Micromegas
{"WorkMasterId":7761,"WpPageId":289608,"ParentWpPageId":193808,"Slug":"micromegas","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/voltaire-francois-marie-arouet/micromegas/","RelativeUrl":"theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/voltaire-francois-marie-arouet/micromegas/","HasFullText":true,"RawHtmlLength":121136,"CleanHtmlLength":65438,"Kicker":"Philosophy Work","Title":"Micromegas","Deck":"Voltaire uses cosmic scale, travel, and extraterrestrial comparison to expose human vanity, epistemic limits, and the provisional character of natural knowledge.","BackLink":{"Text":"Back to Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/voltaire-francois-marie-arouet/"},"AuthorCard":{"Label":"Author","Title":"Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/voltaire-francois-marie-arouet/","MediaHref":"","ImageSrc":"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/voltaire-francois-marie-arouet-01-largilliere-carnavalet-portrait.jpg","ImageAlt":"Voltaire in a Largilliere portrait at the Musee Carnavalet","FilterTerra":"Western Europe","ClickText":"Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)","ClickHref":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/voltaire-francois-marie-arouet/","Copies":["1694 CE – 1778 CE","Paris","French Enlightenment writer and philosopher whose deism, satire, toleration campaigns, Newtonian public science, civil-liberties advocacy, and anti-clerical critique made him a defining public intellectual of eighteenth-century Europe."]},"ContextCards":[{"Label":"Period","Key":"Period:3","Title":"Early Modern History","DateText":"1500 CE – 1799 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-early-modern-history/"},{"Label":"Era","Key":"Era:8","Title":"Scientific Revolution and State Formation","DateText":"1600 CE – 1699 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-early-modern-history/philosophers-of-the-scientific-revolution-and-state-formation/"},{"Label":"Composition","Title":"1752 CE","Url":"","DateText":""}],"DateNote":"Displayed as 1752 CE for publication; earlier composition possibilities remain evidence/context only.","GeoCards":[{"Label":"Region","Key":"Region:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita","Key":"TerraAvita:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita Region","Key":"TerraAvitaRegion:1"},{"Label":"Modern Country","Key":"Country:FRA:1"}],"OriginalTitle":"Micromegas","Language":"French","DisciplineCards":[{"Label":"Primary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:metaphysics"},{"Label":"Secondary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:philosophy-of-science"}],"Tradition":"French Enlightenment critique, deism, toleration, civil liberties, philosophical satire, and Newtonian public philosophy","FullText":{"Title":"Full Text","Copy":"Public-domain full text from Project Gutenberg eBook #30123 .","Url":"","Label":"","Kicker":"","Cards":[]},"CoreThesis":["Voltaire uses cosmic scale, travel, and extraterrestrial comparison to expose human vanity, epistemic limits, and the provisional character of natural knowledge."],"Classification":{"AlternateTitles":"Micromegas: histoire philosophique","KeyConcepts":"cosmology; scale; satire; science; human vanity; epistemic humility; plural worlds","Methodology":"Source-backed Voltaire work row; reference, catalog, source-surface, image-source, and scholarship rows are evidence only and no full text is imported.","Structure":"Work page with explicit lifetime display year, date note, evidence note, source linkage, and no full-text badge."},"Arguments":["Voltaire uses cosmic scale, travel, and extraterrestrial comparison to expose human vanity, epistemic limits, and the provisional character of natural knowledge."],"Influence":{"InfluencedBy":"John Locke, Isaac Newton, Pierre Bayle, Lord Bolingbroke, English deism, Samuel Clarke, Montesquieu, classical satire, French libertine writing, and Emilie du Chatelet.","InfluenceOn":""},"Significance":["Accepted as a direct philosophical tale about science, metaphysics, and human knowledge.","Voltaire remains central to debates over toleration, free expression, religious criticism, satire, civil liberties, public intellectual life, deism, natural religion, and Enlightenment political culture."],"EvidenceNote":["Accepted as a direct philosophical tale about science, metaphysics, and human knowledge."],"MainSections":[{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Versions","BodyHtml":"\u003cdiv class=\"dz-philo__full-version-grid\"\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-version-card\"\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-provider\"\u003eProject Gutenberg\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ch3 class=\"dz-philo__full-version-title\"\u003eProject Gutenberg eBook #30123\u003c/h3\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-meta\"\u003eHtmlText · Imported\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ca class=\"dz-philo__full-version-link\" href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30123\"\u003eOpen full version\u003c/a\u003e\n \u003c/article\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e"},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Core Thesis","Paragraphs":["Voltaire uses cosmic scale, travel, and extraterrestrial comparison to expose human vanity, epistemic limits, and the provisional character of natural knowledge."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Classification","Fields":[{"Label":"Alternate Titles","Value":"Micromegas: histoire philosophique"},{"Label":"Key Concepts","Value":"cosmology; scale; satire; science; human vanity; epistemic humility; plural worlds"},{"Label":"Methodology","Value":"Source-backed Voltaire work row; reference, catalog, source-surface, image-source, and scholarship rows are evidence only and no full text is imported."},{"Label":"Structure","Value":"Work page with explicit lifetime display year, date note, evidence note, source linkage, and no full-text badge."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Arguments","Paragraphs":["Voltaire uses cosmic scale, travel, and extraterrestrial comparison to expose human vanity, epistemic limits, and the provisional character of natural knowledge."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Influence","Fields":[{"Label":"Influenced By","Value":"John Locke, Isaac Newton, Pierre Bayle, Lord Bolingbroke, English deism, Samuel Clarke, Montesquieu, classical satire, French libertine writing, and Emilie du Chatelet."},{"Label":"Influence On","Value":"French Enlightenment, public philosophy, deism, religious toleration, civil-liberties discourse, anti-clerical critique, philosophical satire, Newtonian public science, and later liberal thought."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Significance","Paragraphs":["Accepted as a direct philosophical tale about science, metaphysics, and human knowledge.","Voltaire remains central to debates over toleration, free expression, religious criticism, satire, civil liberties, public intellectual life, deism, natural religion, and Enlightenment political culture."]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Evidence Note","Paragraphs":["Accepted as a direct philosophical tale about science, metaphysics, and human knowledge."]},{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Text","BodyHtml":"\u003cp class=\"dz-philo__section-copy dz-philo__full-text-source\"\u003ePublic-domain full text from \u003ca href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30123\"\u003eProject Gutenberg eBook #30123\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-text-body\"\u003e\n\u003cH2 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\n MICROMEGAS,\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n PHILOSOPHICAL HISTORY.\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\u003c/H2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH3 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nPublisher\u0027s preface.