Argosy, Volume XXIII — Index Page, 1897 — page 188: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

758 A MONTH IN THE MOON. Virgil appeared at this juncture, laden with three enormous stones in a copper basin. They had been heated to a white heat by the solar heat con- densers, and buried. ‘They were still very hot, and soon raised the tempera- ture of the drawing room in an appreciable degree. ‘‘ What a capital idea!’’ said the doctor. ‘“‘Itisa great pity that it is not known on earth ; when one thinks of all the poor wretches who freeze in winter time, and that if they would only utilize the solar heat they would be warm! Civilization has a great deal to learn yet. They know that the winter is sure to come sooner or later, and yet they do not store up the blessed heat that is showered down upon us so prodigally.”’ ‘They do utilize it in the shape of coal, wood, and the other combus- tibles,’’ said Norbert ; ‘‘ for wood and carbon in their various forms are noth- ing else but stored up sunshine.”’ ‘That is true. But you must own that they might collect it more directly.’’ | ~ Have I not been the first to prove that fact, since the solar heat brought us here ?”’ ‘‘ It was not the best thing to do,’’ said the doctor. ‘“ But it will take us home again, dear doctor.”’ ‘Oh, in that case, I shall be most grateful.’ CHAPTER XLII.—Coxip anp DARKNESS. DURING the lunar night our friends were oftener together, chatting round the stove filled with hot stones. In spite of all precautions, they felt the cold terribly. It was allin vain that they collected every bit of available clothing, even making use of the silk stuffs in store in the laboratory. In vain they in- vented the most fantastic toilets, made of any non conductor of heat they could find. The doctor even appeared in a suit lined with hewspapers, Nothing was of use to keep out the intense cold ; and even the baronet could not stop his teeth from chattering. — aga The strangest thing was that the cold was absolutely independent of at- mospheric influence, for there was neither hoar frost nor snow, nor black frost, nor indeed the least breeze astir. ‘The thermometer fell hour by hour below freezing ; it fell 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 degrees; but the landscape pre- sented always the same monotonous aspect of silence and desolation, lit up by the pale clear light of the earth. The fact was easy to explain. ‘The atmosphere of the moon being abso- lutely free from damp or vapor of any sort, all the attendant phenomena of these varying conditions of the earth’s atmosphere were conspicuous by their absence in the moon. The monotony of the long night was broken from time to time only by the splendid aurora borealis that ever and anon flooded the heavens with gorgeous streamers of blue or purple light, disappearing as suddenly as they had ap- peared. cComichooks 23) o: ~~ s (E(0)