Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1872-10-24
MiCROM EGA.

tx i recent issue, Al tie Tlar Round
reDrodaccs one of Voltaire's satirical
stories, which, though written over a cen
fury ago, is just as readable, and
probab. Y - pointed in its wit ana appli-
cation to-day as when first published. The
story is introduced in Al tie Tear Round
by the following paragraph
Fraucot5-Marie Arouet, wit, poet, dra-
matist historian, philosopher, satirist,
spcculatCr, man Of science, man of affairs,
man Of galluntry--whO made for himself
The famous name Eoltaire-found the
Gjscacyes Of the French Academy Of
Sciences draning off into the slumbcr of
5elfc0mp They had decided to
their complete satisfaction that there We're
no other Iabitable worlds than ours, that
lhere were no inhabitants of the world
worth speaking Of except FrcnChmen,
that there we're no FlenChmcn besides
Parslaus and that there were no Parisans
deserving mention outside the Academy
Voltaire nut this singing nettIe into
their bed
In one Of those huge planets which
wheel around Sirius, the dog-star, there
lived a very intelligent young man,
whom hed the pleasure Of meeting the
last time he visited the little anthill we
call earth. lie WAS called Micromega, a
name which, for that matter, well cX-
presses the comparative insgntiCanCe of
all great people He was twenty-four
miles high. When | say twcntv-four
miles | mean it he measured hundred
and twenty thousand feet in his stock
lngs.
Now, place any geometrician in pos
session Of this gentleman's height, and he
will at once sit down and calculate, that
since 8 globe Of twenty-five thousand
miles round produces a man of about five
and a halt iuet high, the planet which Mr.
MiCrOmCga inhabited must necessarily
have a circumference Just twenty-one
millions SIX hundred thousand times
greater than oar tiny earth. Nature, you
see, is orderly and proportionate in all
her works.
such being the height OF his highness,
an artise will readily ascertain that he
must have measured fifty thousand feet
round the waist; whilst, since the nose is
a third Of the length of the human face,
and the face again the seventh part Of the
height it follows that the Sirian's nose
must have measured nearly a mile and
half in length.
AS for Ills mind, it was most highly
cultivated. He knew much, and invent
"a more; ~ tHe cary age u t"o nun et
urea anu my lie cFoIVeu more IMAM my
ne" PI1p'alNoHS u HucIIu from ms own
internal C"j'7Eiou7hesS' As ne advanced
~ poy n'o1, AZ louI huhuIcu anu my ne
.2oN pleasure III d'Ss'Gtihg many OF lne
t'.lcat ''a'o's' Iu'islple ~ oiuliai!
microscopes DENY no more IMAM nun,
ureu itGl ohE, ne com posi-" ieat"o"
oooN hN"hy men, "illcn lAaue iulte
SUIT DIV Ine hInB OF ms county VINO
was "vI HViAhI anu cf0lChe'y, lH7'7tc',
'haI 'Iit hooN lhcuIcaleQ hcretiCdl ana
erroneous Ioctilpe', ana sentenced tho
auLu"F \" u@ "ahiSneu from court loI
eight h"hoied years MicEolheGa was
very HIJte Ioueled at leaving court eel'
eora'Fo Tor arrogant ignorance ana seINl'e
sh'5-llCNlhE, He wrote some smart YER
seS aSa'ns1 ne hhs aio ms cV1ftleES' 70
tnc mona tn very 'HSiocfdplt nui'oS
anc', ana men SET ON on q Journey IRON ,-
PIn"oI 70 ''aHo1 W lViili ~" mint w
f %no w., va me- o."' v, ,t''i'i ',aS"
ai,,f 1,Se' '',,, i,in
"o,' ~, ,' .,i' ", oa o''' y , ,,,r'S'
,in, ,I' ~
Sam,3ar M 49,, ,r,roI,r I,o,,' ,a
L% 20 ,I' ou ''aao'II nit" ''t1 o IA"
,ure n fbe centrifnTal ana CentrinataI
forces By means of fire condensed from
annhaan. no ohtaineJ a rnost novnrf,'I
motive force, withoutneel Of fuel, where
by he was enabled to fit from planet to
planet a7 bird hops from bough to
bougb He simply took flight and after
a rapid journey, alghted Oh The planet
saturn Mirr1mega could scarcely re.
press a smile Vt seeing the little globe ana
its little people Forsiace SatuFnsie only
nine hundred times AS large AZ the earth,
its iBhaaitanrs are mere dwarfs of only
about mlie high. But he had quite
gensp eGoarh no, to ridicale a man be-
nuse he measured no more than five taou-
sand feet When he had done astoafsh.
inc tbe urop}e he became familiar with
fhem ahj mon formed an intimate friend.
shjn Of the secretary Of the Academy of
SCIENCES H. may he interesting to report
a sincnlar Compensation which took place
one dav hptYrpn Micrnmepa and the Sa.
,urnian.
r-,...,..,,,.l =, r-,.,,ro =, bor ,,.,,g ~
,ai5 N,Cr1-,o.,a Ionnr;ng into a seat
-, I'rn. ;, snz,'.arad ,ho satnrpian "Na.
,rro;s I;l., nh, - f1,,rars ,,
:, NJ, ',7na Tho DIVERS - said tbe
otbar
b.. ....-.,.1-- .r,,..,,.,i
r 'a,"l - al @osei'i9'J W ,,i
80 ~ ~ '-'' " e"''''9 " f'~
~.
Never mIn' comparisons Ssi" NJ
ElDtlgW., EUlTtlE. - Nature is nature,