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A JOURNEY IN OTHER WORLDS A ROMANCE OF THE FUTURE
BY JOHN JACOB ASTOR
PREFACE.
The protracted struggle between science and the classics appears to be drawing to a close,
with victory about to perch on the banner of science, as a perusal of almost any university
or college catalogue shows. While a limited knowledge of both Greek and Latin is
important for the correct use of our own language, the amount till recently required, in
my judgment, has been absurdly out of proportion to the intrinsic value of these branches,
or perhaps more correctly roots, of study. The classics have been thoroughly and
painfully threshed out, and it seems impossible that anything new can be unearthed. We
may equal the performances of the past, but there is no opportunity to surpass them or
produce anything original. Even the much-vaunted "mental training" argument is
beginning to pall; for would not anything equally difficult give as good developing
results, while by learning a live matter we kill two birds with one stone? There can be no
question that there are many forces and influences in Nature whose existence we as yet
little more than suspect. How much more interesting it would be if, instead of reiterating
our past achievements, the magazines and literature of the period should devote their

consideration to what we do NOT know! It is only through investigation and research that
inventions come; we may not find what we are in search of, but may discover something
of perhaps greater moment. It is probable that the principal glories of the future will be
found in as yet but little trodden paths, and as Prof. Cortlandt justly says at the close of
his history, "Next to religion, we have most to hope from science."
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
-JUPITER. II.-ANTECEDENTAL III.-PRESIDENT BEARWARDEN'S SPEECH
IV.-PROF. CORTLANDT'S HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WORLD IN A.D. 2000
V.-DR. CORTLANDT'S HISTORY CONTINUED VI.-FAR-REACHING PLANS
VII.-HARD AT WORK VIII.-GOOD-BYE
BOOK II. I.-THE LAST OF THE EARTH II.-SPACE AND MARS III.-HEAVENLY
BODIES IV.-PREPARING TO ALIGHT V.-EXPLORATION AND EXCITEMENT
VI.-MASTODON AND WILL-O'-THE-WISP VII.-AN UNSEEN HUNTER
VIII.-SPORTSMEN'S REVERIES IX.-THE HONEY OF DEATH X.-CHANGING
LANDSCAPES XI.-A JOVIAN NIAGARA XII.-HILLS AND VALLEYS
XIII.-NORTH-POLAR DISCOVERIES XIV.-THE SCENE SHIFTS
BOOK III. I-SATURN II.-THE SPIRIT'S FIRST VISIT HI.-DOUBTS AND
PHILOSOPHY IV.-A PROVIDENTIAL INTERVENTION V.-AYRAULT'S VISION
VI.-A GREAT VOID AND A GREAT LONGING VII.-THE SPIRIT'S SECOND VISIT
VIII.-CASSANDRA AND COSMOLOGY IX.-DR. CORTLANDT SEES HIS GRAVE
X.-AYRAULT XI.-DREAMLAND TO SHADOWLAND XII.-SHEOL XIII.-THE
PRIEST'S SERMON XIV.-HIC ILLE JACET XV.-MOTHER EARTH
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,
INCLUDING NINE DRAWINGS BY MR. DAN. BEARD, AND A DIAGRAM. ----
The Callisto and the Comet The Callisto was going straight up The Signals from the
Arctic Circle Diagram of the Comparative Sizes of the Planets The Ride on the Giant
Tortoise A Battle Royal on Jupiter The Combat with the Dragons Ayrault's Vision They
look into the Future The Return
BOOK I.
A JOURNEY IN OTHER WORLDS. ----

CHAPTER 1.

JUPITER.
Jupiter--the magnificent planet with a diameter of 86,500 miles, having 119 times the
surface and 1,300 times the volume of the earth--lay beneath them.
They had often seen it in the terrestrial sky, emitting its strong, steady ray, and had
thought of that far-away planet, about which till recently so little had been known, and a
burning desire had possessed them to go to it and explore its mysteries. Now, thanks to
APERGY, the force whose existence the ancients suspected, but of which they knew so
little, all things were possible.
Ayrault manipulated the silk-covered glass handles, and the Callisto moved on slowly in
comparison with its recent speed, and all remained glued to their telescopes as they
peered through the rushing clouds, now forming and now dissolving before their eyes.
What transports of delight, what ecstatic bliss, was theirs! Men had discovered and
mastered