\r\n\u003c/H3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nVoltaire\u0027s lengthy correspondences do not contain anything that might\r\nindicate the period in which \u003cI\u003eMicromegas\u003c/I\u003e was published. The engraved\r\ntitle of the edition that I believe to be the original displays no\r\ndate. Abbot Trublet, in his \u003cI\u003eBiography of Fontenelle\u003c/I\u003e, does not\r\nhesitate to say that \u003cI\u003eMicromegas\u003c/I\u003e is directed against Fontenelle; but\r\ndoes not speak of the date of publication. I have therefore retained\r\nthat given by the Kehl editions: 1752. However there is an edition\r\ncarrying the date of 1700. Is this date authentic? I would not make\r\nthis claim; far from it. I have therefore followed the Kehl editions,\r\nin which \u003cI\u003eMicromegas\u003c/I\u003e is preceded by this warning:\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"block\"\u003e\r\nThis novel can be seen as an imitation of Gulliver\u0027s Travels. It\r\ncontains many allusions. The dwarf of Saturn is Mr. Fontenelle.\r\nDespite his gentleness, his carefulness, his philosophy, all of\r\nwhich should endear him to Mr. Voltaire, he is linked with the\r\nenemies of this great man, and appears to share, if not in their\r\nhate, at least in their preemptive censures. He was deeply hurt by\r\nthe role he played in this novel, and perhaps even more so due to\r\nthe justness, though severe, of the critique; the strong praise\r\ngiven elsewhere in the novel only lends more weight to the\r\nrebukes. The words that end this work do not soften the wounds,\r\nand the good that is said of the secretary of the academy of Paris\r\ndoes not console Mr. Fontenelle for the ridicule that is permitted\r\nto befall the one at the academy of Saturn.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe notes without signature, and those indicated by letters, are\r\nwritten by Voltaire.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe notes signed with a K have been written by the Kehl publishers,\r\nMr. Condorcet and Mr. Decroix. It is impossible to rigorously\r\ndistinguish between the additions made by these two.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe additions that I have given to the notes of Voltaire or to the\r\nnotes of the Kehl publishers, are separated from the others by a \u0026mdash;,\r\nand are, as they are mine, signed by the initial of my name.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBEUCHOT\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\nOctober 4, 1829.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH2 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nCONTENTS\r\n\u003c/H2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cTABLE ALIGN=\"center\" WIDTH=\"80%\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cTR\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"right\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003eI.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"left\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003e\r\n\u003cA HREF=\"#chap01\"\u003eVoyage of an inhabitant of the Sirius star to the planet Saturn.\u003c/A\u003e\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003c/TR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cTR\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"right\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003eII.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"left\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003e\r\n\u003cA HREF=\"#chap02\"\u003eConversation between the inhabitant of Sirius and that of Saturn.\u003c/A\u003e\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003c/TR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cTR\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"right\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003eIII.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"left\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003e\r\n\u003cA HREF=\"#chap03\"\u003eVoyage of the two inhabitants of Sirius and Saturn.\u003c/A\u003e\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003c/TR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cTR\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"right\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003eIV.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"left\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003e\r\n\u003cA HREF=\"#chap04\"\u003eWhat happened on planet Earth.\u003c/A\u003e\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003c/TR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cTR\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"right\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003eV.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"left\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003e\r\n\u003cA HREF=\"#chap05\"\u003eExperiments and reasonings of the two voyagers.\u003c/A\u003e\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003c/TR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cTR\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"right\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003eVI.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"left\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003e\r\n\u003cA HREF=\"#chap06\"\u003eWhat happened to them among men.\u003c/A\u003e\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003c/TR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cTR\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"right\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003eVII.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003cTD ALIGN=\"left\" VALIGN=\"top\"\u003e\r\n\u003cA HREF=\"#chap07\"\u003eConversation with the men.\u003c/A\u003e\u003c/TD\u003e\r\n\u003c/TR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/TABLE\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH2 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\n MICROMEGAS,\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n PHILOSOPHICAL HISTORY\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\u003c/H2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cA NAME=\"chap01\"\u003e\u003c/A\u003e\r\n\u003cH3 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nCHAPTER I.\r\n\u003c/H3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH4 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nVoyage of an inhabitant of the Sirius star to the planet Saturn.\r\n\u003c/H4\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nOn one of the planets that orbits the star named Sirius there lived a\r\nspirited young man, who I had the honor of meeting on the last voyage\r\nhe made to our little ant hill. He was called Micromegas[1], a\r\nfitting name for anyone so great. He was eight leagues tall, or\r\n24,000 geometric paces of five feet each.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[1] From \u003cI\u003emicros\u003c/I\u003e, small, and from \u003cI\u003emegas\u003c/I\u003e, large. B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nCertain geometers[2], always of use to the public, will immediately\r\ntake up their pens, and will find that since Mr. Micromegas,\r\ninhabitant of the country of Sirius, is 24,000 paces tall, which is\r\nequivalent to 120,000 feet, and since we citizens of the earth are\r\nhardly five feet tall, and our sphere 9,000 leagues around; they will\r\nfind, I say, that it is absolutely necessary that the sphere that\r\nproduced him was 21,600,000 times greater in circumference than our\r\nlittle Earth. Nothing in nature is simpler or more orderly. The\r\nsovereign states of Germany or Italy, which one can traverse in a\r\nhalf hour, compared to the empires of Turkey, Moscow, or China, are\r\nonly feeble reflections of the prodigious differences that nature has\r\nplaced in all beings.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[2] This is how the text reads in the first editions. Others, in\r\nplace of \"geometers,\" put \"algebraists.\" B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nHis excellency\u0027s size being as great as I have said, all our\r\nsculptors and all our painters will agree without protest that his\r\nbelt would have been 50,000 feet around, which gives him very good\r\nproportions.[3] His nose taking up one third of his attractive\r\nface, and his attractive face taking up one seventh of his attractive\r\nbody, it must be admitted that the nose of the Sirian is 6,333 feet\r\nplus a fraction; which is manifest.