Page:Meda - a tale of the future.djvu/113

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
A TALE OF THE FUTURE.
109

could imagine, fell short by a hundred-fold, nay, by a million-fold, of a true conception of what space and the universe really is.

I was shown hundreds of instruments, of the most ingenious nature for performing all kinds of astronomical work, and for reproducing all that was seen. There were a great number of astronomers at work, mostly old men, and belonging to the highest order of this strange people. Several of them spoke to me in old English. We conversed for a long time on various subjects of common interest. This was the first place in which the Recorder had introduced me. Much of our conversation was about astronomy. Although I was a fairly well informed man, I did not know enough of astronomy to enter into any discussion, and so wisely contented myself with being spoken to. One old astronomer asked me if I had heard of the comet "Baria." On my replying in the negative, he remarked, "You have much to learn; it was discovered in the year 4200, by a great astronomer called Baria. It has worked