system of Gamma Andromedae, of -which you see but one part as yet; for it is made up, not of these two -suns, but in reality of three,--one blue, one green, and one orange -yellow. The blue sun, which is the smallest, turns around the green sun; -and the latter gravitates with its companion around the great orange -sun, which you will perceive in an instant." - -Sure enough! A second later I saw a third sun, colored with a glowing -radiancy, whose contrast with its two companions produced a most -dazzling illumination. I knew about this interesting sidereal system -from having observed it more than once through the telescope; but -I had never suspected its real splendor. What fiery depths! what -scintillations! what brilliancy of color in that strange source of blue -light in the second sun's green illumination and the tawny, golden -effulgence of the third! - -[Illustration] - -But, as I have said, we were approaching one of the worlds belonging to -the system of the sapphire sun. Everything was blue,--landscapes, water, -plants, rocks,--slightly greenish on the side lighted by the second -sun, and hardly touched by the rays of the orange sun, which was rising -on the distant horizon. As we floated into the atmosphere of this world -a soft, delicious music was wafted into the air like a perfume, a dream. -Never had I heard anything like it. The sweet, deep, distant melody -seemed to come from a choir of harps and violins, strengthened by an -accompaniment of organs. It was an exquisite anthem, which charmed at -once; it needed no analyzing to be understood; it filled the soul with -ecstasy. It seemed to me that I could have lingered there listening for -an eternity. I was so fearful of losing a single note that I dared not -speak to my guide. Urania noticed it; stretching out her hand toward a -lake, she pointed to a group of winged beings who were hovering over the -blue waters. - -They had not the earthly human form. They were beings who had evidently -been created to live in air. They seemed woven out of light. At a -distance I thought they were dragon-flies; they had their slender, -graceful shape, the same wide wings, quickness, and lightness. But on -examining them more closely I noticed their height, which was not -inferior to our own, and realized from the expression of their eyes that -they were not animals. Their heads were very like that of the -dragon-fly, and like those aerial creatures they had no legs. The -delicious music to which I had been listening was but the noise of their -flight. They were very numerous,--perhaps many thousands. - -From the mountain-tops could be seen plants which were neither trees -nor flowers, whose slender stalks rose to an enormous height; the -branched stems bearing, as though with outstretched arms, great -tulip-shaped cups. These plants were alive, or as much so as our -sensitive growths, perhaps more, and like the _desmodium_, with its -moving leaves, showed their internal impressions by their motions. These -groves formed actual vegetable cities. The inhabitants of this world had -no other dwellings, but reposed among the fragrant sensitive-plants when -not floating in the air. - -[Illustration] - -"This seems a very strange world to you," said Urania; "you are -wondering what kinds of ideas, habits, or history these people could -have,--what kinds of arts, literature, and sciences. It would take a -long time to answer all the questions you might ask. Know only that -their eyes are superior to your finest telescopes; that their nervous -system vibrates at the passing of a comet, and discovers by an electric -sense facts which you on the Earth will never know. The organs which you -see under their wings serve as hands, more skilful than yours. Instead -of printing, they take the direct photography of events and the phonetic -impression of words. They care very little for anything but scientific -research; that is to say, the study of Nature. The three passions which -absorb the greater part of earthly life--eager greed for fortune, -political ambition, and love--are unknown to them, because they require -nothing to live on, there are no international divisions nor government, -except a council of administration, and because they are androgynous." - -"Androgynous!" I repeated; and ventured to add, "Is that best?" - -"It is _different_. It is a great deal of trouble saved to a humanity." - -"To be in a condition to understand the infinite diversity displayed in -the different phases of creation," she continued, "it is necessary to -cast aside all terrestrial feelings and ideas. Just as the species of -your planet have changed in succeeding ages from the uncouth creatures -of the first geological periods to the appearance of man, and as even -now the animal and vegetable population of the Earth is still composed -of the most widely varying forms, from man to the coral, from bird to -fish, from an elephant to a butterfly, so on an incomparably vaster -scale the forces of Nature have given birth to an infinite diversity of -beings and things throughout the innumerable worlds of heaven. The form -of its occupant is the result in each world of some element peculiar to -that globe,--substance, heat, light, electricity, density, weight. -Shape, functions, the number of the senses,--you have but five, and they -are rather poor ones,--depend on the vital conditions of each sphere. -Life is earthly on the Earth, Martial on Mars, Saturnian on Saturn, -Neptunian on Neptune,--that is to say, appropriate to each habitation; -or, to express it better, more strictly speaking, produced and -developed by each world according to its organic condition, and -following a primordial law which all Nature obeys,--the law of -progress." - -[Illustration] - -While she was speaking I had watched the flight of the aerial creatures -toward the city of flowers, and saw with astonishment that the plants -were moving, raising or lowering themselves to receive them. The green -sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and the yellow sun had risen in the -sky; the landscape was suffused with a fairy-like tinge, over which hung -an enormous half-green, half-orange moon. Then the infinite melody which -had been filling the air died away, and amid a profound silence I heard -a song arise from so pure a voice that no human tones could be compared -with it. - -"What a marvellous system!" I cried,--"a world illumined by such -glowing lights! It is having a close view of double, triple, and -multiple stars." - -[Illustration] - -"Splendid suns those stars," she answered, "gracefully united in the -bonds of a mutual attraction; from the Earth you see them cradled two -and two on the bosom of the sky, always beautiful, pure, and luminous. -Hanging in the infinite, they lean to each other, but never touch, as -though their union, more moral than material, were ordered by an -invisible and superior power, and following harmonious curves, they -gravitate in cadence around each other,--celestial couples which -blossomed at the spring-time of creation in the constellated meadows of -infinity. While simple suns like yours shine in the deserts of space -solitary, fixed, and undisturbed, double and multiple suns seem to -enliven the silent regions of the eternal void by their motion, color, -and life. These sidereal time-keepers mark the centuries and eras of -other worlds for you. - -"But," she added, "let us continue our journey; we are but a few -trillion leagues from the Earth." - -"A few _trillion_?" - -"Yes. If we could hear the sounds of your planet from here,--its -volcanoes, cannonadings, and thunders, or the wild vociferations of its -crowds in times of revolution, or the hymns which rise to heaven from -the churches,--the distance is so great that, even admitting that the -noises could surmount it with the speed of sound in the air, it would -require not less than fifteen million years to reach here. We could -hear to-day only what took place on Earth fifteen million years ago. And -yet, compared with the immensity of the universe, we are still very near -your home. - -"You can still distinguish your Sun yonder,--that tiny little star. We -have not been out of the universe to which it, with its system of -planets, belongs. That universe is composed of several thousand -milliards of suns, separated from each other by trillions of leagues. -Its extent is so vast that it would take a flash of lightning fifteen -thousand years to cross it, travelling at the rate of three hundred -thousand kilometres a second. - -"And suns everywhere, on all sides! In whatever direction we look, all -about us are sources of light, heat, and life in inexhaustible -variety,--suns of every lustre, of all magnitudes, all ages, upheld in -the eternal void, in the luminous ether, by the mutual attraction of all -and the motion of each. Your Sun moves and bears you away toward the -constellation of Hercules; that one, whose system we have just crossed, -goes south toward the Pleiades; Sirius hurries away toward the Dove; -Pollux whirls swiftly toward the Milky Way. All these millions, these -thousands of millions, of suns hasten through boundless space with a -speed which attains a velocity of two, three, and even four thousand -metres a second. Motion maintains the equilibrium of the universe, and -constitutes its organization, energy, and life." - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -III. - -THE INFINITE VARIETY OF BEINGS. - - -The tricolored system had long since disappeared in our upward flight. -We were passing through the neighborhood of a great many worlds which -were very different from our Earth. Some of them appeared to be entirely -covered with water, and peopled by aquatic beings; others, occupied -entirely by plants. We stopped near several of them. What unimaginable -variety! The inhabitants of one of them seemed to me especially -beautiful. Urania apprised me of the fact that their organization was -totally different from that of the children of Earth, and that those -human beings could discern the physico-chemical operations which take -place in the maintenance of the body. In our earthly organism we do not -see, for example, how the food absorbed is assimilated,--how the blood, -tissues, and bones renew themselves; all functions are fulfilled -instinctively, without thought perceiving it. Thus man suffers from a -thousand maladies whose origin is hidden, and often undiscoverable. -There the human being feels the action of his vital nourishment as we -feel pleasure or pain. A nerve starts from every particle of his body, -so to speak, which transmits the different impressions it receives to -the brain. If terrestrial man were endowed with such a nervous system, -looking into his organism through the intermediary of the nerves, he -would see how food transforms itself into chyle, the latter into blood, -blood into flesh, muscular, nervous substance, etc.: he would see -himself! But we are very far from that, the centre of our perceptions -being obstructed by nerves, thickened by cerebral lobes and optic -thalami. - -On another globe which we crossed during the night--that is to say, on -the side of its nocturnal hemisphere--human eyes are so constructed as -to be _luminous_, and shine as though some phosphorescent emanation -radiated from their strange centres. A night meeting comprising a large -number of these persons presents an extremely fantastic appearance, -because the brilliancy, as well as the color, of the eyes changes with -the different passions by which they are swayed. More than that, the -power of their glance is such that they exert an _electric_ and magnetic -influence of variable intensity, and which under certain conditions has -the effect of lightning, causing the victim upon whom the force and -energy of their will is fixed to fall dead. - -A little farther away my celestial guide pointed out a world in which -organisms enjoy a precious faculty: the soul may change its body without -passing through the often disagreeable and always sad experience of -death. A savant who has labored all his life for the instruction of -mankind, and feels that his end is drawing near before he has been able -to complete his noble undertaking, can change bodies with a youth, and -begin a new life still more useful than the first. The young man's -consent and the magnetic manipulation of a competent physician are -sufficient for the transmigration. Sometimes it happens that two persons -united by the sweet, strong ties of love effect such an exchange of -bodies after a union of many years,--the husband's soul takes the wife's -body, and conversely, for the rest of their existence. The inmost -experience of life becomes incomparably more complete for each of them. -Savants and historians desirous of living two centuries instead of one, -are seen to fall into a long artificial winter's sleep, which suspends -their lives for half of each year, and even more. Some even succeed in -living three times longer than the normal life of centenarians. - -A few seconds later, crossing another system, we met a kind of organism -still more different from ours, and assuredly far superior. With the -inhabitants of the planet we were then looking at,--a world lighted by a -brilliant hydrogenized sun,--thought is not obliged to pass through -speech to be understood. How many times has it not happened when a -bright or transcendent idea came into our minds, and we wanted to utter -it or write it out, that just as we were about to speak or write, we -felt that it was slipping away, flying from us, confused or -metamorphosed into something else? The inhabitants of this planet have a -sixth sense, which might be called magneto-telegraphic, by virtue of -which, when the author is not disinclined, the thought becomes outwardly -manifest, and can be read upon a feature which occupies very much the -same place as a forehead. These silent conversations are often the -deepest and most enjoyable,--always the most sincere. - -We are innocently disposed to believe that the human organism is -perfect, and leaves nothing on earth to be desired; but for all that -have we not often regretted being obliged to listen, in spite of -ourselves, to disagreeable words, absurd speeches, a sermon verbose with -emptiness, bad music, slander, or calumny? Our grammars vainly pretend -that we can "close our ears" to these speeches; unfortunately there is -no such thing. You cannot shut your ears as you can your eyes. I was -very much surprised to find a planet where Nature had not forgotten this -salutary provision. As we stopped there for an instant, Urania pointed -out ears which closed like eyelids. "There is very much less anger and -vexation here than with you," said she; "but the wranglings of -political parties are much more sharp and vociferous, adversaries -are unwilling to listen to disputes, and succeed effectually, -notwithstanding the speakers may be most loquacious." - -On another world, in which phosphorus plays a large part, whose -atmosphere is constantly electrified, whose temperature is very high, -and where the inhabitants have no sufficient reason for inventing -wearing apparel, certain passions manifest themselves by the -illumination of some part of the body. It is the same thing on a large -scale that we see in our terrestrial meadows on a smaller one in mild -summer evenings when glow-worms silently manifest themselves, and then -waste away in a soft, amorous flame. It is very curious to observe the -appearance of these luminous couples in the evening in populous cities. -The color of the phosphorescence differs in the sexes, and its intensity -varies with the age and temperament. The stronger sex burns with a more -or less ardent red flame, and the gentler sex with a bluish light, -sometimes pale and diaphanous. Our glow-worms, however, give but a very -faint and rudimentary idea respecting the nature of the impressions -experienced by these peculiar beings. I could not believe my eyes when -we were passing through the atmosphere of this planet. But I was still -more surprised on arriving at the satellite of this unique world. That -was a solitary moon, lighted by a kind of twilight sun. A sombre valley -lay before us. From the trees scattered on both slopes of the valley -hung human beings enveloped in shrouds. They had tied themselves to the -branches by their hair, and were sleeping in the deepest silence. What I -had taken for grave-clothes was a covering formed from the growth of -their bleached and tangled locks. As I was wondering at this marvellous -spectacle Urania told me this was their usual mode of interment and -resurrection. Yes, on this world human beings enjoyed the organic -faculty of those insects which have the gift of going to sleep in a -chrysalis state, and metamorphosing themselves into winged butterflies. -It is like a double human race; and the beings in the first phase, even -the coarsest and most material of them, need but to die to rise again in -the most splendid of transformations. Each year in this world represents -about two hundred terrestrial years. Two thirds of the year is lived in -the lower condition, one third (winter) in the chrysalis state, and the -following spring the sleepers feel life coming back to their transformed -flesh; they stir, awaken, leave their fleecy coverings on the trees, and -freeing themselves from them, fly away, wonderful winged creatures, to -aerial regions, there to live for a new Phoenician year,--that is, for -two hundred years of our swiftly moving planet. - -We crossed a great number of planets in this way, and it seemed as -though all eternity would not be long enough to admit of my enjoying -these creations unknown to earth; but my guide barely left me time to -realize this, and still new suns and new worlds were appearing. We were -very near striking against some transparent comets in our rapid flight, -that were wandering about like a breath from one system to another, and -more than once I felt myself strongly attracted toward wonderful planets -with fresh landscapes, whose occupants would have been new objects of -study. And yet the celestial Muse bore me on without fatigue still -higher, still farther away, until at last we came to what seemed to me -the confines of the universe. The suns grew more rare, less luminous, -paler; darkness was more intense between the stars; and we were soon in -the midst of an actual desert, the thousands of millions of stars which -constitute the universe visible from the Earth being far distant: -everything had faded to a little, lonely Milky Way in empty infinity. - -"At last we have reached the very limits of creation!" I cried. - -[Illustration] - -"Look!" she replied, pointing to the zenith. - - - - -[Illustration] - -IV. - -ETERNITY AND THE INFINITE - - -What was that? Could it be true? Another universe was coming down to us! -Millions and millions of suns grouped together were floating about like -a celestial archipelago, and as we flew toward them they spread -themselves out like a limitless cloud of stars. I looked about me on all -sides, trying to pierce the depths of boundless space, and saw similar -clusters of twinkling stars scattered about in all directions, at -various distances. - -The new universe which we were entering was made up principally of red, -ruby, and garnet suns. Many of them were absolutely blood-red. - -It was like going through a magnificent display of lightning. We sped -swiftly from sun to sun; but incessant electrical commotions like the -flashes of an aurora-borealis assailed us on all sides. What strange -abiding-places worlds lighted solely by red suns must be! Then, too, we -saw in one section of this universe a secondary group, composed of great -numbers of rose-colored and blue stars. Suddenly an enormous comet, -whose head was like some monster's open jaws, rushed upon and enveloped -us. I clung terror-stricken to my goddess's side, who was for a moment -hidden from me by a luminous haze. We were soon in a dark desert again, -for the second universe, like the first, was now far away. - - * * * * * - -"Creation," she said, "comprises an infinite number of distinct worlds, -separated from each other by abysses of vacancy." - -"An _infinite_ number?" - -"A mathematical objection," she answered. "Doubtless, no matter how -great a number may be, it cannot be actually infinite, since by thought -one can always increase by a unit, or even double, treble, centuple it. -But remember that the present is but a door through which the future -rushes to the past. Eternity is endless, and the number of the worlds -will be like it, without end." - -"Look! You still see, always and on all sides, new celestial -archipelagoes,--new worlds everywhere." - -"It seems to me, O Urania! that we have been ascending toward the -boundless heavens for a long time, and at very great speed." - -"We could rise like this forever," she answered, "and never reach a -definite limit. - -"We could be wafted about yonder to right, to left; forward, backward; -above, below,--in no matter what direction, but never anywhere should we -find any confines. - -"Never, never any end! - -"Do you know where we are? Do you know how we reached here? - -"We are--on the threshold of the infinite, as we were when on the Earth. -_We have not advanced one step!_" - - * * * * * - -A deep emotion had taken possession of my mind. Urania's last words had -pierced my very marrow like an icy chill. "Never any end--never! -never," I repeated; I could think or speak of nothing else. But still -the magnificence of the spectacle appealed to my eyes, and my feeling of -annihilation gave place to enthusiasm. - -"Astronomy," I cried, "is everything! To know these things, to live in -the infinite,--oh, Urania! what are other human ideas compared with -science? Shadows, phantoms!" - -"Oh! you will wake up again upon the Earth," she said; "you will admire, -and rightly too, the wisdom of your masters. But understand this,--the -astronomy of your schools and observatories, mathematical astronomy, the -beautiful science as known to Newton, Laplace, Le Verrier, is not yet -definite, actual knowledge. - -"That, O my son! is not the end which I have pursued since the days of -Hipparchus and Ptolemy. Look at the thousands of suns analogous to that -which gives life to the earth, which like it are sources of light, -motion, activity, and splendor! Ah! that is the object of the science to -come,--the study of universal and eternal life. Until now, no one has -ever entered the temple. Figures are not an end, but a means; they do -not represent Nature's structure, only the methods, the scaffoldings. -You are to see the dawn of a new day. Mathematical astronomy will yield -her place to physical astronomy, to the true study of Nature. - -"Yes," she continued, "astronomers who calculate the movements of the -stars in their daily passage of the meridian, those who foretell -eclipses, celestial phenomena, periodical comets, who observe the exact -positions of the stars and planets on the different degrees of the -celestial sphere so carefully; those who discover comets, planets, -satellites, and variable stars; those who investigate and determine the -disturbance caused the Earth's motion by attraction from the Moon and -planets; those who consecrate their night-watches to the discovery of -the fundamental elements of the world's system,--are all of them -calculators and observers, precursors of the new astronomy. These are -immense labors, studies worthy of admiration, and important works which -bring to light the highest faculties of the human mind. But it is the -army of the past; mathematicians and geometricians. Henceforth, the -hearts of savants will throb for a still nobler conquest. All these -great minds never really left the Earth while studying the skies. -Astronomy's aim is not to show us the apparent position of shining -specks, nor to weigh stones moving through space, nor to foretell -eclipses, or the phases of the Moon or tides. All this is fine, but it -is not enough. - -"If life did not exist upon the earth, that planet would be absolutely -devoid of interest for any mind whatsoever; and the same remark is -applicable to all the worlds which gravitate around the thousands of -millions of suns in the wide stretches of immensity. Life is the object -of the whole creation. If there were neither life nor thought, it would -all be null and void. - -"You are destined to witness an entire transformation in science. Matter -will give place to mind." - -"Life universal!" I asked: "Are all the planets of our solar system -inhabited? Are the myriads of worlds which people the infinite lived -upon? Do those forms of human life resemble ours? Shall we ever know -them?" - -"The epoch of your life upon the earth, even the duration of terrestrial -humanity, is but a moment in eternity." - -I did not understand this answer to my questions. - -"There is no reason why all the worlds should be inhabited _now_," she -went on. "The present period is of no more importance than those which -preceded or will follow it. - -"The length of the Earth's existence will be longer--much longer, -perhaps ten times longer--than that of its vital human period. Out of a -dozen worlds selected by chance from immensity, we could, for example, -find hardly one inhabited by a really intelligent race. Some have been -already, others will be in the future; these are in preparation, those -have run through all their phases: here cradles, there graves. And then -too an infinite variety in the forces of Nature and their manifestations -is revealed; earthly life being in no way the type of extra-terrestrial -existence. Beings can think, live, in wholly different organizations -from those with which you are familiar on your own planet. Inhabitants -of the other worlds have neither your form nor senses; they are -otherwise. - -"The day will come, and very soon, since you are called to see it, when -the study of the conditions of life in the various provinces of the -universe will be astronomy's essential aim and chief charm. Soon, -instead of being concerned simply about the distance, the motion, and -the material facts of your neighboring planets, astronomers will -discover their physical constitution,--for example, their geographical -appearance, their climatology, their meteorology,--will solve the -mystery of their vital organizations, and will discuss their -inhabitants. They will find that Mars and Venus are actually peopled by -thinking beings; that Jupiter is still in its primary period of organic -preparation; that Saturn looks down upon us under quite different -conditions from those which were instrumental in the establishment of -terrestrial life, and without passing through a state analogous to that -of Earth, will be inhabited by beings incompatible with earthly -organisms. New methods will tell about the physical and chemical -constitutions of the stars and the nature of their atmospheres. -Perfected instruments will permit the discovery of direct proofs of -existence in these planetary humanities and the idea of putting one's -self in communication with them. This is the scientific transformation -which will mark the close of the nineteenth century and inaugurate the -twentieth." - -[Illustration] - -I listened with delight to these words of the celestial Muse, which shed -an entirely different light upon the future of astronomy and filled me -with renewed ardor. Before my eyes was a panorama of innumerable worlds -moving in space, and I understood that the true object of science is to -teach us about those far distant universes and allow us to live in those -wide horizons. The beautiful goddess resumed: - -[Illustration] - -"Astronomy's mission will be still higher. After making you know and -feel that the Earth is but a city in the celestial country, and man a -citizen of heaven, she will go still farther. Disclosing the plan on -which the physical universe is constructed, she will show that the moral -universe is constructed on the very same basis, that the two worlds form -but one world, and that mind governs matter. What she will have done for -space she will do for time. After realizing the boundlessness of space, -and recognizing that the same laws govern all places simultaneously and -make the vast universe one grand unit, you will learn that the centuries -of the past and of the future are linked with the present, and that -thinking monads will live forever through successive and progressive -changes. You will learn that minds exist incomparably superior to the -greatest minds of earthly humanity, and that all things advance toward -supreme perfection. You will learn too that the material form is but an -appearance, and that the real being consists of an imponderable, -intangible, and invisible form. - -"Astronomy will then be eminently and above all else the directress of -philosophy. Those who reason without astronomical knowledge will never -reach the truth. Those who follow her beacon faithfully will gradually -rise to the solutions of the greatest problems. - -"Astronomical philosophy will be the religion of lofty minds. - -"You will see this double transformation in science," she added, "when -you leave the terrestrial globe; the astronomical knowledge which you -already so justly prize will be entirely remodelled in form as well as -spirit. - -"But this is not all. The renewal of an old science will be of little -use to mankind in general if these sublime truths which develop the -mind, enlighten the soul, and free it from vulgar common-place should be -kept shut up within the narrow limits of professional astronomers. This -time too will pass away. We must begin anew. The torch must be taken in -hand, and its glory increased by carrying it into the busy streets and -public squares. Every one is called to receive the light, every one is -thirsting for it,--especially the humble, those on whom fortune frowns, -for these are the persons who think most; these are eager for knowledge, -while the contented ones of the century do not suspect their own -ignorance, and are almost proud of staying in it. Yes, the light of -astronomy must be diffused throughout the world; it must filter through -the strata of humanity to the popular masses, enlighten their -consciences, elevate their hearts. That will be its most beautiful and -its grandest, greatest mission!" - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -V. - -THE LIGHT OF THE PAST. - - -Thus spoke my celestial guide. Her face was glorious as the day, her -eyes shone with a starry lustre, her voice was like divine music. I -looked at the worlds about us revolving in space, and felt that a mighty -harmony controlled the course of Nature. - -"Now let us return to the Earth," she said, pointing to the spot where -our terrestrial Sun had disappeared. "But look again. You understand now -that space is infinite; you will soon comprehend that time is eternal." - -We crossed other constellations and came back toward the solar system. I -saw the Sun reappear, looking like a little star. - -"For an instant," said she, "I am going to give you, if not divine, at -least angelic sight. Your soul shall feel the ethereal vibrations which -constitute light itself, and shall know that the history of each world -is eternal with God. To see is to know: behold!" - -Just as a microscope shows us an ant as large as an elephant, and -penetrates the infinitely small, making the invisible visible, so at the -Muse's command my sight suddenly acquired an unknown power of -perception, and distinguished the Earth in space, very near the Sun, -which was in eclipse, and from invisible it became visible. - -I recognized it; and as I watched, its disk grew larger, looking like -the Moon a few days before the full. After a while I could distinguish -the principal geographical aspects in the growing disk,--the snowy patch -at the North Pole, the outlines of Europe and Asia, the North Sea, the -Atlantic, the Mediterranean. The more steadily I fixed my gaze, the -better I could see. Details became more and more perceptible, as if I -were gradually changing the lenses of a microscope. I recognized the -geographical form of France; but our beautiful country appeared to be -entirely green,--from the Rhine to the Ocean, from the Channel to the -Mediterranean, as if it were covered with one immense forest. I -succeeded, however, better and better in distinguishing the slightest -details, for the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Loire, -were easily found. - -"Pay great attention," murmured my companion. - -As she said this, she placed the tips of her slender fingers lightly on -my brow, as though she had wished to magnetize my brain and endow my -perceptive faculties with still greater power. Then I looked again more -intently at the vision, and saw before my eyes Gaul in the time of -Julius Caesar. It was during the war of independence aroused by the -patriotism of Vercingetorix. - -"We are at such a distance from the Earth," said Urania, "that light -requires all the time that separates us from Julius Caesar to reach here. -Only the rays of light that left the Earth at that time come to us; and -yet light travels at the rate of three hundred thousand kilometres a -second. It is fast, very fast, but it is not instantaneous. Astronomers -on the Earth, who are observing stars situated as far from them as we -are now, do not see them as they really are, but as they were when the -rays of light which they see to-day left them; that is to say, as they -were more than eighteen centuries ago. - -[Illustration] - -"One never sees the stars from the Earth, nor from any point in space, -as they are, but as they have been," she continued; "the farther away -from them one is, the more behind he is in their history. - -"You observe most carefully through the telescope stars which no longer -exist. Many of the stars visible to the naked eye are no longer in -existence. Many of the nebulae whose substance you analyze through the -spectroscope have become suns. Many of your most beautiful red stars -are extinct and dead; you would not detect them if you should go to -them. - -[Illustration] - -"The light shed from all the suns which people immensity, the light -reflected into space from all the worlds irradiated by these suns, -carries away through the boundless skies photographs of all the -centuries every day, every second. Looking at a star, you see it as it -was at the time the impression that you receive left it,--just as when -you hear a clock strike, you receive the sound after it has left