A Journey to the Interior of the Earth | Page 5

AN UNPARALLELED EXERCISE 
VII A WOMAN'S
COURAGE 
VIII SERIOUS PREPARATIONS FOR VERTICAL
DESCENT 
IX ICELAND, BUT WHAT NEXT? 
X
INTERESTING CONVERSATIONS WITH ICELANDIC SAVANTS

XI A GUIDE FOUND TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH 
XII
A BARREN LAND 
XIII HOSPITALITY UNDER THE ARCTIC
CIRCLE 
XIV BUT ARCTICS CAN BE INHOSPITABLE, TOO 

XV SNÆFFEL AT LAST 
XVI BOLDLY DOWN THE CRATER

XVII VERTICAL DESCENT 
XVIII THE WONDERS OF
TERRESTIAL DEPTHS 
XIX GEOLOGICAL STUDIES IN SITU

XX THE FIRST SIGNS OF DISTRESS 
XXI COMPASSION
FUSES THE PROFESSOR'S HEART 
XXII TOTAL FAILURE OF
WATER 
XXIII WATER DISCOVERED 
XXIV WELL SAID,
OLD MOLE! CANST THOU WORK IN THE GROUND SO FAST?

XXV DE PROFUNDIS 
XXVI THE WORST PERIL OF ALL 

XXVII LOST IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH 
XXVIII THE
RESCUE IN THE WHISPERING GALLERY 
XXIX THALATTA!

THALATTA! 
XXX A NEW MARE INTERNUM 
XXXI
PREPARATIONS FOR A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
XXXII
WONDERS OF THE DEEP 
XXXIII A BATTLE OF MONSTERS

XXXIV THE GREAT GEYSER 
XXXV AN ELECTRIC STORM

XXXVI CALM PHILOSOPHIC DISCUSSIONS 
XXXVII THE
LIEDENBROCK MUSEUM OF GEOLOGY 
XXXVIII THE
PROFESSOR IN HIS CHAIR AGAIN 
XXXIX FOREST
SCENERY ILLUMINATED BY ELECTRICITY 
XL
PREPARATIONS FOR BLASTING A PASSAGE TO THE CENTRE
OF THE EARTH 
XLI THE GREAT EXPLOSION AND THE
RUSH DOWN BELOW 
XLII HEADLONG SPEED UPWARD
THROUGH THE HORRORS OF DARKNESS 
XLIII SHOT OUT
OF A VOLCANO AT LAST! 
XLIV SUNNY LANDS IN THE
BLUE MEDITERRANEAN 
XLV ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS
WELL
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A JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH
CHAPTER I.

THE PROFESSOR AND HIS FAMILY
On the 24th of May, 1863, my uncle, Professor Liedenbrock, rushed
into his little house, No. 19 Königstrasse, one of the oldest streets in the
oldest portion of the city of Hamburg.
Martha must have concluded that she was very much behindhand, for
the dinner had only just been put into the oven.
"Well, now," said I to myself, "if that most impatient of men is hungry,
what a disturbance he will make!"

"M. Liedenbrock so soon!" cried poor Martha in great alarm, half
opening the dining-room door.
"Yes, Martha; but very likely the dinner is not half cooked, for it is not
two yet. Saint Michael's clock has only just struck half-past one."
"Then why has the master come home so soon?"
"Perhaps he will tell us that himself."
"Here he is, Monsieur Axel; I will run and hide myself while you argue
with him."
And Martha retreated in safety into her own dominions.
I was left alone. But how was it possible for a man of my undecided
turn of mind to argue successfully with so irascible a person as the
Professor? With this persuasion I was hurrying away to my own little
retreat upstairs, when the street door creaked upon its hinges; heavy
feet made the whole flight of stairs to shake; and the master of the
house, passing rapidly through the dining-room, threw himself in haste
into his own sanctum.
But on his rapid way he had found time to fling his hazel stick into a
corner, his rough broadbrim upon the table, and these few emphatic
words at his nephew:
"Axel, follow me!"
I had scarcely had time to move when the Professor was again shouting
after me:
"What! not come yet?"
And I rushed into my redoubtable master's study.
Otto Liedenbrock had no mischief in him, I willingly allow that; but
unless he very considerably changes as he grows older, at the end he
will be a most original character.

He was professor at the Johannæum, and was delivering a series of
lectures on mineralogy, in the course of every one of which he broke
into a passion once or twice at least. Not at all that he was over-anxious
about the improvement of his class, or about the degree of attention
with which they listened to him, or the success which might eventually
crown his labours. Such little matters of detail never troubled him much.
His teaching was as the German philosophy calls it, 'subjective'; it was
to benefit himself, not others. He was a learned egotist. He was a well
of science, and the pulleys worked uneasily when you wanted to draw
anything out of it. In a word, he was a learned miser.
Germany has not a few professors of this sort.
To his misfortune, my uncle was not gifted with a sufficiently rapid
utterance; not, to be sure, when he was talking at home, but certainly in
his public delivery; this is a want much to be deplored in a speaker. The
fact is, that during the course of his lectures at the Johannæum, the
Professor often came to a complete standstill; he fought with wilful
words that refused to pass his struggling lips, such words as resist and
distend the cheeks, and at last break out