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wherein the rays of the stars are refracted.
"
Upon the resistance or, more properly, upon the support of an
atmosphere, existing in the state of density imagined, I had, of course,
entirely depended for the safety of my ultimate descent. Should I then,
after all, prove to have been mistaken, I had in consequence nothing
better to expect, as a finale to my adventure, than being dashed into
atoms against the rugged surface of the satellite. And, indeed, I
had now every reason to be terrified. My distance from the moon was
comparatively trifling, while the labor required by the condenser was
diminished not at all, and I could discover no indication whatever of a
decreasing rarity in the air.
"April 19th. This morning, to my great joy, about nine o'clock, the
surface of the moon being frightfully near, and my apprehensions excited
to the utmost, the pump of my condenser at length gave evident tokens
of an alteration in the atmosphere. By ten, I had reason to believe
its density considerably increased. By eleven, very little labor was
necessary at the apparatus; and at twelve o'clock, with some hesitation,
I ventured to unscrew the tourniquet, when, finding no inconvenience
from having done so, I finally threw open the gum-elastic chamber, and
unrigged it from around the car. As might have been expected, spasms
and violent headache were the immediate consequences of an experiment
so precipitate and full of danger. But these and other difficulties
attending respiration, as they were by no means so great as to put me
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