it, and -as long after as you are far from it. - -"The result is, that the history of all these worlds actually travels -through space, never entirely disappearing; that all past events are -present and indestructible in the bosom of the infinite. - -"The universe will endure forever. The Earth will come to an end, and -some day will be nothing but a tomb. But there will be new suns and new -earths, new springs and new smiles, and life will always bloom afresh in -the limitless and endless universe. - -"I wanted to show you," said she, after a pause, "how eternal time is! -You have felt the infinity of space, you have understood the grandeur of -the universe. Now your celestial journey is over. We must go back to the -earth and your own home again. - -"For yourself," she added, "know that study is the one source of any -intellectual value; be neither rich nor poor; keep yourself from all -ambition as well as from all servitude; be independent,--independence is -the rarest gift and the first condition of happiness." - -Urania was still speaking in her gentle voice; but my brain was so -confused by the commotion aroused in it by so many extraordinary scenes -that I was seized by a fit of trembling. A shiver ran over me from head -to foot, which was probably the cause of my abrupt awakening in a state -of great agitation. Alas! the delightful celestial journey had ended. - -I looked about for Urania, but could not find her. A bright moonbeam -shining through my bedroom window lightly touched the edge of a curtain -and seemed vaguely to outline the aerial form of my heavenly guide; but -it was only a moonbeam. - - * * * * * - -When I went back to the observatory the next morning, my first impulse -was to find some pretext for going to the director's study to see the -charming Muse again who had rewarded me by such a dream.... - -The clock had disappeared! - -In its place stood a white marble bust of the illustrious astronomer. - -I looked through the other rooms, even the private apartments, under a -thousand different excuses; but she was nowhere to be found. - -I searched for days and weeks, but could neither find her nor learn what -had become of her. - -I had a friend and confidant, very near my own age, although appearing -older, from his sprouting beard; he too was very fond of the ideal, and -perhaps even more of a dreamer,--besides, he was the only person at the -observatory with whom I was ever on intimate terms. He shared my joys -and griefs. We had the same tastes, the same ideas, the same feelings. -He understood my youthful admiration for the statue, the personality -with which my imagination had invested her, and my unhappiness at having -thus suddenly lost my dearest Urania just when I was most attached to -her. He had more than once admired with me the effect of the light upon -her celestial countenance, and smiled at my ecstasies like a big -brother, even teasing me a little sharply about my affection for an -idol, going so far as to call me "Camille Pygmalion." But at heart I -knew that he too loved her. - -This friend--who, alas! was to be torn from me a few years later, in the -very flower of his youth, kind George Spero, exalted mind, noble heart, -whose memory will be ever dear to me--was the director's private -secretary; and his sincere affection for me was proved in this instance -by an act of kindness as graceful as it was unexpected. - -When I went home one day I saw with a half-incredulous bewilderment the -famous clock standing on my chimney-piece there, just in front of me! - -It was really she! How did she come there? What brought her there? Where -did she come from? - -I learned that the celebrated discoverer of Neptune had sent it to one -of the principal clock-makers in Paris to be repaired; that the latter -had received a most interesting antique astronomical clock from China -and had offered it in exchange, which had been accepted; and that George -Spero, to whom the transaction had been intrusted, had re-purchased -Pradier's work as a gift for me. His parents were glad of an opportunity -to please me, in remembrance of some lessons in mathematics which I had -given George for his special examination. - -[Illustration] - -What joy it was to see my Urania again! How happy I was to feast my eyes -on her once more! That charming personification of the Muse of heaven -has never left me since. In my studious hours the beautiful statue -always stood before me, seeming to remind me of the goddess's -conversation,--to tell me the destinies of astronomy, to direct me in -my youthful scientific aspirations. Since then more passionate emotions -have beguiled me, captivated me, and troubled my senses; but I shall -never forget the ideal sentiment with which the Muse of the stars had -inspired me, the celestial journey on which she bore me away, the -unexpected panoramas she unrolled before my eyes, the truths she -revealed to me as to the extent of the universe, nor the happiness she -gave me by definitively settling my mind on the calm contemplation of -Nature and science as a career. - - - - -Part Second. - -GEORGE SPERO. - - - - -[Illustration] - -I. - -LIFE. - - -An intense evening glow floated in the atmosphere like a wondrous golden -radiance. From the heights of Passy the view extended over the whole of -the great city, which at that time, more than ever before, was not a -city, but a world. The Universal Exhibition of 1867 had lavished all the -attractions and delights of the century on imperial Paris. The flowers -of civilization were blooming in their most brilliant tints, wasting -themselves away by the very ardor of their perfume,--fading, dying in -the full fever of youth. The crowned heads of Europe had just heard a -deafening trumpet-blast there, which was the last of the monarchy; -science, arts, industry had sowed their newest creations broadcast, with -an inexhaustible prodigality. It was a general delirium of men and -things. Regiments were marching, with music at their heads; -swift-rolling vehicles crossed each other from all directions; thousands -of people were moving about in the dust on the avenues, _quais_, and -boulevards: but the very dust, gilded by the rays of the setting sun, -crowned the splendid city like an aureole. The tall buildings, towers, -and steeples were ablaze with reflections from the fiery orb; tones from -a distant orchestra, mingled with a confused murmur of voices and other -sounds,--the brilliant, fit ending of a dazzling summer day,--poured -into the soul an undefined feeling of contentment, happiness, and -satisfaction. There was a kind of symbolical summing-up about it of the -evidences of the vitality of a great people in the zenith of its life -and fortune. - -From the heights of Passy, where we are, on a terrace in a garden -overhanging the careless current of the stream, as in the old days at -Babylon, two persons, leaning on the stone balustrade, watch the noisy -scene, looking down on the restless surface of the human sea, happier in -their sweet solitude than all the atoms of that seething whirlpool; they -do not belong to the every-day world, but soar above all that restless -activity in the limpid atmosphere of their own joy. Their spirits feel, -their hearts love; or to express the same fact more completely, their -souls live. - -[Illustration] - -In the maidenly beauty of her eighteenth spring, the young girl's glance -wanders dreamily over the apotheosis of the setting sun. Happy to be -alive, happier still to love, she gives no thought to the thousands of -people moving about at her feet; she looks with unseeing eyes at the -sun's ardent disk sinking below the purple western clouds; she breathes -the perfumed air from garlands of roses in the garden, and feels through -her whole being the peace of perfect happiness, singing a hymn of -unutterable love in her heart. The blond hair waves about her brow like -a misty aureole, and falls in thick tresses over her slender form; her -blue eyes, fringed by long dark lashes, are like a reflection of the -azure sky; her neck and arms give glimpses of the snowy whiteness of -her skin; her cheeks, her ears, are softly colored; her whole person -recalls somewhat the dainty marchionesses whom the painters of the -eighteenth century loved to depict, who were born to an unknown life -which they were not long destined to enjoy. She is standing. Her -companion, whose arm a moment ago encircled her waist as they were -looking at the picture of Paris and listening to the strains of melody -flooding the air from the Imperial Guard, had seated himself by her -side. His eyes had forgotten Paris and the setting sun; now they see -nothing but the beautiful girl. He looks at her unconsciously with a -strange, fixed gaze, as though he saw her now for the first time, and -could not keep his eyes from her exquisite profile, enveloping her in a -long look like a magnetic caress. - -[Illustration] - -The young student was absorbed in his contemplation. Was he still a -student at twenty-five? Is one ever anything more? And our own master -then, M. de Chevreul, does he not call himself now, in his one hundred -and third year, the senior of the students of France? George Spero had -finished his lyceum studies at a very early age; but they teach nothing, -unless it be how to work, and he continued to investigate the great -problems of natural science with indefatigable ardor. Astronomy -especially had at first attracted his interest. I had known him (as the -reader of the first part of this book may remember) at the Paris -Observatory, which he had entered at the age of sixteen, and -where he had somewhat distinguished himself by a rather strange -peculiarity,--that of having no ambition and no desire whatever for -advancement. - -At the age of sixteen, as at twenty-five, he believed himself to be on -the verge of the grave,--judging, perhaps, that life indeed passes -quickly, and that it is useless to wish for anything beyond the -happiness of studying and knowing. He was not very talkative, although -at heart his disposition was that of a playful child. His small, -well-shaped mouth seemed to smile if one carefully examined its -corners; otherwise it looked somewhat pensive, and as though made for -silence. His eyes, whose undecided color reminded one of the -bluish-green on the sea's horizon, changed with the light and in -accordance with his moods; they were usually gentle, but on occasion -would flash like lightning, or grow as cold as steel; their glance was -deep, sometimes unfathomable, even strange and enigmatical. His ear was -small, gracefully curved, the lobe well detached and a little -raised,--which to analysts is an indication of refinement. The brow was -broad, although his head was rather small, but seemed larger from his -glistening, thickly waving hair; his beard was brown, like his hair, and -slightly curled. Of medium height, his whole effect was elegant, with a -natural ease; he dressed carefully, but without pretence or affectation. - -My friends and I never had any special companionship with him. Holidays -and leisure hours he never spent with us. Always occupied with his -books, he seemed to have given himself up without reserve to hunting for -the philosopher's stone, the quadrature of the circle, or perpetual -motion. I never knew him to have a friend, unless it were myself; and -yet I am not sure that he gave me all his confidences,--though, for that -matter, perhaps there was no special event in his life except the one of -which I now make myself the historian, and which I knew all about as an -eye-witness if not as confidant. - -The problem of the soul was the perpetual torment of his thought. -Sometimes he was so absorbed in his search for the unknown, with such -intense cerebral action, that he felt a sensation of tingling in his -head which seemed to exhaust all his thinking faculties. This was -especially the case when, after having analyzed the conditions of -immortality for a long time, he saw real ephemeral life suddenly -disappear, and endless immortality open before his mental being. In the -face of this aspect of the soul in full eternity he longed _to know_. -The sight of his own body, pale and stiff, wrapped in grave-clothes and -lying in its coffin, left deserted in its last mournful resting-place at -the bottom of a narrow grave under the grass where the cricket chirps, -did not appall his thought so much as the uncertainty about the future. -"What will become of me; what will become of us?" he repeated, like the -constant clashing of a fixed idea in his brain. "If we die utterly, what -an absurd farce life is, with its hopes and struggles. If we are -immortal, what do we do with ourselves through endless eternity? Where -shall I be a hundred years from now? Where will all the present dwellers -of the earth be? To die, for ever and ever; to have existed but for a -moment! What a mockery! Would it not be better a hundred times over -never to have been born? But if it be our fate to live eternally and -never to be able to change anything of the fatality that carries us -along,--having endless eternity always before us,--how can we bear the -burden of such a destiny? Is that the doom awaiting us? If we should -tire of existence, we should be forbidden to fly from it; it would be -impossible to end it. In this conception there is far more implacable -cruelty than in that of an ephemeral life vanishing away like an -insect's flight in the fresh evening breeze. Why then were we born? To -suffer uncertainty; to find after examination not a single one of our -hopes left; to live like idiots if we do not think, like fools if we do? -And yet they tell us of a 'good God!' There are religions, priests, -rabbis, bonzes. Why, mankind is but a race of dupes and duped! Religion -is the same as patriotism, and the priest is as good as the soldier. Men -of all nations arm themselves to the teeth that they may kill one -another like simpletons! Ah! it is the wisest thing they could do; the -best return they could make to Nature for the foolish gift she bestowed -in causing them to be born." - -[Illustration] - -I tried to lessen his pain and anxiety, having a certain philosophy of -my own which was relatively satisfactory to me. "The fear of death seems -absolutely chimerical," said I. "There are but two hypotheses to make -about it: every night it may be that we shall not wake again the next -morning; and yet, when we think of it, this idea does not prevent our -going to sleep. Now, then, first, either all being ended with life, we -do not wake again anywhere,--and in that case it is a sleep that has -not ended, but which will endure throughout eternity, so that we shall -never know anything about it,--or else, secondly, the soul outliving the -body, we shall wake up somewhere else and continue our activity. In that -case there is nothing to fear in the awakening,--it should rather -attract us. There is a reason for all things in Nature; and every -creature, the meanest as well as the noblest, finds his happiness in the -exercise of his faculties." - -[Illustration] - -This reasoning seemed to calm him; but the restlessness of doubt soon -returned, pricking like thorns. Sometimes he would wander off alone -through the spacious cemeteries of Paris, seeking out the most deserted -alleys between the graves, listening to the wind among the trees, and -the rustle of the leaves in the paths. Sometimes he went away into the -woods in the suburbs of the great city, and would walk about for hours -at a time muttering to himself. At other times he would spend a whole -day in his study in the Place du Pantheon, which he used as study, work -and reception room at the same time; and there, until far into the -night, he would dissect a brain brought back from the clinic, studying -the small slices of gray substance through his microscope. - -The uncertainty of the sciences called positive, the sudden halt to his -mind in the solution of these problems, threw him into fits of deepest -despair; and I have found him many times in a state of utter -prostration, his eyes set and shining, his hands burning with fever, his -pulse agitated and intermittent. In one of these crises I was obliged to -leave him for a few hours, and almost feared I should not find him alive -on my return, at about five o'clock in the morning. He had near him a -glass of cyanide of potassium, which he tried to hide as I came in; but -recovering his calmness almost at once, he said, with great serenity and -a slight smile, "What is the good? If we are immortal, it would be of no -use, and I wanted to know about it sooner." That day he acknowledged he -believed that he had been lifted painfully by his hair to the ceiling, -and allowed to drop with all his weight upon the floor. - -Public indifference with regard to the great problem of human -destiny,--a question which in his eyes exceeded all others in -importance, since it treated of our continued existence or -destruction,--exasperated him to the last degree. All about him he saw -people who were occupied solely by material interests, entirely absorbed -by the foolish idea of "making money," for which they gave up all their -years, their days, their hours, their minutes, disguised under various -forms; and he found no free, independent mind living an intellectual -life. It seemed to him that sentient beings could, _should_, while -living the bodily life, since one cannot do otherwise, at least not -remain the slaves of so coarse an organization, but devote the best -moments to their intellectual life. - -At the time this story begins, George Spero was already well known, and -even famed, by the original scientific books which he had published, and -also by several books of high literary merit, which had won praise for -his name in all parts of the world. - -Although he had not yet completed his twenty-fifth year, thousands of -persons had read his books, which, however, were not written for the -general public, but had been so successful as to be appreciated by the -majority who desire to learn, as well as by the enlightened minority. He -had been proclaimed master of a new school, and eminent critics, -knowing neither his physical individuality nor his age, spoke of his -"doctrines." - -How did it happen that this philosopher of such rare ability, this stern -student, should be at a young girl's feet at sunset on the terrace where -we met them just now? The rest of the story will tell you. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -II. - -THE APPARITION. - - -Their first meeting had been a very strange one. The young naturalist -was a passionate admirer of the beauties of Nature, and was always -looking for grand effects. The year before, he had made a journey to -Norway to visit the silent fiords, in which the sea was swallowed up; -the mountains, whose snow-crowned summits lift their spotless brows far -above the clouds; and to make a special study of the aurora -borealis,--that most magnificent exhibition of our planet's life. I had -accompanied him on the journey. The sunsets over the deep, calm fiords, -the rise of the splendid orb on the mountains, charmed his poetic and -artistic soul with an indescribable emotion. We remained there more than -a month, going through the picturesque region of the Scandinavian Alps. -Now, Norway was the home of that child of the North who was to exert so -strong an influence over his unawakened heart. She was there, only a few -steps away from him; and yet it was not until the very day we left that -Chance, that god of the ancients, decided to bring them together. - -The morning light was gilding the distant summits. The young Norwegian -girl's father had brought her to one of the mountains much frequented by -excursionists, like the Righi in Switzerland, to see the sunrise, which -that day was of surpassing beauty. To better distinguish certain details -of the landscape, Iclea had mounted a little hillock a few yards farther -away, and was quite alone; when turning with her face from the sun to -embrace the whole horizon, she saw her own image, her whole figure, not -on the mountain nor the earth, but on the very sky itself. A luminous -aureole framed her head and shoulders with a shining crown of glory, and -a large aerial circle, faintly tinted with the colors of the rainbow, -surrounded the mysterious apparition. - -[Illustration] - -Astonished and touched by the singularity of the vision, and still under -the influence of the gorgeous sunrise, she did not at first notice that -another face, that of a man, was by the side of her own,--the motionless -silhouette of a traveller in contemplation before her, recalling the -statues of saints on their pedestals in churches. This masculine figure -and her own were framed in by the same aerial circle. Suddenly she -perceived the strange profile in the air, and thought herself the -plaything of a fantastic vision; she started back in her amazement with -a gesture of surprise, almost of fear. Her image in the air reproduced -the same gesture, and she saw the traveller's wraith put his hand to his -hat and take it off, as if he were bowing to the heavens, then lose the -clearness of its outlines, and fade away at the same time as her own -figure. - -[Illustration] - -The transfiguration on Mount Tabor when the disciples of Jesus suddenly -saw their Master's image on the sky, accompanied by those of Moses and -Elias, could not have caused its witnesses any greater stupefaction than -the innocent Norwegian girl felt before this _anthelion_, whose theory -is well known to all meteorologists. - -This apparition fixed itself upon her mental retina like a marvellous -dream. She called her father, who had remained a few steps away from the -little mound; but when he reached her it had all disappeared. She asked -him to explain it; but he replied only by a doubt, almost a denial, -of the truth of the phenomenon. The excellent man, formerly a -field-officer, belonged to that category of distinguished sceptics who -simply deny everything of which they are ignorant or which they cannot -explain. It was all in vain that the lovely girl assured him that she -had seen her reflection in the sky, and also that of a man whom she -judged was young and good-looking; all in vain that she related the -details of the apparition, and added that the figures were much larger -than life-size, like enormous silhouettes,--he declared authoritatively -and with considerable emphasis that it was what is called an optical -illusion, produced by the imagination when one has not slept well, -particularly in youth. - -But on the evening of that day, as we were going on board the steamer, I -noticed a young girl, with wind-tossed hair, who was looking at my -friend in open astonishment. She had her father's arm, and was standing -on the wharf as motionless as Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt. I -signed to my friend; but no sooner had he turned his head towards her -than I saw her face crimson with a sudden flush: she at once turned -away, and fixed her eyes on the paddle-wheel, which was just beginning -to move. I do not know whether Spero noticed her confusion. As a fact, -we had seen nothing of that morning's aerial phenomenon, at least not -while the young girl was near us, and she had been hidden from us by a -little clump of bushes; the magnificence of the sunrise had drawn us -rather to the western side. However, he saluted Norway, which he -regretted to leave, with the same gesture with which he had greeted the -rising sun, and the pretty stranger had taken the bow for herself. - -Two months later, the Comte de K---- gave a large reception in honor of -the recent successes of his compatriot, Christine Nilsson. The young -Norwegian girl and her father, who had come to Paris to pass a part of -the winter, were among the guests, who had long known each other as -fellow-countrymen, Norway and Sweden being sisters. We went there for -the first time, our invitation being due to the appearance of Spero's -latest book, which had already met with signal success. Iclea was a -dreamy, thoughtful girl, well informed, thanks to the sound education -given in Northern countries; she was eager to learn, and had read and -re-read with curiosity the somewhat mystical book in which the new -metaphysician, dissatisfied with Pascal's "Thoughts," had laid bare his -soul's anxieties. Several months before, she had successfully passed the -_brevet superieur_ examination; and having abandoned the study of -medicine, which had at first attracted her, was beginning to look with -some curiosity into the recent investigations of psychological -physiology. - -[Illustration] - -When M. George Spero was announced, she felt that an unknown friend, -almost a confidant, had arrived. She started as if from an electric -shock. He was not much of a society man. Timid, ill at ease in mixed -assemblies, he did not care to dance, play, or converse, but preferred -to stay apart in one corner of the room with some friends; quite -indifferent to the waltzes and quadrilles, but more attentive to several -masterpieces of modern music feelingly played. The entire evening passed -without his being near her, although he had noticed her, and in all -that brilliant ball had seen but her. Their eyes met many times. At -last, about two o'clock in the morning, when the company was less -formal, he ventured to approach her, without speaking, however. It was -she who first spoke to him, to express a doubt about the conclusion of -his last book. - -[Illustration] - -Flattered, but still more surprised to learn that those metaphysical -pages had had so young a reader, and a lady too, the author replied -rather awkwardly that those investigations were somewhat uninteresting -for a woman. She answered that women, and even young girls, were not -exclusively absorbed in frivolity; that she knew several who -occasionally worked, thought, endeavored, and studied. She spoke with a -good deal of spirit, defending women against the contempt of certain -scientists of the other sex, and maintained their intellectual equality. -She had no trouble in winning a cause to which her listener was by no -means hostile. - -The new book--whose success had been immediate and brilliant, -notwithstanding the gravity of its subject--had surrounded George -Spero's name with an actual halo of fame, and the brilliant writer was -warmly welcomed in every drawing-room. The two young people had -exchanged but a few words when they found themselves the general object -of attention, and were forced to reply to different questions, which -interrupted their interview. One of the most eminent critics of the day -had recently devoted a long article to the new work, and the subject of -the book became at once the topic of general conversation. Iclea took no -part in it; but she felt--and women are not often mistaken--that the -hero had noticed her, that her thought was already linked to his by an -invisible thread, and that while he replied to the more or less -common-place questions thrust upon him, his mind was not wholly on the -conversation. This first little triumph was enough, she cared for no -other; and moreover she had recognized in his profile both the -mysterious silhouette in the aerial apparition and the young stranger on -the steamer at Christiania. - -In that first interview he had not hesitated to express his enthusiastic -admiration for the marvellous scenery in Norway, and to tell her about -his visit there. She was eager for a word, some sort of an allusion to -the aerial phenomenon which had made so great an impression upon her, -and could not understand his silence in regard to it. Not having -observed the _anthelion_ when she was reflected upon it, he had not been -particularly surprised at an occurrence which he had already studied -before and under better conditions,--from the car of a balloon; and -having seen nothing specially noticeable, had nothing to say about it. -The occurrence at the steamboat landing too had entirely passed from his -memory; so that although the fair beauty of the young girl did not seem -entirely unfamiliar to him, yet he had no recollection of having met her -before. As for me, I had recognized her at once. He talked about the -lakes, rivers, fiords, and mountains of Norway; learned from her that -her mother had died very young from heart-disease, that her father -preferred living in Paris to anywhere else, and that it was probable she -should not visit her native land except at rare intervals for the -future. - -A remarkable identity of ideas and tastes, a ready and mutual sympathy, -a reciprocal respect, soon made them friends. Brought up and educated -with English ideas, she enjoyed that independence of mind and freedom of -action which Frenchwomen never know until after marriage; she felt -hampered by none of the social conventionalities which with us are -supposed to protect innocence and virtue. Two friends of her own age had -even come to Paris to finish their musical education. They were living -together in the very heart of Babylon in perfect safety, never even -suspecting the dangers by which Paris is said to be beset. The young -girl received George Spero's visits as her father would have received -them himself; and in a few weeks the congeniality in their tastes and -dispositions had united them in the same studies, the same researches, -often in the very same thoughts. Almost every afternoon he went, drawn -by a secret attraction, from the Latin quarter along the borders of the -Seine as far as the Trocadero, and passed several hours with Iclea -either in the library, on the garden-terrace, or walking in the wood. - -The first impression aroused by the apparition on the sky had remained -in Iclea's mind. She looked up to the young savant, if not as a god or -hero, at least as a man far superior to his contemporaries. The perusal -of his works strengthened this feeling and increased it; she felt more -than admiration, she had an actual veneration for him. When she knew -him personally, the great man did not descend from his pedestal. She -found him so high, so excellent in his works, his inquiries, his -studies, and at the same time so simple, so sincere, so good-natured, so -indulgent to all, and (seizing any pretext for hearing him talked -about), she was sometimes forced to listen to such unjust criticisms -upon him from rivals, that she began to have an almost maternal feeling -for him. Does the sentiment of protecting affection exist in every young -girl's heart? Perhaps. But assuredly she loved him thus at first. I have -already said that the basis of this thinker's character was somewhat -melancholy,--that melancholy of the soul of which Pascal speaks, and -which is like homesickness for heaven. In fact, he was ever seeking to -solve the eternal question, Hamlet's "To be, or not to be?" Sometimes he -would be sad, downcast. But by a singular contrast, when his unhappy -thoughts had worn themselves out, so to speak, in vain research, and his -exhausted brain had lost the power of further vibration, a kind of -repose came to him,--he recovered his ordinary quiet; the circulation of -his red blood stimulated his organic life; philosophy disappeared, -leaving him like a simple child, amused at trifles; and having almost -feminine tastes, delighting in flowers, perfumes, music, revery, he -appeared sometimes astonishingly light-hearted. