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                              ANNO DOMINI
                                 2071.


                  Translated from the Dutch Original,

             WITH PREFACE AND ADDITIONAL EXPLANATORY NOTES,

                                   BY

                        Dr. Alex. V. W. BIKKERS.



                                LONDON:
                 WILLIAM TEGG, Pancras Lane, Cheapside.
                                 1871.







TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.


The late Artemus Ward was in the habit of quoting--either from his
own or another man's store of wit--"Never prophesy unless you know
for certain." There is, however, a particular mode of foretelling
which is neither dangerous nor venturesome; that process, namely,
by which inferences are being drawn from analogous things that have
come to pass, and applied to the contemplation of future events. The
little book here presented in an English translation may serve as
an illustration in point. It was originally published in the Dutch
language, the author hiding himself behind the nom de plume of
Dr. Dioscorides. If success goes for anything--and who is prepared
to say what it does not go for--we launch it in its new form with
more than sufficient confidence. Even within the narrow geographical
limits of the Netherlands it has rapidly passed through three editions,
and a German scholar has deemed it not unworthy of a translation in
his native tongue.

The present publication is more and at the same time less than a
translation; more, because it has been prepared for a different
class of readers than it was originally intended for; less, because
in some instances, and at one point especially, we thought we had
some reason to apply the pruning-knife to obnoxious excrescences,
as no doubt they would have proved in a new soil. The foot-notes
have either been added with a view to ensure a perfect understanding
on the part of the reader, or to secure for the little work as wide
a circulation as possible. So far with regard to its form, object,
and origin. There are the boundaries of our province.


A. V. W. B.

London, 1871.







TABLE OF CONTENTS.


    ALEUTIC TIME
    DISTRIBUTION-OF-WARM-AIR SOCIETY
    VERRE SANS FIN
    AGE OF ALUMINIUM
    HELIOCHROMES
    ENERGEIATHECS
    NATIONAL LIBRARY
    NINETEENTH-CENTURY BOOKS
    COMPULSORY EDUCATION
    GENEALOGICAL MUSEUM
    SOLAR LIGHT
    THE TELEPHON
    GENERAL BALLOON COMPANY
    TRAVELLING DIALECT
    NO MORE WAR
    FREE TRADE; UNIVERSAL LOCOMOTION
    MODERN TELESCOPES
    CHANNEL BRIDGE
    NORTH HOLLAND SUBMERGED
    UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
    LOSS OF DUTCH COLONIES
    RAILWAY NETS
    GEOGRAPHICAL CHANGES IN EUROPE
    ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES
    CALCULATORIA
    TIN MINES IN THE MOON
    UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE
    ANTI 1-2 LEAGUE
    WOMAN'S RIGHTS
    THE NEW ZEALAND OF THE FUTURE







ANNO DOMINI 2071.


When comparing the present condition of society with that of past
centuries the question naturally arises, what will the future be?

Will the same progress which, in our own times especially, has been
of such vast dimensions, and manifested itself in so many directions,
continue to be progressive? And if so--for who could think of reaction,
since the art of printing has guarded against any furrow of the
human mind being ever effaced--where is to be the ultimate goal of
the progress of our successors? Where are we to look for the fruits
of those innumerable germs which the present generation is sowing
for the benefit of those that will come after them?

These, and similar other questions, occupied my mind when, seated
one afternoon in my comfortable arm-chair, I allowed my thoughts
freely to wander amid the manes of those that preceded us. I thought
of our own Musschenbroek, Gravesande, Huyghens, and Stevin, and of
what would be their surprise were they to reappear on this earth,
and gaze upon the marvellous works of modern machinery; I passed
in review a Newton and Galileo, with so many others, founders of an
edifice which they themselves would not now recognise. I thought of
steam engines and electric telegraphs, of railways and steamboats, of
mountain tunnels and suspension bridges, of photography and gasworks,
of the amazing strides lately made by chemistry, of telescopes and
microscopes, of diving bells and aeronautics; aye, and of a hundred
other things, which, in motley array, wildly crossed my mind,
though all corresponding in this that they loudly proclaimed the
vast and enormous difference between the present and the past. The
line of demarcation between the one and the other revealed itself
still more clearly to me as my thoughts carried me further back
into the past and the ghost of Roger Bacon seemed to rise before my
imagination. This thirteenth-century child was a scholar who surpassed
all his contemporaries in sound judgment and knowledge of natural
science; alas! his fate was the ordinary one in store for all those
whose light shone above that of others in those darkest of ages. He
was accused of witchcraft, and cast into a dungeon, there doomed to
sigh for ten weary years, after which, as the rumour goes, he died
in his prison. The memory of that illustrious man called to my mind
some passages of his writings, from which it will be seen how he,
as if endowed with the seer's gift, did actually foretell, some six
hundred years ago, that which since, and chiefly in our own time,
has become an array of realities. For example:

"It is possible," says he, "to construct spying-glasses by which the
most distant objects can be drawn near to us, so that we shall be
able to read the most minute writing at an almost incredible distance,
to see all kinds of diminutive objects, and to make the stars appear
wherever we choose."



