"It is an impossible supposition," replied the practical president, "unless the force of impulsion had failed. But in that case its speed would have gradually decreased, and would not have stopped abruptly."
"Admit that it had struck against some body in space."
"What body?"
"The enormous meteor we met."
"Then," said Nicholl, "the projectile would have been broken into a thousand pieces, and we with it."
"More than that," answered Barbicane, "we should have been burnt alive."
"Burnt!" exclaimed Michel. "I regret it did not happen for us just to see."
"And you would have seen with a vengeance," answered Barbicane. "It is now known that heat is only a modification of movement when water is heated—that is to say, when heat is added to it—that means the giving of movement to its particles."
"That is an ingenious theory!" said Michel.
"And a correct one, my worthy friend, for it explains all the phenomena of caloric. Heat is only molecular movement, a single oscillation of the particles of a body. When the break is put on a train it stops. But what becomes of the movement which animated it? Why do they grease the axles of the wheels? In order to prevent them catching fire from the movement lost by transformation. Do you understand?"