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[3] I restore this sentence in accordance with the first editions.\r\nB.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nAs for his mind, it is one of the most cultivated that we have. He\r\nknows many things. He invented some of them. He was not even 250\r\nyears old when he studied, as is customary, at the most celebrated[4]\r\ncolleges of his planet, where he managed to figure out by pure\r\nwillpower more than 50 of Euclid\u0027s propositions. That makes 18 more\r\nthan Blaise Pascal, who, after having figured out 32 while screwing\r\naround, according to his sister\u0027s reports, later became a fairly\r\nmediocre geometer[5] and a very bad metaphysician. Towards his 450th\r\nyear, near the end of his infancy, he dissected many small insects no\r\nmore than 100 feet in diameter, which would evade ordinary\r\nmicroscopes. He wrote a very curious book about this, and it gave him\r\nsome income. The mufti of his country, an extremely ignorant\r\nworrywart, found some suspicious, rash[6], disagreeable, and\r\nheretical propositions in the book, smelled heresy, and pursued it\r\nvigorously; it was a matter of finding out whether the substantial\r\nform of the fleas of Sirius were of the same nature as those of the\r\nsnails. Micromegas gave a spirited defense; he brought in some women\r\nto testify in his favor; the trial lasted 220 years. Finally the\r\nmufti had the book condemned by jurisconsults who had not read it,\r\nand the author was ordered not to appear in court for 800 years[7].\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[4] In place of \"the most celebrated\" that one finds in the first\r\nedition, subsequent editions read \"some jesuit.\" B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[5] Pascal became a very great geometer, not in the same class as\r\nthose that contributed to the progress of science with great\r\ndiscoveries, like Descartes, Newton, but certainly ranked among\r\nthe geometers, whose works display a genius of the first order. K.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[6] The edition that I believe to be original reads: \"rash,\r\nsmelling heresy.\" The present text is dated 1756. B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[7] Mr. Voltaire had been persecuted by the theatin Boyer for\r\nhaving stated in his \u003cI\u003eLetters on the English\u003c/I\u003e that our souls\r\ndevelop at the same time as our organs, just like the souls of\r\nanimals. K.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nHe was thereby dealt the minor affliction of being banished from a\r\ncourt that consisted of nothing but harassment and pettiness. He\r\nwrote an amusing song at the expense of the mufti, which the latter\r\nhardly noticed; and he took to voyaging from planet to planet in\r\norder to develop his heart and mind[8], as the saying goes. Those\r\nthat travel only by stage coach or sedan will probably be surprised\r\nlearn of the carriage of this vessel; for we, on our little pile of\r\nmud, can only conceive of that to which we are accustomed. Our\r\nvoyager was very familiar with the laws of gravity and with all the\r\nother attractive and repulsive forces. He utilized them so well that,\r\nwhether with the help of a ray of sunlight or some comet, he jumped\r\nfrom globe to globe like a bird vaulting itself from branch to\r\nbranch. He quickly spanned the Milky Way, and I am obliged to report\r\nthat he never saw, throughout the stars it is made up of, the\r\nbeautiful empyrean sky that the vicar Derham[9] boasts of having seen\r\nat the other end of his telescope. I do not claim that Mr. Derham has\r\npoor eyesight, God forbid! But Micromegas was on site, which makes\r\nhim a reliable witness, and I do not want to contradict anyone.\r\nMicromegas, after having toured around, arrived at the planet Saturn.\r\nAs accustomed as he was to seeing new things, he could not, upon\r\nseeing the smallness of the planet and its inhabitants, stop himself\r\nfrom smiling with the superiority that occasionally escapes the\r\nwisest of us. For in the end Saturn is hardly nine times bigger than\r\nEarth, and the citizens of this country are dwarfs, no more than a\r\nthousand fathoms tall, or somewhere around there. He and his men\r\npoked fun at them at first, like Italian musicians laughing at the\r\nmusic of Lully when he comes to France. But, as the Sirian had a good\r\nheart, he understood very quickly that a thinking being is not\r\nnecessarily ridiculous just because he is only 6,000 feet tall. He\r\ngot to know the Saturnians after their shock wore off. He built a\r\nstrong friendship with the secretary of the academy of Saturn, a\r\nspirited man who had not invented anything, to tell the truth, but\r\nwho understood the inventions of others very well, and who wrote some\r\npassable verses and carried out some complicated calculations. I will\r\nreport here, for the reader\u0027s satisfaction, a singular conversation\r\nthat Micromegas had with the secretary one day.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[8] See my note, page 110. B. [this note, in Zadig, says: \"This\r\nline is mostly written at the expense of Rollin, who often employs\r\nthese expressions in his \u003cI\u003eTreatise on Studies\u003c/I\u003e. Voltaire returns\r\nto it often: see, in the present volume, chapter I of Micromegas,\r\nand in volume XXXIV, chapter XI of \u003cI\u003eThe Man of Forty Crowns\u003c/I\u003e,\r\nchapter IX of \u003cI\u003eThe White Bull\u003c/I\u003e and volume XI, the second verse of\r\nsong VIII of \u003cI\u003eThe Young Virgin\u003c/I\u003e. B.\"]\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[9] English savant, author of \u003cI\u003eAstro-Theology\u003c/I\u003e, and several other\r\nworks that seek to prove the existence of God through detailing\r\nthe wonders of nature: unfortunately he and his imitators are\r\noften mistaken in their explanation of these wonders; they rave\r\nabout the wisdom that is revealed in a phenomenon, but one soon\r\ndiscovers that the phenomenon is completely different than they\r\nsupposed; so it is only their own fabrications that give them this\r\nimpression of wisdom. This fault, common to all works of its type,\r\ndiscredited them. One knows too far in advance that the author\r\nwill end up admiring whatever he has chosen to discuss.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cA NAME=\"chap02\"\u003e\u003c/A\u003e\r\n\u003cH3 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nCHAPTER II.\r\n\u003c/H3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH4 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nConversation between the inhabitant of Sirius and that of Saturn.\r\n\u003c/H4\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nAfter his excellency laid himself down to rest the secretary\r\napproached him.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"You have to admit,\" said Micromegas, \"that nature is extremely\r\nvaried.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Yes,\" said the Saturnian, \"nature is like a flower bed wherein the\r\nflowers\u0026mdash;\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Ugh!\" said the other, \"leave off with flower beds.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe secretary began again. \"Nature is like an assembly of blonde and\r\nbrown-haired girls whose jewels\u0026mdash;\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"What am I supposed to do with your brown-haired girls?\" said the\r\nother.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Then she is like a gallery of paintings whose features\u0026mdash;\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Certainly not!\" said the voyager. \"I say again that nature is like\r\nnature. Why bother looking for comparisons?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"To please you,\" replied the Secretary.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"I do not want to be pleased,\" answered the voyager. \"I want to be\r\ntaught. Tell me how many senses the men of your planet have.