rotherhood, Justice and Love, and is carrying with it
man, who will find liberty and unity in the light.

_La Fable_, i.e. the myth of Aeolus.

_Eole_. Aeolus was the god of the Winds, which he kept fastened up in a
bag.

_fausse clef_, skeleton key.

_fatal_, 'charged with destiny.'

_pesanteur_. Not 'weight' but 'the force of gravity'.

_Nadir_ is the point in the heavens which would be reached if a line
were drawn through the centre of the earth and carried on till it
reached the sky. But here it seems to be used loosely for any distant
point in the heavens. The meaning is that from a remote distance the
round earth, as it came into view beneath the ship, would have the
appearance of a dusky comet.

_aeroscaphe_. A word once proposed, but never widely accepted, as a
designation for an airship. It is derived from the Greek _aer_ (air) and
_skaphe_ (a vessel).

_humaine_, i.e. made by man.

_treuil_, 'windlass.'

_moufle_, 'block.'

_moteur_, 'driving power.'

L. 171. i.e. by mathematics and poetry, that is by reason and
imagination combined.

_Euler_ was a Swiss geometrician (1707-83) who made great contributions
to mathematics and mechanics.

_Delos_. Tradition says that Delos in the Aegean Sea was once a
wandering island, and that Zeus fastened it down that it might be a home
for Latona, who was about to give birth to Apollo and Diana.

_Leibniz_ (English Leibnitz), the German mathematician, chemist, and
philosopher (1646-1716).

_Fulton_, the American inventor (1765-1815), who was one of the first
mechanicians to construct a steamboat.

_Kepler_. The German Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the founders of
modern astronomy.

These three men are chosen as typical embodiments of the spirit of
progress.

_Simoun_. See note on PLEINE MER.

_mistral_. In the South of France the north-east wind is so called.

_Sous le renversement de l'urne_. The urn is the symbol of that
'Fatalite' which to Hugo was the dark shadow over human life. Cf.
LA TROMPETTE.

Andromeda, Orion, and the Pleiades are well-known constellations.
Arcturus is a star of the first magnitude in Bootes.

The Scorpion and the Archer are next each other in the heavens. The
lines express in a somewhat bizarre manner the effect of the outpouring
of life on the stars.

_Aldebaran_, a reddish star of the first magnitude in the constellation
of Taurus.

_Cephee_. Cepheus is the name of a constellation, as also is Perseus.

_des e