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -III. - -"TO BE, OR NOT TO BE?" - - -It was this very phase of his intellectual life which had drawn the two -friends so intimately together. Happy at being alive, in the flower of -her spring-time, expanding to the light of life,--a harp thrilling with -all the harmonies of Nature,--the beautiful Northern girl still -sometimes dreamed of the fays and elves of her native clime, of the -angels and mysteries of the Christian religion which had soothed her -childhood. The credulity of her early days had not obscured her -understanding; she thought freely, and sought sincerely for the truth; -while regretting perhaps that she no longer believed in the paradise of -the preachers, she felt nevertheless a strong desire to live forever. -Death seemed to her a cruel injustice. She never thought of her mother -lying on her death-bed in the ripe beauty of her thirtieth year,--taken -away to the green and fragrant cemetery, filled with the songs of birds, -while the roses were in full bloom; crossed off the book of life while -all Nature still sang, still bloomed and shone,--she never thought of -her mother's pale face, as I said, without a sudden shudder creeping all -over her from head to foot. No, her mother was not dead! She would not -die at thirty, or at any time! And he? He die! That sublime mind to be -blotted out by a stoppage of the heart or breath? No, it was not -possible! Men are mistaken! We shall know some day! - -Then, too, sometimes she thought of these mysteries under a form rather -more aesthetic and sentimental than scientific; but she thought of -them. All her questionings, her doubts, the secret object of her -conversations, perhaps her rapidly developed attachment for her -friend,--the cause of it all was the insatiable thirst for knowledge -which consumed her soul. She hoped in him because she had already found -in his writings a solution to the highest problems. He had taught her to -know the universe; and she found this knowledge more beautiful, more -vivid, more poetic, grander, than the old errors and illusions. From -the time when he told her that life had no object other than the search -for truth, she had felt sure that he would find it; and her mind clung -to and bound itself to his even more strongly than her heart. - -[Illustration] - -They had lived a common intellectual life in this way for about three -months, almost every day spending several hours reading original essays, -written in different languages, on science and philosophy,--the theory -of atoms, molecular physics, organic chemistry, thermo-dynamics, and the -different sciences whose object is the knowledge of existence,--or in -discoursing upon the real or apparent contradictions of hypotheses; -sometimes finding statements and coincidences most remarkable for their -scientific axioms, in the books of purely literary writers, and -occasionally astonished at the foresight of some great authors. These -readings, investigations, and comparisons had especially interested them -by the discrimination which their minds were led to make, as they became -more and more enlightened, between nine tenths of the writers whose -works are absolutely worthless, and half of the last tenth, whose -writings have but a superficial value. Having thus cleared the field of -literature, they took great delight and satisfaction in the restricted -society of superior minds. Perhaps mixed with it was a little feeling of -pride. - -One day Spero arrived earlier than usual. "Eureka!" he cried. But -correcting himself quickly, added, "Perhaps." - -Leaning against the chimney-piece, where a bright fire crackled, while -his companion looked at him with her large eyes full of curiosity, he -began to speak with a sort of unconscious solemnity, as though he were -discussing something with his own mind in the solitude of the woods. - - * * * * * - -"What we see is only apparent. Reality is quite different. - -"The sun apparently turns about us, rising every morning, setting at -night; the earth where we are seems to be motionless: but the contrary -is the truth. We live on a whirling projectile, thrown into space with a -speed seventy-five times as great as that which carries a cannon-ball. - -"Our ears are pleased by a harmonious concert. Sound does not exist; it -is merely an impression of the senses produced by vibrations of a -certain size and rapidity on the air, which in themselves are silent. -There would be no sound without the acoustic nerve and the brain. In -reality there is nothing but motion. - -"The rainbow spreads its radiant circle; the rose and corn-flower, -dripping with rain, glitter in the sun; the green meadow, the golden -furrow, diversify the plain with their bright colors. There are no -colors; there is no light,--there is nothing but the ether waves, which -cause a vibration of the optic nerve. Appearances are deceitful. The sun -warms and fertilizes; fire burns. There is no heat, only sensation; -heat, like light, is but one form of motion,--invisible but supreme, -sovereign motion! - - * * * * * - -"Take a strong iron beam, like one of those used so generally in -building nowadays. It is set up in space, ten metres high, between two -walls which support its ends. It is 'solid.' In the middle of it is -placed a weight of one, two, or ten thousand kilograms; but it does not -even show this enormous weight,--a level would hardly find a depression -in it. And yet this beam is composed of particles which do not touch -each other, which are in perpetual vibration, which separate under the -influence of heat, and are drawn together by cold. Tell me, if you -please, in what the solidity of this bar of iron consists. Its material -atoms? Assuredly not, since they do not touch. That solidity lies in -molecular attraction,--that is to say, in an immaterial force. - -"Speaking absolutely, solidity does not exist. Take up a heavy iron -cannon-ball: this ball is composed of invisible molecules which do not -touch each other. The continuity which the surface seems to have, and -the apparent solidity of the ball are, then, pure illusions. To the mind -which would analyze it, its inner structure is an eddying swarm of -little gnats, like those darting about in the air on a summer day. Then -suppose we heat this apparently solid ball: it will melt; heat it more, -it will evaporate,--but without changing its nature for all that; gas or -liquid, it will still be iron. - -"We are in a house. All these walls, these floors, these carpets, this -furniture, the marble mantelpiece, are also composed of particles which -do not touch each other; and all these particles which constitute these -objects are in constant motion, circulating around each other. - -"Our body is in the same condition. It is formed by a perpetual -circulation of molecules; it is a flame which is ceaselessly consumed -and renewed; it is a stream on whose banks one sits down, expecting to -see the same water again, but the perpetual course of things always -brings fresh water. Each globule of our blood is a world (and we have -five millions per cubic millimetre). Constantly, without let or -hindrance, in our arteries and veins, in our flesh, in our brain, all -circulates,--all moves, all hurries along in a vital whirl as rapid, -proportionately, as that of the heavenly bodies. Molecule by molecule, -our brain, our skull, our eyes, our nerves, our entire flesh ceaselessly -renews itself, and so rapidly that in a few months our entire body is -reconstituted. - - * * * * * - -"From estimates founded on molecular attraction it has been calculated -that in a tiny drop of water taken up on the point of a pin, a drop -invisible to the naked eye, measuring one thousandth of a cubic -millimetre, there are more than two hundred and twenty-five million -molecules. - -"In the head of a pin there are not less than eight sextillions of -atoms, or eight thousand millions of millions of millions; and these -atoms are separated from each other by distances greater than their -dimensions, these dimensions being invisible even to the most powerful -microscope. If one felt inclined to count the number of these atoms -contained in the head of a pin, by detaching in thought a thousand -million of them per second, it would be necessary to continue the -operation for two hundred and fifty-three thousand years, in order to -finish the enumeration. - -"In a drop of water, in the head of a pin, there are incomparably more -atoms than there are stars in all the sky known to astronomers, armed -with their strongest telescopes. - - * * * * * - -"What upholds the earth, the sun, and all the stars of the universe in -the eternal void? What upholds that heavy iron beam thrown between two -walls, and upon which several stories are to be built? What keeps all -bodies in shape? Force. - -"The world, beings, and things, all that we see, is formed of invisible -and imponderable atoms. The universe is a dynamism. God is the universal -soul; _in eo vivimus, movemur, et sumus_. - -"As the soul is force moving the body, the Infinite Being is force -moving the universe. The purely mechanical theory is incomplete to an -analyst who goes to the bottom of things. It is true that the human -_will_ is weak, in comparison to cosmic forces; yet by sending a train -from Paris to Marseilles, a ship from Marseilles to Suez, I freely -displace an infinitesimal portion of the earth's matter, and modify the -moon's course. Blind men of the nineteenth century, come back to the -swan of Mantua: _Mens agitat molem_. - -"If I dissect matter, I find the invisible atom at the base of -everything. Matter disappears, fades away into smoke. If my eyes had -power enough to see the truth, they would see, through walls and bodies -composed of separate molecules, atomic swarms. The eyes of the flesh do -not see what is. The mind's eye must see. Do not rely on the evidence of -your senses alone; there are as many stars over our heads in the daytime -as there are during the night. - -"In Nature there is neither astronomy nor chemistry nor philosophy nor -mechanics; those are subjective methods of observation. There is but a -single unit. The infinitely great is identical with the infinitely -small. Space is infinite without being great. Time is eternal without -being long. Stars and atoms are one. - - * * * * * - -"The unity of the universe is constituted of invisible, imponderable, -immaterial force, which moves atoms. If a single atom should cease to be -moved by force, the universe would stop. The earth turns round the sun, -the sun gravitates around a sidereal arch, which is itself capable of -motion; the millions, the thousand millions of suns which people the -universe move much more rapidly than gunpowder projectiles; these stars -which seem to us to be motionless are suns thrown into the eternal void -at the speed of ten, twenty, thirty millions of kilometres a day, all -rushing towards an unknown goal,--suns, planets, earths, satellites, -wandering comets ...; the fixed point, the centre of gravity sought after -by analysts, flies as fast as it is pursued, and really exists nowhere. -The atoms of which bodies are composed, move relatively as fast as stars -in the sky. Motion regulates all things, forms all things. - -"_The atom itself is not an inert mass, it is a centre of force._ - -"That which essentially constitutes and organizes the human being, is -not his material substance; it is not the protoplasm, nor the cell, nor -those marvellous and fertile combinations of carbon with hydrogen, -oxygen, and nitrogen,--it is animate, invisible, immaterial _Force_. It -is that which groups, directs, and keeps together the innumerable -particles which compose the exquisite harmony of the living body. - -"Matter and energy have never been seen separated from each other; the -existence of one implies the existence of the other; they are perhaps -substantially identical. - -"If the body should suddenly decay after death, as it slowly -disintegrates and perpetually renews itself during life, it would matter -little. The soul remains. _The organizing cerebral atom is the centre of -this force._ It also is indestructible. - -"What we see is deceitful. _The real is the invisible._" - - * * * * * - -He began to pace up and down the floor. The young girl had listened to -him as one listens to an apostle, a loved apostle; and although he had -really spoken but for her, he had not apparently realized her -presence,--she had been so silent and motionless. She went to him and -took one of his hands in hers. "Oh!" she cried, "if you have not yet -conquered Truth, she cannot elude you." - -[Illustration] - -Then, growing excited herself, and alluding to an often-expressed -reservation of his, "You think," she added, "that it is impossible for -terrestrial man to attain to the truth because we have but five senses, -and that a multitude of natural manifestations are unknown to our minds -because we have no means of reaching them. Just as sight would be denied -us if we were deprived of the optic nerve, hearing if we had no acoustic -nerve, etc.; just as the vibrations, the exhibitions of force which pass -between the strings of our organic instrument, without causing those we -have to quiver, are unknown to us. I concede that, and agree with you -that the inhabitants of certain worlds maybe incomparably more advanced -than we; but it seems to me that although earthly, you have found it -out." - -[Illustration] - -"My darling," he answered, sitting down beside her on the wide library -lounge, "it is very certain that some of the strings in our terrestrial -harp are missing: probably a citizen of the Sirius system would laugh at -our pretentions. The smallest piece of magnetized iron is stronger in -finding the magnetic pole than either Newton or Leibnitz, and the -swallow knows the variations of latitude better than did Christopher -Columbus or Magellan. What did I say just now? That appearances are -deceitful, and that our minds must see invisible force through matter. -That is perfectly sure. Matter is not what it seems to be, and no man -informed about the progress of the positive sciences could now pretend -to be a materialist." - -"Then," she said, "the cerebral atom, the principle of human organism, -would be immortal, like all other atoms, if one should admit the -fundamental assertions of chemistry. But it would differ from the -others, possessing a higher rank, the soul being attached to it. And -would it preserve the consciousness of its existence? Would the soul be -comparable to an electric substance? Once I saw the lightning go through -a drawing-room and extinguish the lights; when they were re-lighted, we -found that the gilding had all been taken off the clock, and that the -chased silver candlestick was gilded in several places. That is a subtle -force!" - -"Do not draw comparisons; they would be too far from the truth. There -is no doubt that the soul exists, as force does. We can admit that it -and the cerebral atom are one; that it thus survives the dissolution of -the body we can imagine." - -"But what becomes of it? Where does it go?" - -"The greater number of souls never even suspect their own existence. Out -of the fourteen hundred millions of human beings who people the earth, -ninety-nine one hundredths do not think. Great heavens! what would they -do with immortality? As the molecule of iron floats in the blood, -throbbing in Lamartine's or Hugo's temple, or is fixed for a time in -Caesar's sword; as the molecule of hydrogen shines in the lobby of a -theatre, or merges itself into the drop of water swallowed by a fish in -the dusky depths of the sea, so living atoms sleep which have never -thought. Thinking souls are the inheritance of the intellectual life. -They preserve humanity's patrimony, and increase it for the future. -Without this immortality of human souls which are conscious of their -existence and live through the mind, all the history of the earth would -end in nothing, and the whole creation, that of the most sublime worlds -as well as that of our mean little planet, would be a deceptive -absurdity, more miserable and pitiable than the cast of an earthworm. -That has a right to be; but the universe would not have. Do you imagine -that the thousand millions of worlds attain the splendors of life and -thought, to succeed each other without end in the sidereal universe, -only to give birth to constantly deceived hopes, and grandeurs which are -perpetually destroyed? It is useless for us to humble ourselves; we -cannot admit that nothing is the supreme object of perpetual progress, -proved by all the history of Nature. Now, souls are the seeds of -planetary humanities." - -"Can they transport themselves from one world to another?" - -[Illustration] - -"Nothing is so difficult to understand as that of which one is ignorant, -nothing more simple than what one knows. Who is surprised now to see -that the electric telegraph instantly sends human thought across -continents and seas? Who is surprised to see lunar attraction raise the -waters of the ocean and produce tides? Who is surprised to see light -transmit itself from one star to another at the rate of three hundred -thousand kilometres per second? Besides, thinkers alone could -appreciate the grandeur of these marvels; the vulgar are surprised at -nothing. If some new discovery to-morrow should enable us to make -signals to the inhabitants of Mars and receive replies from them, three -quarters of mankind would think nothing of it the day after. Yes, the -animating forces can transport themselves from one world to the other; -not everywhere nor always, to be sure, and not all of them. There are -laws and conditions. My will, with the help of my muscles, can raise my -arm or throw a stone; if I take a weight of twenty kilos, it will still -raise my arm; if I want to raise a weight of a thousand kilos, I can no -longer do it. Some minds are incapable of any activity; others have -acquired transcendent faculties. Mozart at six years of age surprised -all his hearers by the power of his musical genius, and at eight -published his first two sonatas; while the greatest dramatic author who -ever existed, Shakspeare, had written nothing worthy of his name until -after he was thirty years old. It is not necessary to believe that the -soul should belong to some supernatural world. Everything is in Nature. -It is hardly more than a hundred thousand years since terrestrial -humanity evolved itself from the animal chrysalis. For millions of -years, during the long historic series of the primary, secondary, and -tertiary periods, there was not a single eye on the earth to see these -grand sights, a single human mind to contemplate them. Progress has -slowly raised the inferior souls of plants and animals; man is quite -recent on the planet. Nature is in ceaseless progress, the universe is a -perpetual growth, ascent is the supreme law. - -"All worlds," he added, "are not actually inhabited. Some are at the -dawn, others at twilight. For example, in our solar system, Mars, Venus, -Saturn, and several of his satellites seem to be in full vital -activity. Jupiter appears not to have passed its primary period; the -Moon has perhaps no longer any inhabitants. Our own period is of no more -importance in the general history of the universe than one anthill in -the infinite. Before the existence of the earth, there had been, from -all eternity, worlds peopled with humanities. When our planet shall have -ceased to live, and the last human family shall have fallen asleep on -the brink of the last lagoon of the frozen ocean, numberless suns will -still shine in the infinite, there will still be mornings and evenings, -spring-time and flowers, hopes and joys, other suns, other earths, other -humanities,--boundless space, peopled with tombs and cradles. But life, -thought, eternal progress, are the final object of creation. - -"The earth is a star's satellite. Now, as well as in the future, we are -citizens of the sky; whether we know it or not, we are really living in -the stars." - -Thus the two friends conversed about the deep subjects which engrossed -their thoughts; when they were conquering a problem, even if it were -incomplete, they experienced a true happiness at having taken another -step in their search for the unknown, and could then talk more quietly -about the ordinary things of life. They were two minds equally eager for -knowledge, imagining in their youthful fervor that they could isolate -themselves from the world, look down upon human ideas, and in their -celestial flight reach the star of Truth, which shone above their heads -in the depths of the infinite. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -IV. - -AMOR. - - -In their life together, pleasant and intimate as it was, there was -something lacking. These conversations on the serious topics of being or -non-being, their exchange of ideas on the analysis of humanity, their -inquiries into the final end of the existence of things, satisfied their -minds sometimes, but not their hearts. When they had been together for a -long time, talking under the garden trellis which towered above the -picture of the great city, or in the silent library, the student, the -thinker could not leave his companion; they sat hand in hand, mute, -attracted and repelled by an irresistible power. After leaving each -other, both felt a singular, painful void in their breasts, an -indefinable uneasiness, as though some link necessary for both their -lives had been broken; and each hoped for nothing but the hour of -meeting. He loved her, not for himself, but for herself, with an almost -impersonal affection, with a feeling of high esteem as well as ardent -love; and by a constantly fought combat with his desire he had been able -to resist it. But one day, when they were both sitting on the wide divan -in the library, strewn, as usual, with books and loose leaves, a silence -fell upon them, and it happened that, overcome perhaps by the weight of -his long-continued efforts to resist so powerful an attraction, the -young author's head insensibly drooped to his companion's shoulder, and -almost at once ... their lips met.... - -Oh, unutterable joys of requited love; insatiable intoxication of the -heart transported with happiness; never-ending delights of the uncurbed -imagination; sweet music of the heart,--to what ethereal heights have -you not raised the chosen ones, given up to your supreme felicities! -Suddenly forgetful of this lower world, they fly on outstretched wings -to some enchanted paradise, lose themselves in celestial depths, and -soar away to the sublime regions of eternal rapture. The world, with its -joys and its sorrows, no longer exists for them; they live in light, in -fire,--they are salamanders, phoenixes, freed from all weight, light as -flame, burning themselves out, rising again from their ashes, always -luminous, always ardent, invulnerable, invincible. - -The expansion of their first long-repressed delights threw the lovers -into an ecstatic existence in which metaphysics and its problems were -for a time forgotten. This lasted six months. The sweetest but most -imperious of feelings had suddenly absorbed and taken possession of -them, thus completing the insufficient intellectual satisfactions of the -mind. From the day of the kiss, George Spero not only entirely -disappeared from society, but even ceased to write; and I lost sight of -him myself, notwithstanding the long and true affection he had professed -for me. Logicians might have been able to conclude from this that for -the first time in his life he was satisfied that he had found the -solution of the great problem,--the supreme object of the existence of -beings. - -[Illustration] - -They were living in this "selfishness for two" which, while moving -mankind from our optic centre, diminishes its defects and makes it -appear more beautiful. Satisfied by their mutual affection, everything -in nature and humanity sang a perpetual hymn of happiness and love. -Often in the evening they walked along the banks of the Seine, dreamily -contemplating the effects of light and shade which make the sky of Paris -so exquisite at twilight, when the silhouettes of towers and buildings -are thrown out against the luminous background in the west. Piles of -rose-colored and purple clouds, illuminated by the distant reflection of -the sea over which the vanished sun is still shining, give our skies a -character of their own, not like that of Naples, bathed in the west by -the Mediterranean mirror, but surpassing Venice perhaps, whose -illumination is pale and eastern. It might chance that, their steps -having led them to the old island of the Cite, they would stroll along -the river bank, passing in sight of Notre Dame and the old Chatelet, -whose dark outlines might still be seen against the dimly lighted sky. -Sometimes, often indeed, enticed by the brilliance of the setting sun -and by the fresh green of the country, they went along the _quais_, out -beyond the ramparts of the great city, and strayed as far as the -solitudes of Boulogne or Billancourt, shut in between the dusky hills of -Meudon and Saint-Cloud. They were contemplating Nature; they forgot the -noisy city lost behind them; and walking with the same step, forming but -one being, they received the same impressions, thought the same -thoughts, and by their silence spoke the same language. The stream -flowed on at their feet, the noises of the day were dying away, the -first stars were peeping out. Iclea liked to tell George their names as -they appeared. - -[Illustration] - -March and April often offer Paris mild evenings, on which the first warm -breezes, forerunners of spring, greet us. Orion's brilliant stars, the -dazzling Sirius, the Twins, Castor and Pollux glitter in the immense -sky; the Pleiades sink towards the western horizon; but Arcturus and -Bootes, shepherd of the celestial flocks, return, and a few hours later -white and resplendent Vega rises on the eastern horizon, soon followed -by the Milky Way. Arcturus with its golden rays is always the first star -to be recognized, from its piercing brilliancy and from its position in -the prolongation of the tail of the Great Bear. Sometimes the lunar -crescent was hanging in the western sky, and the young girl gazed -admiringly, like Ruth by Boaz' side, at "that golden sickle in the field -of stars." - -The stars surround the earth, the earth is in the sky. Spero and his -companion realized this, and perhaps no other couple on any other -celestial earth lived on more intimate terms than they with the sky and -infinity. - -And yet by degrees, perhaps without noticing it himself, the young -philosopher was gradually taking up again by shattered fragments his -interrupted studies; analyzing subjects now with a deep feeling of -optimism which he had never known before, in spite of his natural -kindliness; excluding cruel conclusions because they seemed to him to be -due to an insufficient knowledge of causes, looking at the panoramas of -Nature and of humanity in a new light. She too had taken up, at least -partially, the studies which she had begun in common with him; but a -new feeling filled her soul, and her mind had not the same freedom for -intellectual work. Absorbed in this constant affection for a being whom -she had wholly won, she saw only through him, acted only by him. In -quiet evening hours, when she went to the piano and played a sonata by -Chopin, which she was astonished to find she had not understood until -she was in love, or to accompany her pure rich voice while singing the -Norwegian _lieder_ by Grieg or Bull, or our own Gounod's melodies, it -seemed to her, unconsciously perhaps, that her lover was the only -listener capable of appreciating these inspirations of the heart. What -delicious hours he spent, stretched on a divan in that spacious library -in the house at Passy, sometimes idly following the capricious rings of -smoke from a Turkish cigarette, while she gave herself up to fanciful -memories, singing the sweet _Saetergientens Sondag_ of her native land, -the serenade from "Don Juan," Lamartine's "Lake," or else when running -her skilful fingers over the keys she sent the melodious dream of -Boccherini's minuet floating into the air. - -Spring had come. May had brought the opening fetes at the Universal -Exhibition of which we spoke at the beginning of this story, and the -great trees in the garden at Passy shaded the Eden of the loving couple. -Iclea's father, who had suddenly been called to Tunis, returned with a -collection of Arabian arms for his museum at Christiania. He intended to -go back to Norway very soon, and it had been agreed between the young -Norwegian girl and her lover that the marriage should take place in her -native land on the anniversary of the mysterious apparition. - -[Illustration] - -Their love was, from its very nature, very far removed from all those -common-place unions founded, some on gross sensual pleasure, others on -motives of interest more or less disguised, which represent the greater -part of human love. Their cultivated minds kept them isolated in the -loftier regions of thought; their delicacy of feeling kept them in an -ideal atmosphere where all material burdens were forgotten; the extreme -impressibility of their nerves, the exquisite refinement of all their -sensations, brought them delights whose enjoyment seemed to have no end. -If there is love in other worlds, it can be no deeper or more exquisite -feeling. To a physiologist they would have been the living witnesses of -the fact that, contrary to ordinary opinion, all enjoyment comes from -the brain, the intensity of sensation corresponding to the psychic -sensibility of the being. - -Paris was for them, not a city, not a world, but the theatre of human -history. They lived the past centuries over again. The old quarters -which had not yet been ruined by modern changes,--the Cite, with Notre -Dame, Saint-Julien le Pauvre, whose walls still recall Chilperic and -Fredegonde; the old houses where Albert le Grand, Petrarch, Dante, -Abelard, had lived; the old University, anterior to the Sorbonne, and -belonging to the same vanished centuries; the cloister of Saint-Merry -with its sombre little paths, the abbey of Saint-Martin, Clovis' tower -on the mountain, Saint-Genevieve, Saint-Germain-des-Pres, a relic of -the Merovingians, Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, whose bell sounded the -tocsin, the Sainte-Chapelle at Louis IX.'s palace, all memorials of -French history, were the object of their pilgrimages. They were alone -in crowds, looking into the past and seeing what very few people know -how to see. - -And so the immense city spoke its language of other days,--either when, -lost amid the monsters, griffins, pillars, and capitals, the arabesques -of the tower and galleries of Notre Dame, they saw the human hive go to -sleep at their feet in the evening dusk, or, when rising higher still, -they tried from the top of the Pantheon to restore the old outlines of -Paris and its gradual development from the Roman emperors who lived in -the Baths, to Philip Augustus and his successors. - -The spring sunshine, the blooming lilacs, the joyous May mornings, full -of bird-songs and nervous exhilaration, often drew them at random away -from Paris into the meadows and woods. The hours flew by like a breath -of wind, the day had passed like a thought, and the night prolonged the -divine dream of love. In the swiftly revolving world of Jupiter, where -the days and nights are twice as rapid as they are here, and do not even -last ten hours, lovers do not find the time fade away any more quickly. -The measure of time is in ourselves. - -[Illustration] - -They were sitting one evening on the roof of the old tower at the -Chateau de Chevreuse; there was no railing, and they were close together -in the centre, from whence one can look down over the unobstructed -surrounding landscape. The warm air from the valley, impregnated with -wild perfumes from the neighboring woods, rose to where they sat; the -warbler was still singing, and the nightingale in the growing shadows -was trying over his melodious hymn to the stars. The sun had just set in -a blaze of crimson and gold, and the west alone was still illuminated by -a glowing radiance. Everything seemed to be asleep on Nature's broad -bosom. - -[Illustration] - -Iclea was a little pale; but in the glow of the western sky her skin was -so clear, so delicate, so ideal that the light seemed to penetrate it -and illuminate it from within. Her eyes were misty with soft languor, -and her little, childlike mouth was lightly parted; she seemed lost in -contemplation of the sunset light. Leaning on Spero's breast, her arms -twined about his neck, she was sinking into a revery when a -shooting-star crossed the sky just over the tower. She started with a -little feeling of superstition. - -The most brilliant stars were already sparkling in the heavenly depths. -Arcturus, a brilliant golden yellow, was very high, almost at the -zenith; Vega, a pure white light, had already risen towards the west; in -the north, Capella; in the west, Castor, Pollux, and Procyon. The seven -stars of the Great Bear, Regulus, Spica Virginis, were also discernible. -Noiselessly, one by one, the stars came out to punctuate the heavens. -The north star showed the only motionless spot in the celestial sphere. - -The moon was rising, its reddish disk somewhat diminished from being on -the wane. Mars was shining between Pollux and Regulus in the southwest, -Saturn in the southeast. Twilight was slowly yielding its place to the -mysterious reign of night. - -"Does it not seem to you," she asked, "that all these stars are like -eyes looking down at us?" - -"Celestial eyes, like yours. What can they see on earth more beautiful -than you--and our love?" - -"And yet--" she added. - -"Yes, 'and yet,'--the world, family, society, custom, moral laws, and -all that. I understand your thought. We have forgotten all these things -to obey attraction alone,--like the sun, like all those stars, like the -warbling nightingale, like all Nature. Very soon we shall give those -social customs the part which belongs to them, and can openly proclaim -our love. Shall we be any happier for that? Is it possible to be any -happier than we are at this very moment?" - -"I am yours," she replied, "I do not exist for myself. I am swallowed up -in your light, your love, in your happiness, and I care for nothing, -nothing more. No. I was thinking of those stars, of those eyes looking -down at us, and wondering where all the human eyes are which have -watched them for millions of years as we do to-night. Where are all the -hearts that have beaten as our heart beats now? Where are all the souls -who have lost themselves in endless kisses in the mysterious vanished -nights?" - -"They all exist, nothing can be destroyed. We associate heaven and -earth, and we are right. In all the ages, with all peoples, among all -beliefs, mankind has always asked the secret of its destiny of the -starry heavens. That was one kind of divination. The Earth is a star of -heaven, like Mars and Saturn, which we see yonder, earths of the sky, -lighted by the same sun as we are, and like all these stars, which are -distant suns. Thought translates what man has believed ever since it -existed. All eyes have sought the answer to the great enigma in the -skies, and Urania has replied to them since the early days of -mythology." - -The night was coming on. The moon, slowly rising in the eastern sky, was -shedding her radiance through the atmosphere, insensibly displacing the -twilight; and in the city at their feet, below the thickets and ruins, a -few lights were already beginning to appear here and there. The two had -risen, and were standing in the centre of the tower roof, closely -clasped together. She was beautiful, framed in the aureole of her hair, -whose curls floated over her shoulders; little puffs of spring-like -air, fragrant with perfume of violets, gillyflowers, lilacs, and May -roses were rising from the neighboring gardens. Solitude and silence -were about them. Their lips united in a long kiss,--the hundredth at -least of that beautiful day of spring. She was still dreaming. A -fugitive smile suddenly lighted up her face, then faded away like a -passing cloud. - -"Of what are you thinking?" he asked. - -"Oh, nothing! A worldly, foolish thought; a little silly--nothing." - -"But what was it?" he asked, taking her again in his arms. - -"Oh! I was only wondering if people had mouths in those other worlds; -because, you know--a kiss--lips--" - -And so the hours passed away,--days, weeks, months, in a perfect union -of all their thoughts, all their feelings and impressions. The June sun -was already shining at its solstice, and the time to leave for Iclea's -home had come. At the appointed time she left with her father for -Christiania, and Spero followed them a few days later. It was the -young savant's intention to stay in Norway until autumn, and -continue the studies on the aurora borealis he had begun the year -before,--observations which were especially interesting to him, and -which he had had scarcely time to begin. - -[Illustration] - -This visit to Norway was the prolongation of a happy dream. The fair -Northern girl cast an aureole of perpetual winsomeness about him which -would perhaps have made him still forget the attractions of science if -she herself had not had, as we have seen, an insatiable taste for study. -The experiments which the indefatigable seeker had undertaken on -atmospheric electricity interested her as much as they did him. She too -wanted to know about those mysterious flames in the aurora borealis -which palpitate