WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.599 Micromegas. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are 2 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:09.519 in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, 3 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:17.839 please visit LibriVox dot org. Micromegas by Voltaire, Chapter one, 4 00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:21.760 A voyage to the planet Saturn by a native of Sirius, 5 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:25.079 in one of the planets that revolve round the style 6 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:28.079 known by the name of Sirius, was a certain young 7 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:31.879 gentleman of promising parts, whom I had the honor to 8 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:35.039 be acquainted with in his last voyage to this our 9 00:00:35.079 --> 00:00:39.960 little ant hill. His name was Micromegas, an appellation suited 10 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:43.079 to all great men, and his stature amounted to eight 11 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:48.240 leagues in height, that is twenty four thousand geometrical paces 12 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:53.240 of five feet each. Some of your mathematicians, a set 13 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:56.799 of people always useful to the public, will perhaps instantly 14 00:00:56.840 --> 00:01:01.600 seize the pen and calculate that mister Micromegas, inhabitant of 15 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:05.359 the country of Sirius, being from head to foot four 16 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:09.079 and twenty thousand paces in length, making one hundred and 17 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:13.480 twenty thousand royal feet, that we denizens of this Earth 18 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:16.840 being at a medium little more than five feet high, 19 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:22.079 and our globe nine thousand leagues. In circumference these things 20 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:25.519 being premised, they will then conclude that the periphery of 21 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:29.079 the globe which produced him must be exactly one and 22 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:33.439 twenty millions, six hundred thousand times greater than of this 23 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:39.000 our tiny ball. Nothing in nature is more simple and common. 24 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:43.079 The dominions of some sovereigns of Germany or Italy, which 25 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:46.159 may be compassed in half an hour, when compared with 26 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:50.920 the Ottoman, Russian or Chinese empires, are no more than 27 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.719 faint instances of the prodigious difference that nature has made 28 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:59.400 in the scale of beings, the stature of his excellency 29 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:04.599 being of these extraordinary dimensions. Although artists will agree that 30 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.719 the measure around his body might amount to fifty thousand 31 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:13.560 royal feet, a very agreeable and just proportion, his nose 32 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:16.360 being equal in length to one third of his face, 33 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.560 and his jolly countenance engrossing one seventh part of his height, 34 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:23.919 it must be owned that the nose of the same 35 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:27.840 Syrian was six thousand, three hundred and thirty three royal 36 00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:32.800 feet to a hair which was to be demonstrated with 37 00:02:32.919 --> 00:02:35.719 regard to his understanding, it is one of the best 38 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:39.759 cultivated I have known. He is perfectly well acquainted with 39 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:43.360 abundance of things, some of which are of his own invention. 40 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:46.599 For when his age did not exceed two hundred and 41 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:50.520 fifty years, he studied, according to the custom of the country, 42 00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:54.639 at the most celebrated university of the whole planet, and 43 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:57.960 by the force of his genius, discovered upwards of fifty 44 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:02.000 propositions of Euclid, the advantage by more than eighteen of 45 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:06.159 Blaise Pascal, who, as we are told by his own sister, 46 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:10.840 demonstrated two and thirty for his amusement, and then left off, 47 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:15.360 choosing rather to be an indifferent philosopher than a great mathematician. 48 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:19.759 About the four hundred and fiftieth year of his age, 49 00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:23.199 or latter end of his childhood, he dissected a great 50 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.759 number of small insects, not more than one hundred feet 51 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:31.439 in diameter, which not perceivable by ordinary microscopes, on which 52 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:35.199 he composed of very curious treatise, which involved him in 53 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:39.560 some trouble. The Mufti of the nation, though very old 54 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:42.719 and very ignorant, made shift to discover in his book 55 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:48.039 certain lemos that were suspicious, unseemly, rash, heretic, and unsound. 