Then they retired for the night, but the next day was very dull and they felt depressed; one of them begged a little alcohol to restore him, for he had a weak heart. The chemists were aghast when they saw him drink it, for such a thing had never been seen before. The strength of terrestrial alcohol was no criterion for that made on another planet, so he took what he considered a ridiculously small dose, but it was very powerful and overcame him so much that he was completely intoxicated. With deep regret at the occurrence, his companions tried to rouse him, when they found, to their dismay, that he was slowly sinking. It was extremely difficult to obtain the proper restoratives, and those they had with them were not strong enough, for though all the usual chemicals were in the natives’ laboratory, their names and properties were different, and it was a long process to obtain what was needed; at last one of them found some pure oxygen, which was pumped into the unconscious man and he gradually recovered; but this first lapse, half accidental as it was, cast a gloom over the party and seemed to foreshadow trouble. The day following, the astronomical observatories were in uproar, and on asking the cause, the visitors were told that the planet was apparently steadily leaving its orbit. This was indeed startling news, and Bolford, with several other members of the party, made careful observations with the natives, of the sun in the daytime, and the stars and planets in the night, and this they kept up for some time, in the hope of getting a definite clue to their own position and movements, to find, without doubt, that slowly and surely the relative positions of the heavens and themselves were steadily changing.