It was easy, on the contrary,
to imagine it pervading the entire regions of our planetary system,
condensed into what we call atmosphere at the planets themselves,
and perhaps at some of them modified by considerations, so to speak,
purely geological.
*The zodiacal light is probably what the ancients called Trabes.
Emicant Trabes quos docos vocant.- Pliny, lib. 2, p. 26.
Having adopted this view of the subject, I had little further
hesitation. Granting that on my passage I should meet with
atmosphere essentially the same as at the surface of the earth, I
conceived that, by means of the very ingenious apparatus of M.
Grimm, I should readily be enabled to condense it in sufficient
quantity for the purposes of respiration. This would remove the
chief obstacle in a journey to the moon. I had indeed spent some money
and great labor in adapting the apparatus to the object intended,
and confidently looked forward to its successful application, if I
could manage to complete the voyage within any reasonable period.
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