After two days the answer, impatiently awaited, reached the hands of President Barbicane.

It ran as follows:—­

“The Director of the Cambridge Observatory to the President of the Gun Club at Baltimore.

“On the receipt of your favour of the 6th inst., addressed to the Observatory of Cambridge in the name of the members of the Baltimore Gun Club, we immediately called a meeting of our staff, who have deemed it expedient to answer as follows:—­

“The questions proposed to it were these:—­

“’1.  Is it possible to send a projectile to the moon?

“’2.  What is the exact distance that separates the earth and her satellite?

“’3.  What would be the duration of the projectile’s transit to which a sufficient initial speed had been given, and consequently at what moment should it be hurled so as to reach the moon at a particular point?

“’4.  At what moment would the moon present the most favourable position for being reached by the projectile?

“’5.  What point in the heavens ought the cannon, destined to hurl the projectile, be aimed at?

“’6.  What place in the heavens will the moon occupy at the moment when the projectile will start?’

“Regarding question No. 1, ’Is it possible to send a projectile to the moon?’

“Yes, it is possible to send a projectile to the moon if it is given an initial velocity of 1,200 yards a second.  Calculations prove that this speed is sufficient.  In proportion to the distance from the earth the force of gravitation diminishes in an inverse ratio to the square of the distance—­that is to say, that for a distance three times greater that force is nine times less.  In consequence, the weight of the projectile will decrease rapidly, and will end by being completely annulled at the moment when the attraction of the moon will be equal to that of the earth—­that is to say, at the 47/52 of the distance.  At that moment the projectile will have no weight at all, and if it clears that point it will fall on to the moon only by the effect of lunar gravitation.  The theoretic possibility of the experiment is, therefore, quite demonstrated; as to its success, that depends solely in the power of the engine employed.

“Regarding question No. 2, ’What is the exact distance that separates the earth from her satellite?’

“The moon does not describe a circle round the earth, but an ellipse, of which our earth occupies one of the foci; the consequence is, therefore, that at certain times it approaches nearer to, and at others recedes farther from, the earth, or, in astronomical language, it has its apogee and its perigee.  At its apogee the moon is at 247,552 miles from the earth, and at its perigee at 218,657 miles only, which makes a difference of 28,895, or more than a ninth of the distance.  The perigee distance is, therefore, the one that should give us the basis of all calculations.