Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1889-02-22
A Journey to the Planet Venus.

Let us for moment suppose certain
railways te be built; one round the
world i'll perfect circle, others to
various points in the solar SYSTEM And
we will further suppose that the trains
on these 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 passengers
could be made capable of enduring
the various changes of air, tempera-
ture, 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 twen-
ty-four hours the passenger could
travel 1440 miles. or considerably far
ther 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 90
around the world. But, as regards
the journeys in space, a difficulty in
most cases insuperable would stand in
the way. In order to visit any but q
very few of the 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 would all die before they had
fairly begun their journey. Avoyage
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. OuE companion
is distant about 10000 miles; or, in
round numbers, its 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,
probably the majority, of those who
live To a good old age cover less than
240. 600 miles during their whole lives.
A great traveller might do it in, say,
fifteen years. For even conductor or
cnSii,eet of AN express tiaiii, /. would
require several years.
Let us now take a trip to the planet
Venus, our nearest neighbor. This
will be a much more formidable UNDER
taking. We have seen that success
sion of the longest journeys over this
earth would form but short and pass
sing episodes in lifetime. We have
seen that. on one of our imaginary
railways, the traveller could circle the
world in less than three weeks. We
have seen, not ouly that a journey to
the moon is quite possible to the pas
sengers by our celestial railway. but
that equal aud even greater distances
are often travelled on earth. But =
trip to Venus would be very different
matter. Venus, as already stated, is
about 26.OOO.OOO miles away; or, at
sixty miles an hour. without stopping.
she is distant journey not of three
weeks. or six months. but of some
fifty years On the imaginary railway
such a journey would he possible, for
great many persons live longer than
fifty years. But in real life no one has
ever travelled 5000. 900 miles; and it is
safe tn say that no one ever will. To
complete this measure of journeying
would require an average of 100000
miles Il year for fifty wears. Some
few. perhaps, in all their lives. may
have travelled l.OOD.OO0 miles. but
these are probably very rare excep-
,ionS. s., we see ut no one ever has
lived who has travelled more than q
small part of the dislance To- Venus.
Yet, compared with other bodies in the
system. this star NAV be said to be al
most ncxt-,lo,r neighDor. = From
"!he DiSt"nce in Space" by D. c. Rob
.rts0R, IN 81. NicH0LdS