Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-08-14

Of science. We lacked experience. Why
did we fail? Perhaps We may never
know"
"Well, said the secretary of the gun
club, 1--WE viii commence all over again. :"
And the money then which has been
spent for this operation is a dead loss,
observed Captain Nichoil
But public opinion said Evange-
lima Scorbitt, would not allow you
second trial" What will become Of
our Arctic region?' said Captain Nicholl.
Where will the stock of the n. 7. p. A.
fall top said President Barbicane.
Well, it had already fallen SO far that
the stock was offered at the price Of old
paper
This, then, was the resultof hegigan-
tic operation. This was the memorable
fasco to which the superhuman projects
of Barbicane e. Co. had led
If ever engineers, unlucky engineers,
were laughed at in public, if ever the
newspapers made drawings, songs and
paragraphs not at all flattering to the
people mentioned in them, this occasion
exceeded them all. President Bsrhi-
cane, the directors of the new society
and their associates OF the gun club were
universally sneered at. IN every Ian
guage they were made ridiculous, and
to make ii easier for the whole popula-
| ton of the world TO read, the scornful
articles were printed in 'volapuk." In
| Europe especially remarks and songs "a
make the persons Of the y. i. =. A.
ridiculous were spread broadcast The
greatest hit was made by Frenchman,
who composed ballad which was sung
in every concert hall of France and
America. Bat VIII we never know to
what the failure Of this enterprise was
due? Did this failure prove that the
operation was impossible of realization;
that the powers at the disposal Of man
kind would never be sufficient to bring
about a change in the earths move
ment? Did IL prove that the country
around the North Pole would never be
removed to those regions where the sun
and heat would melt the ice without hu-
man help?
Information on this subject came a
few days after the return of President
Barbicane and Captain Nicholl TO the
United States. A very simple paragraph
appeared in the Times of October Il.
Here is the article:
I've all know that the result OF the
operation TO create a new axis has been
nothing. However, the calculations Of
J. T. Maston, founded on established
facts, would have produced the desired
result If through an unexplainable slip
an error had not been embraced in them
from the beginning. When the cele.
brated secretary of the gun club took
for a basis Of his calculations the cir
conference Of the earth's sphere be
figured it at 10000 meters in place OF
az, 900, 900 meters. and 10 which the
failing of the operation is due.
Where could such an error come from ?
Who could have provoked it2 How could
such a remarkable calculator commit
such an error?
at is certain that had the problem Of
the modification of the earths axis been
correctly figured it would have been ex-
actly solved But this forgetting OF
three zeros has made a change at the
end Of the calculation of twelve naughts
cit is not cannon one million simes
larger than that Of twenty-seven cent?
meters which was necessary. A trillion
of these cannons throwing trillion pro-
jectiles Of $4,000 tons each would be
necessary to displace the North Pole.
admitting the meli-melonite had the
expansive power which had been at
tributed to it by Captain NicholL
Therefore the whole shock under the
conditions under which it was produced
has displaced the North Pole only three
thousand tbs OF a millimeter, and has
only changed the level of the ocean at
the most nine thousandths Of three thou
sandths Of millimeter. In regard TO
the projectile fred, il will be a small
planet, and will belong in future to the
solar system, sustained By solar attrac-
ton. ALCIDE PiERDEUx. ="
So this want Of attention on the part
Of j. T. Maston at the beginning Of his
calculations had produced such humili-
ating result for his company
But even if his associates were very
angry against him, if every body laughed
and joked at him, it is only fair to state
in his favor that this mistake which had
wrecked the operation had spared the
world d terrible catastrophe.
A food of kilograms and letters ar
rived from ali parts of the world con-
graduating J. 7. Maston on bis mistake
Of three naughts ]. T. Mastcn, more