anything new. Were we not struck by a comet's tail in 1861?"

"So it was said, anyhow," observed the Captain. "I well remember what
nonsense there was in the papers about the 'phosphorescent auroral
glare.'"

"Well," continued the Frenchman, "suppose the comet of 1861 influenced
the Earth by an attraction superior to the Sun's. What would be the
consequence? Would not the Earth follow the attracting body, become its
satellite, and thus at last be dragged off to such a distance that the
Sun's rays could no longer excite heat on her surface?"

"Well, that might possibly occur," said Barbican slowly, "but even then
I question if the consequences would be so terrible as you seem to
apprehend."

"Why not?"

"Because the cold and the heat might still manage to be nearly equalized
on our globe. It has been calculated that, had the Earth been carried
off by the comet of '61, when arrived at her greatest distance, she
would have experienced a temperature hardly sixteen times greater than
the heat we receive from the Moon, which, as everybody knows, produces
no appreciable effect, even when concentrated to a focus by the most
powerful lenses."

"Well then," exclaimed Ardan, "at such a temperature--"

"Wait a moment," replied Barbican. "Have you never heard of the
principle of compensation? Listen to another calculation. Had the Earth