HERE BEGINS THE MODERN HISTORY OF HESPEROS.
How the two hemispheres were amalgamated—Concerning the Sympathetic
Telegraph; and how the great astonishment of the Hesperians at the
first sight of the Doctor was fully explained.
On the morning after the return of the ship the parliament met, and
immediately passed a vote for the construction of a large fleet of
submarine vessels, to be built on the pattern of the original whose
voyage had proved so successful. It was evident that intercourse on a
very large scale would take place between the two hemispheres. The
southerly journey, as was now well known, might be effected in quite a
different way; for an energetic blow on the head provided the intending
traveller with a swift and gratuitous passage to the South Pole. But
there were many objections to this mode of transit; and, at all events,
the return journey was strictly confined to the submarine route.
So the new fleet was at once put on the stocks, and all the Hesperian
dockyards were provided with work in abundance for several years.
Meanwhile the original ship was kept on hard duty. On each voyage, and
in both directions, she was crowded with passengers, some eager to see
the new discovered world, others longing to revisit the scenes of their
former life. Presently, as one of the results of the discovery, there
arose an important question in international law. Whether those persons,
now residing in the southern hemisphere, and subjects of its government,
but whose evanescence had taken place subsequently to the establishment
of the universal empire of the north, were still bound by their northern
allegiance, or, had the fact of evanescence discharged them of that
allegiance, thus leaving them lawful citizens of the south.
The question involved some nice points; but fortunately there never was
any occasion to bring it to an issue. For, the advantages arising from
the amalgamation of all the northern governments into one universal
empire were so manifest, and were so thoroughly appreciated even in the
south, that the union of the two hemispheres in one universal planet
empire very speedily took place. In fact it took place immediately after
the important preliminary question was settled, In which hemisphere
should the seat of the central government be fixed? Many circumstances
seemed to suggest that it should be in the south, and at the pole.
The explanation of the real significance of evanescence which ultimately
revolutionized Hesperian life, was not the only piece of astounding
intelligence imported into Lasondre by the submarine ship, on her first
return voyage. Even in the midst of the general stupefaction occasioned
by the return of the dead, the announcement of another extraordinary
discovery excited the attention of the citizens. This was no less than a
method whereby instantaneous communication might take place between two
persons no matter how widely separated they might be on the surface of
the planet.
The discovery was made in this way. About one thousand years earlier, a
man who was an earnest student of chemical science, was engaged in
trying some experiments at Lucetta. These experiments were of a highly
dangerous character; and one day, notwithstanding all precautions, a
terrific explosion took place. So violent was it, and so minute were the
fragments to which the experimentalist’s body was thereby reduced, that
there was scarcely need for the first law of evanescence to operate in
removing the remains from the land of the living. However, of course, it
_did_ operate, and the chemist was duly reintegrated at the South Pole.
He was, as usual, received by the vigilance committee, who explained to
him, as they were in duty bound to do, the circumstances of his new
life.
The chemist, nothing daunted, proposed continuing his experiments; and
the southern authorities, hearing the nature of them, and suspecting
that a considerable series of sudden disintegrations and reintegrations
of his body were likely to result, kindly assigned him a laboratory
quite close to the pole—a fact which materially facilitated the
memorable discovery which soon rewarded his labours.
At a distance of a few miles to the east there is a hill which is mainly
composed of a singular-looking mineral which has not, as yet, been found
anywhere else in the planet. This mineral occurs at a very small depth
below the surface, in separate masses, none of them exceeding ten pounds
in weight, is of a bright green colour, and possesses the remarkable
property of very easily splitting into exceedingly fine rods, no thicker
than an ordinary needle.
Desiring to make an analysis of this mineral, which the southerners
called molygdon, the chemist procured a great quantity of these rods,
cut them into lengths of a few inches, and tied them up tightly in
bundles which he left for some days on a shelf in his laboratory till he
was ready to examine them. When he was at leisure, he took one of these
bundles, untied it, and threw the little rods into a flat vessel full of
water, in which they floated, their specific gravity being small. To his
great surprise the rods speedily assumed positions parallel to each
other. He twisted one of them a little out of its direction, whereupon
all the others turned through the same angle, so that the parallelism
remained.
At last, after a long and careful series of experiments he succeeded in
establishing the following momentous law:—Two needles of molygdon which
have been kept in close contact for not less than thirty-six hours at
any spot not exceeding three hundred yards’ distance from the South
Pole, possess the property of always remaining parallel to each other,
whenever they are freely suspended in parallel planes, no matter how
they are situated with respect to each other on the surface of the
planet.
This discovery afforded an easy mode of immediate communication between
any two places in the southern hemisphere. All that was needful was to
suspend two needles, rendered sympathetic by the above process, on
pivots in the centres of two circular cards. A code of signals was
easily devised, sufficient for ordinary purposes; and, by placing the
letters of the alphabet round the edges of the cards, verbal
conversation could be carried on.
