Anno Domini 2071 — Part 8

I was in hopes that we should touch Rome on our way, for I was anxious to know what had become of that most venerable and ancient of cities;

but I was sadly disappointed in my expectations.

Geographical Changes in Europe.

We floated over Venice, where the Italian standard waved from the top of St. Mark's, although I could recognise a few Austrian vessels by their immense double eagle.

Now ascending, then again descending, it was often impossible for us to discover where we found ourselves, until I noticed Constantinople; but nowhere could I descry a single crescent, nor any other emblem that might have led me to conclude what Government had got possession of the ancient capital of the Eastern empire.

Crossing the Black Sea, and leaving the Caucasus behind us, we got a full view of the valley of the Euphrates; but I was again disappointed, in as far as I did not get anything to see in the shape of Eastern scenery.

All the districts over which we travelled had quite a European cut about them.

Nothing was there to show us that we were on another continent.

Among the buildings which I could clearly distinguish, one struck me as being in quite peculiar style.

The numerous and large domes would have led me to suspect that it was a church or a mosque, but for the side wings and adjacent buildings, which looked like ordinary European houses, except that they were surrounded by colonnades.

This edifice, or shall I say this cluster of buildings, was situated on a rocky hill, whence the view was a most extensive one.

Astronomical Observatories.

I asked Bacon did he know what this edifice was intended for?

He looked through the telescope, and replied, "Why, that is the famous observatory of Orumiah.

I know it by an illustration of the building which I have in my library.

I have not been there myself, but it must be well worth seeing."

"But how did they come to erect a building of such gigantic dimensions so far beyond the circle of civilization?"

"Simply for the sake of saving time," was the answer; "now-a-days only those spots are selected for astronomical observations where they can be made most conveniently and in the shortest possible time.

In Europe the nights are scarcely ever sufficiently clear to use our now so powerful glasses to advantage.

There, on the contrary, during several months of the year the sky is so bright and transparent that one can even with the naked eye observe the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus.

This had been known many years ago to the American Stoddard, who even called Herschel's attention to the fact, but that was not the time for taking advantage of such excellent opportunities.

Not until the beginning of this century was the foundation-stone to be laid of the central observatory, as it is called; the glorious building was erected at the joint expense of all civilised nationalities, the latter including the Persians themselves, who have long ceased to be behind us Europeans.

I need scarcely assure you that this institution is amply provided with the most excellent instruments, and that it has a staff of scientific men second to none for making the necessary observations."

Calculatoria.

"Then at last," said I, "the science of astronomy has wandered back to the cradle of its infancy, the soil of Chaldea.

But what has become of the once so celebrated observatories of Leiden, Greenwich, the Pulkowa, etc. , etc.?"

They have been changed into calculatoria, as in fact they had been already for some time past.

Among them are distributed the observations made at the central observatory, and these they have to work out.

At the same time these calculatoria continue to be of some use to the young astronomer; having there to encounter no end of difficulties, he may learn the value of the Latin adage, Per ardua ad astera, and so grow ultimately into a hard-working and accurate observer.

With regard to the practical results already obtained at the Orumiah observatory--in consequence of our knowledge of the celestial bodies having so considerably increased--I merely wish to call your attention for a moment to yonder map and the words printed underneath.

I

will rather not offend you by giving you any warning or advice in the matter.

Tin Mines in the Moon.

I followed the direction of his finger, and saw an immense "poster," on which I recognised at a glance the well-known lunar district of Tycho; of course I was acquainted with its ring mountains and the bright silver beams radiating as from a common centre; these were the words on the placard: GREATEST DISCOVERY OF THE AGE!

INEXHAUSTIBLE TIN MINES IN THE MOON!

WHOSOEVER MEANS TO GET RICH

HAD BETTER ASSOCIATE HIMSELF WITH THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED

MOON TIN EXPLORATION COMPANY, TYCHO.

I had already risen from my seat in order to examine the map, and to convince myself that the words were actually there.

As I turned round, Bacon must have guessed or gauged the degree of my astonishment; for he addressed me as follows: "You apparently do not believe in this kind of discoveries.

Yet there is some truth in the first part of the announcement; nay, more perhaps than it is intended to convey;

for those tin mines are incontestably inexhaustible, and for this simple reason, that they will never admit of being explored at all.

Tin mines, however, they are.

Careful observations with the great parabolic reflector provided with a hyperbolic 'oculaire' and a spectrum analysis system for the reflected rays have abundantly proved that those brilliant stripes radiating from Tycho are nothing but metallic tin.

You will be less surprised to hear this when you remember that the moon has neither water nor atmosphere.

So it is that metals which on our earth generally present themselves in an oxydal condition of some kind or other, on the contrary preserve their glossy surface on the moon just as with us silver, gold, and platina."

I now perfectly remembered that through the invention of spectrum analysis in the latter half of the nineteenth century it had indeed become possible to discover metals and several other elements in the different celestial bodies, and I conceived some faint idea of the possibility of recognising, with the aid of greatly improved apparatus, even the chemical character of such small portions of the lunar surface as for example the Tycho stripes.

The only thing quite inexplicable to me was this, how could there be people left in the twenty-first century so credulous as to believe in the exploration of tin mines in the moon by us, the inhabitants of the earth?

When I put this question to Bacon, the following was his reply: "My dear sir, on this point, as on many others, men have not much altered.

At all times there have been dupes, the victims of those that preyed upon them and of their own cupidity.

The originators of this unlimited liability company know full well that there is no possibility of getting at the tin mines in the moon; all they want to explore is the cheque-books of the public at large.

In former centuries we have had the same speculations; at that time in the shape of tin, copper, and lead mines that existed nowhere except on imaginary maps, or in the form of landed estates, which on closer examination of the facts often dwindled down into pigstyes, or in the cultivation of fertile soil, which turned out to be mere wildernesses; very often a clever array and combination of figures was resorted to, and people were often brought to believe that one and one are four, and that two times two are ten.

So it has been, and always will be.

Think of the very old maxim, Mundus vult decipi.

All that is required for such adventurers is an elastic conscience, a good deal of "brass," and a certain knack not to squeeze people's credulity too much, but to blind the masses by an artificial coating of truth.

In former times--before science had to dispose of its enormous resources--had any one proposed to fetch tin from the moon, the commonest clown would have looked upon him as an addle-pate; but now-a-days so great is the number of recent discoveries and inventions, which to the uneducated mind savour almost of miracles, that many end in believing almost anything, and to my mind this is not to be wondered at.

Start a company for parcel delivery by electric telegraph, issue a prospectus stuffed with learned twaddle, and an elaborate quasi-scientific demonstration of your scheme--above all, hold out hopes of a wonderful profit--and you are sure to find shareholders enough."