all belong frankly to the realm of fairyland.

If the situation were reproduced in actuality, if ever a comet should
come into collision with the earth, we can conceive two scientifically
possible results. If the comet were of such attenuation, such almost
infinitesimal mass as some of these celestial wanderers seem to be, we
can imagine our earth self-protective and possibly unharmed. If, on the
other hand, the comet had even a hundredth part of the size and solidity
and weight which Verne confers upon his monster so as to give his
travelers a home--in that case the collision would be unspeakably
disastrous--especially to the unlucky individuals who occupied the exact
point of contact.

But once granted the initial and the closing extravagance, the departure
and return of his characters, the alpha and omega of his tale, how
closely the author clings to facts between! How closely he follows, and
imparts to his readers, the scientific probabilities of the universe
beyond our earth, the actual knowledge so hard won by our astronomers!
Other authors who, since Verne, have told of trips through the planetary
and stellar universe have given free rein to fancy, to dreams of what
might be found. Verne has endeavored to impart only what is known to
exist.

In the same year with "Off on a Comet," 1877, was published also
the tale variously named and translated as "The Black Indies," "The
Underground City," and "The Child of the Cavern." This story, like
"Round the World in Eighty Days" was first issued in "feuilleton" by the
noted Paris newspaper "Le Temps." Its success did not equal that of its
predecessor in this style. Some critics indeed have pointed to this work
as marking the beginning of a decline in the author's power of awaking
interest. Many of his best works were, however, still to follow. And, as
regards imagination and the elements of mystery and awe, surely in the
"Underground City" with its cavern world, its secret, undiscoverable,
unrelenting foe, the "Harfang," bird of evil omen, and the "fire
maidens" of the ruined castle, surely with all these "imagination" is
anything but lacking.

From the realistic side, the work is painstaking and exact as all the
author's works. The sketches of mines and miners, their courage and
their dangers, their lives and their hopes, are carefully studied. So
also is the emotional aspect of the deeps under ground, the blackness,
the endless wandering passages, the silence, and t