Description
Omega: The Last Days of the World
CHAPTER I.
The magnificent marble bridge which unites the Rue de Rennes with the
Rue de Louvre, and which, lined with the statues of celebrated
scientists and philosophers, emphasizes the monumental avenue leading to
the new portico of the Institute, was absolutely black with people. A
heaving crowd surged, rather than walked, along the quays, flowing out
from every street and pressing forward toward the portico, long before
invaded by a tumultuous throng. Never, in that barbarous age preceding
the constitution of the United States of Europe, when might was greater
than right, when military despotism ruled the world and foolish humanity
quivered in the relentless grasp of war—never before in the stormy
period of a great revolution, or in those feverish days which
accompanied a declaration of war, had the approaches of the house of the
people’s representatives, or the Place de la Concorde presented such a
spectacle. It was no longer the case of a band of fanatics rallied about
a flag, marching to some conquest of the sword, and followed by a throng
of the curious and the idle, eager to see what would happen; but of the
entire population, anxious, agitated, terrified, composed of every class
of society without distinction, hanging upon the decision of an oracle,
waiting feverishly the result of the calculations which a celebrated
astronomer was to announce that very Monday, at three o’clock, in the
session of the Academy of Sciences. Amid the flux of politics and
society the Institute survived, maintaining still in Europe its
supremacy in science, literature and art. The center of civilization,
however, had moved westward, and the focus of progress shone on the
shores of Lake Michigan, in North America.
Product ID: 9781776764488
Sku: 9781776764488
