Chapter 2 CHAPTER TWO REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN BARBICAN

At eight o'clock in the afternoon on October 5th, the drawing rooms of the Cannon Club at 21 Federation Square were packed with people.All members residing in Baltimore accepted their chairman's invitation.Hundreds of correspondent members flocked to the streets of the city from express trains. Although the conference hall was very large, many scientists could not find a seat. The yards are packed full.There they joined the ranks of ordinary citizens crowding the door.Those citizens are eager to hear Chairman Barbicane's important report this time. Pushing, bumping, showing the freedom of movement that is unique to the masses educated by the concept of "autonomy", everyone wants to get into it. go ahead.

That night, a foreigner staying in Baltimore was not able to squeeze into the lobby even after paying a high price: the lobby is reserved for local members or correspondent members, and no one can occupy a seat there except them, not even the inner city. Celebrities and city officials also had to mingle with the masses under their dominion and listen attentively to the news coming from within. That vast hall was indeed a spectacle.The spacious venue fits well with its purpose.The tall pillars were made of stacked cannons, and the thick mortars were used as the bases. The pillars supported the fine iron frame of the dome, which was real cast iron lace punched with a punching machine.Flares, muskets, arquebuses, carbines, all ancient and modern weapons, displayed on the walls, spread out in all directions in a pictorial collection.Gas lamps blazed brightly from racks of a thousand pistols, while clusters of pistols and rifles added splendor to the magnificent illumination.Models of cannons, samples of bronze cannons, targets riddled with bullets, steel plates damaged by Cannon Club shells, sets of cleaning rods and cannon brushes, strings of rosary-like bombs, strings of necklaces Like bullets, strings of festooned grenades, in short, all the gunner's tools are arranged so conspicuously that you feel that their real purpose is to decorate rather than kill.

On the Terrace of Glory, an ornate glass dome could be seen enclosing the crooked remains of a gun-powder blasted mount, a precious relic of Maston's cannon. The chairman and four secretaries occupy a wide platform at the end of the hall. His chair is installed on a carved gun mount, and the whole chair body is imitated according to the rough and powerful image of a 32-inch mortar gun, forming an included angle of 90 degrees; It swings back and forth like a chair, which is very comfortable in the heat.On a large iron table supported by a No. 6 short milling gun, you can see a stylish ink bottle made of a finely carved flower bullet, and another one that can explode like a pistol. the bell.In the heat of debate, the new bell rang just to overwhelm the cries of the over-excited cannon inventors.

In front of the table, benches were arranged in a zigzag like the walls of a trench, forming a continuous bastion and embankment, where all the members of the Cannon Club were seated. ".Everyone knew enough about the chairman's character to know that he would not disturb his comrades without serious reasons. Imbe Barbicane was a man of forty years of age, calm, calm, serious, extremely thoughtful, concentrated; as accurate as a clock, with a character that could stand any test and an unshakable will; Although lacking in chivalry, he was adventurous, but, even in the most daring adventures, he still kept the spirit of seeking truth from facts. He was a distinguished New Englander, a northern immigrant, and the nemesis of the Stuart dynasty. The scion of the cranium, and the irreconcilable enemy of the gentlemen of the South, the knights of the past of the mother country.All in all, an American through and through.

Barbicane made a fortune in timber business in his early years.During the war, he served as the chairman of the cannon manufacturing industry and showed himself to be a prolific inventor: he dared to imagine boldly and contributed a lot to the progress of cannon; he brought unparalleled impetus to the experiment of this weapon force. The man was of medium height and able-bodied, a rare exception in the Cannon Club.The lines of the face are clear and even, as if they had been drawn with a curved ruler and a drawing board.To guess a man's character one must look at his profile, and if this is true, then Barbicane's most reliable features, seen in profile, would be perseverance, boldness, and coolness.

Now he sat perfectly still in his armchair, under the cylindrical black satin top hat that Americans wear, silent and absorbed in his thoughts. Although the members of the club were chatting noisyly around him, they didn't interrupt his meditation. They asked me and I asked you, they all speculated, looked at the chairman, and tried to find out from his calm face. searched for the unknown, but found nothing. The clock in the hall struck eight like thunder, and at that moment Barbicane rose to his feet as if pushed by a spring, and in the silence of the assembly he began by saying, in a slightly exaggerated tone:

"Gentlemen, it has been a long time since a boring peace had plunged the members of the Cannon Club into a miserable life of idleness. The roads come to a complete standstill. I will not declare loudly) any war that will return our arms to us is welcome..." "Yes! War!" cried the impatient Maston. . "Listen! Listen!" There were objections from all directions. "But war," said Barbicane, "as it stands, there will be no war, whatever the hope of the venerable speaker who has just interrupted me, our cannon will be in the field. It will take a long time to roar. Therefore, we must make up our minds and go to another field of thought to seek food that can support our activities!"

The audience felt that their chairman was about to touch the most delicate parts.They listened carefully. "In recent months, honorable members," continued Barbicane, "I have been asking myself if we could not, in our profession, carry out one of the great experiments worthy of the nineteenth century, ballistics. Will progress help us to our ends. I have been thinking, working, calculating, and the results of my research have convinced me that we can succeed in an enterprise that is almost impossible in other countries. This project that has been studied for a long time, That is what I am reporting today, it is worthy of you, it is worthy of the past of the Cannon Club, it is certain that it will cause a sensation all over the world!"