Soon after the discovery of this important law of nature, the southern
parliament resolved to utilise it on a vast scale by founding an
institution which would enable any two persons, even without being in
possession of two directly sympathizing needles, to communicate with
each other. It was estimated that the population of the south was not
much under twenty-five millions. Accordingly, twenty-five million pairs
of these sympathetic needles were manufactured, and each needle was
mounted in a suitable circular box. This was done at the national
expense; the intention being that one box should be given to each
inhabitant of the south, the corresponding box being deposited in a
building to be erected in the metropolis for the special purpose of the
safe custody of the duplicates. As each box was a small cylinder, not
exceeding three inches in diameter and one inch in height, no very large
space was required for their accommodation. These duplicates were all
arranged in order and numbered; the corresponding number being stamped
on each sympathetic box.
The process of conversation thus became very simple. For example, No.
23,482,657 wishes to say a few words to No. 10,334, who is somewhere,
but where he knows not, in the southern hemisphere. He sends his message
to the central depôt. The stirring of the needle there rings a small
bell, and displays a white mark on the front of the box. The clerk on
duty takes it down, reads the message; then taking box No. 10,334, he
repeats it to the required correspondent. Of course, any two particular
friends who may have occasion for frequent conversation can have, in
addition, two special needles with which they can communicate directly.
All the passengers in the submarine ship were provided with these boxes,
and, on their arrival at Lasondre, the question, whether the sympathetic
influence extended to the northern hemisphere, was at once decided in
the affirmative. Communication with the South Pole was just as easy from
the north as from the south side of the equator.
The South Pole being thus the most convenient centre for communication
with the entire surface of the planet, had evidently strong claims for
selection as the site of the universal metropolis. And before two years,
dating from the return of the ship, were over, the whole planet was
united in one vast empire, and the seat of government fixed at
Australis, as we may style the city of the South Pole.
The united government at once extended to the whole world the signalling
system which had been so successfully carried out in the south; this, of
course, involved an enormous addition to the depôt in Australis. And
now, for the first time, the exact number of the primeval creation of
the rational inhabitants was definitely ascertained. It was found that,
at the era of the ship, there were in the northern hemisphere 70,589,347
persons, and in the southern 29,410,653; thus the total population,
which had never been increased, nor, as they had just learned,
diminished, was, as before stated, exactly one hundred millions, and
these were equally divided between the male and female sexes.
Several years elapsed after the return of the ship before the stupendous
change which had been wrought in the condition of the Hesperians, by the
knowledge they had acquired of the indestructibility of life, began to
produce the effects which afterwards became conspicuous. They were
essentially a travel-loving race, and the great stimulus given to this
propensity by the discovery of a new hemisphere seems for a time to have
absorbed a good deal of their energies. The epoch, moreover, was
immediately marked by the complete cessation of voluntary evanescence—in
other words, of suicide, which, under the influence of the widely-spread
world-weariness, had become only too common during the last age. When it
was clearly understood that evanescence only meant change of place, the
ignoble custom came to an end.
It is well worth notice that, at the era of the union, the southern
empire, though numerically far inferior to the northern, had reached a
very much higher stage of both moral and political development. This
superiority is easily explained. For thousands of years the southerners
had been acquainted with the true conditions of life; that is to say,
they had known that each individual is an indelible unit, in no way to
be obliterated; and, therefore, that it is expedient for society to make
the best of him. This same knowledge also reacted on the individual,
however badly disposed he might have been by nature. He knew perfectly
well that he could no more get rid of the society than the society could
get rid of him; that, in fact, society was by far the stronger of the
two, and, for this reason, it was plainly his interest to conduct
himself at least in an inoffensive manner. It was invariably found that
such a course of behaviour, steadily maintained for a lengthened period,
reacted so strongly on even a malignant character, that, in a century or
two, the subject became a worthy member of society.
In the northern empire, on the other hand, as it was believed, and
indeed with truth, that an undesirable and troublesome neighbour could
at any time be suppressed, either by the gallows or some equivalent
method, criminal legislation seems to have rather aimed at the
extirpation than the reformation of the offender. But after the era of
the ship, and subsequent union of the whole planet, all this was very
speedily changed.
Through the entire period of ten thousand years which, at the time of my
arrival, had elapsed since the beginning of the modern history, no
revolutionizing discovery had taken place. But, slowly and silently, a
change took place in the characters of the Hesperians, which ultimately
led to the complete remodelling of the greater part of their social
institutions. Evanescence, except as the result of accident, wholly
disappeared, for the age of violence was passed, capital punishment was
an impossibility, and suicide a fruitless ebullition of temper. The
enforced toleration of everyone by everyone else, worked, in the course
of ages, as its inevitable result, a greatly increased kindliness of
disposition and demeanour; and this was still further helped when
progress of time, combined with the absolute fixity of the population,
brought about the strange state of things, that each individual was
personally acquainted with every other member of the Hesperian
multitude. The number of his acquaintances was 99,999,999.
And now we have the explanation of the great intensity of the
astonishment which my sudden appearance in Lucetta excited in that town.
Though not differing very much either in person or dress from many of
themselves, yet the mere fact of my being a stranger to them was
sufficient evidence that I was either a new creation on the planet, or
had come from another world. In either case my arrival gave them hope
that some light was about to be thrown on the great question which had
vexed them all so long—Who was the Maker of the Universe?