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"We only have 72,\" said the academic, \"and we always complain about\r\nit. Our imagination surpasses our needs. We find that with our 72\r\nsenses, our ring, our five moons, we are too restricted; and in spite\r\nof all our curiosity and the fairly large number of passions that\r\nresult from our 72 senses, we have plenty of time to get bored.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"I believe it,\" said Micromegas, \"for on our planet we have almost\r\n1,000 senses; and yet we still have a kind of vague feeling, a sort\r\nof worry, that warns us that there are even more perfect beings. I\r\nhave traveled a bit; and I have seen mortals that surpass us, some\r\nfar superior. But I have not seen any that desire only what they\r\ntruly need, and who need only what they indulge in. Maybe someday I\r\nwill happen upon a country that lacks nothing; but so far no one has\r\ngiven me any word of a place like that.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe Saturnian and the Sirian proceeded to wear themselves out in\r\nspeculating; but after a lot of very ingenious and very dubious\r\nreasoning, it was necessary to return to the facts.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"How long do you live?\" said the Sirian.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Oh! For a very short time,\" replied the small man from Saturn.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Same with us,\" said the Sirian. \"we always complain about it. It\r\nmust be a universal law of nature.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Alas! We only live through 500 revolutions around the sun,\" said the\r\nSaturnian. (This translates to about 15,000 years, by our standards.)\r\n\"You can see yourself that this is to die almost at the moment one is\r\nborn; our existence is a point, our lifespan an instant, our planet\r\nan atom. Hardly do we begin to learn a little when death arrives,\r\nbefore we get any experience. As for me, I do not dare make any\r\nplans. I see myself as a drop of water in an immense ocean. I am\r\nashamed, most of all before you, of how ridiculously I figure in this\r\nworld.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nMicromegas replied, \"If you were not a philosopher, I would fear\r\nburdening you by telling you that our lifespan is 700 times longer\r\nthan yours; but you know very well when it is necessary to return\r\nyour body to the elements, and reanimate nature in another form,\r\nwhich we call death. When this moment of metamorphosis comes, to have\r\nlived an eternity or to have lived a day amounts to precisely the\r\nsame thing. I have been to countries where they live a thousand times\r\nlonger than we do, and they also die. But people everywhere have the\r\ngood sense to know their role and to thank the Author of nature. He\r\nhas scattered across this universe a profusion of varieties with a\r\nkind of admirable uniformity. For example, all the thinking beings\r\nare different, and all resemble one another in the gift of thought\r\nand desire. Matter is extended everywhere, but has different\r\nproperties on each planet. How many diverse properties do you count\r\nin yours?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"If you mean those properties,\" said the Saturnian, \"without which we\r\nbelieve that the planet could not subsist as it is, we count 300 of\r\nthem, like extension, impenetrability, mobility, gravity,\r\ndivisibility, and the rest.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Apparently,\" replied the voyager, \"this small number suffices for\r\nwhat the Creator had in store for your dwelling. I admire his wisdom\r\nin everything; I see differences everywhere, but also proportion.\r\nYour planet is small, your inhabitants are as well. You have few\r\nsensations; your matter has few properties; all this is the work of\r\nProvidence. What color is your sun upon examination?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"A very yellowish white,\" said the Saturnian. \"And when we divide one\r\nof its rays, we find that it contains seven colors.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Our sun strains at red,\" said the Sirian, \"and we have 39 primary\r\ncolors. There is no one sun, among those that I have gotten close to\r\nthat resembles it, just as there is no one face among you that is\r\nidentical to the others.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nAfter numerous questions of this nature, he learned how many\r\nessentially different substances are found on Saturn. He learned that\r\nthere were only about thirty, like God, space, matter, the beings\r\nwith extension that sense, the beings with extension that sense and\r\nthink, the thinking beings that have no extension; those that are\r\npenetrable, those that are not, and the rest. The Sirian, whose home\r\ncontained 300 and who had discovered 3,000 of them in his voyages,\r\nprodigiously surprised the philosopher of Saturn. Finally, after\r\nhaving told each other a little of what they knew and a lot of what\r\nthey did not know, after having reasoned over the course of a\r\nrevolution around the sun, they resolved to go on a small\r\nphilosophical voyage together.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cA NAME=\"chap03\"\u003e\u003c/A\u003e\r\n\u003cH3 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nCHAPTER III.\r\n\u003c/H3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH4 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nVoyage of the two inhabitants of Sirius and Saturn.\r\n\u003c/H4\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nOur two philosophers were just ready to take off into Saturn\u0027s\r\natmosphere with a very nice provision of mathematical instrument when\r\nthe ruler of Saturn, who had heard news of the departure, came in\r\ntears to remonstrate. She was a pretty, petite brunette who was only\r\n660 fathoms tall, but who compensated for this small size with many\r\nother charms.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Cruelty!\" she cried, \"after resisting you for 1,500 years, just when\r\nI was beginning to come around, when I\u0027d spent hardly a hundred[1]\r\nyears in your arms, you leave me to go on a voyage with a giant from\r\nanother world; go, you\u0027re only curious, you\u0027ve never been in love: if\r\nyou were a true Saturnian, you would be faithful. Where are you\r\nrunning off to? What do you want? Our five moons are less errant than\r\nyou, our ring less inconsistent. It\u0027s over, I will never love anyone\r\never again.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe philosopher embraced her, cried with her, philosopher that he\r\nwas; and the woman, after swooning, went off to console herself with\r\nthe help of one of the dandies of the country.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[1] The 1773 edition is the first that reads \"a hundred\"; all the\r\nearlier editions read: \"two hundred.\" B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nOur two explorers left all the same; they alighted first on the ring,\r\nwhich they found to be fairly flat, as conjectured by an illustrious\r\ninhabitant of our little sphere[2]; from there they went easily from\r\nmoon to moon. A comet passed by the last; they flew onto it with\r\ntheir servants and their instruments. When they had traveled about\r\none hundred fifty million leagues, they met with the satellites of\r\nJupiter. They stopped at Jupiter and stayed for a week, during which\r\ntime they learned some very wonderful secrets that would have been\r\nforthcoming in print if not for the inquisition, which found some of\r\nthe propositions to be a little harsh. But I have read the manuscript\r\nin the library of the illustrious archbishop of…., who with a\r\ngenerosity and goodness that is impossible to praise allowed me to\r\nsee his books. I promised him a long article in the first edition of\r\nMoréri, and I will not forget his children, who give such a great\r\nhope of perpetuating the race of their illustrious father.