at night in high atmospheres; and as his series of -investigations led him to desire a balloon ascension, in order to reach -and surprise the phenomenon at its source, she also experienced the same -wish. He tried to dissuade her from it, those aeronautic expeditions not -being free from danger. But the very idea of sharing a peril with him -would have been enough to make her deaf to her loved one's entreaties. -After long hesitation Spero decided to take her with him, and prepared -for an ascension from the University of Christiania on the first night -of the aurora borealis. - - - - -[Illustration] - -V. - -THE AURORA BOREALIS. - - -The disturbances of the magnetic needle had announced the aurora's -presence even before the sun went down, and the inflation of the balloon -with pure hydrogen gas was begun while the sky showed in the magnetic -North that coloring of golden green which is always the sure indication -of an aurora borealis. The preparations were ended in a couple of -hours. The atmosphere, entirely free from all clouds, was perfectly -limpid, the stars twinkled in the bosom of a sky profoundly dark and -without a moon; but towards the North a soft light shone in an arc above -a black segment, throwing into the upper atmosphere slight flushes of a -pale greenish rose color, symbolizing the palpitations of an unknown -life. Iclea's father, who was watching the inflation of the balloon, had -no suspicion that his daughter was going; but at the last moment she -stepped into the car as if to inspect it. Spero gave the signal, and the -balloon rose slowly, majestically, over the city of Christiania, which, -lighted by thousands of lamps, appeared under the eyes of the travellers -rising through the air, to diminish in size as it disappeared in the -darkness. - -[Illustration] - -Soon the balloon, taking an oblique ascent, hovered over the darkened -landscape, and the paling lights also disappeared. The noises of the -city died away at the same time into profound silence: it was the -silence of the upper heights which enveloped the air-ship now. Iclea was -impressed by this extraordinary stillness, perhaps, above all, by the -novelty of the situation, and clung to her rash lover's side. They -mounted rapidly. The aurora borealis appeared to descend, and spread -itself out under the stars, like an undulating drapery of fleecy gold -and purple, overrun with electric flashes. Spero watched his -instruments, and by the help of a little crystal globe filled with -glow-worms, wrote down the indications corresponding to the heights -attained. The balloon went up steadily. What a delight to the -investigator! In a few moments he would soar to the crest of the aurora -borealis; he would find an answer to the question about the aurora's -height which had been asked in vain by so many philosophers, and -especially by his beloved masters, the two great "psychologists and -philosophers," Oersted and Ampere! - -Iclea's emotion had calmed itself. "Were you afraid?" asked her lover. -"The balloon is safe; you need fear no accident,--everything has been -provided for. We will go down in an hour; there is not a breath of wind -stirring on the earth." - -"No," she said, while the celestial light threw over her a roseate and -transparent illumination; "but it is so strange, so beautiful, so -divine. It is grand for little me! I shuddered for a moment. It seems to -me that I love you more than ever!" and throwing her arms about his -neck, she kissed him in a long, passionate, clinging embrace. - -The solitary balloon was moving silently through the aerial heights, a -spheroid of transparent gas enclosed in its silken envelope, whose -vertical gores, joining each other at the valve on the top, could be -seen from the car; the lower part of the balloon being open for the -dilation of the gas. - -The dusky brightness that falls from the stars, of which Corneille -speaks, would have been sufficient without the gleams from the aurora -borealis to enable them to distinguish the whole of the aerial skiff. -The car was hung to the net which enveloped the silken vessel by strong -ropes tied to the basket-work and interlaced under the feet of the -aeronauts. The silence was impressively solemn; the beating of their -hearts could have been heard. They were sailing at a height of five -thousand metres, with an unaccustomed gravity; the upper wind was -carrying them along without the faintest breath being felt in the -car, for the balloon floated in the moving air like a simple -bubble,--motionless, except as the current carried it along. Our -travellers--sole inhabitants of these lofty regions, in full enjoyment -of the exquisite elation which aeronauts know when once they have -breathed that rare and sublimated atmosphere--looked down upon the -realms below, forgetful of all earthly cares and associations, in the -silence of their vast isolation. But they appreciated and enjoyed their -unique situation more than any of those who had preceded them, for they -added to the pleasures of an aerial voyage the rapture of their own -happiness. They spoke in low tones, as if afraid of being overheard by -the angels, and of seeing the magic charm dissolved which held them so -near to heaven.... Sometimes sudden flashes came to them,--gleams from -the aurora borealis; then darkness, deeper and more unfathomable than -before, reigned again. - -They were floating thus in their starry dream when a quick, shrill -noise, like that of a new whistle, sounded in their ears. They listened, -leaned far out over the car, and listened again. The noise did not come -from the earth. Was it an electrical blast from the aurora borealis? Was -it the hiss of some magnetic storm in the upper air? Lightning coming -from the depths of space flashed about them and disappeared. They -listened breathlessly again. The sound was quite close to them.... It -was the gas escaping from the balloon! - -Either the valve had partly opened of itself, or they had pressed upon -the connecting rope while incautiously moving about in the car; at all -events, the gas was escaping. - -Spero at once detected the cause of the disquieting noise, and it -terrified him, for it was impossible to close the valve again. He -examined the barometer, which had begun slowly to rise, while the -balloon was beginning to descend. The fall, slow at first, but -inevitable, would increase in mathematical proportion. Trying to fathom -the abyss below them, he saw the flames of the aurora borealis reflected -in the water of an immense lake. The balloon was now descending with -great rapidity, and was not more than three thousand metres from the -ground. Outwardly calm, but fully conscious of the certain and impending -peril, the unfortunate aeronaut threw out one after the other the two -sacks left for ballast, then the maps, the instruments, the anchor, and -emptied the car; but this lightening of the weight was not enough, and -served only to slacken momentarily their accelerated speed. The balloon -was now descending, or rather falling, at a tremendous rate, and was but -a few hundred metres above the lake. Strong wind-currents blew up and -down and whistled in their ears. - -[Illustration] - -The balloon twisted about itself, as if whirled by a waterspout. George -Spero felt a sudden and passionate embrace, followed by a long kiss upon -his lips. "My master, my god, my all! I love you," she cried; and -thrusting aside two of the ropes, she leaped into the empty air. The -unballasted balloon shot up again like an arrow. Spero was saved. - -Iclea's body made a dull, strange, and frightful sound in the midnight -stillness as it fell into the deep waters of the lake. Wild with grief -and despair, Spero felt his hair bristling with horror. He opened his -eyes wide, but saw nothing. Carried up by the balloon to a height of -more than a thousand metres, he clung to the valve-rope, hoping to fall -again towards the scene of Iclea's catastrophe; but the rope would not -work. He fumbled and hunted, but without avail. In the midst of all he -felt under his hand his loved one's veil, where it had caught on one of -the ropes,--a thin little veil, still fresh with perfume, and filled -with the memories of his lovely companion. He stared at the ropes, -thinking he could find the imprint of her little clinging hands, and -putting his own where Iclea's had been an instant before, he threw -himself out of the car. His foot caught in a rope for a second, but he -had strength enough to disengage it, and fell whirling into space. - -The crew of a fishing-boat that had witnessed the closing scenes of the -drama crowded all sail towards the spot in the lake into which the young -girl had fallen, and succeeded in finding and rescuing her. She was not -dead; but all the care lavished upon her could not prevent a fever from -setting in and making her its prey. - -In the morning the fishermen reached a little harbor on the borders of -the lake, and carried her to their humble cot; but she did not regain -consciousness. "George!" she cried, opening her eyes, "George!" and that -was all. The next day she heard the village bell tolling a funeral -knell. "George!" she repeated, "George!" His body was found in a -terribly mangled condition a short distance from the shore. His fall was -more than a thousand metres. It had begun over the lake; but the body, -retaining the horizontal impetus given by the moving balloon, had not -fallen vertically, it had descended obliquely, as if slipping down a -rope following the course of the balloon; and like a mass thrown from -the sky, had fallen into a meadow near the shore of the lake, making a -deep indentation in the soil, and rebounding more than a metre from the -place where it fell. His very bones were crushed into powder, and the -brain protruded through the forehead. His grave had hardly been closed -before they were obliged to dig another beside it for Iclea, who died -murmuring in a feeble voice, "George! George!" - -[Illustration] - -A single stone covers both graves, and the same willow-tree shades their -sleep. To this day the dwellers on the shores of beautiful Lake -Tyrifiorden remember the melancholy episode, which has become almost -legendary; and when the gravestone of the lovers is shown to the -tourist, their memory is always associated with a happy, happy dream -that has vanished. - - - - -[Illustration] - -VI. - -ETERNAL PROGRESS. - - -Days, weeks, months, seasons, years, pass quickly on this planet,--and -doubtless also on the others. The Earth has already run its yearly -course around the Sun twenty times since destiny so tragically closed -the book that my young friends had been reading for less than a year. -Their happiness was short-lived; their morning faded away like the -dawn. - -I had forgotten,[1] or at least lost sight of them, when quite recently, -at a hypnotic seance in Nancy, where I had stopped for a few days on my -way to the Vosges, I was induced to question a "subject" by whose -assistance the experimental savants of the Academie Stanislas had -obtained some of those really startling results with which the -scientific Press has surprised us for a few years past. I do not -remember how, but it happened that my conversation with him turned on -the planet Mars. After describing to me a country situated on the shores -of a sea known to astronomers under the name of Kepler's Ocean, and a -solitary island lying in the bosom of this sea; after telling me about -the picturesque landscapes and reddish vegetation which adorned the -shores, the wave-washed cliffs, and the sandy beaches where the billows -break and die away,--the subject, who was very sensitive, suddenly grew -pale, and raised his hand to his head; his eyes closed, his eyebrows -contracted; he seemed desirous of grasping some fugitive idea which -obstinately eluded him. "_See!_" said Dr. B., standing before him with -irresistible command; "see! I wish it." - -"You have friends there," he said to me. - -"I am not surprised at that," I said, laughing; "I have done enough to -deserve them." - -"Two friends," he went on, "who are talking about you now, this very -minute." - -"Ah, ha! Persons who know me?" - -"Yes." - -"How is that?" - -"They have known you here." - -"Here?" - -"Here,--on the earth!" - -"How long ago was it?" - -"I do not know." - -"Have they lived on Mars long?" - -"I do not know." - -"Are they young?" - -"Yes; they are lovers, who adore each other." - -Then the loved image of my lamented friends rose distinctly in my mind; -but I had no sooner seen them than the subject exclaimed,-- - -"Yes! it is they!" - -"How do you know?" - -"I see,--they are the same souls, same colors." - -"What do you mean by the 'same colors'?" - -"Yes, the souls are suffused with light." - -A few instants afterwards he added, "And yet there is a difference." - -Then he was silent, his forehead frowning in his effort to find out. But -his face regained all its calmness and serenity as he added,-- - -"He has become she, the woman; she is now the man,--and they love each -other more than ever." - -As if he did not quite understand what he had said himself, he seemed to -be seeking for some explanation,--made painful efforts, judging from the -contraction of the muscles in his face, and fell into a sort of -cataleptic fit, from which Dr. B. speedily relieved him; but the lucid -interval had fled, not to return. - -In ending, I leave this last fact with the reader just as it happened, -without comment. Had the subject, according to the hypothesis now -admitted by many hypnotists, been under the influence of my own thought -when the professor ordered him to answer me? Or, being independent, had -he really "freed" himself, and had he _seen_ beyond our sphere? I cannot -undertake to decide. Perhaps it will appear in the course of this story. - -And yet I will acknowledge in all sincerity that the resurrection of my -friend and his adored companion on the world of Mars,--a neighboring -abode to ours, and so remarkably like this one we inhabit, only older, -doubtless more advanced on the road of progress,--may appear to a -thinker's eyes the logical and natural continuation of their earthly -existence, so quickly broken off. - -Doubtless Spero was right in declaring that matter is not what it seems -to be, and that appearances are deceitful; that the real is the -invisible; that animate force is indestructible; that in the absolute, -the infinitely great is identical with the infinitely small; that -celestial space is not impassable; and that souls are the seeds of -planetary humanities. Who knows but that the philosophy of dynamism may -one day reveal the religion of the future to the apostles of astronomy? -Does not Urania bear the torch without which every problem is insoluble, -without which all Nature would remain to us in impenetrable obscurity? -Heaven must explain the earth, the infinite must explain the soul and -its immaterial faculties. - -The unknown of to-day is the truth of to-morrow. - -The following pages will perhaps enable us to form something of an idea -of the mysterious link which binds the transitory to the eternal, the -visible to the invisible, earth to heaven. - -[Illustration] - - - - -Part Third. - -HEAVEN AND EARTH. - - - - -[Illustration] - -I. - -TELEPATHY. - - -The magnetic seance at Nancy had left a strong impression on my mind. I -often thought of my departed friend and his investigations in the -unexplored domains of nature and life, of his sincere and original -analytical researches on the mysterious problem of immortality; but I -could not think of him now without associating him with the idea of a -possible reincarnation in the planet Mars. - -This idea seemed to me to be bold, rash, purely imaginary if you like, -but not absurd. The distance from here to Mars is equal to zero for the -transmission of attraction; it is almost insignificant for that of -light, since a few minutes are enough for a luminous undulation to -travel millions of leagues. I thought of the telegraph, the telephone, -and the phonograph; of the influence a hypnotizer's will has on his -subject many kilometres distant; and I wondered if some marvellous -advance in science might not suddenly throw a celestial bridge between -our world and others of its kind in infinity. - -For several evenings I could not observe Mars through the telescope -without my attention being diverted by many strange fancies. Still, the -planet was very beautiful, as it was during all the spring of 1888. -Extensive inundations had taken place upon one of its continents, upon -Libye, as astronomers had observed before in 1882, and under various -circumstances. It was discovered that its meteorology and climatology -are not the same as ours, and that the waters which cover about half of -the planet's surface are subject to strange displacements and -periodical variations, of which terrestrial geography can give no idea. -The snow at the boreal pole had greatly diminished,--which proves that -the summer on that hemisphere had been quite hot, although less elevated -than that of the southern hemisphere. Besides, there had been very few -clouds over Mars during the whole series of our observations. But it -will be hardly credible that it was not these astronomical facts, -however important they might be, and the base of all our conjectures, -which most interested me,--it was what the hypnotized man had told me of -George and Iclea; the fantastic ideas flitting through my brain -prevented me from making a truly scientific observation. I persistently -wondered if communication could not exist between two beings very far -removed from each other, and even between the living and the dead; and -each time I told myself that such a question was of itself unscientific, -and showed a positive spirit. - -[Illustration] - -Yet, after all, what is what we call "science"? What is not "scientific" -in Nature? Where are the limits of positive study? Is the carcase of a -bird really a more scientific thing than its lustrous, colored plumage -and its song with its subtle tones? Is the skeleton of a pretty woman -more worthy of admiration than her structure of flesh and her living -form? Is not the analysis of the mind's emotions "scientific"? Is it not -scientific to try to find out whether the mind can see to a distance, -and in what manner? And then, how much reason is there in this strange -vanity, that we imagine that science has told us all; that we know all -there is to know; that our five senses are sufficient to appreciate the -nature of the universe? From what we can make out among the forces -acting about us,--attraction, heat, light, electricity,--does it follow -that there may not be other forces which escape us, because we have no -senses to perceive them? It is not this hypothesis which is absurd, it -is the simplicity of pedants. We smile at the ideas of the astronomers, -philosophers, physicians, and theologians of three centuries ago; three -centuries hence, will not our successors laugh in their turn at the -affirmations of those who pretend to know everything now? - -The physicians to whom fifteen years ago I communicated some magnetic -phenomena observed by myself during some experiments, all confidently -denied the reality of the facts. I met one of them recently at the -Institute. "Oh!" said he, not without a certain wit, "then it was -magnetism; now it is hypnotism, and we are studying it." - -Moral. Do not deny anything as a foregone conclusion. Let us study and -discover; the explanation will come later. - -[Illustration] - -I was in this frame of mind, pacing up and down my library, when my eyes -chanced to fall on a pretty copy of Cicero which I had not noticed for -some time. I took up a volume of it, opened it mechanically at the first -page I came to, and read the following:-- - - "Two friends arrive at Megara and take separate lodgings; one of - them has hardly fallen asleep before he sees his travelling - companion beside him, telling him sorrowfully that his host has - formed a plan to assassinate him, and begging him to come to - his assistance as quickly as possible. The other awakes; but - satisfied that he has had a bad dream, loses no time in going to - sleep again. His friend appears to him again, and conjures him - to hasten, because the murderers are coming to his room. More - puzzled, he is astonished at the persistency of this dream, and - is on the point of going to his friend; but reason and fatigue - triumph, and he goes to bed again. Then his friend comes to him - for the third time, pale, bleeding, disfigured. 'Wretch,' said - he to him, 'you did not come when I implored you; it is all over - now. Avenge me. At sunrise you will meet a cart loaded with - manure at the city gate: stop it, and order it to be unloaded; - you will find my body hidden in the middle. Give me an honest - burial, and pursue my murderers.' So great a tenacity, such - minute details, admitted of no further delay or hesitation; the - friend rises, hurries to the gate mentioned, finds the wagon - there, stops the driver, who is frightened; and soon after the - search begins, the body of his friend is found." - -[Illustration] - -This story seemed to come expressly to strengthen my opinion in regard -to the unknown quantities in the scientific problem. Doubtless -hypotheses are not lacking in reply to the point in question. It may be -said that perhaps the circumstance never happened as Cicero tells it, -that it has been amplified and exaggerated; that two friends coming to a -strange city may fear an accident, that fearing for a friend's life -after the fatigue of a journey, in the middle of the quiet night, one -might chance to dream that he is the victim of an assassin. As to the -episode of the cart, the travellers may have seen one standing in their -host's court-yard, and the principle of the association of ideas comes -in to bring it into the dream. Yes, these explanatory hypotheses may be -made; but they are only hypotheses. To admit that there had really been -any communication between the dead man and the living one is also an -hypothesis. - -Are facts of this kind very rare? It seems not. I remember, among -others, a story told me by an old friend of my boyish days, Jean Best, -who, with my eminent friend Edouard Charton, founded the _Magasin -Pittoresque_ in 1883, and died a few years ago. He was a grave, cold, -methodical man, a skilful typographical engraver, and a careful -business man. Every one who knew him knows how little nervous he was by -temperament, and how foreign to his mind were things of the imagination. -Well, the following incident happened to him when he was a child between -five and six years old. - -[Illustration] - -It was at Toul, his native place. He was lying in his little bed one -beautiful evening, but was not asleep, when he saw his mother come into -his chamber, cross it, and go into the adjoining drawing-room, whose -door was open, and where his father was playing cards with a friend. -Now, his mother was ill at Pau at that time. He at once rose from his -bed and ran to the drawing-room after his mother, where he looked for -her in vain. His father scolded him somewhat impatiently, and sent him -back to bed again, assuring him that he had been dreaming. - -Then the child, thinking that he must have been dreaming, tried to go to -sleep again. But some time afterwards, lying with his eyes open, he -distinctly saw his mother pass him for the second time; only now he -hurried to her and kissed her, and she at once disappeared. He did not -want to go to bed afterwards, and remained in the drawing-room, where -his father continued to play cards. His mother died at Pau the same day -at that very hour. - -I have this circumstance from M. Best himself, who remembered it -clearly. How explain it? It may be said that, knowing his mother was -ill, the child often thought of her, and had an hallucination which -happened to coincide with his mother's death. That is possible. But it -may be thought, too, that there was some sympathetic link between the -mother and child, and at that solemn moment the mother's soul may really -have been in communication with her child. How? one may ask. We know -nothing about it. But what we do not know, is to what we know in the -proportion of the ocean to a drop of water. - -_Hallucinations!_ That is easily said. How many medical works have been -written upon this subject! Everybody knows that of Brierre de Boismont. -Among the numberless incidents which it relates, let us cite the two -following: - - "Observation 84. When King James came to England at the time of - the London plague, being at Sir Robert Cotton's house in the - country with old Camden, he saw, in a dream, his oldest son, who - was still a child living in London, with a bleeding cross on his - forehead, as if he had been wounded by a sword. Frightened at - this apparition, the king began to pray; in the morning he went - to Camden's chamber and told him the events of the night; the - latter reassured the monarch, telling him he had nothing to - torment himself about. That very day the king received a letter - from his wife announcing the death of his son, who had died from - the plague. When the child appeared to his father, he had the - height and proportions of a grown man. - - "Observation 87. Mlle. R., a person of excellent judgment, - religious, but not a bigot, lived before her marriage at her - uncle's house, D., the celebrated physician and a member of the - Institute. She was away from her mother, who was attacked by - violent illness in the country. One night this young person - dreamed that she saw her, pale, disfigured, very near death, and - showing deep grief at not having her children with her, one of - whom, the curate of a parish in Paris, had emigrated to Spain, - the other being in Paris. Soon she heard herself called by her - christian name several times; in her dream she saw the persons - who were with her mother, thinking she called her little - granddaughter, who had the same name, go into the next room for - her, when a sign from the sick woman told them it was not she, - but her daughter who lived in Paris, whom she wanted to see. Her - face showed the grief she felt at the daughter's absence; - suddenly her features changed, the paleness of death spread over - her face, and she fell back lifeless on her bed. - - "The next morning Mlle. R. seemed very sad to D., who begged to - know the cause of her grief. She told him all the particulars of - the dream which had so greatly distressed her. D., finding her - in that frame of mind, pressed her to his heart, acknowledging - that the news was only too true, that her mother had just died; - he did not enter into further particulars. - - "A few months afterwards Mlle. R., profiting by her uncle's - absence to put in order his papers, which, like many other - savants, he disliked to have touched, found a letter to her - uncle relating the circumstances of her mother's death. What was - her surprise to read all the particulars of her dream!" - -Hallucination! Fortuitous coincidence. Is that a satisfactory -explanation? At all events, it is an explanation which explains nothing -at all. - -A host of ignorant persons, of all ages and trades, clerks, merchants or -deputies, sceptics by temperament or habit, simply declare that they do -not believe these stories, that there is nothing true about them. That -also is not a very good solution of them. Minds accustomed to study -cannot content themselves with so trifling a denial. A fact is a fact; -we cannot refuse to admit it, even when we cannot in the present state -of our knowledge explain it. - -Of course medical annals acknowledge that there is really more than one -kind of hallucination, and that certain nervous organizations are their -dupes. But there is a wide gulf between that and concluding that all -psycho-biological phenomena are hallucinations. - -The scientific spirit of our century rightly seeks to free all these -facts from the deceptive fogs of supernaturalism, inasmuch as nothing is -supernatural, and Nature, whose kingdom is infinite, embraces -everything. During the last few years a special scientific society has -been organized in England for the study of these phenomena,--the Society -for Psychical Research. It has at its head some of the most illustrious -savants on the other side of the Channel, and has already sent out -important publications. These phenomena of sight at a distance are -classed under the general title of Telepathy (tele, _far_, pathos, -_sensation_). Rigorous inquiries are made to verify their testimony. Its -variety is very great. Let us look through one of these collections[2] -together for a moment, and take out a few of the documents which are -duly and scientifically established. - -In the following recently observed case, the observer was as wide awake -as you and I are at this moment. It is about a certain Mr. Robert Bee, -who lives at Wigan, England. Here is the curious revelation, written by -the observer himself. - - "On the 18th of December, 1873, my wife and I went to visit my - wife's family at Southport, leaving my parents to all appearance - in perfect health. The next afternoon we were strolling on the - beach, when I became so depressed that it was impossible for me - to interest myself in anything whatever, so that we soon - returned to the house. - - "All at once my wife showed signs of great uneasiness, and said - she was going to her mother's room for a few moments. A minute - afterwards I rose from my armchair and went into the - drawing-room. - - "A lady in walking costume came towards me from an adjacent - sleeping-room. I did not notice her features, because her face - was turned away from me; still, I spoke to her, and greeted her - at once, but I do not remember now what I said. - - "At the same time, while she was passing before me, my wife was - coming from her mother's chamber, and walked right over the - place where I saw the lady, without seeming to notice her. I - said at once, in great surprise, 'Who is that lady whom you just - met?' 'I met no one,' replied my wife, still more astonished - than I was. 'What!' I replied, 'do you mean to tell me that you - did not see a lady this very minute who passed by just where you - are now? She probably came from your mother's room, and must be - now in the vestibule.' - - "'It is impossible,' she said; 'there is positively no one in - the house at this moment but my mother and ourselves.' - - "Sure enough. No strange lady had been there, and the search - which we immediately began was without result. - - "It was then ten minutes to eight o'clock. The next morning a - telegram informed us of my mother's sudden death from - heart-disease at exactly that hour. She was then in the street, - and dressed precisely like the unknown lady who had passed in - front of me." - -Such is the observer's story. The inquiries made by the Society -for Psychical Research have proved its absolute authenticity and -the agreement of the witnesses. It is as positive a fact as a -meteorological, astronomical, philosophical, or chemical observation. -How can it be explained? Coincidence, you will say. Can a strict -scientific criticism be satisfied with this word? - -Still another case. - -Mr. Frederick Wingfield, living at Belle-Isle en Terre (Cotes-du-Nord), -writes that on the 25th of March, 1880, having gone to bed rather late, -after reading a part of the evening, he dreamed that his brother, living -in the county of Essex, in England, was with him; but instead of -answering a question asked him, merely shook his head, rose from his -chair, and went away. The impression was so strong that the narrator -sprang from his bed half asleep, awaking as his foot touched the floor, -and called his brother. Three days later he received news that his -brother had been killed by a fall from his horse the same day, March -25th, 1880, in the evening, about half-past eight o'clock, a few hours -before the dream just reported. - -An inquiry proved that the date of this death was exact, and that the -author of this narrative had written his dream in a diary at the very -date of the event, and not afterwards. - -Still another case. - - "Mr. S. and Mr. L., both employed in a Government office, had - been intimate friends for eight years. Monday, 19th March, 1883, - L. had an attack of indigestion at his office. He went to a - druggist's, where he was given some medicine, and was told that - his liver was affected. The following Thursday he was no better; - Saturday of that same week he was still absent from the office. - - "On Saturday evening, March 24th, S. was at home with a - headache; he told his wife that he was too warm, which he had - not been before for two months; then, after making this remark, - he went to bed, and shortly after he saw his friend L. standing - before him, dressed as usual. S. noticed even this particular - about L.'s clothes, that he had a black band on his hat, and - that his coat was unbuttoned; he also had a cane in his hand. L. - looked directly at S. and passed on. S. then remembered the - sentence in the book of Job, 'A spirit passed before my face; - the hair of my flesh stood up.' - - "At that moment he felt a chill run all over his body, and felt - the hair rise on his head. Then he asked his wife,'What time is - it?' She replied,'Ten minutes of nine.' 