56 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:52.680 And prosecuted him with great animosity, for the subject of 57 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:56.319 the author's inquiry was whether in the world of Sirius 58 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:59.680 there was any difference between the substantial forms of a 59 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:05.280 flea and a snale. Mike Romeggus defended his philosophy with 60 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.719 such spirit as made all the female sex as proselytes, 61 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:12.960 and the process lasted two hundred and twenty years, at 62 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:16.199 the end of which time, in consequence of the Mufti's interest, 63 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:19.600 the book was condemned by judges who had never read it, 64 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:23.120 and the author expelled from court for the term of 65 00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:28.160 eight hundred years. Not much affected at his banishment from 66 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:31.920 a court that teemed with nothing but turmiles and trifles, 67 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:36.120 he made a very humorous song upon the Mufti, who 68 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:39.319 gave himself no trouble about the matter, and set out 69 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:42.439 on his travels from planet to planet, in order, as 70 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:46.399 the saying is, to improve his mind and finish his education. 71 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:50.199 Those who never travel but in a post Chaise or Berlin, 72 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:54.839 will doubtless be astonished at the equipages used above. For 73 00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:58.279 we that strut upon this little mole hill are at 74 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:02.199 a loss to conceive anything that surpasses our own customs. 75 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.879 But our traveler was a wonderful adept in the laws 76 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:09.800 of gravitation together with the whole force of attraction and repulsion, 77 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:14.120 and made such seasonable use of his knowledge, that, sometimes 78 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:17.680 by the help of a sunbeam, and sometimes by the 79 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:20.839 convenience of a comet, he and his retinue glided from 80 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.680 sphere to spear. As the bird hops from one bough 81 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:27.560 to another. He in a very little time posted through 82 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:30.879 the milky Way, and I am obliged to own he 83 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:33.560 saw not a twinkle of those stars supposed to adorn 84 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:37.759 that fair Inferrion, which the illustrious doctor Durham brags to 85 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:42.240 have observed through his telescope. Not that I pretend to 86 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:46.639 say the doctor was mistaken God forbid. But Micromegus was 87 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:50.279 upon the spot an exceeding good observer, and I have 88 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:54.079 no mind to contradict any man, be that as it may. 89 00:05:54.439 --> 00:05:58.079 After many windings and turnings, he arrived at the planet Satin, 90 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:01.639 and accustomed as he was to the sight of novelties, 91 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:05.240 he could not for his life propress a supercilious and 92 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:09.879 conceited smile which often escapes the wisest philosopher. When he 93 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:14.480 perceived the smallness of that globe and the diminutive size 94 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:18.839 of its inhabitants. For really, Saturn is but about nine 95 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:22.279 hundred times larger than this our earth, and the people 96 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:26.040 of that country mere dwarfs about a thousand fathoms high. 97 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:30.279 In short, he at first derided those poor pigmies, just 98 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:33.399 as an Indian fiddler laughs at the music of Lully 99 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:36.879 at his first arrival in Paris. But as the Syrian 100 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.920 was a person of good sense, he soon perceived that 101 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:43.879 a thinking being may not be altogether ridiculous, even though 102 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.360 he is not quite six thousand feet high. And therefore 103 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:50.560 he became familiar with them after they had ceased to 104 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:55.600 wonder at his extraordinary appearance. In particular, he contracted an 105 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:58.519 intimate friendship with the Secretary of the Academy of Satin, 106 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:02.680 a man of good understanding, who, though in truth he 107 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.560 had invented nothing of his own, gave a very good 108 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:08.959 account of the inventions of others, and enjoyed in peace 109 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:13.759 the reputation of a little poet and great calculator. And here, 110 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.759 for the edification of the reader, I will repeat a 111 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:21.040 very singular conversation that one day passed between mister Secretary 112 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:27.079 and Micromegas, Chapter two, The Conversation between Micromegas and the 113 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:32.439 Inhabitant of Saturn. His excellency having laid himself down, and 114 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:37.600 the Secretary approached his nose. It must be confessed, said Micromegas, 115 00:07:37.879 --> 00:07:42.000 that nature is full of variety. Yes, replied the Saturnian. 