where the first University of the United States was
founded, is justly celebrated for its astronomical staff.
There are to be found assembled all the most eminent men
of science. Here is to be seen at work that powerful
telescope which enabled Bond to resolve the nebula of
Andromeda, and Clarke to discover the satellite of Sirius.
This celebrated institution fully justified on all points the
confidence reposed in it by the Gun Club.
So, after two days, the reply so impatiently awaited was placed in the hands of President Barbicane.
It was couched in the following terms:
"The Director of the Cambridge Observatory to the Presi- dent of the Gun Club at Baltimore.
"CAMBRIDGE, Oct. 7.
"On the receipt of your favor of the 6th inst., addressed to the Observatory of Cambridge in the name of the Mem- bers of the Baltimore Gun Club, our staff was immediately called together, and it was judged expedient to reply as follows:
"The questions which have been proposed to it are these:
"'1. Is it possible to transmit a projectile up to the moon?
"'2. What is the exact distance which separates the earth from its satellite?
"'3. What will be the period of transit of the projectile when endowed with sufficient initial velocity? and, conse- quently, at what moment ought it to be discharged in order that it may touch the moon at a particular point?
"'4. At what precise moment will the moon present herself in the most favorable position to be reached by the projectile?
"'5. What point in the heavens ought the cannon to be aimed at which is intended to discharge the projectile?
"'6. What place will the moon occupy in the heavens at the moment of the projectile's departure?
"Regarding the first question, 'Is it possible to transmit a projectile up to the moon?'
"Answer. Yes; provided it possesses an initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second; calculations prove that to be sufficient. In proportion as we recede from the earth the action of gravitation diminishes in the inverse ratio of the