'I asked you,' he said, - 'because L. is dead; I have just seen him.' She tried to - persuade him that it was a pure illusion; but he insisted, in - the most solemn manner, that nothing could induce him to change - his opinion." - -This is the story as told by Mr. S. He did not learn of his friend's -death until three o'clock on Sunday. L. had died on Saturday evening at -about ten minutes of nine. - -[Illustration] - -Agrippa d'Aubigne's historical account of an occurrence at the time of -the Cardinal of Lorraine's death is somewhat like this story:-- - - "The king being at Avignon on December 23d, 1574, Charles, - Cardinal of Lorraine, died there. The queen (Catherine de - Medicis) had retired to bed earlier than usual, having at her - _coucher_, among other persons of note, the king of Navarre, - the archbishop of Lyons, the ladies de Retz, de Lignerolles, and - de Saunes, two of whom have confirmed this report. As she was - hurrying to finish her good-nights, she threw herself back on - her bed with a start, put her hands over her face with a loud - cry, calling to those about her for help, pointing to the - cardinal at the foot of the bed, who, she said, was holding out - his hand to her. She cried out several times, 'M. le Cardinal, I - have nothing to do with you.' At the same time the king of - Navarre sent one of his gentlemen to the cardinal's house, who - reported that he had died at that very minute." - -In his book on "Posthumous Humanity," published in 1882, Adolphe -d'Assier guarantees the authenticity of the following statement, which -was reported by a lady of St. Gaudens as having happened to herself:-- - - "It was before my marriage," she said, "and I slept with my - elder sister. One night we had just put out the light and gone - to bed. The fire was still burning enough to dimly light the - room. Glancing at the fireplace, to my great surprise I saw a - priest seated before the fire warming himself. He was a stout - man, and had the form and features of an uncle of ours, a priest - who lived in the suburbs. I at once spoke to my sister. The - latter looked at the fireplace and saw the same apparition. She - also recognized our uncle the priest. An indescribable fright - took possession of us, and we both cried 'help' as loud as we - could. My father, who was sleeping in an adjoining room, - aroused by our cries, rose in great haste, and soon came in with - a lighted candle in his hand. The phantom had disappeared; we no - longer saw any one in the chamber. The next day we learned by - letter that our uncle the priest had died the previous evening." - -[Illustration] - -Another fact is reported by the same disciple of Auguste Comte, and sent -by him while living in Rio de Janeiro. - -It was in 1858. In the French colony of that city, people were still -talking about a singular apparition which had taken place there a few -years before. An Alsatian family, consisting of a husband, wife, and -little girl, still almost a baby, sailed for Rio de Janeiro, where they -were to join some compatriots living in that city. The passage was very -long, the wife was taken ill, and lacking proper care and nourishment, -did not live to reach there. The day she died she fell into a swoon, -remained in that state for some time, and when she recovered her senses, -said to her husband, who was watching by her side, "I die happy, for now -I am easy about the fate of our child. I have just come from Rio de -Janeiro. I found our friend Fritz the carpenter's house and street; he -was standing at the door. I showed him our little girl; I feel sure that -on your arrival he will recognize and take care of her." That very day, -at the same hour, Fritz the Alsatian carpenter, of whom I have just -spoken, was standing at the door of the house where he lived in Rio de -Janeiro, when he thought he saw one of his compatriots going along the -street with a little girl in her arms. She looked at him entreatingly, -and seemed to show him the child she was carrying. Her face, -notwithstanding its emaciation, reminded him of Latta, the wife of his -friend and fellow-countryman Schmidt. Her expression, the singularity of -her step, which seemed more like a vision than reality, struck Fritz; -and wanting to be sure that he was not the victim of an illusion, he -called one of his men who was working in the shop, and who was also an -Alsatian from the same locality. - -"Look," said he; "do you not see a woman going down the street, holding -a child in her arms, and should you not say that it is Latta, our friend -Schmidt's wife?" - -"I cannot say; I do not see her very distinctly," replied the workman. - -Fritz said no more; but the different circumstances of this real or -imaginary apparition fixed themselves firmly in his mind, especially the -day and hour. Some time after that, Schmidt, his compatriot, arrived, -carrying a little girl in his arms. Latta's visit then came into Fritz's -mind; and before Schmidt had spoken a word he said to him,-- - -"I know all, my poor friend: your wife died during the passage. Before -she died, she came and showed me her little girl, that I might take -care of her. Here is the date and hour." - -It was really the day and hour noted by Schmidt on board the boat. - -In his work on the Phenomena of Magic, published in 1864, Gougenot des -Mousseaux reports the following incident, which he certifies as -absolutely authentic:- - -Sir Robert Bruce, belonging to the illustrious Scotch family of that -name, was mate of a vessel. One day, when sailing near Newfoundland, and -while busy with his calculations, he thought he saw the captain seated -at his desk, but looked at him attentively, and noticed that it was a -stranger, whose cold, fixed look surprised him. He went on deck; the -captain noticed his surprise, and asked him what it meant. - -"Who is at your desk?" asked Bruce. - -"No one." - -"Yes, there is some one there. Is it a stranger; and how did he come -there?" - -"You are either dreaming or joking." - -"Not at all. Come down and see for yourself." - -They go down to the cabin, but there is no one at the desk. The ship is -thoroughly searched, but no stranger is found. - -"And yet the man I saw was writing on your slate; the writing must be -there still," said he to the captain. - -[Illustration] - -They looked at the slate; it bore these words: "Steer to the -northwest." - -"This must be your writing, or some one's else on board the ship." - -"No; I did not write it." - -Every one was told to write the same sentence, and no handwriting -resembled that on the slate. "Very well," said the captain; "we will -obey these instructions and steer the ship to the northwest; the wind is -right, and will admit of our trying the experiment." - -[Illustration] - -Three hours later, the watch perceived an iceberg, and near it a vessel -from Quebec, headed for Liverpool, dismantled and covered with people. -They were brought off by boats of Bruce's vessel. - -As one of the men was climbing up the side of the rescuing vessel, Bruce -started, and drew back in great agitation. He recognized the stranger -whom he had seen tracing the words on the slate. He reported the strange -incident to the captain. - -"Will you write 'Steer to the northwest' on this slate?" asked the -captain, turning to the new-comer, and offering the side which bore no -writing. - -The stranger complied with his request, and wrote the desired words. - -"Will you acknowledge that to be your ordinary handwriting?" asked the -captain, struck with the similarity of the two sentences. - -"Of course; how can you doubt it? You saw me write it yourself." - -As a reply, the captain turned the slate over, and the stranger was -amazed to see his own writing on both sides. - -"Did you dream of writing on that slate?" said the Quebec captain to the -man who had just been writing. - -"No,--at least I have no remembrance of doing so." - -"What was that passenger doing at noon?" asks the rescuer of his brother -captain. - -"The passenger was very tired, and had fallen into a sound sleep, as -near as I remember, a little before twelve o'clock. An hour or more -later he awoke, and said to me, 'Captain, we shall be saved this very -day;' adding, 'I dreamed that I was on board a vessel coming to our -relief.' He described the ship and its rigging, and we were very much -surprised, when you headed for us, to recognize the exactness of the -description." - -After a while the passenger said, "It is very strange, but somehow this -ship seems quite familiar to me, and yet I was never on it before." - -Baron Dupotet, in his article on "Animal Magnetism," reports the -following fact, published in 1814 by the celebrated Jung Stiling, who -had it from the observer himself, Baron de Sulza, chamberlain to the -king of Sweden. - -[Illustration] - -He was going home one night in summer about twelve o'clock, an hour at -which it is still light enough in Sweden to read the finest print. "As -I reached the family estate," he said, "my father came to the entrance -of the park to meet me; he was dressed as usual, and carried a cane -which my brother had carved. I greeted him, and we talked together for a -long time. We went into the house and up to his bedroom door together. -On going into the chamber I saw my father there, undressed, when the -apparition instantly faded away. A little while afterwards my father -awoke and looked at me inquiringly. 'My dear Edward,' said he, 'God be -praised that I see you safe and well! I was greatly distressed about -you in my dream. I thought that you had fallen into the water and were -in danger of drowning.' Now on that very day," added the baron, "I had -been on the river with some friends crab-fishing, and had come very near -being dragged down by the current. I told my father that I had seen his -double at the park gate, and that we had had a long talk together. He -told me that he had often had similar experiences." - -[Illustration] - -In these various stories are seen spontaneous apparitions and -appearances which were provoked, so to speak, by the will. Can mental -suggestion go so far as that? The authors of the book mentioned above, -"Phantasms of the Living," reply affirmatively by seven well-attested -examples, of which I will present one to the attention of my readers. -Here it is:-- - - "The Rev. C. Godfrey, living in Eastbourne, in the county of - Sussex, having read an account of a premeditated apparition, was - so struck thereby that he determined to attempt it himself. On - the fifteenth of November, 1886, about eleven o'clock, he - concentrated the whole power of his imagination and all the - strength of will of which he was master, upon the idea of - appearing to a lady, a friend of his, by standing at the foot of - her bed. The effort lasted about eight minutes, after which Mr. - Godfrey felt very much fatigued, and went to sleep. The next day - the lady who had been the subject of the experiment came of her - own accord to tell Mr. Godfrey of what she had seen. When asked - to make a memorandum, she did so in these words: 'Last night I - awoke with a start, feeling that some one had entered my room. I - heard, too, a noise which I supposed to be the birds in the ivy - outside my window. I then experienced a sort of uneasiness, a - vague desire to leave my room and go down to the lower floor. - This feeling became so strong that at last I rose, intending to - take something to quiet myself. Going up to my room again, I met - Mr. Godfrey standing under the great window which lights the - staircase. He was dressed as I am accustomed to seeing him, and - I noticed that he was looking at something very intently. He - stood there motionless while I held up the lamp and looked at - him in astonishment. This lasted three or four seconds, after - which I continued my way upstairs. He disappeared. I was not - frightened, but very much agitated, and could not go to sleep - again.' Mr. Godfrey thought, very sensibly, that the experiment - which he had tried would have much more importance if it were - repeated. A second attempt failed, but the third was successful. - Of course the lady upon whom he operated was not apprised of his - intention any more than on the first occasion. 'Last night,' she - writes, 'Tuesday, December 7th, I retired to bed at half-past - ten, and was soon asleep. Suddenly I heard a voice, which said, - "Wake up," and I felt a hand touch the left side of my head. - [Mr. Godfrey's intention this time was to make her feel his - presence by voice and touch.] In an instant I was thoroughly - awake. There was a curious noise, like a jews-harp, in the - chamber. I felt, too, a cold breath, which seemed to envelop me. - My heart began to beat violently, and I distinctly saw a figure - leaning over me. The only light in the room came from a lamp - outside, making a long stream of light over the toilet-table; - this was darkened by the figure. I turned quickly, and it seemed - as if the hand fell from my head to the pillow beside me. The - figure was bent over me, and I felt it rest against the edge of - the bed. I saw the arm on the pillow all the time. I could see - the profile of the face but dimly, as if through a haze; it - might have been about a minute and a half. The figure had - slightly pushed back the curtain, but I noticed this morning - that it hung as usual. There is no doubt that the figure was Mr. - Godfrey's. I recognized him by the turn of the shoulders and the - shape of the face. All the time that he was there, a current of - cold air blew through the room as if the two windows had been - open.'" - -These are _facts_! - -In the present condition of our knowledge it would be absolutely -foolhardy to seek to explain them; our psychology is not yet far enough -advanced. There are a great many things which we are forced to admit, -without the power to explain them in any way. To deny what we cannot -explain would be pure folly. Could any one explain the world's system a -thousand years ago? Even now, can we explain attraction? But science -moves, and its progress will be endless. - -Do we know the whole extent of the human faculties? The thinker cannot -for a moment doubt that there may be forces in Nature still unknown to -us,--as, for example, electricity was less than a century ago,--or that -there may be other beings in the universe, endowed with other senses and -faculties. But is terrestrial man entirely known to us? It does not seem -so. There are facts whose reality we are forced to admit, with no power -whatever to explain them. - -Swedenborg's life offers three of this nature. Let us put aside for a -moment planetary and sidereal visions, which appear more subjective than -objective. We will remark, by the way, that Swedenborg was a savant of -the first order in geology, mineralogy, and crystallography; a member of -the Academy of Sciences of Upsala, of Stockholm, and of St. Petersburg; -and we will content ourselves with recalling the three following facts. - -[Illustration] - -The 19th of July, 1759, this philosopher landed at Gothenburg on his -return from a journey to England, and went to dine with a certain -William Costel, where there was quite a large company. At six o' clock -in the evening Swedenborg, who had gone out, came back to the -drawing-room pale and anxious; he said a great fire had at that moment -broken out at Stockholm at the Suedermoln, in the street in which he -lived, and that the fire was spreading rapidly towards his house. He -went out again and returned, lamenting that a friend's house had just -been reduced to ashes, and that his own was in the greatest danger. At -eight o'clock, after being out again, he said joyfully, "Thanks be to -God, the fire has been extinguished at the third house from mine!" - -The news of this spread throughout the city, which was all the more -excited because the governor gave it attention, and many people were -anxious for their property or friends. Two days afterwards the royal -messenger brought a report of the fire from Stockholm; there was no -disagreement between his account and that which Swedenborg had given. -The fire had been extinguished at eight o'clock. - -This anecdote was written by the celebrated Emmanuel Kant, who had -desired to make an inquiry into the facts, and who adds, "What can be -alleged against the authenticity of this occurrence?" - -Now, Gothenburg is two hundred kilometres from Stockholm. Swedenborg was -then in his seventy-second year. - -Here is the second fact:-- - -In 1761 Madame de Marteville, widow of a minister from Holland to -Stockholm, received a demand for the sum of twenty-five thousand Dutch -florins (ten thousand dollars), from one of her husband's creditors whom -she knew her husband had paid, and a second payment of which would -greatly embarrass, almost ruin her. It was impossible to find the -receipt. She went to see Swedenborg, and a week later she saw her -husband in a dream; he showed her the piece of furniture in which the -receipt had been placed, together with a hairpin set with twenty -diamonds, which she also believed to be lost. "It was at two o'clock in -the morning. Greatly elated, she rose, and found everything at the place -indicated. Going back to bed, she slept until nine o'clock. About eleven -o'clock, M. de Swedenborg was announced. He told her that he saw M. de -Marteville's spirit the night before, and that he informed him that he -was going to his widow." - -And now for the third fact. - -[Illustration] - -In the month of February, 1772, being in London, Swedenborg sent a note -to the Rev. John Wesley (founder of the Wesleyan sect), telling him that -he should be very glad to make his acquaintance. The zealous preacher -received the note just as he was setting out on a journey, and replied -that he should profit by the gracious permission to visit him, on his -return, which would be in about six months. Swedenborg answered him -"that in that case they would never see each other in this world, as -the 29th of the next month was to be the day of his death." - -Swedenborg really died on the date mentioned by himself more than a -month beforehand. - -These are three facts whose authenticity it is impossible to doubt, but -which in our present condition of knowledge no one would be able to -explain. - -We might multiply these _authentic_ accounts indefinitely. Facts -analogous to those already mentioned of communications from a distance, -whether at the moment of death or in the normal condition of life, are -not so rare--without, however, being very frequent--but that every one -of our readers may have heard such cited, or perhaps have observed them -himself in more than one instance. Besides, experiments made in the -realms of magnetism show also that under certain ascertained -psychological conditions an experimenter can act upon his subject not -only at the distance of a few metres, but of several kilometres, and -even of more than a hundred kilometres, according to the sensitiveness -of the subject, as well as to the intensity of the magnetizer's will. -Moreover, space is not what we suppose. The distance from Paris to -London is great for a walker, and was even insurmountable before the -invention of boats; it is nothing for electricity. The distance from the -Earth to the Moon is great for our present modes of locomotion; it is -nothing for attraction. In fact, from an absolute point of view, the -space which separates us from Sirius is not a greater part of infinity -than the distance from Paris to Versailles, or from your left eye to -your right. - -There is more yet; the separation which seems to us to exist between the -Earth and the Moon, or between the Earth and Mars, or even between the -Earth and Sirius, is only an illusion due to the insufficiency of our -perceptions. The Moon acts constantly upon the Earth, and moves it -perpetually. The attraction of Mars for our planet is equally acute, and -we in our turn disturb Mars in its course in submitting to the influence -of the Moon. We act upon the Sun itself, and make it move as if we -touched it. By virtue of attraction, the Moon causes the Earth to turn -every month around their common centre of gravity,--a point which -travels one thousand seven hundred kilometres below the surface of the -globe. The Earth causes the Sun to turn annually around their common -centre of gravity, situated four hundred and fifty-six kilometres from -the solar centre; all the worlds act upon each other perpetually, so -that there is no isolation, no real separation, between them. Instead of -being a void separating the worlds from one another, space is rather a -connecting link. Now, if attraction thus establishes a real, perpetual, -active, and indisputable communication between the Earth and its sisters -in immensity, as proved by the precision of astronomical observations, -we do not see by what right pretended positivists can declare that no -communication can be possible between two beings, more or less distant -from each other, either on the Earth or in two different worlds. - -Cannot two brains that vibrate in unison at a distance of many -kilometres be moved by the same psychic force? Cannot the emotion which -starts from a brain reach a brain vibrating at no matter what distance, -just as sound crosses a room, making the strings of a piano or violin -vibrate? - -Do not forget that our brains are composed of molecules which do not -touch, and which are in constant vibration. And why speak of brains? -Cannot thought, will, psychic force, whatever its nature may be, act on -a being to whom it is attached by the sympathetic and indissoluble ties -of intellectual relationship? Do not the palpitations of a heart -suddenly transmit themselves to the heart which beats in unison with -ours? Are we to admit in the cases of apparitions noted above that the -mind of the dead has really assumed a corporeal form when near the -observer? In the greater part of the cases this hypothesis does not seem -necessary. In our dreams we think we see persons who are not before our -closed eyes at all. We see them perfectly, as well as in broad daylight; -we speak to them, converse with them. Surely it is neither our retina -nor our optic nerve which sees them, any more than our ear hears them. -Our cerebral cells alone are concerned in it. - -Certain apparitions may be objective, exterior, and substantial; others -may be subjective,--in that case the being who manifests himself would -act from a distance on the being who sees, and this influence on his -brain would determine the interior vision which appears exterior, as in -dreams, but may be purely subjective and interior. Just as a thought, a -memory, may arouse an image in our minds which may be very distinct and -very vivid, just so one intelligence acting upon another may make an -image appear in him which will for a moment give him the illusion of -reality. It is not the retina which is affected by a positive reality, -it is the optic thalami of the brain which are excited. In what way? The -present state of our physiological and psychological knowledge does not -yet teach us that. - -Such are the most rational inductions which it seems possible to -derive from the phenomena to which we have just been giving our -attention,--unexplained, but very old phenomena; for the histories of -all peoples, from the highest antiquity, have preserved examples of it -which it would be very difficult to deny or efface. But it will be -asked, ought we, can we, admit in our age of experimental methods and -positive science that a dying or even a dead man can communicate with -any one? What is a dead man? - -A human being dies every second on the whole terrestrial globe; that is, -eighty-six thousand four hundred per day, about thirty-one millions per -year, or more than three milliards per century. In ten centuries more -than thirty milliards of corpses have been committed to the earth and -given back to general circulation under the form of various -products,--water, gas, etc. If we keep an account of the diminution of -human population as we count up the historic ages, we find that for ten -thousand years, _at least two hundred milliards of human bodies have -been formed from the earth and from the atmosphere by respiration and -nourishment, and have returned to it_. Molecules of oxygen, hydrogen, -carbonic acid, and nitrogen, which have constituted these bodies, have -enriched the earth and been given back to atmospheric circulation. - -Yes, the Earth we inhabit is now formed partly of the milliards of -brains which have thought, the milliards of organisms who have lived. We -walk over the remains of our ancestors as our descendants will walk over -ours. The brows of thinkers; eyes which have looked, smiled, and wept; -mouths which have sung of love, rosy lips, and marble bosoms; mothers' -flesh and blood; the arms of toilers; the muscles of men, good and -bad,--all who have lived, all who have thought, lie in the same earth. -It would be difficult now to take a single step on the planet without -walking on the remains of the dead; it would be difficult to breathe -without inhaling the breath of the dead. The constructive elements of -the body draw upon Nature and are returned to Nature, and each one of us -bears in himself atoms which have formerly belonged to other bodies. - -Ah, well! Do you think that can be all of humanity? Do you think it may -not have left something nobler, grander, and more spiritual? Does each -of us give the universe, when we breathe our last, nothing but sixty or -eighty kilos of flesh and bone which will disintegrate and return to the -elements? Does not the soul which animates us endure by the same right -as each molecule of oxygen or nitrogen or iron? And all the souls that -have lived, do they not still exist? - -We have no right to affirm that man is composed solely of material -elements, and that the thinking faculty is only one property of the -organization. On the contrary, we have the strongest reasons for -admitting that the soul is an individual entity, that it is that which -governs the molecules to organize the living form of the human body. - -What becomes of the invisible and intangible molecules which have -composed our body during life? They will belong to new bodies. What -becomes of the equally invisible and intangible souls? It may be thought -that they also reincarnate themselves in new organisms, each in -accordance with its nature, its faculties, and its destiny. - -The soul belongs to the psychic world. Doubtless there is on the Earth -an innumerable quantity of souls, still heavy and coarse, barely freed -from matter, and incapable of conceiving intellectual realities. But -there are others who live in study, in contemplation, in the culture of -the psychic or spiritual world. Those cannot remain imprisoned on the -Earth, and their destiny is to live the Uranian life. - -The Uranian soul, even during its terrestrial incarnations, lives in the -world of the absolute and divine. It knows that, though dwelling on the -Earth, it is really in heaven, and that our planet is a star of heaven. - -What is the inner nature of the soul? What are its ways of -manifestation? When does its memory become permanent, and maintain with -certainty a conscious identity? Under what variety of forms and -substances can it live? What extent of space can it overcome? What is -the order of intellectual relationship which exists among the different -planets of the same system? What is the germinating force which sows the -world with seed? When can we put ourselves in communication with the -neighboring earths? When shall we penetrate the profound secret of -destiny? Mystery and ignorance to-day. _But the unknown of yesterday is -the truth of to-morrow._ - -[Illustration] - -It is an historic and scientific fact, and absolutely incontestable, -that in all ages, among all peoples, and under the most diverse -religious manifestations, the idea of immortality rests invulnerable at -the base of human consciousness. Education has given it a thousand -forms, but did not invent it. It exists of itself. Every human being -coming into the world brings with him, under a form more or less vague, -this inner feeling, this desire, this hope. - - - - -[Illustration] - -II. - -ITER EXTATICUM COELESTE. - - -The hours and days that I devoted to the study of these psychological -and telepathical questions did not prevent my observing Mars through the -telescope, and taking geographical drawings of it, every time that our -atmosphere, so often cloudy, would permit. Besides, it may be realized -that while in the study of Nature and in science all questions are -related to each other, yet that astronomy and psychology are most -closely united to each other, since the psychic universe has the -material world for its habitat, while astronomy has for its object the -study of the regions of eternal life, and we could form no idea of these -regions if we did not know them astronomically. In fact, whether we know -it or not, we are living now, at this moment, in heavenly regions, and -all beings, whatever they may be, are eternally citizens of heaven. It -was not without a secret divination of things that antiquity made Urania -the Muse of all the sciences. - -My mind had been occupied with the planet Mars for a long time, when one -day, in a solitary ramble on the edge of a wood, after several hours of -July heat, I seated myself at the foot of a clump of oak-trees, and was -not long in dropping off to sleep. - -The heat was overpowering, the landscape silent, the Seine seemed quiet -as a canal at the bottom of the valley. I was strangely surprised on -waking up after a few minutes' nap at no longer recognizing the -landscape nor the trees, nor the river flowing at the foot of the hill, -nor the undulating meadows which stretched far away to the distant -horizon. The setting sun was smaller than we are accustomed to see it, -the air thrilled with harmonious sounds unknown to Earth, and insects -as large as birds were fluttering about on the leafless trees, which -were covered with gigantic red flowers. Astonishment made me spring up -with so energetic a bound that I found myself on my feet feeling -singularly light and buoyant. I had taken but a few steps before it -seemed to me that more than half the weight of my body had evaporated -during my sleep. This inner sensation struck me even more forcibly than -the metamorphosis of Nature spread out before me. - -I could hardly believe my eyes or senses. Besides, my eyes were not at -all the same. I did not hear in the same way, and I realized at once -that my organization had developed several new senses quite different -from those of our terrestrial body, especially a magnetic sense, by -which one being can communicate with another without the necessity of -translating thoughts audibly by words. This sense reminds one of the -magnetic needle, which, from a cellar in the Paris Observatory, starts -and shivers when an aurora borealis appears in Siberia, or when an -electric explosion breaks out in the Sun. - -The orb of day had just sunk in a distant lake, and the rosy gleams of -twilight were hovering far down the sky, like a last dream of light. Two -moons were beginning to shed their rays at different heights: the first, -a crescent, hung over the lake in whose bosom the Sun had disappeared; -the second, in its first quarter, was much higher, and towards the east. -They were very small, and but distantly resembled the immense torch of -our earthly nights. It seemed as if they shed their bright but feeble -rays regretfully. I looked from one to the other in utter bewilderment. -Perhaps the strangest thing in all this strange spectacle was that the -western moon, which was about three times as large as its companion in -the east, although five times smaller than our terrestrial moon, -travelled through the sky with a motion very easy to follow with the -eye, and seemed to speed quickly from right to left to join its -celestial sister in the west. - -A third moon, or rather a brilliant star, could also be seen in the last -beams of the setting Sun, which were dying away. Smaller than the -smallest of the satellites, it showed no appreciable disk, but its light -was dazzling. It looked out from the evening sky as Venus in her most -brilliant season beams in our own heavens, when the "shepherd's star" -reigns like a queen over balmy evenings in spring, and weaves the fabric -of happy dreams. - -The more brilliant stars were already lighting up the sky. I recognized -Arcturus with its golden rays, Vega so white and pure, the seven stars -of the Septentrion, and several of the zodiacal constellations. The -evening star, the new vesper, was shining in the constellation of the -Fishes. After having studied its position in the heavens for a few -moments, and finding out by the constellations where I was myself; after -examining the two satellites and reflecting on the lightness of my own -body,--I was convinced that I was on the planet Mars, and that the -beautiful evening star was--the Earth! - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - -My eyes rested on it with that feeling of mournful love which thrills -the fibres of our hearts when our thoughts fly away to a beloved object -from whom we are separated by cruel distance; for a long time I looked -at that fatherland where so many different feelings meet and jostle each -other, and I thought,-- - -"What a pity it is that the numberless human beings living on that -little habitation do not know where they are! That little Earth is most -beautiful thus lighted up by the Sun, with its microscopic moon which -looks like a speck beside it. Borne through the invisible by the divine -laws of attraction, a floating atom in the harmony of the skies, it -fills its place and hovers overhead like an angelic island! But its -inhabitants are unaware of it! Singular humanity! They find the Earth -too wide, so divide themselves up into flocks, and spend their time -shooting one another. In that angelic isle there are as many soldiers as -there are male inhabitants; they are all in arms against one another, -and think it glorious to change the names of countries and the colors -of flags, when it would have been so simple a matter to live peacefully. -War is the favorite occupation of its nations, and the primordial -education of the people. Aside from that, they spend their existence in -adoring matter. They do not appreciate intellectual worth, are -indifferent to the most wonderful problems of creation, and live an -objectless life! What a pity! A citizen of Paris who had never heard the -city's name mentioned, nor that of France, would not be more of a -stranger than they in their own country. Ah! if they could but see the -Earth from here! How delighted they would be to return to it, and how -transformed all their ideas would be, both general and individual! Then -they would at least know the land they live in; it would be a -beginning,--they would study progressively the sublime truths about it, -instead of vegetating under a horizonless fog, and after a while they -would live the true life, the intellectual life." - -[Illustration] - - * * * * * - -"What honor he pays it! One would think he had left friends in that -prison yonder!" - -I had not spoken, but I distinctly heard this sentence, which seemed -like a reply to my inward conversation. Two of the dwellers upon Mars -were looking at and had understood me, by virtue of that sixth sense of -magnetic perception to which I before alluded. I was somewhat confused, -and, I must confess, deeply wounded, by this apostrophe. "After all," I -thought, "I love the Earth; it is my country, and I am patriotic." My -two neighbors both began to laugh. - -"Yes," answered one of them, with unexpected good-nature, "you are -patriotic; any