116 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:46.480 Nature is like a petah whose flowers pshure, cried the other. 117 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:50.720 A truce with your petaras it is, resumed the secretary, 118 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:54.480 like an assembly of fair and brown woman whose dresses. 119 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:57.480 What a plague have I to do with your brunettes, 120 00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:01.360 said our traveler. Then it is like a gallery of pictures, 121 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:06.000 the strokes of which not at all, answered Micromegas. I'll 122 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:08.879 tell you once and for all. Nature is like nature, 123 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:14.600 and comparisons are odious. Well to please you, said the Secretary. 124 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:18.319 I won't be pleased, replied the Syrian. I want to 125 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:22.800 be instructed. Begin therefore, without further preamble, and tell men 126 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:26.680 how many senses the people of this world enjoy? We 127 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.800 have seventy and two, said the academician. But we are 128 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:35.200 daily complaining of the small number, as our imagination transcends 129 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:39.320 our wants. For with the seventy two senses, our five 130 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:44.039 moons and rings, we find ourselves very much restricted, and 131 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:48.279 notwithstanding our curiosity, under no small number of those passions 132 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:51.720 that result from these few senses, we still have time 133 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:56.120 enough to be tired of idleness. I sincerely believe what 134 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:59.799 you say, cried Micromegas, For though we Syrians have near 135 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:03.440 a thousand different senses, there still remains a certain vague 136 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:09.720 desire and unaccountable inquiettude, incessantly admonishing us of our own unimportance, 137 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.200 and giving us to understand that there are other beings 138 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:15.919 who were very much our superiors in point of perfection. 139 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:19.639 I have traveled a little and seen mortals both above 140 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:22.799 and below myself in the scale of being. But I 141 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:25.639 have met with none who had not more desire than 142 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:29.960 necessity and more want than gratification. Perhaps I shall one 143 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:33.399 day arrive in some country when naught is wanting, but 144 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.240 hitherto I have had no certain information of such a 145 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:41.559 happy land. The Setonian and his guest exhausted themselves in 146 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:46.639 conjectures upon the subject, and after abundance of argumentation equally 147 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.440 ingenious and uncertain, were fain to return to matter of fact. 148 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:53.759 To what age do you commonly live, said the Syrian 149 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.559 Laca day a mere trifle, replied the little gentleman. It 150 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:01.200 is the very same case with us, us resumed the other. 151 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:04.639 The shortness of life is our daily complaint, so that 152 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:08.600 this must be a universal law in nature, alas cried 153 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:12.320 the Saturnian. Few, very few on this globe outlive five 154 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:15.879 hundred great revolutions of the sun. These, according to a 155 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:20.000 way of reckoning, amount to about fifteen thousand years. So 156 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:22.799 you see, we, in a manner, begin to die the 157 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:25.919 very moment we are born. Our existence is no more 158 00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:29.399 than a point, Our duration and instant, and our globe 159 00:10:29.399 --> 00:10:32.679 an atom. Scarce do we begin to learn a little 160 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:37.000 when death intervenes before we can profit by experience. For 161 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:40.399 my own part, I am deterred from laying schemes when 162 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.440 I consider myself as a single drop in the midst 163 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:47.399 of an immense ocean. I am particularly ashamed in your 164 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:51.919 presence of the ridiculous figure I make among my fellow creatures. 165 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:56.320 To this declaration, mike Reromegus replied, if you were not 166 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:59.799 a philosopher, I should be afraid of mortifying your pride 167 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:02.639 by telling you that the term of our lives is 168 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.960 seven hundred times longer than the length of your existence. 