The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-02-11
Misttllanrous.
UNPARALLELED ADVENTURE
OF ONE
HANS PFAALL.

l'pNtb'bhbsl
This consideration served TO calm the
perturbation ofmy mind, and finally
succeeded in regarding the phenomenon
in its proper point Of view. In fact,
amazcment must have fairly deprived
me Of my senses, when could not see
the vast difference, in appearance,
between the surface below me, and
the surface of my mother earth.
The latter was indeed over my head,
and completely hidden by the balloon,
while the moon--the moon itself in all
its glory-lay beneath me, and at my
feet.
The stupor and surprise produced in
my mind by this extraordinary change
in the posture of affairs, was perhaps,
after all, that part of the adventure
least susceptible Of explanation. For
the 6Oulerersement in itself was not only
natural and inevitable, but had been
long actually anticipated, as circum-
stance to be expected whenever should
arrive at that exact point of my voyage
where the attraction of the planet
should be suppressed by the attraction
of the satellite-or, more precisely,
where the gravitation of the balloon
towards the earth should be less power
full than its gravitation towards the
moon. To be sure arose from sound
slumber, with all my senses in confu-
sion, to the contemplation of II very
startling phenomenon, and one which,
although expected, was not expected at
that moment The revolution itself
must, of course, have taken place in an
easy and gradual manner, and it is by
no means clear that, had / even been
awake at the time of the occurrence, /
should have been made aware of it by
any internal evidence of an inversion
that is to say, by any inconvenience or
disarrangement, either about my person
or about my apparatus.
1t is almost needless to say, that,
upon coming to due sense of my stu
alton, and emerging from the terror
which had absorbed every faculty of my
soul, my attention was, in the first
place, wholly directed to the contem-
plation of the general physical appear.
ance of the moon. II lay beneath me
like chart-and although l judged it
to be still at no inconsiderable distance,
the indentures of its surface were defin-
ell to my vision with most striking
and altogether unaccountable distinct
ness. The entire absence of ocean or
sea, and indeed of any lake or river,
or body of water whatsoever,
struck me, at the first glance, as the
most extraordinary feature in its geo.
logical condition. Yet, strange to say,
/ beheld vast level regions of a charac-
ter decidedly alluvial, although by far
the greater portion of the hemisphere
in sight was covered with innumerable
volcanic mountains, conical in shape,
and having more the appearance Of ar
tiiicial than Of natural protuberances.
The highest among them does not eX-
ceed three and three quarter miles in
perpendicular elevation; but Il map of
the volcanic districts Of the Campi Phle-
gr;ei would afford TO your Excellencies
a better idea of their general surface
than any unworthy description |
might think proper to attempt.
The greater part of them were in state
of evident eruption, and gave me fear
fully to understand their fury and their
power, by the repeated thunders of
the mis-, called meteoric stones, which
now rushed upwards by the balloon
with frequency more and more appal-
ling.
AprW 1871. day ! found an enor-
nous increase of the moons apparent
bulk-and the evidently accelerated
velocity Of my descent, began to fill
me with alarm. 1t will be remembered,
that, in the earliest stage of my specu-
lations upon the possibility of pas
sage to the moon, the existence, in its
vicinity, of an atmosphere dense in
proportion to the bulk of the planet, had
entered largely into my calculations;
this too in spite of many theories to the
contrary, and, it may added, in spite OF
general disbelief in the existence OF
any lunar atmosphere at all. But, in
addition to what have already urged
in regard TO Encke's comet and the
zodiacal light, i had been strengthened
in my opinion by certain observations
of Mr.. Schroeder, Of Lilienthal. He
observed the moon, when two days and
a half old, in the evening soon after
sunset, before the dark part was visible,
and continued to watch ii until 1t be-
came visible. The two cusls appeared
tapering in very sharp faint prolonga-
tion, each exhibiting its farthest eX-
tremity family illuminated by the solar
rays, before any part of the dark hemi-
sphere was visible. Soon afterwards,
the whole dark limb became illuminat-
ed. This prolongation of the cusps be-