"It is this, Johnson, that it is the only motionless part of the globe, while all the rest is turning with extreme rapidity."
"But I don't see that we are more motionless here than at Liverpool."
"No more than you perceive the motion at Liverpool; and that is because in both cases you participate in the movement or the repose. But the fact is no less certain. The earth rotates in twenty-four hours, and this motion is on an axis with its extremities at the two poles. Well, we are at one of the extremities of the axis, which is necessarily motionless."
"So," said Bell, "when our countrymen are turning rapidly, we are perfectly still?"
"Very nearly, for we are not exactly at the Pole."
"You are right, Doctor," said Hatteras seriously, and shaking his head; "we are still forty-five seconds from the precise spot."
"That is not far," answered Altamont, "and we can consider ourselves motionless."
"Yes," continued the doctor, "while those living at the equator move at the rate of three hundred and ninety-six leagues an hour."
"And without getting tired!" said Bell.
"Exactly!" answered the doctor.