169 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:09.080 But you are very sensible that when the texture of 170 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:12.320 the body is resolved in order to reanimate nature in 171 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:15.559 another form, which is the consequence of what we call death, 172 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:18.799 when that moment of change arrives, there is not the 173 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:22.159 least difference betwixt having lived a whole eternity or a 174 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:25.120 single day. I have been in some countries where the 175 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.799 people live a thousand times longer than with us, and 176 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:32.000 yet they murmured at the shortness of their time. But 177 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:35.399 one will find everywhere some few persons of good sense, 178 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:37.960 who know how to make the best of their portion, 179 00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:41.639 and thank the author of nature for his bounty. There 180 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.960 is a profusion of variety scattered through the universe, and 181 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:48.399 yet there is an admirable vein of uniformity that runs 182 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:52.200 through the whole. For example, all thinking beings are different 183 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:55.919 among themselves, though at bottom they resemble one another in 184 00:11:55.960 --> 00:12:00.600 the powers and passions of the soul. Matter, though in determinable, 185 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:05.000 have different properties in every sphere. How many principal attributes 186 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:08.440 do you reckon in the matter of this world? If 187 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:11.679 you mean those properties, said the Saturnian, without which we 188 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:15.039 believe this our globe could not subsist. We reckon in 189 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:21.639 all three hundred such as extent, impenetrability, motion, gravitation, divisibility, 190 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:26.840 et cetera. That small number, replied the traveler, probably answers 191 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:29.399 the views of the Creator on this your narrow sphere. 192 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.799 I adore his wisdom. In all his works, I see 193 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:37.480 infinite variety. But everywhere proportion your globe is small, so 194 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:41.759 are the inhabitants. You have very few sensations because your 195 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:45.200 matter is endued with few properties. These are the works 196 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.600 of unerring providence. Of what color does your son appear 197 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:53.320 when accurately examined? Of a yellowish white, answered the Saturnian, 198 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:56.360 And in separating one of his rays, we find it 199 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.200 contains seven colors, our son, said, The Syrian is of 200 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:03.879 a reddish hue, and we have no less than thirty 201 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:07.559 nine original colors. Among all the sons I have seen, 202 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:10.679 there is no sort of resemblance, And in the sphere 203 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:14.720 of yours there is not one face like another. After 204 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:18.200 diverse questions of this nature, he asked how many substances 205 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.960 essentially different they counted in the world of Saturn, and 206 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.919 understood that they numbered but thirty, such as God, space, matter, 207 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:30.600 beings endowed with sense and extension, beings that have extension, 208 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:34.720 sense and reflection, thinking beings who have no extension, those 209 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:38.919 that are penetrable, those that are impenetrable, and also all others. 210 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:44.360 But this Saturnian philosopher was prodigiously astonished when the Syrian 211 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.240 told him they had no less than three hundred, and 212 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:50.000 that he himself had discovered three thousand more in the 213 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:53.879 course of his travels. In short after having communicated to 214 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:56.480 each other what they knew and even what they did 215 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.759 not know, and argued during a complete revolution of the sun, 216 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:03.399 they resolved to set out together on a small philosophical 217 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:09.039 tour Chapter three, The Voyage of These Inhabitants of Other Worlds. 218 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:12.399 Our two philosophers were just ready to embark for the 219 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:16.519 atmosphere of Saturn with a large provision of mathematical instruments, 220 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:20.840 when the Saturnian's mistress, having got an inkling of their design, 221 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:24.399 came all in tears to make her protests. She was 222 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:27.720 a handsome brunette, though not above six hundred and three 223 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:32.080 score fathoms high, but her agreeable attractions made amends for 224 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:36.320 the smallest of her stature. Ah cruel Man cried she, 225 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:40.399 after a courtship of fifteen hundred years, when at length 226 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:43.879 thy surrendered and became your wife, and scarce have passed 227 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:47.480 two hundred more in thy embraces to leave me. Thus, 228 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:50.720 before the honeymoon is over, and go a rambling with 229 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:54.440 the giant of another world. Go