"Three cheers for the Moon!" roared the Gun Club,with one voice.
"The moon, gentlemen, has been carefully studied,"continued Barbicane; "her mass, density, and weight;her constitution, motions, distance, as well as her place in the solar system, have all been exactly determined.Selenographic charts have been constructed with a perfection which equals, if it does not even surpass,that of our terrestrial maps. Photography has given us proofs of the incomparable beauty of our satellite;all is known regarding the moon which mathematical science, astronomy, geology, and optics can learn about her. But up to the present moment no direct communication has been established with her."