Round the Moon · Chapter
Preliminary Chapter explained
This chapter recaps the first part of the narrative, detailing the Gun Club's ambitious plan to send a projectile to the moon, the construction of the Columbiad, and the departure of travellers Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan.
What happens
This chapter recaps the first part of the narrative, detailing the Gun Club's ambitious plan to send a projectile to the moon, the construction of the Columbiad, and the departure of travellers Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan. It then describes the aftermath: atmospheric disturbance from the launch obscured the moon, delaying observation. J. T. Maston and J. Belfast at Long's Peak eventually reported sighting the projectile, but their telegram contained errors—the projectile had not reached the moon but had become a satellite. The chapter sets up the travellers' fate and the dramatic account to follow.
Themes in this chapter
Scientific Exploration and Discovery
The entire enterprise is a monumental scientific experiment, from the cannon's construction to the observation of the projectile's trajectory.
Human Audacity and Ingenuity
The travellers' bold decision to embark in the projectile and the Gun Club's unprecedented engineering feat exemplify audacity and ingenuity.
The Role of Chance and the Impossible
The unexpected atmospheric disturbance and the projectile's deviation from its course highlight the role of chance in even the most calculated endeavors.
Characters to notice
- Impey Barbicane
President of the Gun Club and promoter of the lunar enterprise; his scientific instincts are highlighted.
- Captain Nicholl
Traveller in the projectile; noted for his industrial resources.
- Michel Ardan
French adventurer who joined the expedition; known for his humorous audacity.
- J. T. Maston
Secretary of the Gun Club; observed from Long's Peak and sent an erroneous telegram about the projectile's fate.
- J. Belfast
Director of the Cambridge Observatory; accompanied Maston at Long's Peak.
- Major Elphinstone
Member of the Gun Club; participated in early planning meetings.
Key passages
“the one that foresaw the case when the travellers—if any yet existed—should unite their efforts with the lunar attraction so as to reach the surface of the disc.”
The only hypothesis that might come true was that the travellers, if still alive, would combine their own efforts with the moon's gravity to land on its surface.
Summarizes the key possibility for the travellers' survival and landing.
“the projectile hurled by the Columbiad of Stony Hill had been perceived by Messrs. Belfast and J. T. Maston, that the bullet had deviated from its course through some unknown cause, and had not reached its goal, but had gone near enough to be retained by lunar attraction; that its rectilinear movement had been changed to a circular one, and that it was describing an elliptical orbit round the moon, and had become her satellite.”
Belfast and Maston observed that the projectile had strayed from its intended path, was captured by the moon's gravity, and was now orbiting it in an elliptical path as a new satellite.
Captures the erroneous observation that later proved incorrect.
“the telegram contained errors of two sorts, verified later: 1. Errors of observation concerning the distance of the projectile from the surface of the moon, for upon the date of the 11th of December it was impossible to perceive it, and that which J. T. Maston had seen, or thought he saw, could not be the bullet from the Columbiad. 2. A theoretic error as to the fate of the said projectile, for making it a satellite of the moon was an absolute contradiction of the laws of rational mechanics.”
The telegram had two mistakes: first, the projectile could not have been seen on December 11th, so Maston's sighting was mistaken; second, the claim that it became a moon satellite violated the laws of mechanics.
Highlights the errors in Maston's report and the correction by later analysis.
