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Read book online ยซJourney to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (english reading book .txt) ๐Ÿ“•ยป.   Author   -   Jules Verne



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It was therefore necessary to point out which of these leads to the centre of the globe. What did the Icelandic sage do? He observed that at the approach of the kalends of July, that is to say in the last days of June, one of the peaks, called Scartaris, flung its shadow down the mouth of that particular crater, and he committed that fact to his document. Could there possibly have been a more exact guide? As soon as we have arrived at the summit of Snรฆfells we shall have no hesitation as to the proper road to take.โ€

Decidedly, my uncle had answered every one of my objections. I saw that his position on the old parchment was impregnable. I therefore ceased to press him upon that part of the subject, and as above all things he must be convinced, I passed on to scientific objections, which in my opinion were far more serious.

โ€œWell, then,โ€ I said, โ€œI am forced to admit that Saknussemmโ€™s sentence is clear, and leaves no room for doubt. I will even allow that the document bears every mark and evidence of authenticity. That learned philosopher did get to the bottom of Snรฆfells, he has seen the shadow of Scartaris touch the edge of the crater before the kalends of July; he may even have heard the legendary stories told in his day about that crater reaching to the centre of the world; but as for reaching it himself, as for performing the journey, and returning, if he ever went, I say noโ โ€”he never, never did that.โ€

โ€œNow for your reason?โ€ said my uncle ironically.

โ€œAll the theories of science demonstrate such a feat to be impracticable.โ€

โ€œThe theories say that, do they?โ€ replied the Professor in the tone of a meek disciple. โ€œOh! Unpleasant theories! How the theories will hinder us, wonโ€™t they?โ€

I saw that he was only laughing at me; but I went on all the same.

โ€œYes; it is perfectly well known that the internal temperature rises one degree for every 70 feet in depth; now, admitting this proportion to be constant, and the radius of the earth being fifteen hundred leagues, there must be a temperature of 360,032 degrees at the centre of the earth. Therefore, all the substances that compose the body of this earth must exist there in a state of incandescent gas; for the metals that most resist the action of heat, gold, and platinum, and the hardest rocks, can never be either solid or liquid under such a temperature. I have therefore good reason for asking if it is possible to penetrate through such a medium.โ€

โ€œSo, Axel, it is the heat that troubles you?โ€

โ€œOf course it is. Were we to reach a depth of thirty miles we should have arrived at the limit of the terrestrial crust, for there the temperature will be more than 2,372 degrees.โ€

โ€œAre you afraid of being put into a state of fusion?โ€

โ€œI will leave you to decide that question,โ€ I answered rather sullenly. โ€œThis is my decision,โ€ replied Professor Liedenbrock, putting on one of his grandest airs. โ€œNeither you nor anybody else knows with any certainty what is going on in the interior of this globe, since not the twelve thousandth part of its radius is known; science is eminently perfectible; and every new theory is soon routed by a newer. Was it not always believed until Fourier that the temperature of the interplanetary spaces decreased perpetually? and is it not known at the present time that the greatest cold of the ethereal regions is never lower than 40 degrees below zero Fahr.? Why should it not be the same with the internal heat? Why should it not, at a certain depth, attain an impassable limit, instead of rising to such a point as to fuse the most infusible metals?โ€

As my uncle was now taking his stand upon hypotheses, of course, there was nothing to be said.

โ€œWell, I will tell you that true savants, amongst them Poisson, have demonstrated that if a heat of 360,000 degrees4 existed in the interior of the globe, the fiery gases arising from the fused matter would acquire an elastic force which the crust of the earth would be unable to resist, and that it would explode like the plates of a bursting boiler.โ€

โ€œThat is Poissonโ€™s opinion, my uncle, nothing more.โ€

โ€œGranted. But it is likewise the creed adopted by other distinguished geologists, that the interior of the globe is neither gas nor water, nor any of the heaviest minerals known, for in none of these cases would the earth weigh what it does.โ€

โ€œOh, with figures you may prove anything!โ€

โ€œBut is it the same with facts! Is it not known that the number of volcanoes has diminished since the first days of creation? And if there is central heat may we not thence conclude that it is in process of diminution?โ€

โ€œMy good uncle, if you will enter into the legion of speculation, I can discuss the matter no longer.โ€

โ€œBut I have to tell you that the highest names have come to the support of my views. Do you remember a visit paid to me by the celebrated chemist, Humphry Davy, in 1825?โ€

โ€œNot at all, for I was not born until nineteen years afterwards.โ€

โ€œWell, Humphry Davy did call upon me on his way through Hamburg. We were long engaged in discussing, amongst other problems, the hypothesis of the liquid structure of the terrestrial nucleus. We were agreed that it could not be in a liquid state, for a reason which science has never been able to confute.โ€

โ€œWhat is that reason?โ€ I said, rather astonished.

โ€œBecause this liquid mass would be subject, like the ocean, to the lunar attraction, and therefore twice every day there would be internal tides, which, upheaving the terrestrial crust, would cause periodical earthquakes!โ€

โ€œYet it is evident that the surface of the globe has been subject to the action of fire,โ€ I replied, โ€œand it is quite reasonable to suppose that the external crust cooled down first, whilst

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