I think, however, that the Captain might maintain his position without having recourse to speculations altogether too gigantic for ordinary intellect.

By simply admitting the insufficiency of the primordeal attraction to preserve a perfect balance between the movements of the lunar rotation and revolution, we can easily see how the nights and days could once succeed each other on the Moon exactly as they do at present on the Earth." "Nothing can be clearer!" resumed the brave Captain, once more rushing to the charge.

"Besides, even without this alternation of days and nights, life on the lunar surface was quite possible." "Of course it was possible," said Ardan; "everything is possible except what contradicts itself.

It is possible too that every possibility is a fact; therefore, it _is_ a fact.

However," he added, not wishing to press the Captain's weak points too closely, "let all these logical niceties pass for the present.