Concerning the Birth and Education of Dr. Gervaas Van Varken, and his Loathing and Abhorrence of the whole Human Race—How he met an Ancient Parsee merchant in Bombay, and got an introduction to the Great Magician of Thibet—How he went to Thibet; what he learned there, and how he departed from it. [Mr. Gervaas Van Varken was a tradesman who flourished on the Boomptjes of Rotterdam in the early years of the last century. His business was that of a ship-chandler—for so we may approximately translat

Of the shining city of Lucetta—How Dr. Van Varken met an apparent Yahoo—Of the great astonishment of the citizens at sight of the Doctor, and how they gave him in charge to a committee of three—How the committee learned the Dutch tongue, and showed the Doctor sundry strange and wonderful maps. On recovering consciousness I found myself lying on what felt like soft grass on the steep side of a mountain. The sky was intensely dark, no stars were visible, and, of course, there was no moon. Before m

Concerning Physical Hesperography—Of the great Cloud-Screen, and its effect on Terrestrial Astronomy—Of the Chronic Equatorial Tornado, and of its extraordinary importance in the history of Hesperos—Of the Giant Mountains; and of the Flora and Fauna. To understand aright the nature of my intercourse with the Hesperians, I must needs give a short description of the structure and principal natural features of the surface of their planet; and likewise some account of the origin of the rational inha

Of the Origin of Rational Life in Hesperos—Of the Cyclical Organic Life—Of the Law of Evanescence by Mortal Lesion—The story of the Hesperian Cain—Of the Law of Evanescence by adverse Metronomic Balance—How a Court of Justice sentenced a culprit to Eternal Punishment; and how the culprit escaped. [ Warnung by Antares Skorpios. — Should this book, by any mischance, have fallen into the hands of any habitual consumer of the style of literature known as ‘Shilling Shockers,’ or ‘Penny Dreadfuls,’ th

Of the causes of the high civilization of Hesperos—Of the relations of the sexes—Of private personal property—Of property in Land; and of the methods of Eviction—Of the Jacks and Masters of all Trades. When we bear in mind these essential differences of Hesperian life, the rapid development of civilization which took place in the northern hemisphere after the sudden introduction of the rational creation will not appear surprising. So far as I have been able to form an estimate, from the informat

Of the Universal Language—Of the Universal Empire and first measures of the World-Parliament—Of the great progress of the Hesperians in all Physical Science; and of their fruitless craving after the Unknown God. It has been already mentioned that the land surface of Hesperos consists of an immense polar continent, bordered with a very considerable number of islands, which vary greatly both in magnitude and configuration. The island populations naturally lived for a long period in complete separa

Of the first attempt to pass the Equatorial Tornado; and its tragical issue—Of the attempt to pass the Cloud-Screen. These improvements in ship-building and ship-propelling were naturally followed by a great development of the science of navigation, to which the mathematical powers of the Hesperians formed an invaluable auxiliary. And thus all that was possible for them to ascertain concerning the physical universe was soon learned. The circumnavigation of the globe was easily effected, for the

Of the great courage of three engineers—How they passed the Screen and saw the Host of Heaven—How they further discovered a Disk of Unknown Fire—Of the reception of the news throughout the world—Of the construction of a mountain Observatory; and of the rapid growth of Astronomical knowledge. The levelling of the rock was necessarily a work which required a good deal of time; and, while it was proceeding, three of the engineers formed the daring project of scrambling up the cliff, into the cloud,

Of the development of World-Weariness in Hesperos; and of the second attempt to cross the Equatorial Tornado—How the Forlorn Hope succeeded, and discovered a City of the Dead—How the terrible mystery of Evanescence was explained; and how the crew set out on their return. But, notwithstanding the signal success which had attended their labours, there can be no doubt that during the next thousand years a general feeling of gloom and despondence gradually settled down over the Hesperian race. That

The oldest inhabitant of the South relates its history—How the awful intelligence was received in the North. As the return voyage occupied several days, the engineers had a good opportunity for obtaining from the passengers much interesting information concerning the past history and present condition of the southern hemisphere. In both physical structure and configuration the northern and southern portions of the planet are very similar; a great polar continent, with many islands off the coast,

How the two hemispheres were amalgamated—Concerning the Sympathetic Telegraph; and how the great astonishment of the Hesperians at the first sight of the Doctor was fully explained. On the morning after the return of the ship the parliament met, and immediately passed a vote for the construction of a large fleet of submarine vessels, to be built on the pattern of the original whose voyage had proved so successful. It was evident that intercourse on a very large scale would take place between the

Of the great social changes which resulted from the discovery of the Indestructibility of Life. When this period of the acquaintance of everyone with everyone else had been reached, very little time intervened before a completely socialistic system was established all over the world. In fact it soon became obvious to all that private property had now become a clumsy incumbrance. The substitution of socialism was greatly facilitated by the extreme ease with which all the necessaries, and most of

How the Doctor delivered a course of lectures on the History of the Earth and its Inhabitants—Of the effects of his ghastly description—Of the attempt of two Hesperians to reach the Earth; and of its unsatisfactory result. [At this point the doctor’s notes become very scanty: still the following facts may be readily gleaned from his memoranda. Hesperos was the abode of one hundred millions of rational and highly-cultured beings, incapable alike of increase or diminution in number, constrained to

Of the further wanderings of Dr. Van Varken—Of his visits to Australis and the great Observatory—Of a strange physical Theory concerning the Tornado—Supposed cause of the Doctor’s return to the Earth. After the delivery of his remarkable lectures, the doctor’s notes become even scantier than before, and are of quite a fragmentary character. We can gather from them that his time thenceforth was mainly occupied in travelling in various directions through the country; and this is, very likely, the