of Paris does not console Mr. Fontenelle for the ridicule that is permitted to befall the one at the academy of Saturn. 

 The notes without signature, and those indicated by letters, are written by Voltaire. 

 The notes signed with a K have been written by the Kehl publishers, Mr. Condorcet and Mr. Decroix. It is impossible to rigorously distinguish between the additions made by these two. 

 The additions that I have given to the notes of Voltaire or to the notes of the Kehl publishers, are separated from the others by a —, and are, as they are mine, signed by the initial of my name. 

 BEUCHOT October 4, 1829. 

 

 CONTENTS 

 

                            MICROMEGAS, PHILOSOPHICAL HISTORY 

 

 

 CHAPTER I. 

 Voyage of an inhabitant of the Sirius star to the planet Saturn. 

 On one of the planets that orbits the star named Sirius there lived a spirited young man, who I had the honor of meeting on the last voyage he made to our little ant hill. He was called Micromegas[1], a fitting name for anyone so great. He was eight leagues tall, or 24,000 geometric paces of five feet each. 

 

 [1] From micros, small, and from megas, large. B. 

 

 Certain geometers[2], always of use to the public, will immediately take up their pens, and will find that since Mr. Micromegas, inhabitant 

 Prev. P 2/20 next