go thou art a 230 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:58.600 mere virtuoso, devoid of tenderness and love. If thou wert 231 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:02.960 a true Saturnian, though would be faithful and invariable. Ah, 232 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:06.639 whether art thou going? What is thy design? Our five 233 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:10.440 moons are not so inconstant, nor our ring so changeable 234 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:13.799 as thee. But take this along with thee. Henceforth I 235 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:18.039 never show love another man. The little gentleman embraced and 236 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:22.480 wept over her, notwithstanding his philosophy, and the lady, after 237 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:26.360 having swooned, with great decency, went to console herself with 238 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:31.919 more agreeable company. Meanwhile, our two virtuosi set out, and 239 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:34.840 at one jump, leaped upon the ring, which they found 240 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:38.240 pretty flat, according to the ingenious guest of an illustrious 241 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:42.440 inhabitant of this our little earth. From thence they easily 242 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:46.240 slipt from moon to moon, and a comet chancing to pass, 243 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:49.720 they sprang upon it with all their servants and apparatus, 244 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:53.639 thus carried about one hundred and fifty millions of leagues. 245 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:57.120 They met with the satellites of Jupiter, and arrived upon 246 00:15:57.159 --> 00:16:00.080 the body of the planet itself, where they continued a 247 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.960 whole year, during which they learned some very curious secrets, 248 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:06.840 which would actually be sent to the press, were it 249 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:10.600 not for fear of the gentlemen inquisitors, who have found 250 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:15.639 among them some collieries very hard of digestion. Nevertheless, I 251 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.039 have read the manuscript in the library of the illustrious 252 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:23.200 Archbishop of Dash, who, with that generosity and goodness which 253 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:26.559 should ever be commended, has granted me permission to peruse 254 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:30.679 his books. Wherefore I promise he shall have a long 255 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:33.960 article in the next edition of Moriery. And I shall 256 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.039 not forget the young gentleman his sons, who gave us 257 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:40.559 such pleasing hopes of seeing perpetuated the race of their 258 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:45.480 illustrious father. But to return to our travelers. When they 259 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:48.519 took leave of Jupiter, they traversed a space of about 260 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:52.600 one hundred millions of leagues, and coasting along the planet Mars, 261 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:55.399 which is well known to be five times smaller than 262 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:59.480 our little Earth, they described two moons subservient to that 263 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:03.240 orb which have escaped the observation of all our astronomers. 264 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:07.559 I know Father Castel will write, and that pleasantly enough 265 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:11.279 against the existence of these two moons. But I entirely 266 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:15.240 refer myself to those who reason by analogy. Those worthy 267 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.799 philosophers are very sensible that Mars, which is at such 268 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:21.519 a distance from the Sun, must be in a very 269 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:27.359 uncomfortable situation without the benefit of a couple of moons. Footnote. 270 00:17:27.720 --> 00:17:30.559 This fancy of Voltaire, for it was not a conjecture, 271 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:34.799 was realized in eighteen seventy seven by Professor asof Haul's 272 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:39.920 discovery of this planet's two small satellites. End of footnote 273 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:43.119 be that, as it may, our gentlemen found the planet 274 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:45.839 so small that they were afraid they should not find 275 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:49.000 room to take a little repose, so that they pursued 276 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:52.920 their journey like two travelers who despise the poultry accommodation 277 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:56.480 of a village and push forward to the next market town. 278 00:17:56.759 --> 00:18:00.519 But the Syrian and his companion soon repented of their delicacy, 279 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:04.160 for they journeyed a long time without finding a resting place, 280 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:07.359 till at length they discerned a small speck, which was 281 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:10.480 the Earth coming from Jupiter. They could not but be 282 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.559 moved with compassion at the sight of this miserable spot, 283 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:17.200 upon which, however, they resolved to land, lest they should 284 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:21.160 be a second time disappointed. They accordingly moved towards the 285 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:25.680 Tale of the Comet, where, finding an aurora burialis ready 286 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:29.039 to set sail, they embarked and arrived on the northern 287 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:31.880 coast of the Baltic on the fifth day of July 288 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:37.559 New Style, in the year seventeen thirty seven, Chapter four, 289 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:43.960 What befell them upon this our globe? Having taken some repose, 290 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:47.839 and being desirous of reconnoitering the narrow field in which 291 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:51.680 they were, they traversed it at once from north to south. 