Sagen

Journey to the Interior of the Earth

Journey to the Interior of the Earth
by
Jules Verne
Translated by Frederick Amadeus Malleson

Table of Contents

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PREFACE

PREFACE

THE “Voyages Extraordinaires” of M. Jules Verne deserve to be made widely known in English-speaking countries by means of carefully prepared translations. Witty and ingenious adaptations of the researches and discoveries of modern science to the popular taste, which demands that these should be presented to ordinary readers in the lighter form of cleverly mingled truth and fiction, these books will assuredly be read with profit and delight, especially by English youth. Certainly no writer before M. Jules Verne has been so happy in weaving together in judicious combination severe scientific truth with a charming exercise of playful imagination.

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1 The Professor And His Family

CHAPTER I.
THE PROFESSOR AND HIS FAMILY

On the 24th of May, 1863, my uncle, Professor Liedenbrock, rushed into his little house, No. 19 Königstrasse, one of the oldest streets in the oldest portion of the city of Hamburg.

Martha must have concluded that she was very much behindhand, for the dinner had only just been put into the oven.

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2 A Mystery To Be Solved At Any Price

CHAPTER II.
A MYSTERY TO BE SOLVED AT ANY PRICE

That study of his was a museum, and nothing else. Specimens of everything known in mineralogy lay there in their places in perfect order, and correctly named, divided into inflammable, metallic, and lithoid minerals.

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3 The Runic Writing Exercises The Professor

CHAPTER III.
THE RUNIC WRITING EXERCISES THE PROFESSOR

“Undoubtedly it is Runic,” said the Professor, bending his brows; “but there is a secret in it, and I mean to discover the key.”

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4 The Enemy To Be Starved Into Submission

CHAPTER IV.
THE ENEMY TO BE STARVED INTO SUBMISSION

“He is gone!” cried Martha, running out of her kitchen at the noise of the violent slamming of doors.

“Yes,” I replied, “completely gone.”

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5 Famine, Then Victory, Followed By Dismay

CHAPTER V.
FAMINE, THEN VICTORY, FOLLOWED BY DISMAY

I had only just time to replace the unfortunate document upon the table.

Professor Liedenbrock seemed to be greatly abstracted.

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6 Exciting Discussions About An Unparalleled Enterprise

CHAPTER VI.
EXCITING DISCUSSIONS ABOUT AN UNPARALLELED ENTERPRISE

At these words a cold shiver ran through me. Yet I controlled myself; I even resolved to put a good face upon it. Scientific arguments alone could have any weight with Professor Liedenbrock. Now there were good ones against the practicability of such a journey. Penetrate to the centre of the earth! What nonsense! But I kept my dialectic battery in reserve for a suitable opportunity, and I interested myself in the prospect of my dinner, which was not yet forthcoming.

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7 A Woman’s Courage

CHAPTER VII.
A WOMAN’S COURAGE

Thus ended this memorable seance. That conversation threw me into a fever. I came out of my uncle’s study as if I had been stunned, and as if there was not air enough in all the streets of Hamburg to put me right again. I therefore made for the banks of the Elbe, where the steamer lands her passengers, which forms the communication between the city and the Hamburg railway.

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8 Serious Preparations For Vertical Descent

CHAPTER VIII.
SERIOUS PREPARATIONS FOR VERTICAL DESCENT

Altona, which is but a suburb of Hamburg, is the terminus of the Kiel railway, which was to carry us to the Belts. In twenty minutes we were in Holstein.

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