"
"Well, did you ever see any of them strike the Earth's surface?" asked
Barbican.
"I can't say I ever did," was the candid reply, "but--"
"Well, these shooting stars," continued Barbican, "or rather these
wandering particles of matter, shine only from being inflamed by the
friction of the atmosphere. Therefore they can never be at a greater
distance from the Earth than 30 or 40 miles at furthest, and yet they
seldom fall on it. So with our Projectile. It may go very close to the
Moon without falling into it."
"But our roving Projectile must pull up somewhere in the long run,"
replied Ardan, "and I should like to know where that somewhere can be,
if not in the Moon."
"Softly again, dear boy," said Barbican; "how do you know that our
Projectile must pull up somewhere?"
"It's self-evident," replied Ardan; "it can't keep moving for ever."
"Whether it can or it can't depends altogether on which one of two
mathematical curves it has followed in describing its course. According
to the velocity with which it was endowed at a certain moment, it must
follow either the one or the other; but this velocity I do not consider
myself just now able to calculate.
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