“The difference of level will be considerable. After the shock the surface of the sea will take the form of an ellipsoid of revolution, and the level will change nearly all over the globe. “In fact the intersection of the level of the old sea with the level of the new sea, of two equal surfaces of revolution with the axes intersecting, will be of two curved planes, and the maxima of elevation or abasement will exceed 25,000 feet. “It is worthy of remark that the ancient Pole will be immersed under more than 9000 feet of water, so that the district acquired by the North Polar Practical Association will be flooded unless there exists at the Pole a plateau of more than that number of feet of elevation. “Where the maximum of alteration of land will take place is unknown. There is in the equation an unknown quantity, which no known formula can value. This unknown is the position of _x_, where the shock is to be applied. This _x_ is the secret of the promoters of this deplorable affair. “In conclusion, it is desirable to point out that all the inhabitants of the Earth are interested in unravelling the secret, for all are menaced by the proceedings of the Association. “Notice is therefore given to the inhabitants of all parts of the world to keep a strict watch over all operations regarding the founding of cannons, or the fabrication of powders or projectiles taking place on their territories, and to report the appearance of any stranger connected therewith to the Commission of Inquiry at Baltimore, U.S.A. “It is urgently necessary that the information should reach the Commission before the 22nd of September next, the date on which the established order of the terrestrial system is so seriously menaced.” CHAPTER XII. HEROIC SILENCE. It was a cannon that hurled the projectile up to the Moon; it was to be a cannon that was to change the terrestrial axis! The cannon! Always the cannon! Barbicane and Co. evidently suffered from chronic attacks of aggravated “cannonism”! Was a cannon the _ultima ratio_ of the world? was it to be the brutal sovereign of the universe? The canon rules theology, was the cannon to give the law to commerce and cosmology? A cannon was the engine Barbicane & Co. were to bring into action. They had not devoted their lives to ballistics for nothing. After the Columbiad of Tampa Town there was to come the monster cannon of—of—the place _x_! And already there were people who could hear the sonorous command. “No. 1! Aim at the Moon! Fire!” “No. 2! Change the Earth’s axis! Fire!” And then for the “general upset” predicted by Sulphuric Alcide!