The original 1864 version of the book can be read on line at:
http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Voyage_au_centre_de_la_Terre
However, it is interesting to note that a year earlier, another French
author
published a book called
*"*La terre avant le deluge*"*
**
According to one historian some of the ideas Jules Vernes used came
from that earlier author's story.
It is also interesting to note some of the effects this story had on future
stories and movies and culture:
For example,
Here is a movie about a character named Wanda Saknussemm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/33/Alien_from_LA.jpg/387px-Alien_from_LA.jpg
And here is a map of the inside of the earth, showing giant cave-like
passages:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Pellucidar-map.gif
This map appeared in a book by the author of the Tarzan series, Edgar
Burroughs, just
44 years after Jules Vernes' book was published in English.
I bet cavers have used this map, or Vernes story to name things in caves.
David Locklear