"We might make waggons that could move along with great velocity,
and without being drawn by animals."



"Similar other machines might be had, as, for example, bridges without
pillars or supports of any kind."



"There might be contrivances for the purpose of navigation without
navigators, so that the greatest vessels would be handled by one
single man, and at the same time move onward with greater speed than
those with numerous crews." [1]

As I pondered over such remarkable observations as those, I sank
into absolute reverie; all surrounding objects seemed gradually to
disappear from my sight, until I got into that peculiar condition
in which, while everything material about us is at rest and passive,
the mind, on the contrary, proves uncommonly active and alert.

I felt myself suddenly in the midst of an immense city; where I
did not know, but about me I saw a vast square, and in it a stately
edifice with a lofty tower, on which I fancied I read the following
inscription:


                               A.D. 2071.

                              January 1st.


I could scarcely believe my own eyes, and must have approached the
tower with looks highly expressive of curiosity and amazement; for
an elderly gentleman, accompanied by a young lady, stepped forward
to speak to me. "I see, sir, that you are a stranger in Londinia;
if any information could be of service to you----"

These kind words caused me to stop; I looked at the man who stood
before me, and was at once struck and impressed by his thoughtful and
noble features. Nor was I slow in recognising him. He was the very
man with whom I had been for some time past engaged in my thoughts.

"You are Roger Bacon," said I.

"To be sure!" was his reply; "at the same time allow me the pleasure
of introducing you to this young lady friend of mine, Miss Phantasia."

I happened to be in that frame of mind to which one might apply the
Horatian nil mirari. Nothing of what I saw surprised me, not even
the appearance in the flesh of a man like Bacon, who had taken his
departure from our planet some five hundred years ago. I therefore
simply accepted his obliging offer, and began by asking for an
explanation of the figures and words on the tower.

"On yonder tower, over the clock-face?" answered he. "Why, that
means simply this, that we have arrived at the first day of the new
year 2071."

"But what is the time? I see so many hands and figures on the clock,
that I am perfectly bewildered."

"What kind of time is it you want to know?" asked he in reply; "true,
mean, or




                             Aleutic Time?

for each of these has its own set of hands and figures."

"I know full well," said I, "what true time is, also what is understood
by mean time, but what on earth is meant by aleutic time?"

"I will soon explain," spoke my obliging guide. "Since the whole
globe has been encircled by one large net of telegraph lines, and
wire messages, [2] whether east or westward bound, do the whole round
of our planet in a single moment, it has been found necessary to
adopt a kind of time that would apply to any spot of the earth; for
by some such contrivance alone was it possible to avoid a confusion
that would have been fatal in many cases, more especially in those
of commercial transactions, when the knowledge of the right time is
an object of no mean consideration. By mutual agreement the several
nations therefore selected the largest of the Aleutic islands, by way
of a neutral point or centre. When the sun rises on the east coast of
that island, then begins the world-day. Nor has the selection of the
neutral point been in any way an arbitrary one; for east and west of
the meridian which passes over that island are to be found those very
latitudes where the confusion of time was formerly at its height;
and for this reason, that according to their discovery having been
accomplished either from Europe in easterly direction round Africa,
or westward round America, one whole day had been lost or gained. Now
the consequence of this was, that in the islands of these latitudes
the inhabitants of the eastern coasts and those dwelling in the west
differed four-and-twenty hours in their calculations of time, owing
to the circumstance that they belonged to, or were descended from,
the one or the other ancient colony. The adoption of an Aleutic time
has put a stop to any such confusion."

Having thus endeavoured to satisfy my curiosity, my companion went on
to say: "Do come along with us; we shall have plenty of opportunity
to show you other matters of interest in the city of Londinia."

"Londinia? Is that the same as London?"

"Not quite; ancient London formed but a small portion of the present
city of Londinia. The latter occupies a considerable part of the
south-east of England, and has a population of something like twelve
millions."

As we continued our tour, I chanced to hit upon the trivial remark that
we had "very