Chapter 25 - Page 2

wrong by 2,705°, and the proportionalincrease is a mistake. Therefore Humphry Davy was right, and I am notwrong in following him. What do you say now?"

"Nothing."

In truth, I had a good deal to say. I gave way in no respect toDavy's theory. I still held to the central heat, although I did notfeel its effects. I preferred to admit in truth, that this chimney ofan extinct volcano, lined with lavas, which are non-conductors ofheat, did not suffer the heat to pass through its walls.

But without stopping to look up new arguments I simply took up oursituation such as it was.

"Well, admitting all your calculations to be quite correct, you mustallow me to draw one rigid result therefrom."

"What is it. Speak freely.!

"At the latitude of Iceland, where we now are, the radius of theearth, the distance from the centre to the surface is about 1,583leagues; let us say in round numbers 1,600 leagues, or 4,800 miles.Out of 1,600 leagues we have gone twelve!"

"So you say."

"And these twelve at a cost of 85 leagues diagonally?"

"Exactly so."

"In twenty days?"

"Yes."

"Now, sixteen leagues are the hundredth part of the earth's radius.At this rate we shall be two thousand days, or nearly five years anda half, in getting to the centre."

No answer was vouchsafed to this rational conclusion. "Withoutreckoning, too, that if a vertical depth of sixteen leagues can beattained only by a diagonal descent of eighty-four, it follows thatwe must go eight thousand miles in a south-easterly direction; sothat we shall emerge from some point in the earth's circumferenceinstead of getting to the centre!"

"Confusion to all your figures, and all your hypotheses besides,"shouted my uncle in a sudden rage. "What is the basis of them all?How do you know that this passage does not run straight to ourdestination? Besides, there is a precedent. What one man has done,another may do."

"I hope so; but, still, I may be permitted -"

"You shall have my leave to hold your tongue, Axel, but not to talkin that irrational way."

I could see the awful Professor bursting through my uncle's skin, andI took timely warning.

"Now look at your aneroid. What does that say?"

"It says we are under considerable pressure."

"Very good; so you see that by going gradually down, and gettingaccustomed to the density of the atmosphere, we don't suffer at all."

"Nothing, except a little pain in the ears."

"That's nothing, and you may get rid of even that by quick breathingwhenever you feel the pain."

"Exactly so," I said, determined not to say a word that might crossmy uncle's prejudices. "There is even positive pleasure in living inthis dense atmosphere. Have you observed how intense sound is downhere?"

"No doubt it is. A deaf man would soon learn to