292 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:55.799 Every step of the Syrian and his attendants measured about 293 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:59.839 thirty thousand royal feet, whereas the dwarf of Saturn, whose 294 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:03.400 that she did not exceed a thousand fathoms, followed at 295 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:06.960 a distance, quite out of breath, because for every single 296 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.279 stride of his companion he was obliged to make twelve 297 00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:13.440 good steps. At least the reader may figure to himself, 298 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:16.799 if we are allowed to make such comparisons a very 299 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:20.920 little rough spaniel dodging after a captain of the Prussian grenadiers. 300 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:25.079 As though strangers walked at a good pace, they can 301 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:28.319 pass the globe in six and thirty hours. The sun, 302 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:31.079 it is true, or rather of the earth, describes the 303 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:34.160 same space in the course of one day. But it 304 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:37.000 must be observed that it is much easier to turn 305 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:41.480 upon an axis than to walk afoot. Behold them then 306 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.240 returned to the spot from whence they had set out, 307 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:48.759 after having discovered that an almost imperceptible sea, which is 308 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:52.359 called the Mediterranean, and the other narrow pond that surrounds 309 00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:55.519 the Smoll Hill under the denomination of the Great Ocean, 310 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:58.400 in wading through which the dwarf had never wet his 311 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:02.640 mid leg, while the other scarce moistened his heel. In 312 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.920 going and coming through both hemispheres, they did all that 313 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.920 lay in their power to discover whether or not the 314 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:12.920 globe was inhabited. They stooped, they lay down, they groped 315 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:15.400 in every corner. But their eyes and hands were not 316 00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:18.480 at all proportioned to the small beings that crawl upon 317 00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:21.799 this earth, And therefore they could not find the smallest 318 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:24.920 reason to suspect that we and our fellow citizens of 319 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:28.960 this globe had the honor to exist. The dwarf, who 320 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:32.279 sometimes judged too hastily, concluded at once that there were 321 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:36.160 no living creatures upon Earth, and his chief reason was 322 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:40.079 that he had seen nobody. But Micromagus, in a polite manner, 323 00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:44.880 made insensible of the unjust conclusion. For said he, with 324 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:48.160 your diminutive eyes, you cannot see certain stars of the 325 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:52.279 fiftieth magnitude, which I easily perceive. And do you take 326 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.440 it for granted that no such stars exist? But I 327 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:59.119 have groped with great care, replied the dwarf. Then your 328 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:02.200 sense of feeling must be bad, said the other. But 329 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:05.480 this globe, said the dwarf, is ill contrived, and so 330 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:09.200 irregular in its form as to be quite ridiculous. The 331 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:12.319 hole together looks like a chaos. Do but observe these 332 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:15.480 little rivulets, not one of them runs in a straight line, 333 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:18.759 And these ponds, which are neither round, square, nor oval, 334 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:22.359 nor indeed of any regular figure, together with these little 335 00:21:22.359 --> 00:21:25.960 sharp pebbles, meaning the mountains that roughen the whole surface 336 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:28.599 of the globe, and have torn all the skin from 337 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:32.279 my feet. Besides pray. Take notice of the shape of 338 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:35.519 the whole, how it flattens at the poles and turns 339 00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:38.559 round the sun in an awkward, oblique manner, so that 340 00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:43.039 the polar circles cannot possibly be cultivated. Truly, what makes 341 00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:45.880 me believe there is no inhabitant on the sphere is 342 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:49.200 a full persuasion that no sensible being would live in 343 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:54.519 such a disagreeable place. What, then, said Micromegus, Perhaps the 344 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:58.200 