Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-10-10
Miscellany.
MICROMEGA.

stories, which, tnOugn WrlIten over cen
tury ago, is just as readable, and
probably as pointed in its wit and appli-
cation to-day as when first published. The
story is introduced in Al the Year Round
by the following paragraph:
Francois Marie Arouet, wit, poet, dra-
matist, historian, philosopher, satirist,
speculator, man of science, man of affairs,
man of gallantry-who made for himself
the famous name Voltaire- the
wiseacres of the French Academy of
Sciences droning off into the slumber of
self-complacency. They had decided to
their complete satisfaction that there were
no other habitable worlds than ours, that
there were no inhabitants of the world
worth speaking Of except Frenchmen,
that there were no Frenchmen besides
Parisians, and that there were no Parisians
deserving mention outside the Academy.
Voltaire put this singing nettle into
their bed
In one of those huge planets which
wheel around Sirius, the dog-star, there
lived a very intelligent young man,
whom had the pleasure of meeting the
last time he visited the little ant-hill we
call earth. He was called Micromega, a
name which, for that matter, well ex-
presses the comparative insignificance of
all great people. He was twenty-four
m;,es hiph When I saw tWenty-four
miles I mean it. he measured hundred
and twentv Thousand feet in his stock
ings.
Now, place any geometrician in pos
so.s;on ~ thia oentleman,s height and he
will. 1t once sit down and calculate. that
since q globe of twenty-five thousand
miles round produces a man of about five
and half feet hich5 the planet which Mr.
M;cromara inhahited must necessarily
have : c;rcnmference inst twenty-one
,n;i,;ona s;y hnndred thousand times
oraato- thon orr t;nu earth Nature Won
seo;s. ;s ordariu o, ond ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS n ali
Iar ' -go-hs
c,,ah ha;,,o tho ho;rb+ of bie b;obneas
....;st Ia a5;I7- asoartoin fhat be
so,,st On is. he1o w" measnrad f;ftv thousand feet
,a,.nd ..L tIa lot wh;,at since the nose Is
a +h;r., of tha lanoth Of the human face
and tho foca aaain the seventh mart of the
ha;ah+ - fo1,awe that the Sirian,s nose
,,s,,st g,a1,a = ,,,aosnred neorIv nile and
hos oha,f no =, 1an~+h
Ia. fan - hia ,,;nd T. woe moot highly
o,,1tira+ad He Enaw mucb and invent.
.r, ID 49, A. tho aar,v ace of two hnn.
S..5 o..d fft,, La a,.olyod mora +hon fifty
uleu anu ~? ~ ~ T,,oI;d fro,,, b;s .1ry
.cm pauposaslons pp..a.G =. a ho W a.renaad om5
nslnal .Sh oo1so4o ~ fo,ar hTnarad n nd tiftv he
toaI ~ gie.su,e - in ,ou d;ssecting manv mar o} the
t;n;e.t insects Invisible to ordinary
na;eroscones ~ hs;no No more than a hun
d-sd foot lonr He comnosed a Learned
hnoL oI.,,,+ 3hono ,yh;cb made onite :
st;r R,t the L;nr Of b;s country who
wss 10th ignorant and crotchetv insisted
that t the the hook inculeated heretical ani
a-r"nao,s doctr;nes and sentenced tn,
a;rht hundred vears Micromeqa wa
yarv little trouhled at leaving court Gel
ehrated for arrogant ipnorance and seryil
shoelickinp ne wrote some smart ver
ses aoainst The king and his courtiers {,
Tho Sonarch'a verv considerable annoy
anca and then set ont, on a iourney froT
nlanat to nIanet to form his mind w
ptanes 5~,.,t ~ @ 20, roaro bint If mud a sn,as
from the great universe and seldom cor
na;va IF anvth;ng hevond onr own clouds
can scarcely realize any form of locome
tion better than those with which we ar
familiar. But our traveller knew the LAY
Of pravitation. and was alive to the ns
ture Of the Centrifugal and centripets
forces. By means of fire condensed fror
snnbeams he obtained most powerfr
motive force, without need of fuel, where
by he was enabled to fit from planet t
planet, as a bird hops from bOugh
bough. He simply took flight, and afte
arapid journey, alighted on the plane
Saturn. Micromega could scarcely r
press a smile at seeing the little globe an
its little people. For since Saturn is onl
nine hundred times as large as the eartl
its inhabitants are mere dwarfs of onl
about a mile high. But he had qui
sense enough not to ridicule man b
cause he measured no more than five tho
sand feet When he had done astonis7
inc the neonle he became familiar vii
them and soon formed an intimate frien
shin # the Secretarv of the Academy
Sciences II NAV be interesting to reno
singular conversation which took pIa
one day between Micromega and the s
turnian:
aHow varied is Nature in her ways
said Micromega, lounging into seat.
=. Nf Aox