"Hans Phaall" - читать интересную книгу автора (Poe Edgar Allan)

atmosphere, beyond which there is absolutely no air whatsoever. But
a circumstance which has been left out of view by those who contend
for such a limit seemed to me, although no positive refutation of
their creed, still a point worthy very serious investigation. On
comparing the intervals between the successive arrivals of Encke's
comet at its perihelion, after giving credit, in the most exact
manner, for all the disturbances due to the attractions of the
planets, it appears that the periods are gradually diminishing; that
is to say, the major axis of the comet's ellipse is growing shorter,
in a slow but perfectly regular decrease. Now, this is precisely
what ought to be the case, if we suppose a resistance experienced from
the comet from an extremely rare ethereal medium pervading the regions
of its orbit. For it is evident that such a medium must, in
retarding the comet's velocity, increase its centripetal, by weakening
its centrifugal force. In other words, the sun's attraction would be
constantly attaining greater power, and the comet would be drawn
nearer at every revolution. Indeed, there is no other way of
accounting for the variation in question. But again. The real diameter
of the same comet's nebulosity is observed to contract rapidly as it
approaches the sun, and dilate with equal rapidity in its departure
towards its aphelion. Was I not justifiable in supposing with M. Valz,
that this apparent condensation of volume has its origin in the
compression of the same ethereal medium I have spoken of before, and
which is only denser in proportion to its solar vicinity? The
lenticular-shaped phenomenon, also called the zodiacal light, was a
matter worthy of attention. This radiance, so apparent in the tropics,
and which cannot be mistaken for any meteoric lustre, extends from the
horizon obliquely upward, and follows generally the direction of the
sun's equator. It appeared to me evidently in the nature of a rare
atmosphere extending from the sun outward, beyond the orbit of Venus
at least, and I believed indefinitely farther.* Indeed, this medium
I could not suppose confined to the path of the comet's ellipse, or to
the immediate neighborhood of the sun. It was easy, on the contrary,
to imagine it pervading the entire regions of our planetary system,
condensed into what we call atmosphere at the planets themselves,
and perhaps at some of them modified by considerations, so to speak,
purely geological.

*The zodiacal light is probably what the ancients called Trabes.
Emicant Trabes quos docos vocant.- Pliny, lib. 2, p. 26.

Having adopted this view of the subject, I had little further
hesitation. Granting that on my passage I should meet with
atmosphere essentially the same as at the surface of the earth, I
conceived that, by means of the very ingenious apparatus of M.
Grimm, I should readily be enabled to condense it in sufficient
quantity for the purposes of respiration. This would remove the
chief obstacle in a journey to the moon. I had indeed spent some money
and great labor in adapting the apparatus to the object intended,
and confidently looked forward to its successful application, if I