Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-01-31
- JouaNeY0 TO VENUS.

A. JOURNEY TO VENUS. all
How xong Il worla T.ks r.st 49, s...sr,, Z
Train to Reach che Pianst. 50 = 2
Let US for amoment suppose certain
railways to be built: one around the
world in q perfect circle, others to var
ious points in the solar system And
we will further suppose that the trains
on the railways could be kept going at
the rate Of sixty miles an hour for any
required length of time. that their
passengers could do without food or
could be supplied with an abundance
of it, that the bodies of such passen-
gers could be made capable of endur-
ing the various changes of air, tenn
perature and other climatic conditions
to which they would be exposed. - ?
And on our world this kind OF travel
would be comparatively easy. and
would take next to no time. In twenty
four hours the passenger could travel
1.440 miles. or considerably farther
than from New York to Chicago. In
forty-eight hours he could travel as
far as from Boston to Liverpool; and
in less than seventeen days he could
go round the world. But, as regards
the journeys in space. difficulty in
most cases insuperable would stand in
the way. In order to visit any but
very few of the nearest bodies in space,
the travellers on our celestial railways
would need to have their lives very
greatly prolonged. Were they to set
out for any distant part of the system,
they all would die before they had
fairly begun their journey. A voyage
to the moon, to Venus or to Mars
would, under the above conditions, be
possible; to any other body in the sys-
tenn it would be impossible.
The journey to the moon would be
comparatively short. Our companion
is distant about 100000 miles; or, in
round numbers, it's distance contains
ten times as many miles as are con-
tanned in the earth's circumference.
Travelling at the rate of sixty miles
an hour, and never stopping, it would
take between 166 and 167 days to reach
the journeys end. Compared with
other heavenly distances, this is a
mere nothing; but compared with the
distances actually traversed by the
average man, it is very great indeed.
Few ever travel at sixty miles an hour,
and then only for short periods, and at
considerable intervals. Many, prob
ably the majority, of those who live to
a good old age cover less than $40, 900
miles during their whole lives. A
great traveller might do it in. say, fif-
teen years. For even a conductor or
engineer of an express train, it would
require several years. - hei iS
Let us now take trip to the planet
Venus, our next nearest neighbor.
This will be a much more formidable
undertaking. We have seen that a
succession of the longest journeys over
this earth would form but short and
have seen that, on one of our imaginary
railways. the traveller could circle the
world in less than three weeks. We
have seen, not only that a journey to the
moon is quite possible to the passen-
gers by our celestial railway. but that
equal and even greater distances are
often Travelled on earth. But a trip to
Venus would be avery different matter.
Venus, as already stated, is about &c.
DOC, 900 miles away; or, at sixty miles
an hour. without stopping, she is dis
tant a journey not of three weeks, or
six months, but of some fifty years.
On the imaginary railway, such a
journey would be possible, for great
many persons live longer than fifty
years. But in real life no one ever has
travelled. and no one ever will travel,
any thing like so far. No human being
ever has travelled 5000, 900 miles; and
it is safe to say that no one ever will.
To complete this measure of journey
ing would require an average of 1OO.-
600 miles year for fifty years. Some
few. perhaps. in all their lives, may
have travelled 100000 miles. but
these are probably very rare excep-
tions. So we see that no one ever has
travelled more than small part of the
distance to Venus. Yet, compared
with other bodies in the system, this
star may be said to be almost next
door neighbor.-D. G. Robertson. in
St. Nicholas. "i Ei SD -ls-t
Bees in New Zealand.