one might know that you have just come from the Earth." - -And the elder added,-- - -"Let your compatriots alone. They will never be any more intelligent or -less blind than they are now. They have been there eighty thousand years -already, and you yourself acknowledge that they are not yet capable of -thinking. It is really very absurd of you to look at the Earth with such -sorrowful eyes. It is too foolish." - -Dear reader, have you not, in your journey through the world, sometimes -met men who were puffed up with imperturbable pride, and who thought -themselves sincerely and unquestionably above all the rest of the world? -When these proud personages find themselves face to face with anything -superior, they are instantly hostile to it, they cannot endure it. Very -well. In the preceding dithyramb (of which you have had but a very poor -translation), I felt myself greatly superior to earthly humanity, since -I felt pity for it, and invoked for it better days. But when these two -inhabitants of Mars pitied me, and I thought I discovered in them a cold -superiority to myself, I was for a moment like these foolish, proud -people. My blood gave one bound, and, restraining myself by a remnant of -French politeness, I opened my mouth to say,-- - -"After all, gentlemen, the inhabitants of the Earth are not as stupid as -you appear to think, but are worth perhaps more than you." - -Unfortunately they did not give me time to begin my sentence, inasmuch -as they had understood it all while it was being formed by the vibration -of the substance of the brain. - -[Illustration] - -"Permit me to remark at once," said the younger, "that your planet is an -absolute failure, in consequence of an occurrence which happened about -ten million years ago. It was at the time of the primary period of the -earthly genesis. There were plants already, and very fine plants too; -the first animals were beginning to appear in the depths of the sea and -along the shores,--mollusks that were headless, deaf, mute, and without -sex. You know that respiration is all a tree requires for its entire -nourishment, and that your most robust oaks, your most gigantic cedars, -have never eaten anything, and that that has not prevented their growth. -They are nourished solely by respiration. Misfortune, Fatality, had -willed that a drop of water thicker than the surrounding medium should -pass through one of the mollusks. Perhaps he liked it. That was the -first digestive tube, which was to exert so baleful an effect on the -entire animal kingdom, and later on mankind itself. The first murderer -was the mollusk who ate. Here we do not eat, have never eaten, and never -shall eat. Creation is developing itself gradually, peacefully, and -nobly, as it began. Organisms are nourished; or, to express it -differently, renew their molecules by a simple respiration, like your -terrestrial trees, each leaf of which is a little stomach. In your -precious country you can live a single day only on condition of killing. -With you, the law of life is the law of death. Here, the idea of -killing even a bird has never occurred to any one. - -[Illustration] - -"You are all more or less butchers. Your hands are stained with blood, -your stomachs are gorged with food. How can you expect to have -wholesome, pure, elevated ideas,--I will even say (excuse my frankness) -clean ideas,--with such coarse organisms? What souls could live in such -bodies? Reflect a moment, and do not soothe yourself any more with blind -illusions, too ideal for such a world." - -"What!" I cried, interrupting him, "do you deny us the possibility of -having clean ideas? Do you take human beings for animals? Have Homer, -Plato, Phidias, Seneca, Virgil, Dante, Columbus, Bacon, Galileo, Pascal, -Leonardo, Raphael, Mozart, Beethoven, never had lofty aspirations? You -think our bodies coarse and repulsive; if you had seen Helen, Phryne, -Aspasia, Sappho, Cleopatra, Lucretia Borgia, Agnes Sorel, Diane de -Poitiers, Marguerite de Valois, Borghese, Talien, Recamier, Georges, and -their charming rivals, you would perhaps think differently. Ah, my dear -Martial, let me in my turn regret that you know the Earth only from -afar." - -"You are mistaken there; I lived in that world for fifty years. That was -enough for me, and I assure you I would not return to it again. -Everything is a failure there, even--what seems most delightful to you. -Do you imagine that in all the earths of heaven the flowers produce the -fruits of the same sorts? Would not that be a little cruel? As for me, I -like primroses and rosebuds." - -"Well, but still," I answered, "notwithstanding all that, there have -been great minds on the Earth, and creatures really worthy of -admiration. May we not comfort ourselves with the hope that physical -and moral beauty will go on perfecting themselves more and more as -they have done hitherto, and that intelligence will enlighten itself -progressively? We do not spend all our time eating. Men will surely end, -in spite of their material labors, by giving up a few hours every day to -the development of their understanding. Then probably they will no -longer continue to manufacture little gods in their own image; and -perhaps also they will abolish their childish boundaries, so that -harmony and fraternity may reign." - -[Illustration] - -"No, my friend, for if they wished it, they could do so now; but they -are very careful not to. Terrestrial man is a little animal who on the -one hand feels no need of thinking, not even having independence of -soul, and who on the other likes to fight, and squarely establishes -right by might. Such is his good pleasure, and such is his nature. You -will never make peaches grow on a thorn-bush. Remember that the most -exquisite beauties, to whom you alluded just now, are but coarse -monsters compared to the aerial women of Mars, who live on our spring -air, the perfume of our flowers, and are so captivating in the very -quivering of their wings, in the ideal kiss of a mouth which has never -eaten, that if Dante's Beatrice had been of such a nature, the immortal -Florentine would never have been able to write two of the parts of his -'Divine Comedy;' he would have begun with Paradise, and could never have -left it. Reflect that our youths have as much innate science as -Pythagoras, Archimedes, Euclid, Kepler, Newton, Laplace, and Darwin -after all their laborious studies; our twelve senses put us in direct -communication with the universe; we feel from here Jupiter's attraction -as he passes, a hundred million leagues away. We see the rings of Saturn -with the naked eye, we detect the coming of a comet, and our body is -impregnated with the solar electricity which puts all Nature in -vibration. Here there has never been either religious fanaticism or -executioners, or martyrs or international divisions or wars, but from -the first, humanity, naturally peaceful, and freed from all material -needs, has lived independent in body and mind, in a constant -intellectual activity, raising itself unhindered to the knowledge of the -truth. But come over here." - -[Illustration] - - * * * * * - -I walked a few steps on the mountain-top with my new acquaintances, and -coming in sight of the other slope, I saw multitudes of different -colored lights flitting about in the air. It was the inhabitants, who, -when they desire it, become luminous at night. Aerial cars, apparently -formed of phosphorescent flowers, were carrying orchestras and choruses; -one of them passed us, and we took our places in it, in the midst of a -cloud of perfumes. The sensations which I experienced were singularly -unlike any which I had ever felt on the Earth, and this first night on -Mars passed like a rapid dream; for the dawn found me still in the -aerial car conversing with my entertainers, their friends, and their -indescribably lovely companions. What a panorama with the rising sun! -Flowers, fruits, perfumes, fairy-like palaces rose on the islands with -their orange vegetation; the waters stretched themselves out like limpid -mirrors, and joyous aerial couples were whirling down to these -enchanting shores. There, all material work is done by machines, and -directed by a few perfected races of animals whose intelligence is very -nearly of the same order as that of mankind on the Earth. The -inhabitants live only for and by the mind; their nervous system has -reached such a degree of development that each one of these beings, at -once very delicate and very strong, seems an electric battery, and their -most sensual impressions, felt more by their souls than their bodies, -surpass a hundredfold all those that our five terrestrial senses -together could ever offer us. A kind of summer palace illuminated by the -rays of the rising Sun opened beneath our aerial gondola. My neighbor, -whose wings were fluttering with impatience, placed her delicate foot -upon a tuft of flowers which rose between two jets of perfume. "Will you -return to the Earth?" she asked, holding out her arms to me. - -"Never," I cried, springing towards her. - - * * * * * - -But at that moment I found myself alone near the wood on the slope of -the hill, at whose feet the Seine was winding with undulating curves. - -[Illustration] - -"_Never_," I repeated, trying to grasp the sweet, vanished dream once -more. Where had I been? It was beautiful. The Sun had just set, and the -planet Mars, then very brilliant, was already shining in the sky. "Ah!" -I said, as a fugitive beam reached me, "I have been there!" Drawn by the -same attraction, the two neighboring planets are looking at each other -through transparent space. May we not catch a first glimpse of the -eternal journey from this celestial fraternity? The Earth is no longer -alone in the universe. The panoramas of the infinite are beginning to -open themselves out. Whether we live here or near by, we are not the -citizens of a country or of a world, but are in very truth the _Citizens -of Heaven_! - - - - -[Illustration] - -III. - -THE PLANET MARS. - - -Had I been the plaything of a dream? - -Had my spirit really been transported to the planet Mars, or had I been -the dupe of a purely imaginary illusion? - -The feeling of reality had been so strong, so intense, and the things I -had seen agreed so perfectly with the scientific notions which we -already possess in regard to the physical nature of the Martial world, -that I could not entertain a doubt on the subject, although amazed at -that ecstatic trip, and asking myself a thousand questions, each one -contradicting the other. - -Spero's absence in all that vision puzzled me a little. I still felt so -closely attached to his dear memory that it seemed to me as if I should -have been able to detect his presence, to fly directly to him, see him, -speak to him, hear him. But was not the man hypnotized at Nancy the toy -of his own imagination, or of mine, or of the experimenter's? On the -other hand, even admitting that my two friends had been reincarnated -upon that neighboring planet, I reflected that beings might easily not -meet one another in going about the same city, and in a world the -chances were infinitely less. And yet surely it was not the doctrine of -chances which should be invoked in this case; for such a feeling of -attraction as that which had united us ought to increase the probability -of our meeting, and throw an element into the scale which should -outweigh all the rest. - -[Illustration] - -Talking thus with myself, I went back to my observatory at Juvisy, where -I had been preparing some electric batteries for an optical experiment -with the tower of Montlhery. When I had satisfied myself that everything -was in readiness, I left the task of making the signals agreed upon, -between ten and eleven o'clock, to my assistant, and went to the old -tower, where I installed myself an hour later. The night had come. From -the top of the old donjon the horizon is perfectly circular, entirely -free in all its circumference, which extended on a radius of twenty to -twenty-five kilometres all around this central point. A third post of -observation, situated in Paris, was in communication with us. The object -of the experiment was to find out whether the rays of different colors -of the luminous spectrum all travel with the same speed,--300,000 -kilometres a second. The result was affirmative. - -[Illustration] - -The experiments were ended at about eleven o'clock, the starry night was -marvellous, and the moon was beginning to rise. As soon as I had put the -apparatus under cover inside the tower, I went to the upper platform -again, to look at the broad landscape lighted by the first rays of the -waxing moon. The atmosphere was calm, mild, almost warm. - -But my foot was still on the last step when I stopped, terror-stricken, -uttering a cry which seemed to die away in my throat. Spero, yes, Spero -himself, was there, before me, seated on the parapet! I threw up my -arms, and felt as if I were going to faint; but he said in his gentle -voice, which I knew so well,-- - -"Do I frighten you?" - -I had not strength enough to reply or to advance, and still I dared to -look at my friend, who was smiling at me. His dear face, lighted by the -moonlight, was just as I had seen it when he left Paris for -Christiania,--young, pleasant, and thoughtful, with a very animated -look. I left the stairs, and felt a strong desire to rush to him and -embrace him; but I dared not, and stood looking at him. - -When I had recovered my senses I cried, "Spero, it is you!" - -"I was there during your experiments," he replied, "and it was I who -inspired you with the idea of comparing the intense violet with the -intense red, for the speed of the luminous waves; only I was invisible, -like the ultra-violet rays." - -"Can it really be so? Let me look at you and feel you." - -I passed my hands over his face and body, through his hair, and had -precisely the same impression as if he had been a living being. My -reason refused to admit the testimony of my eyes and hands and ears, yet -I could not doubt that it was really he. There could not be such a -resemblance. And then, too, my doubts would have disappeared at his -first words, for he at once added,-- - -"My body is at this moment sleeping in Mars." - -"So," I said, "you still exist, you are living now, and you know at last -the answer to the great problem that so distressed you? And Iclea?" - -"We will have a long talk," he answered; "I have many things to tell -you." - -I sat down beside him on the edge of the wide parapet which rises above -the old tower, and this is what I heard. - - * * * * * - -Shortly after the accident at Lake Tyrifiorden he had felt like a man -who awakes from a long and heavy sleep. He was alone in midnight -darkness on the border of a lake; he knew that he was living, but could -neither see nor feel himself. The air did not affect him; he was not -only light, but imponderable. Apparently, what remained of him was -solely his thinking faculty. His first idea on trying to remember was -that he had awakened from his fall by the Norwegian lake; but when the -day broke he saw that he was in another world. The two moons revolving -rapidly in the sky in opposite directions made him surmise that he was -upon our neighbor, the planet Mars, and other evidences soon proved that -he was correct. - -He lived there for a while in the spirit state, and recognized there the -presence of a very beautiful humanity, in which the feminine sex reigns -supreme, from an acknowledged superiority over the masculine sex. These -organisms are light and delicate, their density of body very slight, -their weight slighter still. On the surface of this world material force -plays but a secondary part in nature; delicacy of sensation decides -everything. There is a large number of animal species, and several human -races. In all these species and races the feminine sex is stronger and -handsomer (the strength consisting in the superiority of sensation) than -the masculine sex, and it is she who rules the world. - -His great desire to know the life before him induced him not to remain -long as an onlooker in the spirit state, but to come to life again under -a corporeal form, and, knowing the organic condition of this planet, in -a feminine form. - -Among the terrestrial souls floating about in the atmosphere of Mars he -had already met Iclea's (for souls feel each other), who had followed -him, guided by a constant attraction. She on her part had felt inclined -towards a masculine incarnation. Thus they were reunited, in one of the -most privileged countries in that world, neighbors and predestined to -meet again in life, to share the same emotions, the same thoughts, the -same works; thus, although the memory of their earthly life remained -veiled and as if effaced by the new transformation, yet a vague feeling -of spiritual relationship and an immediate sympathetic attachment had -reunited them as soon as they saw each other. Their psychic superiority, -the nature of their habitual thoughts, their condition of mind, -accustomed to seek ends and causes, had given them both a kind of inward -clairvoyance which freed them from the general ignorance of the living. -They had fallen in love with each other so suddenly, they had yielded so -passively to the magnetic influence of the thunder-clap of their -meeting, that they soon formed but a single being, united as at the time -of their earthly separation. They remembered that they had met before, -and were sure that it must have been on the Earth,--that neighboring -planet which shines in the evening so brilliantly in the sky of Mars; -and sometimes, in their solitary flights over the little hills peopled -with aerial plants, they contemplated the "evening star," trying to -re-tie the broken thread of an interrupted tradition. - -An unexpected event explained their reminiscences, and proved that they -were not mistaken. - -The inhabitants of Mars are very superior to those of Earth by their -organizations, by the number and delicacy of their senses, and by their -intellectual faculties. - -The fact that density is very slight on the surface of that world, and -that the constituent particles of bodies are less heavy there than -here, has permitted the formation of beings of incomparably less weight, -more aerial, more delicate, more sensitive. The fact that the atmosphere -is nutritive has freed Martial organisms from the coarseness of earthly -needs. It is an entirely different state of things. The light there is -less bright, that planet being farther from the Sun than we, and the -optic nerve is more sensitive. Electric and magnetic influences being -very intense, the inhabitants possess senses unknown to terrestrial -organizations,--senses which put them into communication with these -influences. Everything is evenly balanced in Nature. Beings are -everywhere adapted to their surroundings and to the soil from which they -spring. Organisms can no more be earthly on Mars than they could be -aerial at the bottom of the sea. More than that, the condition of -superiority generated by this nature of things is developed of itself by -the facility by which all intellectual work is accomplished. Nature -seems to obey thought. The architect desirous of erecting a building, -the engineer who wants to change the surface of the ground, either to -lower or to raise, to cut down mountains or fill up valleys, does not -strike against material weight and material difficulties, as he does -here. Art, too, has made the most rapid progress from the beginning. - -And yet more. Martial humanity, being several hundreds of thousands of -years older than terrestrial humanity, went through all the phases of -its development before we did; our real scientific progress, even the -most transcendent, is but a child's foolish toy, compared to the science -of the inhabitants of that planet. In astronomy, especially, they are -incomparably more advanced than we, and know the Earth much better than -we know their home. They have invented, among other things, a kind of -tele-photographic apparatus, in which a roll of stuff constantly -receives the picture of our world, and is impressed by it unalterably as -it unrolls. An immense museum, devoted especially to the planets of the -solar system, preserves all these photographic pictures, fixed forever -in chronological order. - -All the Earth's history is to be found there,--France in the time of -Charlemagne, Greece in the days of Alexander, Egypt under Rameses. By -the microscope the smallest details can be made out, such as Paris -during the French Revolution, Rome under the pontificate of Borgia, -Christopher Columbus's Spanish fleet reaching America, the Francs of -Clovis taking possession of the Gauls, Julius Caesar's army stopped in -its conquest of England by the tide which washed away his ships, the -troops of King David, the founder of standing armies, as well as most -historic scenes, recognizable from special characters of their own. - -One day, when the two friends were visiting the museum, their -reminiscences, which had been thus far very vague, were brightened, like -a landscape at night, by a flash of lightning. Suddenly they -_recognized_ the appearance of Paris during the Exposition of 1867. -Their memory became more definite. They each felt, individually, that -they had lived there; and under this strong impression they also felt -sure that they had lived there together. Their memory gradually grew -clearer, not by interrupted gleams, but rather as the light grows -stronger from the beginning of dawn. - -Then they both remembered, as if by inspiration, that sentence of -Scripture: "In my Father's house are many mansions;" and this other, -from Jesus to Nicodemus: "Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born -again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.... Ye must be born again." - -From that day they never doubted their former earthly existence, but -were convinced that they were continuing on the planet Mars the life -they had lived before. They belonged to the cycle of the great minds of -all ages, who know that human destiny does not end with the present -world, but continues in heaven, and who also know that each -planet--Mars, the Earth, or any other--is a star of heaven. - -The rather singular fact of the change of sex, which seemed to me to be -very important, was really without any weight whatever. Spero told me -that souls, contrary to our ideas, have no sex, and that their destinies -are the same. I also learned that on that planet, so much less material -than our own, organisms have no resemblance whatever to terrestrial -bodies. Conceptions and births are effected in another way, which -reminds one, but under a more spiritual form, of the fecundation and -blooming of flowers. Pleasure has no bitterness. Heavy earthly burdens -and the anguish of grief are unknown there. Everything there is more -aerial, more ethereal, and less material. The Martials might be called -winged, sentient, living flowers; but in fact no earthly being can serve -as comparison to aid us in imagining their form and manner of existence. - -I listened to the translated soul's story almost without interrupting -him, for it seemed to me all the time as if he would disappear as he had -come. However, remembering my dream, of which I had been reminded by the -coincidence of preceding descriptions with what I had seen, I could not -keep from telling my celestial friend of that surprising vision, and -expressing my surprise at not having seen him on my trip to Mars,--a -fact which made me doubt the reality of the journey. - -"But," he answered, "I saw you perfectly well, and you both saw and -spoke to me, for it was I." - -The tones of his voice were so odd at these last words that I suddenly -recognized in them the melodious voice of the beautiful Martial girl who -had so enchanted me. - -"Yes," he answered, "it was I. I was trying to make you know me; but you -were so bewildered by a sight which captivated your mind that you did -not throw off your terrestrial sensations,--you remained sensual and -earthly, you could not rise high enough for pure perception. Yes, it was -I who held out my arms to you in the aerial car to take you down to our -dwelling, when you suddenly awoke." - -"But then," I cried, "if you are that Martial maiden, how can you appear -to me in Spero's form, when he no longer exists?" - -"I do not act upon your retina or your optic nerve," he replied, "but on -your mental being and your brain. I am in communication with you now; I -influence directly the cerebral seat of your sensation. My mental being -is really formless, like yours and that of all other souls. But when I -put myself in direct relation with your thought, as at this moment, you -can see me only as you knew me. It is the same during your dreams; that -is to say, during more than a quarter of your terrestrial life,--for -twenty years out of seventy,--you see, you hear, you speak, you feel, -with the same impression, the same clearness, the same certainty as -during your normal life; and yet your eyes are closed, your tympanum is -insensible, your mouth is mute, your arms are stretched out motionless. -It is the same, too, in cases of suggestion, in conditions of hypnotic -somnambulism. You see me and hear me, you feel me, too, by your brain, -which is under influence; but I am no more in the form which you see -than the rainbow exists in the presence of the eyes that look at it." - -"Could you also appear to me in your Martial form?" - -"No,--at least not unless you were really transported in spirit to that -planet. There would then be quite a different mode of communication. In -our conversation here, everything is subjective to you. The elements of -my Martial form do not exist in the terrestrial atmosphere, and your -brain could not imagine them. You can see me to-day only through the -medium of your dream; but as soon as you try to analyze its details it -will vanish away. You did not see us exactly as we are, because your -mind can judge only by your earthly eyes, which are not sensitive to all -our radiations, and because you do not possess all our senses." - -"I must confess," I answered, "that I cannot understand your Martial -beings as having six limbs." - -"If these forms were not so graceful, they would have seemed frightful -to you; the organisms in each world are most appropriate to its -conditions of existence. I acknowledge, on my part, that to the -inhabitants of Mars the Apollo Belvedere and the Venus de Medicis are -actual monstrosities, on account of their animal heaviness. - -[Illustration] - -"Everything with us is exquisitely light, although our planet is much -smaller than yours; yet the beings are larger than here, because the -weight is less, and beings can grow taller without being impeded by -their weight or imperilling their stability. - -"They are larger and lighter, because the constructive materials of that -planet are of very little density. What would have happened on the Earth -if the weight had not been so great, has happened there. The winged -species would have ruled over the world, instead of dwindling away in -impossibility of development. On Mars, organic development is effected -in the series of winged species. Martial humanity is indeed a race of -sextupedal origin; but it is actually bipedal, bimanous, and what might -be called _bialic_, since these beings have two wings. - -[Illustration] - -"Their manner of life is totally different from terrestrial life, in the -first place because they live in the air and on aerial plants as much -as they do on the surface of the ground; and further, because they do -not eat, the atmosphere being nutritive. Passions are not the same -there. Murder is unknown. Humanity, being without material needs, has -never lived there, even in the primitive ages, in the barbarity of -rapine and war. The ideas and feelings of the inhabitants of Mars are of -an entirely intellectual nature. - -"Nevertheless, in dwelling on this planet, analogies at least, if not -resemblances, are to be found. Thus, there is a succession of night and -day there as on the Earth, which does not differ essentially from what -you have, the duration of night and day being 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 -seconds. As there are 668 of these days in a Martial year, we have more -time than you for our work, our investigations, and our enjoyments. Our -seasons, too, are almost twice as long as yours, but they have the same -intensity. The climates are not very different; a country in Mars, on -the shores of the equatorial sea, differs less from the climate of -France than Lapland differs from Nubia. - -"An inhabitant of the Earth would not feel so very foreign. The greatest -difference between the two worlds certainly consists in the great -superiority of their humanity over yours. - -"This superiority is principally due to the great progress realized by -astronomical science and to the universal propagation among the -inhabitants of that planet of that science, without which one has but -false ideas of life, of creation, and of destiny. We are very much -favored, as much by the acuteness of our senses as by the purity of our -skies. There is much less water on Mars than on the Earth, and fewer -clouds. The sky there is almost always fair, especially in the temperate -zone." - -"But still you often have inundations." - -"Yes; and quite recently your telescopes have noticed one along the -shores of a sea to which your colleagues have given a name which will -always be dear to me, even when far from the Earth. The greater part of -our shores are beaches, level plains. We have few mountains, and our -seas are not deep. The inhabitants make use of these overflows for -irrigating great stretches of country. They have straightened and -enlarged the watercourses and made them like canals, and have -constructed a network of immense canals all over the continents. The -continents themselves are not bristling all over with Alpine or -Himalayan upheavals like those of the terrestrial globe, but are -_immense plains_, crossed in all directions by canals, which connect all -the seas with one another, and by streams made to resemble canals. -Formerly there was as much water on Mars, in proportion to the size of -the planet, as on the Earth; gradually, from age to age, a part of the -rain-water sank into the depths of the soil and did not return to the -surface. It combined itself chemically with the rocks, and was withdrawn -from atmospheric circulation. Then, too, from age to age, rains, snows, -and winds, winter frosts and summer droughts, have disintegrated the -mountains, and the watercourses, bringing fragments to the sea-basins, -have gradually raised their beds. We have no more large oceans or deep -seas,--nothing but inland waters; many straits, gulfs, and seas -analogous to the Channel, the Red Sea, the Adriatic, the Baltic, and the -Caspian; pleasant shores, quiet harbors, large lakes and streams, aerial -rather than aquatic fleets, an almost always clear sky, especially in -the morning. There are no mornings on Earth so luminous as ours. - -"The meteorological system differs materially from that of the Earth, -because, the atmosphere being more rarified, the waters which move over -the surface evaporate more easily, and then because in condensing again, -instead of forming clouds that last, they pass almost without transition -from the gaseous to the liquid state. There are few clouds and few fogs. - -"Astronomy is cultivated there on account of the clearness of the -heavens. We have two satellites, whose courses would appear strange to -earthly astronomers, for while one of them gives us months of a hundred -and thirty hours, or five Martial days, plus eight hours, the other, by -a combination of its motion with the daily rotation of the planet, rises -in the occident and sets in the orient, crossing the sky from west to -east in five hours and a half, and passing from one phase to the other -in less than three hours. That spectacle is unique in the whole solar -system, and has done much to attract the attention of the inhabitants to -the study of the sky. Besides that, we have eclipses of the moon almost -every day, but never total eclipses of the Sun, because our satellites -are too small. - -"The Earth looks to us as Venus looks to you. To us it is the morning -and evening star; and in old times, before the invention of optical -instruments, which have taught us that it is a planet, dwelt upon like -ours, but by an inferior race, our ancestors worshipped it as a tutelary -divinity. All worlds have a mythology during their centuries of infancy, -and this mythology has for its origin, its foundation, and its object -the appearance of the celestial bodies. - -"Sometimes the Earth, accompanied by the Moon, passes between us and the -Sun, and projects itself upon its disk like a little black spot, -attended by a still smaller one. Every one there follows these celestial -phenomena with curiosity. Our newspapers think more of science than of -theatres, literary fancies, or political quarrels. - -"The Sun looks smaller to us, and we receive a little less light and -heat from it; our more sensitive eyes see better than yours. The -temperature is a little higher." - -"How can that be?" said I. "You are farther from the Sun, yet are warmer -than we?" - -"Chamounix is a little farther from noonday sun than Mont Blanc," he -answered. "The distance from the Sun does not alone regulate the -temperature, you must also take into account the constitution of the -atmosphere. Our polar ice melts under our summer sun more entirely than -yours." - -"What lands in Mars are most populous?" - -"There is very little, except the polar regions (where, from the Earth, -you see the snow and ice melt every spring), which is uninhabited. The -population of the temperate regions is very dense, but in the equatorial -lands it is more so; the population there is as dense as in China,--and -especially the sea-coasts, notwithstanding the inundations. A large -number of cities are built almost on the water, suspended in the air in -some way above the overflows, which are calculated and expected -beforehand." - -"Are your arts and your industries like ours? Have you railways, -steamships, the telegraph, and the telephone?" - -"It is all quite different. We have never had either steam or railways, -because we have always known of electricity, and aerial navigation is -natural to us. Our fleets are moved by electricity, and are more aerial -than aquatic. We live