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[2] Huygens. See volume XXVI, page 398. B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nBut let us now return to our travelers. Upon leaving Jupiter they\r\ntraversed a space of around one hundred million leagues and\r\napproached the planet Mars, which, as we know, is five times smaller\r\nthan our own; they swung by two moons that cater to this planet but\r\nhave escaped the notice of our astronomers. I know very well that\r\nFather Castel will write, perhaps even agreeably enough, against the\r\nexistence of these two moons; but I rely on those who reason by\r\nanalogy. These good philosophers know how unlikely it would be for\r\nMars, so far from the sun, to have gotten by with less than two\r\nmoons. Whatever the case may be, our explorers found it so small that\r\nthey feared not being able to land on it, and they passed it by like\r\ntwo travelers disdainful of a bad village cabaret, pressing on\r\ntowards a neighboring city. But the Sirian and his companion soon\r\nregretted it. They traveled a long time without finding anything.\r\nFinally they perceived a small candle, it was earth; this was a\r\npitiful sight to those who had just left Jupiter. Nevertheless, from\r\nfear of further regret, they resolved to touch down. Carried by the\r\ntail of a comet, and finding an aurora borealis at the ready, they\r\nstarted towards it, and arrived at Earth on the northern coast of the\r\nBaltic sea, July 5, 1737, new style.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cA NAME=\"chap04\"\u003e\u003c/A\u003e\r\n\u003cH3 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nCHAPTER IV.\r\n\u003c/H3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH4 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nWhat happened on planet Earth.\r\n\u003c/H4\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nAfter resting for some time they ate two mountains for lunch, which\r\ntheir crew fixed up pretty nicely. Then they decided to get to know\r\nthe small country they were in. They went first from north to south.\r\nThe usual stride of the Sirian and his crew was around 30,000 feet.\r\nThe dwarf from Saturn, who clocked in at no more than a thousand\r\nfathoms, trailed behind, breathing heavily. He had to make twelve\r\nsteps each time the other took a stride; imagine (if it is alright to\r\nmake such a comparison) a very small lapdog following a captain of\r\nthe guards of the Prussian king.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nSince our strangers moved fairly rapidly, they circumnavigated the\r\nglobe in 36 hours. The sun, in truth, or rather the Earth, makes a\r\nsimilar voyage in a day; but you have to imagine that the going is\r\nmuch easier when one turns on one\u0027s axis instead of walking on one\u0027s\r\nfeet. So there they were, back where they started, after having seen\r\nthe nearly imperceptible pond we call \u003cI\u003ethe Mediterranean\u003c/I\u003e, and the\r\nother little pool that, under the name \u003cI\u003eOcean\u003c/I\u003e, encircles the\r\nmolehill. The dwarf never got in over his knees, and the other hardly\r\nwet his heels. On their way they did all they could to see whether\r\nthe planet was inhabited or not. They crouched, laid down, felt\r\naround everywhere; but their eyes and their hands were not\r\nproportionate to the little beings that crawl here, they could not\r\nfeel in the least any sensation that might lead them to suspect that\r\nwe and our associates, the other inhabitants of this planet, have the\r\nhonor of existing.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe dwarf, who was a bit hasty sometimes, decided straightaway that\r\nthe planet was uninhabited. His first reason was that he had not seen\r\nanyone. Micromegas politely indicated that this logic was rather\r\nflawed: \"For,\" said he, \"you do not see with your little eyes certain\r\nstars of the 50th magnitude that I can perceive very distinctly. Do\r\nyou conclude that these stars do not exist?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"But,\" said the dwarf, \"I felt around a lot.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"But,\" answered the other, \"you have pretty weak senses.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"But,\" replied the dwarf, \"this planet is poorly constructed. It is\r\nso irregular and has such a ridiculous shape! Everything here seems\r\nto be in chaos: you see these little rivulets, none of which run in a\r\nstraight line, these pools of water that are neither round, nor\r\nsquare, nor oval, nor regular by any measure; all these little pointy\r\nspecks scattered across the earth that grate on my feet? (This was in\r\nreference to mountains.) Look at its shape again, how it is flat at\r\nthe poles, how it clumsily revolves around the sun in a way that\r\nnecessarily eliminates the climates of the poles? To tell the truth,\r\nwhat really makes me think it is uninhabited is that it seems that no\r\none of good sense would want to stay.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Well,\" said Micromegas, \"maybe the inhabitants of this planet are\r\nnot of good sense! But in the end it looks like this may be for a\r\nreason. Everything appears irregular to you here, you say, because\r\neverything on Saturn and Jupiter is drawn in straight lines. This\r\nmight be the[1] reason that you are a bit puzzled here. Have I not\r\ntold you that I have continually noticed variety in my travels?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[1] All the editions that precede those of Kehl read: \"It might be\r\nfor this\" B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe Saturnian responded to all these points. The dispute might never\r\nhave finished if it were not for Micromegas who, getting worked up,\r\nhad the good luck to break the thread of his diamond necklace. The\r\ndiamonds fell; they were pretty little carats of fairly irregular\r\nsize, of which the largest weighed four hundred pounds and the\r\nsmallest fifty. The dwarf recaptured some of them; bending down for a\r\nbetter look, he perceived that these diamonds were cut with the help\r\nof an excellent microscope. So he took out a small microscope of 160\r\nfeet in diameter and put it up to his eye; and Micromegas took up one\r\nof 2,005 feet in diameter. They were excellent; but neither one of\r\nthem could see anything right away and had to adjust them. Finally\r\nthe Saturnian saw something elusive that moved in the shallow waters\r\nof the Baltic sea; it was a whale. He carefully picked it up with his\r\nlittle finger and, resting it on the nail of his thumb, showed it to\r\nthe Sirian, who began laughing for a second time at the ludicrously\r\nsmall scale of the things on our planet. The Saturnian, persuaded\r\nthat our world was inhabited, figured very quickly that it was\r\ninhabited only by whales; and as he was very good at reasoning, he\r\nwas determined to infer the origin and evolution of such a small\r\natom; whether it had ideas, a will, liberty. Micromegas was confused.\r\nHe examined the animal very patiently and found no reason to believe\r\nthat a soul was lodged in it. The two voyagers were therefore\r\ninclined to believe that there is no spirit in our home, when with\r\nthe help of the microscope they perceived something as large as a\r\nwhale floating on the Baltic Sea. We know that a flock of\r\nphilosophers was at this time returning from the Arctic Circle, where\r\nthey had made some observations, which no one had dared make up to\r\nthen. The gazettes claimed that their vessel ran aground on the coast\r\nof Bothnia, and that they were having a lot of difficulty setting\r\nthings straight; but the world never shows its cards. I am going to\r\ntell how it really happened, artlessly and without bias; which is no\r\nsmall thing for an historian.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cA NAME=\"chap05\"\u003e\u003c/A\u003e\r\n\u003cH3 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nCHAPTER V.\r\n\u003c/H3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH4 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nExperiments and reasonings of the two voyagers.