beings an inhabitant come not under that denomination. But to 345 00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:01.720 all appearance, it was not made for nothing. Everything here 346 00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:05.240 seems to you irregular, because you fetch all your comparisons 347 00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:08.440 from Jupiter or Saturn. Perhaps this is the very reason 348 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:12.119 of that seeming confusion which you condemn. Have I not 349 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:14.680 told you that, in the course of my travels I 350 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:19.160 have always met with variety? The Setonian replied to all 351 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:22.200 these arguments, and perhaps the dispute would have known no 352 00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:26.039 end if Micromegas, in the heat of the contest, had 353 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:29.400 not luckily broken the string of his diamond necklace, so 354 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:32.599 that the jewels fell to the ground. They consisted of 355 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:36.880 pretty small, unequal stones, the largest of which weighed four 356 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:41.319 hundred pounds, and the smallest fifty. The dwarf, in helping 357 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:44.319 to pick them up, perceived, as they approached his eye 358 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:47.160 that every single diamond was cut in such a manner 359 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:51.079 as to answer the purpose of an excellent microscope. He 360 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:54.000 therefore took up a small one, about one hundred and 361 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:57.480 sixty feet in diameter, and applied it to his eye, 362 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:01.880 while Micromegus chose another of two thousand, five hundred feet. 363 00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:06.119 Though they were of excellent powers, the observers could perceive 364 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.400 nothing by their assistance, so they were altered and adjusted. 365 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:14.720 At length, the inhabitant of Saturn discerned something almost imperceptible 366 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:18.240 moving between two waves and the Baltic. This was no 367 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:21.599 other than a whale, which, in a dexterous manner he 368 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:24.119 caught with his little finger, and, placing it on the 369 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:27.279 nail of his thumb, showed it to the Syrian, who 370 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:31.279 laughed heartily at the excessive smallness peculiar to the inhabitants 371 00:23:31.319 --> 00:23:35.119 of this our globe. The Saturnians, by this time, convinced 372 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:38.279 that our world was inhabited, began to imagine we had 373 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:42.279 no other animals than whales, And being a mighty debater, 374 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.359 he forthwith set about investigating the origin and motion of 375 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:50.200 this small atom, curious to know whether it was furnished 376 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:54.400 with ideas, judgment, and free will. Micromegus was very much 377 00:23:54.440 --> 00:23:57.839 perplexed upon this subject. He examined the animal with the 378 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:01.519 most patient attention, and the result of his inquiry was 379 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:03.720 that he could see no reason to believe a soul 380 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:07.079 was lodged in such a body. The two travelers were 381 00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:10.079 actually inclined to think there was no such thing as 382 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:13.319 mind in this our habitation, when by the help of 383 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:16.559 their microscope they perceived something as large as a whale 384 00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:19.559 floating upon the surface of the sea. It is well 385 00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:22.720 known that at this period a flock of philosophers were 386 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:25.920 upon their return from the Polar Circle, where there had been, 387 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:30.319 making observations for which nobody has hitherto been the wiser. 388 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:33.759 The gazettes record that their vessel ran ashore on the 389 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:37.880 coast of Bothnia, and that they, with great difficulty, saved 390 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:41.200 their lives. But in this world one can never dive 391 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:43.880 to the bottom of things. For my own part, I 392 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:48.160 would ingeniously recount the transaction just as it happened, without 393 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:51.480 any addition of my own, And this is no small effort. 394 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:56.920 In a modern historian, Chapter five, the travelers capture a vessel. 395 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:01.160 Micromagus stretched out his hand towards the place where the 396 00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:05.200 object appeared, and advanced two fingers, which he instantly pulled 397 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:09.319 back for fear of being disappointed, then opening softly and 398 00:25:09.319 --> 00:25:12.720 shutting them all at once. He very dexterously seized the 399 00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:15.680 ship that had contained those gentlemen, and placed it on 400 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:19.160 his nail, avoiding too much pressure which might have crushed 401 00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:25.000