"A sensation all over the world?" exclaimed an enthusiastic cannon inventor. "Yes, indeed, the whole world is going to be a sensation," replied Barbicane. "Don't interrupt him!" said several voices. "Honest members," the chairman went on, "please listen to me." There was a murmur in the hall.Barbicane quickly straightened his hat, and continued in a calm voice: "Honest members, each of you has seen the moon, or at least heard it talked about. Don't be surprised if I'm here to talk about this night orb. Maybe we'll have to do this unknown world Where is Columbus. Please understand me and help me as much as I can, and I will take you to conquer it, and its name will be listed among the names of the thirty-six states that make up this great United States!"

"Hurrah, Moon!" cried the whole Cannon Club in unison. "We have done a great deal with the moon," continued Barbicane, "and its mass, density, weight, volume, structure, motion, distances, and role in the solar system are fully understood, Our lunar maps have been perfected: as good as, if not better than, maps. In addition, our cameras have taken many beautiful pictures of our satellites. In short, there is nothing wrong with the Moon. What mathematics, astronomy, geology, optics can tell us, we all know, but until now no direct connection has ever been made to it."

These few words caused great excitement and wonder. "Permit me to briefly describe," he went on, "how some absurd ghosts went out on fantasy trips, and insisted that they had glimpsed the secrets of our satellites. In the seventeenth century, a man named David Fabricius boasted that he had seen the inhabitants of the moon with his own eyes. Gongzalais Moon Travels." At the same time, Cyrano de Bergerac's famous "Moon Expedition" came out, and it was very popular in France. 8 Later, another Frenchman (Frenchman) Very concerned about the moon) Fontenelle wrote "The Most World", which was a masterpiece of his time, but advancing science turned the masterpiece into a fan too! Around 1835: A translated pamphlet, New York in America, recounts that Sir Joan Heschel was sent to study astronomy at the Cape of Good Hope, and that, by means of an excellent telescope illuminated from the inside, the moon's The distance was reduced to eighty yards.Then he must have seen clearly the caves where the hippopotamus lived, the green mountains rimmed with gold, the sheep with ivory horns, the white moose, the inhabitants with braided wings.This pamphlet, written by an American named Locke, was an extraordinary success. But after a while, people admitted that this was a scientific myth, and the French laughed first." "Laugh at the Americans! cried Maston. "Look!This is a cause for war! " "Don't worry, my noble friend. Before the Frenchman laughed, he was completely fooled by one of our compatriots. Before ending this simple history, I will add that there is a Rotterdam man named Hans Pfaal, Sitting in a balloon filled with a gas extracted from nitrogen, which is thirty-seven times lighter than hydrogen, he reached the moon after a flight of nineteen days. As in those attempts, it is pure fantasy, the work of a famous writer in America, a fantasy writer of extraordinary genius. I mean Poe." "Hurrah, Edgar Poe!" cried the audience, all moved by the Chairman's words. "I should say," continued Barbicane, "that this is a purely literary attempt, and that it is by no means possible to establish a real connection with the celestial bodies of the night. In this respect, I run out of words. But I should note, in passing, that there are also some down-to-earth Some people have tried to get a real connection with the moon. For example, a few years ago, a German geometer proposed to send a scientific team to the Siberian steppe. They would use bright reflector lights to draw some huge geometric figures on the vast steppe. , which includes the square diagram of the chord which the French call the Bridge of Fools.2 The scientific purpose of this diagram should be clear to anyone who has knowledge, and the geometer said that the Moonmen, if they existed, would answer with a similar diagram, Once a connection is established, it is not difficult to create an alphabet that would allow us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon. The German geometer did say so, though his plans were not carried out, and until now, the Earth and its moons There has not been any direct connection between them. However, maybe this is reserved by God on purpose, so that Americans with real talents can establish a relationship with the star world. The method to achieve this goal is simple, easy, reliable, and foolproof , and that's what I propose." His words were greeted with cheers and stormy applause. There was not one present who was not controlled, captivated, and bewildered by his words. "Don't make a noise! ​​Don't make a noise! ​​Be quiet!" shouted everywhere. After the meeting place became quiet, Barbicane continued in a more solemn voice: "You all know what advances ballistics has made in the last few years, and what perfection weapons can attain if the war continues. You also know, generally he said, that there is no limit to the recoil of cannon and the expansion of powder. Alright: I'm thinking, based on this principle, whether it is possible to use a suitable device with certain recoil conditions to send a cannonball to the moon." At this came a cry from a thousand breathless breasts, "Ah!" Then there was a moment's silence, the unfathomable silence that preceded the thunder.Thunder indeed rang out, but it was thunder caused by applause, cheers and applause that shook the venue. The Chairman wanted to go on; but could not.It took ten minutes to catch his words. "Let me finish, please," he said calmly, "I have considered the subject from all angles, determined to study it, and my indisputable calculations show that the initial velocity of any shot towards the moon is twelve thousand per second. A thousand-yard cannonball will surely get there. It is my pleasure, therefore, to suggest to you, honorable members, that you try this little experiment!"