\r\n\u003c/H4\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nMicromegas slowly reached his hand towards the place where the object\r\nhad appeared, extended two fingers, and withdrew them for fear of\r\nbeing mistaken, then opened and closed them, and skillfully seized\r\nthe vessel that carried these fellows, putting it on his fingernail\r\nwithout pressing it too hard for fear of crushing it.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Here is a very different animal from the first,\" said the dwarf from\r\nSaturn.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe Sirian put the so-called animal in the palm of his hand. The\r\npassengers and the crew, who believed themselves to have been lifted\r\nup by a hurricane, and who thought they were on some sort of boulder,\r\nscurried around; the sailors took the barrels of wine, threw them\r\noverboard onto Micromegas hand, and followed after. The geometers\r\ntook their quadrants, their sextants, two Lappland girls[1], and\r\ndescended onto the Sirian\u0027s fingers. They made so much fuss that he\r\nfinally felt something move, tickling his fingers. It was a steel-tipped\r\nbaton being pressed into his index finger. He judged, by this\r\ntickling, that it had been ejected from some small animal that he was\r\nholding; but he did not suspect anything else at first. The\r\nmicroscope, which could barely distinguish a whale from a boat, could\r\nnot capture anything as elusive as a man. I do not claim to outrage\r\nanyone\u0027s vanity, but I am obliged to ask that important men make an\r\nobservation here. Taking the size of a man to be about five feet, the\r\nfigure we strike on Earth is like that struck by an animal of about\r\nsix hundred thousandths[2] the height of a flea on a ball five feet\r\naround. Imagine something that can hold the Earth in its hands, and\r\nwhich has organs in proportion to ours\u0026mdash;and it may very well be that\r\nthere are such things\u0026mdash;conceive, I beg of you, what these things\r\nwould think of the battles that allow a vanquisher to take a village\r\nonly to lose it later.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[1] See the notes to the speech in verse, \"On Moderation\" (Volume\r\nXII), and those of \"Russia to Paris\" (Volume XIV). K.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[2] The edition that I take to be original reads \"sixty\r\nthousandths.\" B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nI do not doubt that if ever some captain of some troop of imposing\r\ngrenadiers reads this work he will increase the size of the hats of\r\nhis troops by at least two imposing feet. But I warn him that it will\r\nhave been done in vain; that he and his will never grow any larger\r\nthan infinitely small.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nWhat marvelous skill it must have taken for our philosopher from\r\nSirius to perceive the atoms I have just spoken of. When Leuwenhoek\r\nand Hartsoëker tinkered with the first or thought they saw the grains\r\nthat make us up, they did not by any means make such an astonishing\r\ndiscovery. What pleasure Micromegas felt at seeing these little\r\nmachines move, at examining all their scurrying, at following them in\r\ntheir enterprises! how he cried out! with what joy he placed one of\r\nhis microscopes in the hands of his traveling companion!\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"I see them,\" they said at the same time, \"look how they are carrying\r\nloads, stooping, getting up again.\" They spoke like that, hands\r\ntrembling from the pleasure of seeing such new objects, and from fear\r\nof losing them. The Saturnian, passing from an excess of incredulity\r\nto an excess of credulity, thought he saw them mating.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Ah!\" he said. \"I have caught nature in the act\"[1]. But he was\r\nfooled by appearances, which happens only too often, whether one is\r\nusing a microscope or not.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[1] \u003cI\u003ej\u0027ai pris la nature sur le fait\u003c/I\u003e. A happy, good-natured turn\r\nof phrase expressed by Fontenelle upon making some observations of\r\nnatural history. K.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cA NAME=\"chap06\"\u003e\u003c/A\u003e\r\n\u003cH3 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nCHAPTER VI.\r\n\u003c/H3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH4 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nWhat happened to them among men.\r\n\u003c/H4\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nMicromegas, a much better observer than his dwarf, clearly saw that\r\nthe atoms were speaking to each other, and pointed this out to his\r\ncompanion, who, ashamed of being mistaken about them reproducing, did\r\nnot want to believe that such a species could communicate. He had the\r\ngift of language as well as the Sirian. He could not hear the atoms\r\ntalk, and he supposed that they did not speak. Moreover, how could\r\nthese impossibly small beings have vocal organs, and what would they\r\nhave to say? To speak, one must think, more or less; but if they\r\nthink, they must therefore have the equivalent of a soul. But to\r\nattribute the equivalent of a soul to this species seemed absurd to\r\nhim.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"But,\" said the Sirian, \"you believed right away that they made love.\r\nDo you believe that one can make love without thinking and without\r\nuttering one word, or at least without making oneself heard? Do you\r\nsuppose as well that it is more difficult to produce an argument than\r\nan infant? Both appear to be great mysteries to me.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"I do not dare believe or deny it,\" said the dwarf. \"I have no more\r\nopinions. We must try to examine these insects and reason after.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"That is very well said,\" echoed Micromegas, and he briskly took out\r\na pair of scissors with which he cut his fingernails, and from the\r\nparings of his thumbnail he improvised a kind of speaking-trumpet,\r\nlike a vast funnel, and put the end up to his ear. The circumference\r\nof the funnel enveloped the vessel and the entire crew. The weakest\r\nvoice entered into the circular fibers of the nails in such a way\r\nthat, thanks to his industriousness, the philosopher above could hear\r\nthe drone of our insects below perfectly. In a small number of hours\r\nhe was able to distinguish words, and finally to understand French.\r\nThe dwarf managed to do the same, though with more difficulty. The\r\nvoyagers\u0027 surprise redoubled each second. They heard the mites speak\r\nfairly intelligently. This performance of nature\u0027s seemed\r\ninexplicable to them. You may well believe that the Sirian and the\r\ndwarf burned with impatience to converse with the atoms. The dwarf\r\nfeared that his thunderous voice, and assuredly Micromegas, would\r\ndeafen the mites without being understood. They had to diminish its\r\nforce. They placed toothpicks in their mouths, whose tapered ends\r\nfell around the ship. The Sirian put the dwarf on his knees and the\r\nship with its crew on a fingernail. He lowered his head and spoke\r\nsoftly. Finally, relying on these precautions and many others, he\r\nbegan his speech like so:\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Invisible insects, that the hand of the Creator has caused to spring\r\nup in the abyss of the infinitely small, I thank him for allowing me\r\nto uncover these seemingly impenetrable secrets. Perhaps those at my\r\ncourt would not deign to give you audience, but I mistrust no one,\r\nand I offer you my protection.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nIf anyone has ever been surprised, it was the people who heard these\r\nwords. They could not figure out where they were coming from. The\r\nchaplain of the vessel recited the exorcism prayers, the sailors\r\nswore, and the philosophers of the vessel constructed systems; but no\r\nmatter what systems they came up with, they could not figure out who\r\nwas talking. The dwarf from Saturn, who had a softer voice than\r\nMicromegas, told them in a few words what species they were dealing\r\nwith. He told them about the voyage from Saturn, brought them up to\r\nspeed on what Mr. Micromegas was, and after lamenting how small they\r\nwere, asked them if they had always been in this miserable state so\r\nnear nothingness, what they were doing on a globe that appeared to\r\nbelong to whales, whether they were happy, if they reproduced, if\r\nthey had a soul, and a hundred other questions of this nature.