To terminate this rapid history, I may add that a certain Hans Pfaal, of Rotterdam, went up in a balloon filled with a gas made from azote, thirty-seven times lighter than hydrogen, and reached the moon after a journey of nineteen days.

This journey, like the preceding attempts, was purely imaginary, but it was the work of a popular American writer of a strange and contemplative genius.

I have named Edgar Poe!" "Hurrah for Edgar Poe!" cried the assembly, electrified by the words of the president.
"I have now come to an end of these attempts which I may call purely literary, and quite insufficient to establish any serious communications with the Queen of Night.

However, I ought to add that some practical minds tried to put themselves into serious communication with her.

Some years ago a German mathematician proposed to send a commission of _savants_ to the steppes of Siberia.