Not that he counted on them too confidently, for he told
his friends that to provide for the worst he had supplied himself with a
few cases of the best vintages of Medoc and the Cote d'Or, of which the
bottles, then under discussion, might be taken as very favorable
specimens.
The Reiset and Regnault apparatus for purifying the air worked
splendidly, and maintained the atmosphere in a perfectly sanitary
condition. Not an atom of carbonic acid could resist the caustic potash;
and as for the oxygen, according to M'Nicholl's expression, "it was A
prime number one!"
The small quantity of watery vapor enclosed in the Projectile did no
more harm than serving to temper the dryness of the air: many a splendid
_salon_ in New York, London, or Paris, and many an auditorium, even of
theatre, opera house or Academy of Music, could be considered its
inferior in what concerned its hygienic condition.
To keep it in perfect working order, the apparatus should be carefully
attended to. This, Ardan looked on as his own peculiar occupation. He
was never tired regulating the tubes, trying the taps, and testing the
heat of the gas by the pyrometer. So far everything had worked
satisfactorily, and the travellers, following the example of their
friend Marston on a previous occasion, began to get so stout that their
own mothers would not know them in another month, should their
imprisonment last so long.
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