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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 the secret of apergy, and now, "little lower than the angels," they could soar through space, leaving even planets and comets behind.
"Is it not strange," said Dr. Cortlandt, "that though it has been known for over a century that bodies charged with unlike electricities attract one another, and those charged with like repel, no one thought of utilizing the counterpart of gravitation? In the nineteenth century, savants and Indian jugglers performed experiments with their disciples and masses of inert matter, by causing them to