principally in the air, and have no homes of -stone, iron, or wood. We do not experience the rigors of winter, -because no one stays exposed to them. Those who do not dwell in the -equatorial countries emigrate every autumn, just as your birds do. It -would be very difficult for you to form an exact idea of our manner of -life." - -"Are there many human beings on Mars who have already lived on the -Earth?" - -"No; among the inhabitants of your planet the greater part are either -ignorant, sceptical, or indifferent, and are unprepared for the -spiritual life. They are attached to the Earth, and their attachment -lasts for a long time. Many souls sleep completely. Those which act, -live, and aspire to know the truth, are the only ones called to -conscious immortality, the only ones whom the spirit-world interests, -and who are capable of understanding it. These souls can leave the Earth -and live in other lands. Many come and live for a while on Mars (the -first stage of an ultra-terrestrial journey, going from the Sun), or on -Venus, the first abode going the other way; but Venus is a world -analogous to the Earth, and still less favored, on account of its too -rapid seasons, which oblige its inhabitants to suffer the most sudden -changes of temperature. Certain spirits wing their way at once to the -starry regions. As you know, space has no existence. To sum up, justice -reigns in the moral world as equilibrium does in the physical world; and -the destiny of souls is but the perpetual result of their capabilities, -their aspirations, and consequently of _their works_. The Uranian way is -open to all; but the soul becomes truly Uranian only when it has -entirely shaken off the weight of material life. The day will come, even -on your planet, when there will be no other belief, no other religion, -than the knowledge of the universe and the certainty of immortality in -its infinite regions, in its eternal domain." - -"What a strange thing," said I, "that no one on the Earth should know -these sublime truths! No one looks at the sky; we live as though our -little isle alone existed in the universe." - -"Terrestrial humanity is young," answered Spero. "You must not despair. -It is a child, and still in primitive ignorance. It is amused at -trifles, and obeys masters of its own giving. You like to divide -yourselves into nations, to trick yourselves out in national costumes, -and to exterminate each other to music! Then you raise statues to those -who have led you to butchery. You ruin yourselves, you commit suicide, -and yet you cannot live without wresting your daily bread from the -Earth. That is a sad condition of things, but one which fully satisfies -the greater part of the dwellers on your planet. If some of them, with -higher aspirations, think occasionally of problems of the higher order, -of the nature of the soul or the existence of God, the result has been -no better, because they have put their souls outside of Nature, and have -invented strange, horrible gods, who never existed except in their -perverted imaginations, and in whose name they have committed all kinds -of outrages against the human conscience, have blessed all crimes, and -bound weak minds in a slavery from which it will be difficult for them -to escape. The lowest animal on Mars is better, finer, gentler, more -intelligent, and greater than the god of the armies of David, -Constantine, Charlemagne, and all your crowned assassins. There is -therefore nothing surprising in the coarseness and stupidity of -terrestrial humanity. But the law of progress governs the world. You are -more advanced than at the period of your ancestors of the stone age, -whose wretched existence was spent in fighting night and day with -ferocious beasts. In a few thousands of years you will be more advanced -than you are now. Then Urania will reign in your hearts." - -"It would require a brutal material fact to teach and convince human -beings. If, for instance, we could some day enter into communication -with the neighboring world which you inhabit, not into physical -communication with one isolated person of it, as I am now doing, but -with the planet itself, by hundreds and thousands of witnesses, that -would be a gigantic stride towards progress." - -"You could do it now if you chose, for we Martials are all prepared for -it, and have even tried it many times. But you have never replied to us. -Solar reflections, showing geometrical figures on our vast plains, prove -to you that we exist. You could reply to us by like figures also -displayed on your plains, either during the day by the sun, or during -the night by the electric light. But you never even think of it; and if -some one should propose to try it, your courts would interpose to -prevent it, for the very idea is immeasurably too high for the general -approval of the denizens of your planet. What do your scientific -assemblies work for? The preservation of the past. To what do your -political assemblies direct their attention? Increasing the taxes. In -the land of the blind, one-eyed men are kings. - -"But you must not utterly despair. Progress bears you on in spite of -yourselves. One of these days, too, you will realize that you are -citizens of the sky; then you will live in the light, in knowledge, in -the mind's true world." - -While the inhabitant of Mars was teaching me the principal -characteristics of his new country, the terrestrial globe had turned -towards the east, the horizon had sunk lower, and the Moon had gradually -risen in the sky, which she was illuminating with her radiance. - -Suddenly chancing to lower my eyes to where Spero sat, I could not -repress a start of surprise. The moonlight was streaming over him as it -did over me, and yet, although my body cast a shadow on the parapet, his -figure was shadowless. I arose abruptly to assure myself of this fact. I -turned about at once and stretched out my hand to touch his shoulder, -watching the shadow of my gesture on the parapet. But my visitor had -instantly disappeared. I was absolutely alone on the silent tower. My -very dark shadow was thrown out sharply on the parapet. The Moon was -brilliant, the village was sleeping at my feet. The air was mild and -very still. And yet I thought I heard footsteps. I listened, and indeed -did hear rather heavy footsteps coming towards me. Some one was -evidently climbing the tower-stairs. - -"Monsieur has not gone down yet?" said the custodian, coming up to the -top. "I was waiting to lock the doors, and thought the experiments must -be over." - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -IV. - -THE FIXED POINT IN THE UNIVERSE. - - -The memory of Urania and the celestial journey on which she had borne me -away, the truths she had made me realize, Spero's history, his trials in -his pursuit of the absolute, his apparition, his story of another world, -still haunted me, and kept the same problems (partly solved, partly -veiled in the uncertainty of our knowledge) incessantly before my mind. -I felt that I had gradually risen to a perception of the truth, and that -the visible universe was really but an appearance, which we must pass -through in order to reach reality. - -The testimony of our senses is but an illusion. The Earth is not what it -seems to be. Nature is not what we think. In the physical universe -itself, where is the fixed point upon which material creation is in -equilibrium? - -The natural and direct impression given by the observation of Nature is -that we inhabit a solid, stable Earth, fixed in the centre of the -universe. It took long centuries of study and a great deal of boldness -to free ourselves from that natural conviction, and to realize that the -world we are on is isolated in space, without any support whatever, in -rapid motion on itself and around the Sun. But to the ages before -scientific analysis, to primitive peoples, and even to-day to three -quarters of the human race, our feet are resting on a solid Earth which -is fixed at the base of the universe, and whose foundations are supposed -to extend into the depths of the infinite. - -And yet from the time when it was first realized that it is the same Sun -which rises and sets every day; that it is the same Moon, the same -stars, the same constellations which revolve about us, those very facts -forced one to admit with absolute certainty that there must be empty -space underneath the Earth, to let the stars of the firmament pass from -their setting to their rising. This first recognition was a -turning-point. The admission of the Earth's isolation in space was -astronomy's first triumph. It was the first step, and indeed the most -difficult one. Think of it! To give up the foundations of the Earth! -Such an idea would never have sprung from any brain without the study of -the stars, or indeed without the transparency of the atmosphere. Under a -perpetually cloudy sky, human thoughts would have remained fixed on -terrestrial ground like the oyster to the rock. - -The Earth once isolated in space, the first step was taken. Before this -revolution, whose philosophical bearing equals its scientific value, all -manner of shapes had been imagined for our sublunary dwelling-place. In -the first place, the Earth was thought to be an island emerging from a -boundless ocean, the island having infinite roots. Then the Earth, with -its seas, was supposed to be a flat, circular disk, all around which -rested the vault of the firmament. Later, cubic, cylindrical, polyhedric -forms, etc., were imagined. But still the progress of navigation tended -to reveal its spherical nature, and when its isolation, with its -incontestable proofs, was recognized, this sphericity was admitted as a -natural corollary of that isolation and of the circular motion of the -celestial spheres around the supposed central globe. - -The terrestrial globe being from that time recognized as isolated, to -move it was no longer difficult. Formerly, when the sky was looked upon -as a dome crowning the massive and unlimited Earth, the very idea of -supposing it to be in motion would have been not only absurd but -untenable. But from the time that we could see it in our minds, placed -like a globe in the centre of celestial motion, the idea of imagining -that perhaps this globe could revolve on itself, so as to avoid obliging -the whole sky and the immense universe to perform this daily task, might -come naturally into a thinker's mind; and indeed we see the hypothesis -of the daily rotation of the terrestrial sphere coming to light in -ancient civilizations, among the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Indians, -etc. It is sufficient to read a few chapters of Ptolemy, Plutarch, or -Surya-Siddhanta for an account of these conjectures. But this new -hypothesis, although it had been prepared for by the first one, was none -the less bold, and contrary to the feelings inspired by the direct -contemplation of Nature. Thoughtful mankind was obliged to wait until -the sixteenth century, or, to speak more correctly, until the -seventeenth century, to learn our planet's true position in the -universe, and to _know_ by supported proofs that it has a double -movement,--daily about itself, and yearly about the Sun. From that time -only, from the time of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, has real -astronomy existed. - -And yet again, that was but a beginning, for the great remodeller of the -world's system, Copernicus himself, had no suspicion of the Earth's -other motions, or of the distances of the stars. It is only in our own -century that the first measurements of the distances of the stars could -be made, and it is only in our day that sidereal discoveries have -afforded us the necessary data by which we might endeavor to account for -the forces which maintain the equilibrium of creation. - -The ancient idea of endless roots attributed to the Earth, evidently -left much to be desired to minds anxious to go to the bottom of things. -It is absolutely impossible for us to conceive of a material pillar, as -thick and as wide as you like (of the diameter of the Earth, for -example), sinking down into the infinite; just as one cannot admit the -real existence of a stick which should have but one end. No matter how -far our mind goes down towards the base of such a material pillar, there -is a point where it can see the end of it. The difficulty had been -obviated by materializing the celestial sphere and putting the Earth -inside it, occupying all its lower portion. But in the first place it -became difficult to adjust the motion of the stars, and on the other -hand this material universe itself, enclosed in an immense crystal -globe, was held up by nothing, since the infinite must extend all -around, beneath it, as well as above. Investigating minds were at first -obliged to free themselves from the vulgar idea of weight. - -Isolated in space like a child's balloon floating in the air, and more -absolutely too, for the balloon is carried by aerial waves, while worlds -gravitate in the void, the Earth is a toy for the invisible cosmic -forces which it obeys,--a real soap-bubble, sensitive to the faintest -breath. Besides, we can easily judge of it by looking at the same time -at the whole of the _eleven_ principal motions of the Earth, by which it -is moved. Perhaps they will help us to find that "fixed point" which our -philosophical ambition asks for. - -Thrown around the Sun at a distance of 37,000,000 leagues, and making at -this distance its annual revolution around the luminous star, it -consequently moves at the rate of 643,000 leagues per day; that is, -26,800 leagues an hour, or 29,450 metres per second. This speed is -eleven hundred times more rapid than an express train going at the rate -of a hundred kilometres an hour. It is a ball, going with a rapidity -seventy-five times greater than that of a bomb, always hurrying on, but -never reaching its goal. In 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 10 -seconds, the terrestrial projectile has returned to the same point of -its orbit relative to the Sun, and continues its flight. The Sun, on its -part, is moving in space, following a line oblique to the plane of the -Earth's annual motion,--a line drawn towards the constellation of -Hercules. The result is, that instead of describing an exact circle, the -Earth describes a spiral, and has never passed over the same road twice -in its existence. To its motion of annual revolution around the Sun -there is added perpetually, as a second motion, that of the Sun itself, -which draws it, with all the solar system, into an oblique descent -towards the constellation of Hercules. - -During all this time our little globe pirouettes around itself every -twenty-four hours, and gives us the daily succession of days and -nights,--diurnal rotation: third motion. - -It does not turn upright upon itself, like a top, which would be -vertical on a table, but is inclined, as everybody knows, by 23 deg. 27'. -This inclination, too, is not always the same; it varies from year to -year, from age to age, oscillating slowly by secular periods. That is a -fourth kind of motion. - -The orbit in which our planet yearly travels around the Sun is not -circular, but elliptical. This ellipse itself also varies from year to -year, and from century to century; sometimes it approaches the -circumference of a circle, sometimes it lengthens out to a great -eccentricity. It is like an elastic ring, which can be bent more or less -out of shape. Fifth complication in the Earth's motion. - -This ellipse itself is not fixed in space, but revolves in its own plane -in a period of 21,000 years. The perihelion, which at the beginning of -our era was at 65 degrees of longitude, starting from the vernal -equinox, is now at 101 degrees. This secular displacement of the line -of the apsides brings a sixth complication to the motion of our -abiding-place. - -Here is a seventh. We said just now that our globe's axis of rotation is -inclined, and everybody knows that the imaginary prolongation of this -axis points towards the polar star. This axis itself is not fixed. It -revolves in 25,765 years, keeping its inclination of 22 to 24 degrees, -so that its prolongation describes a circle of 44 to 48 degrees in -diameter--according to the epoch--on the celestial sphere around the -pole of the ecliptic. It is in consequence of this displacement of the -pole that Vega, in twelve thousand years, will again become the polar -star, as she was fourteen thousand years ago. Seventh kind of movement. - -An eighth motion, due to the action of the Moon on the equatorial -swelling of the Earth, that of nutation, causes the pole of the equator -to describe a small ellipse in eighteen years and eight months. - -A ninth, due also to the attraction of our satellite, incessantly -changes the position of the globe's centre of gravity and the Earth's -place in space. When the Moon is in front of us, she accelerates the -speed of the globe; when she is behind, she retards us, on the -contrary, like a check-rein,--a monthly complication which is added to -all the others. - -When the Earth passes between the Sun and Jupiter, the attraction of the -latter, in spite of its distance of 155,000,000 leagues, makes it -deviate by 2 m. 10 sec. from its absolute orbit. The attraction of Venus -makes it deviate 1 m. 25 sec. the other way. Saturn and Mars also act -upon it, but more feebly. These are exterior disturbances, which make up -a tenth kind of correction to add to the motion of our celestial barque. - -The whole of the planets weigh about one seven hundredth part of the -weight of the Sun; the centre of gravity around which the Earth annually -turns is not in the very centre of the Sun, but far from the centre, and -often even outside of the solar globe. Now, absolutely speaking, the -Earth does not turn around the Sun; but the two heavenly bodies, Sun and -Earth, turn about their common centre of gravity. Thus the centre of our -planet's annual motion is constantly changing place, and we may add this -eleventh complication to the others. We might even add many others to -these; but the preceding ones are enough to make the degree of -lightness and delicacy of our floating island appreciated, subject, as -we have seen, to all the fluctuations of celestial influences. -Mathematical analysis goes very far beyond this summary statement. It -has found that the Moon alone, which seems to turn so peacefully about -us, has more than sixty distinct motions. - -The expression is therefore not exaggerated: our planet is but the -plaything of the cosmic forces which accompany it in the meadows of the -sky, and it is the same with everything existing in the universe. Matter -is meekly obedient to force. - -Where, then, is the fixed point which we desire for our support? - -Our planet, then, formerly supposed to be at the base of the universe, -is in fact kept up at a distance by the Sun, which makes the Earth -gravitate about it with a speed corresponding to that distance. This -speed, caused by the solar mass itself, keeps our planet at the same -mean distance from the central star. A lesser speed would make the -weight predominate, and would lead to the Earth's falling into the Sun; -a greater speed, on the contrary, would progressively and infinitely -send our planet away from its life-giving focus. But at the speed -resulting from gravitation, our wandering home remains suspended in -permanent stability, just as the Moon is upheld in space by the force of -the Earth's gravity, which makes it circulate about the Earth with the -speed requisite to maintain it constantly at the same mean distance. The -Earth and the Moon thus form a planetary couple in space which sustain -each other in perpetual equilibrium under the supreme domination of -solar attraction. If the Earth existed alone in the universe, it would -be forever motionless in the void, wherever it had been placed, with no -power to descend or rise or change its position in any way whatsoever; -these very expressions--to rise, descend, left or right--having no -absolute sense whatever. If this same Earth, while existing alone, had -received any impetus whatever, had been thrown with any speed in any -direction, it would have whirled away forever in a straight line in that -direction, never being able to stop or to slacken its pace or change its -motion. It would have been the same thing if the Moon had existed alone -with it; they would both have turned about their common centre of -gravity, fulfilling their destiny in the same place in space, flying -together, following the direction in which they had been thrown. The Sun -existing and being the centre of its system, the Earth, all the planets -and their satellites, are dependent upon it, and to it their destiny is -irrevocably bound. - -Is the fixed point that we are seeking, the solid base which we seem to -need to insure the stability of the universe, to be found in that -colossal and heavy globe, the Sun? - -Assuredly not, since the Sun itself is not in repose, for it is bearing -us and all its system away towards the constellation of Hercules. - -Does our Sun gravitate around an immense sun whose attraction extends to -it and controls its destinies as it controls that of the planets? Do -investigations in sidereal astronomy lead us to believe that a star of -such magnitude can exist in a direction situated at right angles with -our course towards Hercules? No; our Sun is influenced by sidereal -attraction, but no one star appears to overpower all the others and -reign sovereign over our central star. - -Although it may be perfectly admissible, or rather certain, that the sun -nearest to ours, the star Alpha Centauri, and our own Sun feel their -mutual attraction; although this star may be situated at about 90 -degrees from our tangent towards Hercules, and, more than that, in the -plane of the principal stars, passing by Perseus, Capella, Vega, -Aldebaran, and the Southern Cross; and although the proper motion of -this neighboring sun may be turned sensibly in the opposite direction -from ours,--yet we could not consider these two systems as forming one -couple analogous to that of the double stars; in the first place, -because all the known double-star systems are composed of stars much -nearer to each other, and then because in the immensity of the orbit -described, according to this hypothesis, the attraction of the -neighboring stars could not be considered as remaining without -influence; and lastly, because the actual rates of speed with which -these two suns are moved are much less great than those which would -result from their mutual attraction. - -The little constellation of Perseus, especially, might very well exert a -more powerful action than that of the Pleiades, or than any other group -of stars, and be the fixed point, the centre of gravity, of the motions -of our Sun, of Alpha Centauri, and the neighboring stars, inasmuch as -the cluster of Perseus is not only at right angles with the tangent of -our movement towards Hercules, but also in the great circle of the -principal stars and precisely at the intersection of this circle with -the Milky Way. But here another factor comes in, of more importance than -all the preceding ones,--this Milky Way, with its eighteen millions of -suns, of which it would assuredly be audacious to seek the centre of -gravity. - -But what is the whole entire Milky Way, after all, compared with the -milliards of stars which our mind contemplates in the bosom of the -sidereal universe? Is not this Milky Way itself moving like an -archipelago of floating islands? Is not every resolvable nebula, each -cluster of stars, a Milky Way in motion under the action of the -gravitation of other universes, which call to it and appeal to it -through the infinite night? - - * * * * * - -Our thoughts are transported from star to star, from system to system, -from region to region, in the presence of unfathomable grandeurs, in -sight of celestial motions whose speed we are but just beginning -properly to value, but which already surpasses all conception. The -proper annual motion of the sun Alpha Centauri exceeds 188 millions of -leagues per year. The proper motion of the 61st of Cygnus (second sun in -the order of distances) is equivalent to 370 millions of leagues per -year, or about one million of leagues per day. The star Alpha Cygni -comes to us in a direct line at a speed of 500 millions of leagues per -year. The proper motion of the star 1830 of Groombridge's Catalogue -rises to 2,590 millions of leagues per year, which represents seven -millions of leagues per day, 115,000 kilometres per hour, or 320,000 -metres per second! These are minimum estimates, inasmuch as we certainly -do not see perpendicularly, but obliquely, the stellar displacements -thus measured. - -What projectiles! They are suns thousands and millions of times heavier -than the Earth, launched through the unfathomable void with giddy rates -of speed, revolving in immensity under the influence of the gravitation -of all the stars of the universe. And these millions and thousand -millions of suns, planets, clusters of stars, nebulae, worlds in their -infancy, worlds near their end, rush with equal velocity towards goals -of which they are ignorant, with an energy and intensity of action -before which gunpowder and dynamite are like the breath of sleeping -babes. - -And thus everything hurries on through all eternity perhaps, without -being able ever to reach the unexisting limits of infinity.... Motion, -activity, light, life everywhere. Happily so, without doubt. If all -these innumerable suns, planets, earths, moons, comets, were fixed and -immovable, petrified kings in their eternal tombs, how much more -formidable, but also more mournful, would be the aspect of such a -universe! Can you imagine the whole creation stopped, benumbed, -mummified? Is not such an idea unbearable? Is there not something -funereal about it? - -What causes these motions? What maintains them? What regulates them? -Universal gravitation, invisible force, which the visible universe (what -we call matter) obeys. A body attracted from infinity by the Earth would -attain a velocity of 11,300 metres per second; just as a body thrown -from the Earth with that speed would never fall again. A body attracted -by the Sun from the infinite would attain a speed of 608,000 metres; and -a body thrown by the Sun with that swiftness would never return to its -point of departure. Clusters of stars may give us velocities much more -remarkable still, but which are explained by the theory of gravitation. -A glance at a map of the proper motions of the stars is enough to make -one understand the variety and grandeur of these motions. - - * * * * * - -Thus the stars, the suns, the planets, the worlds, the shooting-stars, -the meteoric stones, in short all the bodies which constitute this vast -universe, rest, not on solid bases, as the childish and primitive -conception of our fathers seemed to require, but _upon invisible and -immaterial forces_ which govern their motions. These milliards of -celestial bodies have their respective movements for the purpose of -stability, and mutually lean upon each other across the void which -separates them. The mind which could eliminate time and space would see -the Earth, the planets, the Sun, the stars, rain down from a limitless -sky in all imaginable directions, like the drops carried away by the -whirlwinds of a gigantic tempest, and drawn, not by a common basis, but -by the attraction of each and all; each one of these cosmic drops, each -one of these worlds, each one of these suns, is whirled away at a speed -so rapid that the flight of cannon-balls is but rest in comparison: it -is not one hundred, nor five hundred, nor a thousand metres per -second,--it is ten thousand, twenty, fifty, a hundred, and even two or -three hundred thousand metres _per second_! - -How is it that there are no meetings in the midst of all this motion? -Perhaps there may be some,--the "temporary stars," which appear to rise -again from their ashes, would seem to indicate it. But as a matter of -fact, it would be difficult for meetings to occur, because space is -immense, relatively to the celestial bodies, and because the motion by -which each body is animated entirely prevents it from submitting -passively to the attraction of another body and falling upon it; it -keeps its own motion, which cannot be destroyed, and glides around the -focus which attracts it, as a butterfly would obey the attraction of a -flame without burning itself in it. Besides, absolutely speaking, these -motions are not "rapid." - -Indeed, everything runs, flies, falls, rolls, rushes through the void, -but at such respective distances that it all appears to be at rest. If -we wanted to place in a frame, the size of Paris, the stars whose -distances have been measured up to the present time, the nearest star -would be placed at two kilometres from the Sun, from which the Earth -would be distant one centimetre, Jupiter at five centimetres, and -Neptune at thirty centimetres. The 61st of Cygnus would be at four -kilometres, Sirius at ten kilometres, the polar star at twenty-seven -kilometres, etc.; and the immense majority of the stars would remain -outside the department of the Seine. Well, to give to all these -projectiles their relative motions, the Earth would take a year to run -through its orbit of a centimetre radius, Jupiter twelve years to run -through his of five centimetres, and Neptune one hundred and sixty-five -years. The proper motions of the Sun and stars would be of the same -nature; that is to say, all would appear to be at rest, even under the -microscope. Urania reigns with calmness and serenity in the immensity of -the universe. - -So the constitution of the sidereal universe is just like that of the -bodies which we call material. All bodies, organic or inorganic, man, -animal, plant, stone, iron, bronze, are composed of molecules which are -in perpetual motion, and which do not touch one another. Each one of -these atoms is infinitely small, and invisible not only to the eye, not -only to the microscope, but even to thought; since it is possible that -these atoms may be centres of force. It has been calculated that in the -head of a pin there are not less than eight sextillions of atoms,--that -is, eight thousand milliards of milliards,--and that in one centimetre -of cubic air there are not less than a sextillion of molecules. All -these atoms, all these molecules, are in motion under the influence of -the forces which govern them; and as compared with their dimensions, -great distances separate them. We may even believe that there is in -principle but one kind of atoms, and that it is the number of primitive -atoms, essentially simple and homogeneous, their modes of arrangement, -and their motions, which constitute the diversity of molecules; a -molecule of gold, of iron, would not differ from a molecule of sulphur, -of oxygen, of hydrogen, etc., except in the number, the disposition, and -the motion of the primitive atoms which compose it: each molecule would -be a system, a microcosm. - -But whatever may be the idea that one conceives of the inner -constitution of bodies, the truth is now recognized and indisputable -that the fixed point for which our imagination has been seeking, exists -nowhere. Archimedes can vainly call for a point of support, that he may -lift the world. _Worlds, like atoms, rest on the invisible_, on -immaterial force; everything moves, urged on by attraction, and as if in -search of that fixed point which flies as it is pursued, and which does -not exist, since in the infinite the centre is everywhere and nowhere. -So-called positive minds, which assert with so much assurance that -"Matter reigns alone, with its properties," and who smile disdainfully -at the researches of thinkers, should first tell us what they mean by -that famous word "matter." If they did not stop at the surface of -things, if they even suspected that appearances hid intangible -realities, they would doubtless be a little more modest. - -To us, who seek the truth with no jealousy of system, it seems that the -essence of matter remains as mysterious as the essence of force; the -visible universe not being in the least what it appears to be to our -senses. In fact, that visible universe is composed of invisible atoms; -it rests upon the void, and the forces which govern it are in themselves -immaterial and invisible. It would be less bold to think that matter -does not exist, that all is dynamism, than to pretend to affirm the -existence of an exclusively material universe. As to the material -support of the world, it disappeared--a somewhat interesting -observation--precisely with the conquest of Mechanics, which proclaim -the triumph of the invisible. The fixed point vanishes in the universal -balance of powers, in the ideal harmony of ether vibrations; the more -one seeks it, the less one finds it; and the last effort of our thought -has for a last support, for supreme reality, the Infinite. