"I have now enumerated," said Barbicane, ''the experiments which I call purely paper ones, and wholly insufficient to establish serious relations with the Queen of Night. Nevertheless, I am bound to add that some practical geniuses have attempted to establish actual communication with her. Thus, a few days ago, a German geometrician proposed to send a scientific expedition to the steppes of Siberia. There, on those vast plains, they were to describe enormous geometric figures, drawn in characters of reflecting luminosity, among which was the proposition regarding the 'square of the hypothenuse, commonly called the “Ass's Bridge” by the French.

“Every intelligent being,” said the geometrician, “must understand the scientific meaning of that figure. The Selenites, do they exist, will respond by a similar figure; and, a communication being thus once established, it will be easy to form an alphabet which sliall enable ns to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.” So spoke the German geometrician; but his project was never put into practice, and up to the present day there is no bond in existence between the earth and her satellite.”