Unless for default of
this renovation, I could see no reason, therefore, why life could
not be sustained even in a vacuum; for the expansion and compression
of chest, commonly called breathing, is action purely muscular, and
the cause, not the effect, of respiration. In a word, I conceived
that, as the body should become habituated to the want of
atmospheric pressure, the sensations of pain would gradually
diminish- and to endure them while they continued, I relied with
confidence upon the iron hardihood of my constitution.
*Since the original publication of Hans Phaall, I find that Mr.
Green, of Nassau balloon notoriety, and other late aeronauts, deny the
assertions of Humboldt, in this respect, and speak of a decreasing
inconvenience,- precisely in accordance with the theory here urged in
a mere spirit of banter.
Thus, may it please your Excellencies, I have detailed some,
though by no means all, the considerations which led me to form the
project of a lunar voyage. I shall now proceed to lay before you the
result of an attempt so apparently audacious in conception, and, at
all events, so utterly unparalleled in the annals of mankind.
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