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -A SOUL CLOTHED WITH AIR. - - -She was standing, in her chaste nudity, with uplifted arms, twisting the -thick and waving masses of her hair, which she was trying to bring into -subjection on the top of her head,--a fresh, young beauty, who had not -yet attained the fulness and perfection of developed form, but was -approaching it, radiant in the loveliness of her seventeenth year. - -A child of Venice, her white, soft, rose-tinted skin revealed the -circulation of a strong and ardent life-blood beneath its transparency; -her eyes shone with a mysterious and haunting light, and the dewy -redness of her lightly parted lips made one think of the fruit as much -as of the flower. She was marvellously beautiful as she stood thus; and -if some hero Paris had received a mission to award the palm to her, I do -not know which he would have laid at her feet, that of grace, elegance, -or beauty,--for she seemed to blend the living charm of modern -attractiveness with the calm perfections of classic beauty. - -The happiest, the most unexpected chance had led the painter Falero and -me to where she was. One lovely afternoon last spring we were walking on -the seashore. We had been through one of the groves of olive-trees, with -their sad-looking leaves, which are so frequent between Nice and Monaco, -and without being aware of it had entered some private grounds which -were unenclosed on the side towards the beach. A picturesque, winding -path led up the hill. We had just passed an orange-grove whose golden -apples recalled the garden of the Hesperides; the air was fragrant, the -sky a deep blue, and we were discoursing upon a parallel between art and -science, when my companion suddenly stopped, as if by an irresistible -fascination, making me a sign to be silent and to look. - -Behind the clumps of cactus and fig-trees, a few feet in front of us, -was a sumptuous bathroom, with its western window open, letting us see -the young girl standing not far from a marble basin into which a jet of -water fell with a gentle murmur, and before a large mirror which -reflected her image from head to foot. Probably the noise of the falling -water had prevented her hearing our footsteps. We stood mute and -motionless behind the cactus, discreetly, or indiscreetly, watching her. -She was lovely, and apparently unaware of her own beauty. Her feet were -on a tiger-skin; she was in no haste. Finding that her hair was still -too damp, she let it fall about her again, turned in our direction, and -picked up a rose from the table near the window; then going back to the -long mirror, she resumed her hair-dressing, finished it leisurely, put -the little rose between two coils, and turning with her back to the sun, -stooped, probably to pick up her first piece of clothing. But she -suddenly sprang back with a piercing cry, hid her face in her hands, and -hastily retreated to a shaded corner. - -We have always thought since that some movement of our heads must have -betrayed our presence, or that by some trick of the mirror she had seen -us. Whatever it was, we thought it prudent to retrace our steps, and -went down to the sea again by the same path. - - * * * * * - -"Ah," said my companion, "I assure you that among all my models I have -never seen any more perfect, even for my picture of the 'Double Stars' -and of 'Celia.' What do you think about it yourself? Did not that -apparition come just in time to prove that I am right? You need waste no -eloquence upon the delights of science,--acknowledge that art also has -its charms. Do not the stars of Earth compare favorably with the -beauties of the sky? Do you not admire the graceful beauty of that form -as I do? What exquisite tints, what flesh!" - -"I should not have the bad taste not to admire what is truly beautiful," -I answered. "I admit that human beauty (and of course female loveliness -in particular) truly represents the most perfect thing that Nature has -produced on our planet. But do you know what I most admire in that -being? It is not its artistic or aesthetic aspect, it is the scientific -proof it gives of a simply wonderful fact. In that beautiful body I see -a soul clothed with air." - -"Oh, you are fond of paradoxes! A soul clothed with air! That is rather -idealistic for so real a body! No doubt the charming creature has a -soul; but permit an artist to admire her body, her vitality, her -solidity, her color...." - -"I do not object. But it is just that physical beauty which makes me -admire the soul in her, the invisible force that formed her." - -"What do you mean by that? We surely have a body! The existence of a -soul is less palpable." - -"To the senses, yes; to the mind, no. Now, your senses absolutely -deceive you about the motion of the Earth, the nature of the sky, the -apparent solidity of the body; about beings and about things. Will you -follow my reasoning for a moment? - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - -"When I breathe the perfume of a rose, when I admire the beauty of form, -the smoothness of coloring, the grace of this flower in its freshly -opening bloom, what strikes me most is the work of the hidden, unknown, -mysterious force which rules over the plant's life and can direct it in -the maintenance of its existence, which chooses the proper molecules of -air, water, and earth for its nourishment, and which knows above all -how to assimilate those molecules and group them so delicately as to -form this graceful stem, these dainty little green leaves, these soft -pink petals, these exquisite tints and delicious fragrance. This -mysterious force is the animating principle of the plant. Put a -lily-seed, an acorn, a grain of wheat, and a peach-stone side by side -in the ground; each germ will build up its own organism. - -[Illustration] - -"I knew a maple-tree which was dying on the ruins of an old wall, a few -feet from good, rich soil in a ditch, and which in despair threw out a -venturesome root, reached the coveted soil, buried itself there, and -gained a solid footing, so that by degrees, although a motionless thing, -it changed its place, let its original roots die, left the stones, and -lived resuscitated upon the organ that had set it free. I have known -elms which were going to eat up the soil of a fertile field, whose food -had been cut off from them by a wide ditch, and who therefore determined -to make their uncut roots pass under the ditch. They succeeded, and -returned to their regular food, much to the cultivator's astonishment. I -knew an heroic jasmine which went eight times through holes in a board -which kept the light away from it, and which a teasing observer would -put back into the shade, hoping at last to wear out the flower's energy; -but he did not succeed. - -"A plant breathes, drinks, eats, selects, refuses, seeks, works, lives, -acts according to its instincts. One does 'like a charm,' another pines, -a third is nervous and agitated. The sensitive-plant shivers and droops -its leaves at the slightest touch. In certain hours of well-being the -calla lily is warm, the pink is phosphorescent, the valisneria goes down -to the bottom of the lake to ripen the fruit of her loves. In these -manifestations of an unknown life the philosopher cannot help -recognizing a song from the universal choir in the plant world. - -"I go no further for the human soul just now, although it is -incomparably superior to the soul of a plant, and although it has -created an intellectual world as much above the rest of the terrestrial -world as the stars are higher than the Earth. I am not looking at it now -from the point of view of its spiritual faculties, but only as force -animating the human being. - -"Ah! I wonder that that force can group the atoms that we breathe, or -that we assimilate by nutrition and form this charming being! Think of -that young girl the day she was born, and follow in thought the gradual -development of that little body through the years of her awkward age to -the first graces of youth and the charms of womanhood. How is human -organism nourished, developed, and composed? You know,--by respiration -and nutrition. - -"The air supplies three quarters of our nourishment by respiration. The -oxygen in the air maintains the fire of life, and the body is comparable -to a flame, constantly renewed by the principles of combustion. The lack -of oxygen extinguishes life as it extinguishes a lamp. By respiration -the black venous blood is transformed into red arterial blood and -regenerated. The lungs are a fine tissue pierced with from forty to -fifty millions of little holes, which are just too small for the blood -to filter through, and just large enough for the air to penetrate them. -A perpetual interchange of gas takes place between the air and the -blood, the first furnishing the second with oxygen, the second -eliminating carbonic acid. On the one hand the atmospheric oxygen burns -carbon in the lung; on the other the lung exhales carbonic acid, -nitrogen, and water in the form of vapor. In the daytime, plants breathe -by an opposite process,--they absorb carbonic acid and exhale oxygen; by -this difference maintaining one part of the general equilibrium of -terrestrial life. - -"Of what is the human body composed? An average adult man weighs 70 -kilograms. Of this amount there are nearly 52 kilograms of water in the -blood and flesh. Analyze the substance of our body, you will find -albumen, fibrine, caseine, and gelatine; that is, organic substances -composed originally of the four essential gases,--oxygen, nitrogen, -hydrogen, and carbonic acid. You will also find substances with no -nitrogen, such as gum, sugar, starch, and fat. These matters likewise -pass through our organism; their carbon and hydrogen are consumed by the -oxygen breathed in during respiration, and then exhaled under the form -of carbonic acid and water. - -"You are not unaware that water is a combination of two gases, oxygen -and hydrogen; the air is a mixture of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, to -which are added in lesser proportions water in the form of vapor, which, -however, is but condensed oxygen, etc. - -"Thus our body is composed only of transformed gases." - - * * * * * - -"But," interrupted my companion, "we do not live solely upon the air; at -certain hours, indicated by our stomachs, it is very necessary to add -some supplies which are not without a value of their own,--such as a -pheasant's wing, a filet de sole, a glass of Chateau Laffitte or -champagne, or, as your taste may prefer, asparagus, grapes, peaches...." - -"Yes, that all passes through our organism and renews its -tissues,--pretty rapidly too; for in a few months (not in seven years, -as was formerly thought) our body is entirely renewed. To return to that -lovely being who posed before us just now. None of that flesh which we -admired existed three or four months ago; those shoulders, that face, -those eyes, that mouth, those arms, that hair, and, even to the very -nails, all that organism, is but a current of molecules, a ceaselessly -renewed flame, a river which we may look at all our lives, but never see -the same water again. Now, all that is but assimilated gas, condensed -and modified, and more than anything else, it is air. These bones -themselves, so solid now, were formed and hardened gradually. Do not -forget that our whole body is composed of invisible molecules which do -not touch each other, and which are continually renewed. - -"Finally, our table is spread with vegetables and fruits; if we are -vegetarians we absorb substances almost entirely drawn from the air. -This peach is air and water; this pear, this grape, this almond are also -made of air and water, a few gaseous elements drawn to them by the sap, -by solar heat, by the rain. Asparagus or salad, peas or beans, lettuce -or chicory, all these live in the air and on the air; what the earth -furnishes, what the sap seeks out, are also gases, and the very same -nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, etc. - -"If it is a question of beefsteak, chicken, or some other 'meat,' the -difference is not very great. Sheep and oxen feed upon grass. If we -relish a partridge cooked with cauliflower, a roasted quail, a truffled -turkey, or a stewed hare, all these substances, apparently so different, -are only transformed vegetable matter, which itself is but a grouping -of molecules taken from the gases of which we have just been -speaking,--air, water, elements, molecules, and atoms almost -imponderable of themselves, and moreover absolutely invisible to the -naked eye. - -"Thus, whatever may be our kind of nourishment, our body, kept repaired, -developed by the absorption of molecules acquired by respiration and -alimentation, is really but a current incessantly renewed by means of -this assimilation,--directed, governed, and organized by the immaterial -force which animates us. To this force we may assuredly give the name of -'soul.' It groups the atoms which suit it, eliminates those which are -useless to it, and, starting with an imperceptible speck, an -indiscernible germ, ends by building up the Apollo Belvidere or the -Venus of the Capitol. Phidias is but a coarse imitator, compared to this -hidden and mysterious force. Mythology tells us that Pygmalion became -the lover of a statue of his own creation. Not so! Pygmalion, -Praxiteles, Michael Angelo, Benvenuto, and Canova created nothing but -statues. The force that can construct the living body of man and woman -is more sublime. - -"But this force is immaterial, invisible, intangible, imponderable, like -the attraction which lulls the worlds in the universal melody; and the -body, however material it may seem to us, is in itself only a harmonious -grouping, formed by the attraction of this interior force. So you see -that I confine myself strictly within the limits of positive science in -speaking of this young girl by the title of a soul clothed with -air,--like you or me, for instance, neither more nor less. - -"From the origin of humanity down to within a century or two, it has -been believed that sensation was perceived at the very point where it -was felt. A pain felt in the finger was considered as having its seat in -the finger itself. Children and many people believe so still. Physiology -has demonstrated that the impression is transmitted from the finger-tip -to the brain by means of the nervous system. If the nerve is cut, the -finger may be burned with impunity; the paralysis is complete. We have -been able to determine the time taken by the impression in transmitting -itself from any part of the body to the brain, and it is known that the -rapidity of this transmission is about twenty-eight metres per second. -Since then we have referred sensation to the brain. But we have stopped -half way. - -"The brain is matter, like the finger, and by no means fixed and stable -matter. It is essentially changing matter, rapidly variable, and forming -no identity. A single lobe, a single cell, a single molecule which does -not change, does not and could not exist in the whole mass of encephalic -matter. A stoppage of motion, of circulation, or of transformation -would be a death-warrant. The brain subsists and feels, only on -condition of submitting, like all the rest of the body, to the incessant -transformations of organic matter which constitute the vital circuit. - -"So it cannot be that our personality, our identity, lies in a certain -grouping of cerebral matter,--our individual me, our _ego_ which -acquires and preserves a personal scientific and moral value, increasing -with study; our _ego_ which feels itself responsible for its acts -performed a month, a year, ten, twenty, fifty years ago, during which -time however the molecular grouping has been _changed_ frequently. - -"Physiologists who affirm that the soul does not exist, are like their -ancestors who affirmed that they felt pain in their finger or their -foot. They are a little less far from the truth, but they stop on the -way when they stop at the brain, and make the human being consist of -cerebral impressions. This hypothesis is all the less excusable because -these same physiologists know perfectly well that personal sensation is -always accompanied by a modification of substance. In other words, the -_ego_ of the individual only continues when the identity of its matter -ceases to continue. - -"Our principle of sensibility, then, cannot be a material object; it is -put in communication with the universe by cerebral impressions, by the -chemical forces disengaged in the encephalon in consequence of material -combinations. But it is _different_. - -"And our organic constitution is perpetually transformed under the -direction of a psychic principle. - -"Some molecule now incorporated in our organism escapes from it by -expiration, perspiration, etc., to belong to the atmosphere for a longer -or shorter time, then to be incorporated into another organism,--plant, -animal, or man. The molecules which actually constitute your body were -not all made part of your person yesterday, and none of them were there -three months ago. Where were they? Either in the air or in another body. -All the molecules now forming your organic tissues, your lungs, your -eyes, your brain, your legs, etc., have already served to form other -organic tissues. We are all resuscitated dead men, made from the dust of -our ancestors. If all the people who have lived up to this time arose -from the dead, there would be five of them to every square foot upon the -surface of all the continents,--obliged to climb on one another's -shoulders in order to stand; but they could not all be completely -resuscitated, for many of the molecules have served successively for -several bodies. - -"Our own organisms likewise, resolved into their ultimate particles, -will help to form the bodies of our descendants. - -"Each molecule of air then goes on eternally from life to life, and -escapes thence from death to death, by turns wind, wave, earth, animal, -or flower. It is incorporated successively into the substance of -numberless organisms. The air, the inexhaustible source whence -everything that lives takes its breath, is yet an immense reservoir into -which everything that dies pours its last sigh; by its absorption, -vegetable and animal, different organisms come to life and afterwards -perish. Life and death are both in the air we breathe, and perpetually -succeed each other by the exchange of gaseous molecules; the molecule of -oxygen which this old oak exhales will fly away to the lungs of a child -in its cradle. The last sighs of a man will weave the brilliant corolla -of a flower, or expand like a smile over the verdant meadow. And thus by -an infinite series of partial deaths, the atmosphere incessantly -nourishes the universal life spread over the surface of the world. - -"And if nevertheless some objection should still remain unanswered, I -would go further, and add that our clothes as well as our bodies are -composed of substances which at first were all gaseous. Take this -thread, draw it out: what a resistance! How many webs of cambric, silk, -linen, cotton, and wool industry have been formed by the help of these -warps and woofs! And yet, what is a thread of linen, flax, or cotton? -Globules of air in juxtaposition which are held together only by their -molecular force. What is a thread of silk or wool? Another set of -molecules in juxtaposition. Admit, then, that our clothes as -well are air, gas, substances drawn in the beginning from the -atmosphere,--oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, vapor of water, etc." - - * * * * * - -"I am glad to see," said the painter, "that art is not so far from -science as is supposed in certain circles. If your theory is purely -scientific to you, to me it is art, and of the best. Besides, do all -these distinctions exist in Nature? In Nature there is neither art nor -painting nor sculpture, music nor decoration, philosophy nor chemistry, -nor astronomy nor meteorology. Look at the sky, the sea, those -foot-hills of the Alps, those rosy evening clouds, those luminous -perspectives towards the Italian coast,--all that is one. There is unity -in everything. And since molecular philosophy demonstrates that there is -no longer any body, that even the atoms in a bar of steel or platinum do -not touch each other, no one will be the loser, provided our souls are -left us." - -"Yes, it is a fact against which no prejudice can prevail,--living -beings are souls clothed with air. I pity the worlds deprived of their -atmosphere." - -We had returned to the seashore after a long ramble not far from our -point of departure, and were passing the battlemented wall of a villa on -our way from Beaulieu to Cape Ferrat, when two very fashionably dressed -ladies passed us. They were the Duchess of V---- and her daughter, whom -we had met the previous Thursday at a ball at the Prefecture. We bowed -to them, and disappeared under the olive-trees. The young girl, -inquisitive daughter of Eve, turned to look after us, and it seemed to -me that a sudden blush crimsoned her cheeks; it was doubtless the -reflection of the setting sun's rays. - -[Illustration] - -"Perhaps you think," said the artist, also looking back, "that you have -diminished my admiration for beauty? No, I appreciate it still more. In -it I bow to harmony; and--shall I confess it?--the human body thus -considered as the manifestation to the senses of a directing soul seems -to me to acquire thence more nobility, more beauty, and more light." - - - - -[Illustration] - -V. - -AD VERITATEM PER SCIENTIAM. - - -I was studying in my library the conditions of life upon the surface of -worlds governed and illuminated by suns of different sizes, when -glancing at the chimney-piece I was struck with the expression--I had -almost said the animation--of my dear Urania's face. It was the -gracious, living expression which once--ah! how quickly the earth goes -round, and how short a quarter of a century is!--which once--and it -seems to me like yesterday--which once--in those youthful days so -quickly flown--had attracted my thoughts and inflamed my heart. I could -not keep from looking at her again, and resting my eyes on her. Truly, -she was still just as beautiful, and my feelings had not changed. She -drew me to her as the light draws an insect. I rose from my table to -approach her, and see again the singular effect of the daylight on her -changing face, and I surprised myself by standing before her, forgetting -my work. - -Her look seemed to be lost in the distance, yet she was looking. At -what? I had the firm conviction that she was really looking at -something; and following the direction of that fixed, motionless, -solemn, although not severe gaze, my eyes went straight to Spero's -portrait, hanging there between two book-cases. Really, Urania was -looking fixedly at him. - -[Illustration] - -Suddenly the picture broke away from the wall and fell, breaking the -frame. I rushed to it. The portrait was lying on the carpet, and Spero's -gentle face was turned towards me. Picking it up, I found a large -paper, grown yellow, which filled up the whole back, and was written -over on both sides in Spero's handwriting. Why had I never noticed this -paper? It is true that it might have lain under the setting of the -frame, hidden beneath the protecting cardboard mat. When I brought this -water-color back from Christiania I did not think of examining its -arrangement. But who could have had the singular idea of putting this -sheet in such a place? I recognized my friend's handwriting, and glanced -over the two pages in utter bewilderment. According to all appearances -they must have been written on the last day of the young student's -life,--the day of his ascension to the aurora borealis. Probably Iclea's -father wished to preserve these last thoughts carefully, so framed them -with Spero's portrait, and forgot to mention it when he afterwards gave -me the portrait as a memento, on my return from the pilgrimage to my two -friends' graves. However that might be, placing the water-color gently -on the table, I experienced the deepest emotion as I recognized every -detail of that dear face. They were his very eyes, so sweet, so deep, -and always unfathomable; the wide brow apparently so calm, the delicate -mouth with its reserved sensitiveness, the fresh coloring of the face, -neck, and hands. His eyes looked at me, whichever way I turned the -portrait; they looked at Urania at the same time; they looked everywhere -at once. Strange idea of the artist! I could not resist the thought of -Urania's eyes, which had seemed to me to be looking at the portrait with -embarrassing intentness. Her celestial countenance no longer wore the -same expression at all, but appeared to me rather to be melancholy, -almost sad. Then I turned again to the mysterious sheet of paper. It was -written in a clear, precise hand, with no erasures. I offer it to the -readers of this book just as I found it, without the slightest change; -for it appears to be the very natural conclusion of the preceding -episodes. - -Here it is, _verbatim_:-- - - This is the scientific testament of a mind which on the Earth - did all in its power to remain independent of the weight of - matter, and which hopes to be freed from it. - - I should like to leave the results of my researches in the form - of aphorisms. It seems to me that the Truth can be reached only - through the study of Nature, that is to say, by science. Here - are the inductions which appear to me to be founded on this - method of observation. - - - I. - - The visible, tangible, ponderable, and constantly moving - universe is composed of invisible, intangible, imponderable, and - inert atoms. - - - II. - - These atoms are governed by force, to constitute bodies and to - organize beings. - - - III. - - Force is essential entity. - - - IV. - - Visibility, tangibility, solidity, and weight are relative - properties, and not absolute realities. - - - V. - - The infinitely small. - - The experiments made in beating gold-leaf show that ten thousand - leaves are contained in the thickness of a millimetre. A - millimetre has been divided on a glass plate into a thousand - equal parts; and infusoria exist, which are so small that their - entire bodies, placed between two of these divisions, do not - touch either of them. The members and organs of these beings are - composed of cellules, these of molecules, and these of atoms. - Twenty cubic centimetres of oil spread over a lake will cover - four thousand square metres, so that the layer of oil thus - expanded measures only one two hundred thousandth of a - millimetre in thickness. Spectral analysis of light discloses - the presence of a millionth of a milligramme of sodium in a - flame. The sense of smell perceives 1/604000000 a milligramme of - mercaptan in the air breathed. The dimensions of atoms must be - less than a millionth of a millimetre in diameter. [Waves of - light are comprised between 4 and 8 ten millionths of a - millimetre, from violet to red; 2300 are required to fill a - millimetre. In the duration of a second the ether through which - light is transmitted makes 700,000,000,000,000 oscillations, - each of which is mathematically defined.] - - - VI. - - The intangible, invisible atom, scarcely conceivable to our mind - accustomed to superficial judgments, constitutes the only true - matter; and what we call matter is but an effect produced on our - senses by the motion of atoms,--that is to say, an incessant - possibility of sensations. - - The result is, that matter, like the manifestations of energy, - is only a mode of motion. If motion should stop; if force should - be annihilated; if the temperature of bodies should be reduced - to absolute zero,--matter, as we know it, would cease to exist. - - - VII. - - The visible universe is composed of invisible bodies. What we - see is made up of things which are not seen. There is but one - kind of primitive atom. The constituent molecules of different - bodies--iron, gold, oxygen, hydrogen, etc.--differ only in the - number, grouping, and motion of the atoms which compose them. - - - VIII. - - What we call "matter," vanishes when scientific analysis thinks - to grasp it. But we find as the support of the universe and the - origin of all form, Force,--the dynamic element. By my will I - can unsettle the Moon in her course. - - The movements of each atom on our Earth are the mathematical - resultant of the undulations of the luminiferous ether which - come to it in time from the abysses of infinite space. - - - IX. - - The human being has for essential principle the soul. The body - is visible and transitory. - - - X. - - Atoms are indestructible. - - The energy which moves atoms and governs the universe is - indestructible. - - The human soul is indestructible. - - - XI. - - The individuality of the soul is recent in the Earth's history. - Our planet was nebula, then sun, after that, chaos. No - terrestrial human being was then in existence. Life began with - the most rudimentary organisms; it has progressed century by - century to attain its present state, which is not the last. What - we call the faculties of the soul,--intelligence, reason, - conscience,--are modern. The mind has gradually freed itself - from matter; as--if the comparison were not awkward--gas frees - itself from coal, perfume from the flower, flame from fire. - - - XII. - - Psychic force has been beginning to assert itself in the higher - spheres of terrestrial humanity for the past thirty or forty - centuries; its action is but in its dawn. Souls conscious of - their individuality, or still unconscious of it, are by their - very nature beyond the conditions of space and time. After the - death of the body, as during life, they occupy no place; perhaps - some of them go to dwell in other worlds. Those only who are - freed from material bonds can be conscious of their - extra-corporeal existence and immortality. - - - XIII. - - The Earth is but a province of the eternal fatherland; it forms - a part of heaven. _Heaven is infinite_; all worlds are a part of - heaven. - - - XIV. - - The planetary and sidereal systems which constitute the universe - are at different degrees of organization and advancement. The - extent of their diversity is infinite; beings are everywhere - appropriate to their worlds. - - - XV. - - All worlds are not lived upon. The present era is of no more - importance than are those which preceded or those which will - follow it. Some worlds have been inhabited in the past, others - will be in the future. Some day nothing will remain of the - Earth; even its ruins will have perished. - - - XVI. - - Terrestrial life is not the type of other lives. An unlimited - diversity reigns in the universe. There are dwelling-places - where the weight is intense, where light is unknown, where - touch, smell, and hearing are the only senses, where, the optic - nerve not being formed, all the beings are blind. There are - others where the beings are so light and so slight that they - would be invisible to earthly eyes, where senses of an exquisite - delicacy reveal to privileged beings sensations forbidden to - terrestrial humanity. - - - XVII. - - The space existing between the worlds distributed over the - immense universe does not separate them from each other. They - are all in perpetual communication, from the attraction which - makes itself felt through all distance, and establishes an - indissoluble link between all worlds. - - - XVIII. - - The universe forms a single unity. - - - XIX. - - The system of the physical world is the material basis, the - habitat of the moral or spiritual world. Hence astronomy must be - the basis of all philosophical and religious belief. Every - thinking being bears within himself the consciousness, but the - uncertainty, of immortality. This is because we are the - microscopic wheels of an unknown mechanism. - - - XX. - - Man makes his own destiny. He rises or falls in accordance with - his works. Beings attached to material riches, misers, - hypocrites, liars, ambitious people, live like the perverse, in - the lower zones. - - But a primordial and absolute law governs creation,--the law of - Progress. Everything rises in the infinite. Sins are falls. - - - XXI. - - In the ascension of souls, moral qualities have no less value - than intellectual qualities. Goodness, devotion, - self-abnegation, sacrifice, purify the soul, and raise it, like - study and science. - - - XXII. - - Universal creation is an immense harmony, of which the Earth is - but an insignificant, rather uninteresting, and unfinished - fragment. - - - XXIII. - - Nature is a perpetual future. _Progress is law._ Progression is - eternal. - - - XXIV. - - The eternity of a soul would not be long enough to visit the - infinite and learn all there is to know. - - - XXV. - - The soul's destiny is to free itself more and more from the - material world, and to belong to the lofty Uranian life, whence - it can look down upon matter and suffer no more. It then enters - upon the spiritual life, eternally pure. The supreme aim of all - beings is the perpetual approach to absolute perfection and - divine happiness. - -Such was Spero's scientific and philosophical testament. Does it not -seem to have been dictated by Urania herself? - -The Nine Muses of ancient mythology were sisters. Modern scientific -conceptions in their turn tend to unity. Astronomy, or the knowledge of -the world, and psychology, or knowledge of being, unite to-day to -establish the only basis on which definite philosophy can be built. - - * * * * * - -P. S.--The preceding incidents, with the researches and reflections -which accompany them, are brought together here in a sort of essay, -whose aim is to shed a gleam of light on the solution of the greatest -problem that can engage the human mind. With this object the present -work is offered to the attention of those who sometimes "in the midst of -Life's journey," of which Dante speaks, linger to ask themselves where -and what they are,--to seek, to think, and to dream. - -[Illustration] - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Strange coincidences sometimes occur; and upon the day that George -Spero made the ascent which was to be so fatal to him I knew that he had -started, from the extraordinary restlessness of the magnetic needle, -which announced at Paris, where I had remained, the intense aurora -borealis for which he had been waiting so anxiously to make his aerial -journey. It is well known that the aurora borealis causes magnetic -disturbances which are felt at long distances from their manifestation. -But what surprised me most, and what I never have been able to explain, -is, that at the very time of the accident I experienced an undefined -uneasiness; then a kind of presentiment that some accident had happened -to him. The despatch announcing his death found me almost prepared for -it. - -[2] Phantasms of the Living. By E. Gurney and Frederick Myers, of the -University of Cambridge, and Frank Podmore. London, 1886. (The president -of the Society for Psychical Research is Professor Balfour Stewart, F. -R. S.) - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber's Notes - -Simple typographical errors were corrected, in some cases by referring -to other editions of this book. - -Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant -preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. - -Page 280: "A SOUL CLOTHED WITH AIR." is the heading of a chapter that is -not identified as such in this edition. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Urania, by Camille Flammarion - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK URANIA *** - -***** This file should be named 41941.txt or 41941.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/9/4/41941/ - -Produced by Greg Bergquist, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -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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