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nA reasoner among the troop, more daring than the others, and shocked\r\nthat someone might doubt his soul, observed the interlocutor with\r\nsight-vanes pointed at a quarter circle from two different stations,\r\nand at the third spoke thusly: \"You believe then, Sir, that because\r\nyou are a thousand fathoms tall from head to toe, that you are a\u0026mdash;\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"A thousand fathoms!\" cried the dwarf. \"Good heavens! How could he\r\nknow my height? A thousand fathoms! You cannot mistake him for a\r\nflea. This atom just measured me! He is a surveyor, he knows my size;\r\nand I, who can only see him through a microscope, I still do not know\r\nhis!\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Yes, I measured you,\" said the physician, \"and I will measure your\r\nlarge companion as well.\" The proposition was accepted, his\r\nexcellency laid down flat; for were he to stay upright his head would\r\nhave been among the clouds. Our philosophers planted a great shaft on\r\nhim, in a place that doctor Swift would have named, but that I will\r\nrestrain myself from calling by its name, out of respect for the\r\nladies. Next, by a series of triangles linked together, they\r\nconcluded that what they saw was in effect a young man of 120,000\r\nfeet[1].\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[1]The edition I believe to be original reads, \"a beautiful\r\nyoung … of 120,000 feet.\" B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nSo Micromegas delivered these words: \"I see more than ever that one\r\nmust not judge anything by its apparent size. Oh God! you who have\r\ngiven intelligence to substance that appears contemptible. The\r\ninfinitely small costs you as little as the infinitely large; and if\r\nit is possible that there are such small beings as these, there may\r\njust as well be a spirit bigger than those of the superb animals that\r\nI have seen in the heavens, whose feet alone would cover this\r\nplanet.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nOne of the philosophers responded that he could certainly imagine\r\nthat there are intelligent beings much smaller than man. He\r\nrecounted, not every fabulous thing Virgil says about bees, but what\r\nSwammerdam discovered, and what Réaumur has anatomized. He explained\r\nfinally that there are animals that are to bees what bees are to man,\r\nwhat the Sirian himself was for the vast animals he had spoken of,\r\nand what these large animals are to other substances before which\r\nthey looked like atoms. Little by little the conversation became\r\ninteresting, and Micromegas spoke thusly:\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cA NAME=\"chap07\"\u003e\u003c/A\u003e\r\n\u003cH3 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nCHAPTER VII.\r\n\u003c/H3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cH4 ALIGN=\"center\"\u003e\r\nConversation with the men.\r\n\u003c/H4\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Oh intelligent atoms, in which the Eternal Being desired to make\r\nmanifest his skill and his power, you must, no doubt, taste pure joys\r\non your planet; for having so little matter, and appearing to be\r\nentirely spirit, you must live out your life thinking and loving, the\r\nveritable life of the mind. Nowhere have I seen true bliss, but it is\r\nhere, without a doubt.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nAt this all the philosophers shook their heads, and one of them, more\r\nfrank than the others, avowed that if one excepts a small number of\r\ninhabitants held in poor regard, all the rest are an assembly of mad,\r\nvicious, and wretched people. \"We have more substance than is\r\nnecessary,\" he said, \"to do evil, if evil comes from substance; and\r\ntoo much spirit, if evil comes from spirit. Did you know, for\r\nexample, that as I am speaking with you[1], there are 100,000 madmen\r\nof our species wearing hats, killing 100,000 other animals wearing\r\nturbans, or being massacred by them, and that we have used almost\r\nsurface of the Earth for this purpose since time immemorial?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[1] We saw, at the end of chapter III, that the story occurs in\r\n1737. Voltaire is referring to the war between the Turks and the\r\nRussians, from 1736 to 1739. B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe Sirian shuddered, and asked the reason for these horrible\r\nquarrels between such puny animals.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"It is a matter,\" said the philosopher, \"of some piles of mud as big\r\nas your heel[2]. It is not that any of these millions of men that\r\nslit each other\u0027s throats care about this pile of mud. It is only a\r\nmatter of determining if it should belong to a certain man who we\r\ncall \u0027Sultan,\u0027 or to another who we call, for whatever reason,\r\n\u0027Czar.\u0027 Neither one has ever seen nor will ever see the little piece\r\nof Earth, and almost none of these animals that mutually kill\r\nthemselves have ever seen the animal for which they kill.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[2] Crimea, which all the same was not reunited with Russia until\r\n1783. B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Oh! Cruel fate!\" cried the Sirian with indignation, \"who could\r\nconceive of this excess of maniacal rage! It makes me want to take\r\nthree steps and crush this whole anthill of ridiculous assassins.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Do not waste your time,\" someone responded, \"they are working\r\ntowards ruin quickly enough. Know that after ten years only one\r\nhundredth of these scoundrels will be here. Know that even if they\r\nhave not drawn swords, hunger, fatigue, or intemperance will overtake\r\nthem. Furthermore, it is not they that should be punished, it is\r\nthose sedentary barbarians who from the depths of their offices\r\norder, while they are digesting their last meal, the massacre of a\r\nmillion men, and who subsequently give solemn thanks to God.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe voyager was moved with pity for the small human race, where he\r\nwas discovering such surprising contrasts.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Since you are amongst the small number of wise men,\" he told these\r\nsirs, \"and since apparently you do not kill anyone for money, tell\r\nme, I beg of you, what occupies your time.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"We dissect flies,\" said the philosopher, \"we measure lines, we\r\ngather figures; we agree with each other on two or three points that\r\nwe do not understand.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nIt suddenly took the Sirian and the Saturnian\u0027s fancy to question\r\nthese thinking atoms, to learn what it was they agreed on.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"What do you measure,\" said the Saturnian, \"from the Dog Star to the\r\ngreat star of the Gemini?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThey responded all at once, \"thirty-two and a half degrees.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"What do you measure from here to the moon?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"60 radii of the Earth even.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"How much does your air weigh?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nHe thought he had caught them[3], but they all told him that air\r\nweighed around 900 times less than an identical volume of the purest\r\nwater, and 19,000 times less than a gold ducat. The little dwarf from\r\nSaturn, surprised at their responses, was tempted to accuse of\r\nwitchcraft the same people he had refused a soul fifteen minutes\r\nearlier.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[3] The edition I believe to be original reads \"put them off\" in\r\nplace of \"caught them.