The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-05-21

"Nautilus" dared not show Itself In the Straits
Of Bab-elMandeb because there were too
many English and French steamers OF the lines
Of suez 10 Bombay, OF Calcutta to Melbourne,
and from Bourbon to Nautilus" In the name
OF common sense, what should bring to the
mouth Of the Red Sea packet bound from the
Hooghly to Australian We must find room for
one more quotation from this volume to illustrate
Verne's method Of dealing with current history
He speaks with his usual impressive realism OF
the first ocean telegraph cable as "refusing TO
act any longer after transmitting about 400 tee-
grams" This statement OF the amount OF busi-
meas done Is calculated to enliehten Cyrus Field
aud put the imaginative All rignt De Sauty"
| to shame.
We have heard that Mr.. Verne IL not only an
a'siduous student Of geography, but yacht
owner and amateur navigator OF considera-
| BILE experience. All his narratives OF voyages,
| however, are curiousy wanting In rudimentary
knowledge. Thus In the wreck Of the Chan
cellor he intimates that the Bern udas lie close
to the coast Of North Carolina" To-day Rob.
| ert Curtis told mo that we cannot be far from
| the group OF the Bermudas-that is, OF Cape
| Hatteras. We shall see st. Georges Island be-
fore night" A few pages further on In the same
| book occurs this sentence; Robert Curtis goes
| on watch, relieving Lieutenant Walter" We
need not that the first and second officers
OF a ship are never 40 called In the English mer-
chant service. Here, too, occurs a remarkable
statement that 1.-THE Atlantic Is not often much
rufiied by wind" as II It would be easy to name
an ocean less pacific In the journey to the
North Pole Is to be found some Of the most in
scrutable dialogue we have ever wrestled
with. Here is sample: "Towards the
North Pole" saws DIR. Clawbonny. "And
why not towards the South PoleT" Ia
the reply. "1he South Pole" said the
Doctor, Never Would the captain ever dream
| OF exposing brig to all the difficulties Of cross
ing the broad Atlantlcy" As the brig is bound
from Liverpool to the Arctic circle. tho
"Doctor" would seem to be talking nonsense.
They go on as follows: "'You say go to the
North continued Shandou. but that's o wide
word. Is 1t to be to Spitzber9en, or Greenland,
! or labrador, or Hudson's BayY IL is true that
all these routes lead 70 the same impossible
fields Of ice. should be puzzled to decide
which canyon help me. DoctorT NO. replied
the loquacious little man, yexed at having no
answer ready" Seeing that Clawbonny Is the
clever man OF the party, he might have ventured,
we should say, to strike out a blind alley like
| Hudson's Bay, or even the so-colled Labrador
route OF which no human being ever
heard. In another place Mr. Verne chroni-
Giles what he esteems a strangely recon-
dite phenomenon, which, witD pleasing can
dor, no avows himself unable to explain. 1T
quite confirms" says the Doctor, 1.-THE curious
observations made by Scoresby - Fellow Of the
| Royal Society Of Edinburgh of which have the
honor to be u corresponding member. You see
that during rain. the waves are less susceptible
70 the action Of the wind, even when violent. On
the contrary, during dry weather the sea is easl-
| ly aRltated by comparatively slight breeze"
=" But how do you account for this 2" says Shan
don. tibet Il easily answered don't account
for II at ALL" We fear DIR. Clawbonny was some-
what OF fraud. On one occasion, however, he
distinguished himself, for Shandon, the chief
officer, who, we are Informed, just forty In
1859, happening TO begin yarn with "when
was cabin boy aboard the Fly, a sloop OF
war "in. ISIS" interrupted the Doctor.
at the end OF March you passed between two
great islands Of floating ice IN tho forty second
degree OF latitude Really, you're too bad,
| DoctorV And 80 he was. " prying into
| Shandon's prenatal experiences should be
held impairment. But the browning tri-
umph OF verne's saeacity Is attained In
| the following passage, where he dem onstrates
the fact OF q current blowing from the Pacific
| round the northern edge OF North Anne RIGA into
the Atlantic, by this conclusive observation that
whales which have been killed in Davis Straits
| have been subsequently cast on the coasts OF
Tartary With the European harpoon still stick
Ing IN their sides. In other words the dead
whales had the krack Of drifting up stream.
| Another singular phenomenon noted in " DIR.
ox's Experiment" deserves TO he cited here.
| The Burgomaster OF a certain Dutch town and
| Counsellor Niklausse ibid not" says Verne,
take each others arms, but walked side by
side with slow aud solemn step, which took them
forward but thirteen feet per second" II strikes
us that gait Of nine miles hour was credit
able TO the legs Of the burgomaster.
And we might go on quoting page after
page OF Verne's wonderful outgvings. but the
reader doubtless has been sufficiently edited.
| IL he will glance through "1he Mysterious
Island" he will find It peculiarly rich In novel
ties Of the species above noted. Parents and
guardians should be grateful TO the editor OF
| ScrlbneI's Monthly for introducing to the family
| circle the works Of an author who has learned
| to blend so sweetly enter, aInment with instruc-
| ton. Above all, lot them not forget that the
moral tone OF his writings is scrupulously pure.
Certainly, II the love aud reverence OF the
young Is rightly deemed precious guerdon OF
| labor, jules Verne has not missed his reward as
We are Informed by readers OF Sanford and
| Merton that the reputation OF the brilliant Mr..
| Barlow has been totally ecipsed by the cycopm-
die Frenchman. So, too, II Athenian many
sidedness stamps the ideal Of culture, II follows
th't Verne Is a cultivated man, for II he does
not squarely face, he contriyes to squirt In
many directions. On the whole, he Is an honor
to France but we are able TO match him with
that British worthy whose broad and varied &C.
questions were cataloRued by Samuel Butler.
| The latter's learning, We are assured, like our
French s..hor's, was capable Of most amusing
| applications:
For he by geomet1c scale
tOud take the size OF pots OF ale,
Resolve by shines and tangent. straight
II bread and butter wanted weight,
And wisely tea what hour o the day
The clock doth strike BY algebra,
And yet the biographer OF that eminent sayant