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FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON Episode 2
One condition was imposed as a 'sine qua non' upon every candidate for admission into the
association, and that was the condition of having designed, or (more or less) perfected
a cannon; or, in default of a cannon, at least a firearm of some description. It may, however,
be mentioned that mere inventors of revolvers, shooting carbines, and similar small arms,
met with little consideration. Artillerists always commanded the chief place of favour.
The estimation in which these gentlemen were held, according to one of the most scientific
exponents of the Gun Club, was
"Proportional to the masses of their guns, and the direct ratio of the square of the
distances attained by their projectiles."
The Gun Club once founded, it is easy to conceive the result of the inventive genius of the
Americans. Their military weapons attained colossal proportions, and their projectiles,
exceeding the prescribed limits, unfortunately occasionally cut in two some unoffending pedestrians.
These inventions, in fact, left far in the rear the timid instruments of European artillery.
It is but fair to add that these Yankees, brave as they have ever proved themselves
to be, did not confine themselves to the theories and formulae, but that they paid heavily,
'in propria persona', for their inventions. Among them were to be counted officers of
all ranks, from lieutenants to generals; military men of every age, from those who were just
making their debut in the profession of arms up to those who had grown old in the gun-carriage.
Many had found their rest on the field of battle and their names figured in the "Book
of Honour" of the Gun Club; and of those who made good their return the greater proportion
bore the marks of their indisputable valour. Crutches, wooden legs, artificial arms, steel
hooks, caoutchouc jaws, silver craniums, platinum noses, were all to be found in the collection;
and it was calculated by the great statistician Pitcairn that throughout the Gun Club there
was not quite one arm between four persons and two legs between six.
Nevertheless, these valiant artillerists took no particular account of these little facts,
and felt justly proud when the despatches of a battle returned the number of victims
at ten-fold the quantity of projectiles expended.