Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-01-03
THE GREAT AIR LISETO THEaOON
Prom scribner's for January

Club OF Baltimore and it, remarkable transac-
ton. n so, il Is well that they should be in
torn ed of those great events which, not many
years ago caused such q sensation in the civil
lied world. Monsieur Jules Verne, French
man has taken the pains to collect all the facts
in re. ard to the Gum Club and its wonderful
scheme and IL il to his work on the subject that
We are indebted for the information contained
IN this article.
The Gun Club, which was founded during our
late sivil war, had for its principal object the
Improvement of artillery. No one could belong
10 the Club who had not invented. or AT least
improved, a cannon or a iirearm of some kind.
In the words of NJ. Verne, the esteem in which
the members were held was proportional to
the massivenesS of their cannon, and in a direct
ratio to the s1uares OF the distances reached by
their Projectnes.' 1t is impossible in our pages
TO relate all the results of the labors OF this Club,
and we will merely re mark that, at the end of
the war. they showed in their own persons the
earnestness with VIII ich they carried out their
enterprises. In the entire Club there was hard
ly whole man, and, indeed, there as but one
arm for every four persons, and but two legs
Tor every 81 of them. Nowhere was there such
a place Tor crnfches, wooden legs, patent arms,
india rubber jaws, silver skulls, platina noses,
and gutta- perchs ears
were very dOeful; there was nothing more 10
them 10 10. And 30 they sat about idly in thei
Climb house, where everything reminded them
Of war; where the msntel- piece was a fortress,
and the clock was set IN an embraSured tower;
where blyODets, stuck in cannon ball, served
as candiesticks, and where the very frames OF
the locking glasses were fashioned after the
manner OF lines OF Notifications. There they
would lean back and toast their wooden toes,
and gesticu,ate with their hooked hands, and
mourn the good old times. Some of them-J.
II. Nas'On in parteular-were extremely anx-
ious for another war. j. /. Maston was most
enthusiastic artiIleryman. He had invented
mortar which Killed 33i persons the first time
fired. TO be sure, 1t blew itself all into
little bits. and the persons killed were the
spectators around il; but, then. there are very
few m0Ttars, even If they have been carefully
fired for many years, which can show a sum
total OF killed 30 large as this. j. L. Mastons
consequently, for continual war. ''Why should
we SIT Thus with our hands in our pockets ."
cried j. Il. MastOn. (He had lost one of his
arms in the beginning OF the war; There are
plenty of reasons for fighting, and why shouldn't
We light? For instance. dad not this country
once belong to the English ?' "Of course"
replied Col. Bilsby, an armless and harmless
"WeIi, then, - said j. r Maston, )" wby then
should not Eng and in her turn belong to us ?''
This proposition was received with great ia
yor by the Gun Club in general, and II is pro-
bable some action would have been taken upon
IL if IL had not been that the attention of the
members was Unexpectedly occupied by the an
nouncement that grand meeting had been
called by the president of the club to consider
come extremely important business. The meet
ing was held at a. m, on the 9Th of october,
eight cen hundred and after-the-war. The hall
ofti club was tightly jammed with members
and visitors. Cores pondDg and honorary mem
bers, from all parts OF the Union, filed up every
room and passage, and the streets and alleys of
the neighborhoOd were crowded with people
who could not get into the building.
when the great clsck in the hall fired 3 pres
ldent BaIbicane arose and addressed the assem-
lows:
He lamented the idleness Of the club caused
by the recent peace.
He desired that it should undertake some
great work.
the moon, or had heard IL spoken Off
He stated that although the moon had been
thoroughly studied by astronomers. no commu-
icatton between II and the earth had been con-
dered possible up to that date.
he proposed. therefore, that the Gun Club
fhould open such communication; and that
hey should do il by making cannon suf Gent
ly large 20 send ball-bang to Che moon.
AT these last words, the great hall, and the
very streets around it, treRbled with the thun-
ders OF applause which broke from that vast
crowd. IL was many minutes before the Presi-
dent could again make himself heard, when he
proceeded to state that this thing was easy
enough to do. II was only necessary to give
the ball an initial velocity of 1000 wards per
second, and il would certainly reach the moon
provided the cannon was pointed properly
Then the meeting adjourned.
IL was determined, after vast amount OF
additional scientific calculation by the Gun
Club, TO fire the ball from some point between
the Equator and % deg. north or south of the
EQUATOR, TO point the cannon at the zenith, ana
TO IRE II precisely at Is minutes and 20 seconds
OF II clock a. M on the first day of the next
An Executive Committee OF the Gun Club
held meeting at the house of President Barbi-
cane, Oct. :. The matter Of the ball was the
hrst thing TO be settled. OF what should they
~
shape should il have? j. I. Maston was wild
IN enthusiasm, and waving in the air his iron
hook, with pen screwed Into it, he made a
sItech full of eloquent bgures j. T. Maston
vas great on figures; not only cures of speech
tut numerical figures. He liked nothing better
u an to lie awake at night, and calculate with
what rspidty ball weighing three-Guarters OF
certain weight, and moving with velocity
equal ~ seventeen nipeteeDths of some other
VI Iocity. would pass over a distance 800 times
the square root of some other distance And
when he made speeches before the Committee
he introduced all these calculations.
But the President was a much more practical
man. lie could perceive in an instant exactly
what he wanted, and he settled the question Of
The size OF the bali without any trouble. lyon
will undo stand, said he, s'that il viii be Of No
Use for us to FIRE ball at the moon, if we Are
unable to see whether 1t gets there or not So
the way. Now, with the largest telescope that
we are able to make. the smallest object visible
on the moon is sixty feet in diameter"
wen, then, our ball must be sixty feet in
sismeter said !: I. Maston.
ono, that will not &c necessary, - said the
President elf we place telescope on a very
high mountain, the atmosphere win be so much
rarer that we will be able TO see objects on the
moon only nine feet in diameter"
Splendid" cried j. 7. AastQn. "Then we
will make our ball nine feet in diameter"
50 ills matter was settled.
There was now a discussion upon the weight
OF the ball. Some of the committee thought a
bal n,ne teet in diameter would be very heavy.
hollsw." " "
-" Hurrah'' cried j. T Maston. 1--WE will mn,
dispatches in il, and samples Of the exports OF
the United states, with the price list for the
current month" " '
But even this ball, with comparatively thin
sldt :, II made OF c2St-lron, would be too heavy
Tor the initial velocity intended to give IT. SO
the committee went TO work TO calculate what
some other metals would weigh. After spending
eonie une IN extracting cube-roots, and ele-
Natlng IS and Rs to the second power they came
the ball of aluminium. o
They calculated that a ball of that metal
would only cost Sl13 go.
huTrah!" cried j. L. Maston, al didn't
think we could get a ball so cheap as that
AT the next session OF the Committee the
gu stlOn OF the cannon was considered. II was
unanimously agreed that IL would REQUIRE a
large cannon 70 carry ball feet in diameter;
and, as the cannon of the Gun Club must
Il row it's ball % ,5i2 miles, so it was evident it
would have 10 be pretty long.
- Yes, indeed" cried j. i. Maston. 50 our
least,'f
=. Half mile" exclaimed the Committee, in
astonishment.