"I shall probably have to direct my observations altogether to you, Captain," continued Barbican; "friend Michael interrupts me so often that I'm afraid he can hardly understand my remarks."
"I always admired your candor, Barbican," said Ardan; "it's a noble quality, a grand quality!"
"Don't mention it," replied Barbican, turning towards M'Nicholl, still in the dark, and addressing him exclusively; "You see, my dear Captain, the period at which the Moon's invisible side receives at once its light and heat is exactly the period of her conjunction , that is to say, when she is lying between the Earth and the Sun. In comparison therefore with the place which she had occupied at her opposition , or when her visible side was fully illuminated, she is nearer to the Sun by double her distance f
