The Mysterious Island · Chapter
XVII explained
Cyrus Smith devises a plan to lower the level of Lake Grant by blasting the granite wall with nitroglycerine, which he manufactures from natural resources including schistous pyrites, dugong fat, seaweed, and saltpetre.
What happens
Cyrus Smith devises a plan to lower the level of Lake Grant by blasting the granite wall with nitroglycerine, which he manufactures from natural resources including schistous pyrites, dugong fat, seaweed, and saltpetre. The colonists work together to produce sulphuric acid, soap, glycerine, and finally nitroglycerine, setting the stage for the explosion.
Themes in this chapter
Science and Technology
The colonists apply advanced chemical knowledge to produce nitroglycerine from local resources, demonstrating ingenuity and practical science.
Community and Cooperation
All colonists work together in specialized tasks—gathering pyrites, extracting fat, burning seaweed—to achieve a common goal.
Nature and the Sublime
The lake's tranquil surface and the mysterious subterranean outlet highlight the awe-inspiring and hidden forces of nature.
Characters to notice
- Cyrus Smith
Engineer who theorizes a cavity in the granite, manufactures nitroglycerine, and leads the blasting plan.
- Gideon Spilett
Reporter who accompanies Smith to the lake and supports the engineering plans.
- Pencroff
Sailor who helps unload the raft, extracts dugong fat, and expresses incredulity about nitroglycerine.
- Herbert Brown
Young colonist who gathers wood and discovers a vein of saltpetre at Mount Franklin.
- Neb
Prepares breakfast and is detailed to extract dugong fat and preserve the flesh.
Key passages
““Here is some nitroglycerine!””
Smith presents the dangerous explosive he has created.
Culmination of the chapter's chemical work.
““I will blow up the wall, and the waters, escaping, will subside so as to discover the orifice—””
Smith plans to blast the granite to lower the lake and reveal the hidden outlet.
Key strategic decision for the colony's development.