Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record — John Shaqi
Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked RecordGreg, Percy
Science
Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record
Greg, Percy
Science fiction
quadrupled at 16,000, and so on—the Sun's attraction, which was not
perceptibly affected by differences so small in proportion to his vast
distance of 95,000,000 miles, became a more and more important element
in the total gravity. If, as I calculated, I had by 19h. attained a
distance from the earth of 160,000 miles, the attractions of Earth and
Sun were by that time pretty nearly equal; and hence the phenomenon
which had so puzzled me, that the gravitation, as indicated by the
barycrite, was exactly double that which, bearing in mind the Earth's
attraction alone, I had calculated. From this point forward the Sun's
attraction was the factor which mainly caused such weight as still
existed; a change of position which, doubling my distance from the
Earth, reduced her influence to one-fourth, not perceptibly affecting
that of a body four hundred times more remote. A short calculation
showed that, this fact borne in mind, the indication of the barycrite
substantially agreed with that of the discometer, and that I was in
fact very nearly where I supposed, that is, a little farther than the
Moon's farthest distance from the Earth. It did not follow that I had
crossed the orbit of the Moon; and if I had, she was at that time too
far off to exercise a serious influence on my course. I adjusted the
helm and betook myself to rest, the second day of my journey having
already commenced.
CHAPTER III - THE UNTRAVELLED DEEP.
Rising at 5h., I observed a drooping in the leaves of my garden, and
especially of the larger shrubs and plants, for which I was not wholly
unprepared, but which might entail some inconvenience if, failing
altogether, they should cease to absorb the gases generated from
buried waste, to consume which they had been planted. Besides this, I
should, of course, lose the opportunity of transplanting them to Mars,
though I had more hope of acclimatising seedlings raised from the seed
I carried with me than plants which had actually begun their life on
the surface of the Earth. The failure I ascribed naturally to the
known connection between the action of gravity and the circulation of
the sap; though, as I had experienced no analogous inconvenience in my
own person, I had hoped that this would not seriously affect
vegetation. I was afraid to try the effect of more liberal watering,
the more so that already the congelation of moisture upon the glasses
from the internal air, dry as the latter had been kept, was a sensible
annoyance—an annoyance which would have become an insuperable trouble
had I not taken so much pains, by directing the thermic currents upon
the walls, to keep the internal temperature, in so far as comfort
would permit—it had now fallen to 4° C.—as near as possible to that
of the inner surface of the walls and windows. A careful use of the
thermometer indicated that the metallic surface of the former was now
nearly zero C., or 32° F. The inner surface of the windows was somewhat
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account