The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-12-21

the nitrite of amyl nrojectiles proposed
with neither laughter nor tears, by the
| electrician, Edward Weston.
AIR TRAVEL.
We have also "Cinq Senaines cI
Ballon.' Everybody knows that mar
velous tale, the best, perhaps, of the
ninety-nine which up to date have
come from the fruitful pen of Jules
| Verne. TWO epic Eng!ishmen, accom-
! panied by Joe, a servant of the same
| stamp, attempted to go across Africa
| in a balloon. To be sure, they had
| not found the secret of steering bal
| looms, but they put their faith in their
! star and in the atmospheric currents.
Convinced that they had only to seek
in the vertical plane the one among
| the MANY supnrpnsed and contradict
! tory aerial currents which would lead
| them in the right direction. they con-
Structed an aerOStat, and off they went.
Starting from Zanzibar. they scared af-
! ter many dramatic twists and turns
| above the solid mass of Kilmandiaro,
| over the country of the Nyam- Nyams,
| above Lake Tchad and the Kong Noun
tains, and at last reached some point
| in French Senega,nbia.
The whole story bears Il singular re-
sembance to Il piece of literary insan-
ity, and the few pontiffs who deigned
to cast their eyes over the book hast
ened to conclude with Il disdainful
grlmace that such things happen only
In romances. Well. I beg II thousand
pardons of the pontiffs, but besides NJ
Henry de Ia NaulX. who is getting
| ready to jump over the Mediterranean,
| know three good Frenchmen, three
distinguished officers, NM. Hourst, Leo
DeN and DiboS, who are ready to at
tempt the aerial trip across the dark
continent on an absolutely similar
plan, with the exception of Il few minor
details. 1t even seems to me that the
municipal council of Paris has sub
sidiZed the enterprise. At any rate, Il
it has refused to do so, it has done
wrong.
TO THE, EARTHS CENTER.
There is not one of Jules Vernes
works. even the Voyage au Centre de
In Terre"-the most extraordinary of
them all-which has not been taken
up and seriously discussed. We are
even on the point of seeing that one
realized in the form of Il well kilo-
meter and II half deep. at the late ex-
position, under the auspices of an emu
lator of Jules Verne, NJ. Andre Laurie,
alias Paschal Grousset. The latter,
moreover, had only appropriated and
reduced the grand conception of an
Argentine doctor, Nj. j. j. Martinez.
who dreamed OF nothing less than pier
cling the world through and through
Positively, Jules Verne, with his
amusing and suggestive fictions, has
more than once inspired science and
industry. More than once has he en-
gendered miracles by imagining them
in advance. But that Is not the great
est of the services which he has rem
dered, The immortal merit of his work
consists in his having created new
state of mind by enlarging the horizon
of too much stay-at-home race, and
impregnating vocations ignorant of
their own capabilities with energies
which, had 1t not been for him, would
have remained latent or sterile. Is II
not to him that the new generations
owe, in IA large measure, the move-
ment of expansion which draws them
on to fruitful crusades for the pacific
conquest of the world and all for the
great benefit of civilization?
1t would be difficult to estimate the
results which the works of Jules Verne
have achieved in the illumination Of
minds and the stimulation of energies.