bristling with spikes and circles. Towards the 60° Philo-
laus stood predominant at a height of 5,550 feet with its
elliptical crater, and seen from this distance, the disc showed
a very fantastical appearance. Landscapes were presented
to the eye under very different conditions from those on
the earth, and also very inferior to them.

The moon having no atmosphere, the consequences aris-
ing from the absence of this gaseous envelope have already
been shown. No twilight on her surface; night following
day and day following night with the suddenness of a lamp
which is extinguished or lighted amidst profound darkness.
Hence the harshness of contrasts, which only admit of two
colors, black and white. If a Selenite were to shade his
eyes from the sun's rays, the sky would seem absolutely
black, and the stars would shine to him as on the darkest
night. Judge of the impression produced on Barbicane
and his three friends by this strange scene! Their eyes
were confused. They could no longer grasp the respective
distances of the different plains. A lunar landscape with-
out the softening of the phenomena of chiaro-oscuro could
not be rendered by an earthly landscape painter: it would
be spots of ink on a white page--nothing more.

This aspect was not altered even when the projectile, at
the height of 80°, was only separated from the moon by a
distance of fifty miles; nor even when, at five in the morn-
ing, it passed at less than twenty-five miles from the moun-
tain of Gioja, a distance reduced by the glasses to a quarter
of a mile. It seemed as if the moon might be touched by
the hand! It seemed impossible that, before long, the pro-
jectile would not strike her, if only at the north pole, the
brilliant arch of which was so distinctly visible on the black
sky.

Michel Ardan wanted to open one of the scuttles and
throw himself onto the moon's surface. A very useless
attempt; for if the projectile could not attain any point
whatever of the satellite, Michel, carried along by its mo-
tion, could not attain it either.

At that moment, at six o'clock, the lunar pole appeared.
The disc only presented to the traveler's gaze one half
brilliantly lit up, whilst the other disappeared in the dark-
ness. Suddenly the projectile passed the line of demarca-
tion between intense light and absolute darkness, and was
plunged in profound night.

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