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nFinally Micromegas said to them, \"Since you know what is exterior to\r\nyou so well, you must know what is interior even better. Tell me what\r\nyour soul is, and how you form ideas.\" The philosophers spoke all at\r\nonce as before, but they were of different views. The oldest cited\r\nAristotle, another pronounced the name of Descartes; this one here,\r\nMalebranche; another Leibnitz; another Locke. An old peripatetic\r\nspoke up with confidence: \"The soul is an entelechy, and a reason\r\ngives it the power to be what it is.\" This is what Aristotle\r\nexpressly declares, page 633 of the Louvre edition. He cited the\r\npassage[4].\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n[4] Here is the passage such as it is transcribed in the edition\r\ndated 1750: \"Entele\u0027xeia\u0027 tis esi kai\u0027 lo\u0027gos toû dy\u0027namin\r\ne\u0027xontos toude\u0027 ei\u0027nai.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThis passage of Aristotle, \u003cI\u003eOn the Soul\u003c/I\u003e, book II, chapter II, is\r\ntranslated thusly by Casaubon: \u003cI\u003eAnima quaedam perfectio et actus\r\nac ratio est quod potentiam habet ut ejusmodi sit\u003c/I\u003e. B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"I do not understand Greek very well,\" said the giant.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Neither do I,\" said the philosophical mite.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Why then,\" the Sirian retorted, \"are you citing some man named\r\nAristotle in the Greek?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Because,\" replied the savant, \"one should always cite what one does\r\nnot understand at all in the language one understands the least.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe Cartesian took the floor and said: \"The soul is a pure spirit\r\nthat has received in the belly of its mother all metaphysical ideas,\r\nand which, leaving that place, is obliged to go to school, and to\r\nlearn all over again what it already knew, and will not know again.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"It is not worth the trouble,\" responded the animal with the height\r\nof eight leagues, \"for your soul to be so knowledgeable in its\r\nmother\u0027s stomach, only to be so ignorant when you have hair on your\r\nchin. But what do you understand by the mind?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"You are asking me?\" said the reasoner. \"I have no idea. We say that\r\nit is not matter\u0026mdash;\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"But do you at least know what matter is?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Certainly,\" replied the man. \"For example this stone is grey, has\r\nsuch and such a form, has three dimensions, is heavy and divisible.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Well!\" said the Sirian, \"this thing that appears to you to be\r\ndivisible, heavy, and grey, will you tell me what it is? You see some\r\nattributes, but behind those, are you familiar with that?\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"No,\" said the other.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"\u0026mdash;So you do not know what matter is.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nSo Micromegas, addressing another sage that he held on a thumb, asked\r\nwhat his soul was, and what it did.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"Nothing at all,\" said the Malebranchist philosopher[5]. \"God does\r\neverything for me. I see everything in him, I do everything in him;\r\nit is he who does everything that I get mixed up in.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[5] See the opuscule entitled \"All in God\" in \u003cI\u003eMiscellaneous\u003c/I\u003e\r\n(1796).\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"It would be just as well not to exist,\" retorted the sage of Sirius.\r\n\"And you, my friend,\" he said to a Leibnitzian who was there, \"what\r\nis your soul?\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\n\"It is,\" answered the Leibnitzian, \"the hand of a clock that tells\r\nthe time while my body rings out. Or, if you like, it is my soul that\r\nrings out while my body tells the time, or my soul is the mirror of\r\nthe universe, and my body is the border of the mirror. All that is\r\nclear.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nA small partisan of Locke was nearby, and when he was finally given\r\nthe floor: \"I do not know,\" said he, \"how I think, but I know that I\r\nhave only ever thought through my senses. That there are immaterial\r\nand intelligent substances I do not doubt, but that it is impossible\r\nfor God to communicate thought to matter I doubt very much. I revere\r\nthe eternal power. It is not my place to limit it. I affirm nothing,\r\nand content myself with believing that many more things are possible\r\nthan one would think.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP\u003e\r\nThe animal from Sirius smiled. He did not find this the least bit\r\nsage, while the dwarf from Saturn would have kissed the sectarian of\r\nLocke were it not for the extreme disproportion. But there was,\r\nunfortunately, a little animalcule in a square hat who interrupted\r\nall the other animalcule philosophers. He said that he knew the\r\nsecret: that everything would be found in the \u003cI\u003eSumma\u003c/I\u003e of Saint\r\nThomas. He looked the two celestial inhabitants up and down. He\r\nargued that their people, their worlds, their suns, their stars, had\r\nall been made uniquely for mankind. At this speech, our two voyagers\r\nnearly fell over with that inextinguishable laughter which, according\r\nto Homer[6], is shared with the gods. Their shoulders and their\r\nstomachs heaved up and down, and in these convulsions the vessel that\r\nthe Sirian had on his nail fell into one of the Saturnian\u0027s trouser\r\npockets. These two good men searched for it a long time, found it\r\nfinally, and tidied it up neatly. The Sirian resumed his discussion\r\nwith the little mites. He spoke to them with great kindness, although\r\nin the depths of his heart he was a little angry that the infinitely\r\nsmall had an almost infinitely great pride. He promised to make them\r\na beautiful philosophical book[7], written very small for their\r\nusage, and said that in this book they would see the point of\r\neverything. Indeed, he gave them this book before leaving. It was\r\ntaken to the academy of science in Paris, but when the ancient[8]\r\nsecretary opened it, he saw nothing but blank pages. \"Ah!\" he said,\r\n\"I suspected as much.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[6] Illiad, I, 599. B.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[7] The edition that I believe to be original, and the one dated\r\n1750, reads, \"philosophical book, that would teach them of\r\nadmirable things, and show them the goodness of things.\"\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"footnote\"\u003e\r\n[8] Although this scene occurs in 1737, as one saw in pages 177 to\r\n188, one could assign the epithet of \"old\" to Fontenelle, who was\r\n80 at that point, and who died 20 years later. In 1740 he resigned\r\nfrom his position as perpetual secretary.\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cP CLASS=\"finis\"\u003e\r\n END OF THE HISTORY OF MICROMEGAS.\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\u003c/P\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cpre\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nEnd of Project Gutenberg\u0027s Romans — Volume 3: Micromegas, by Voltaire\n\u003c/article\u003e"}],"SectionSequence":["Back Link","Work Title","Deck","Author","Period","Era","Composition","Date Note","Region","Terra Avita","Terra Avita Region","Modern Country","Original Title","Language","Primary Discipline","Secondary Discipline","Tradition","Full Versions","Core Thesis","Classification","Arguments","Influence","Significance","Evidence Note","Full Text"],"Counts":{"ContextCards":3,"GeoCards":4,"DisciplineCards":2,"Links":11,"Sections":25,"Styles":3,"Scripts":1}}