word translation in self propelled island

[quentin skrabec]

to my French friends and translators NEED HELP

Verne also predicted oil as a cleaner and more efficient replacement for coal to power his floating island (The Self-Propelled Island, 1895). Verne offers an alternative fuel to heat steam boilers for electricity production, such as oil or biomass.  Again, Verne was operating in the future, so the translations offer several possibilities using “petroleum,” petroleum briquettes, oil, or oil briquettes. The fuel in the older O.I Evans trans; action is described as “oil” (p31) and petroleum briquettes (p40), for the exact text in the Marie-Therese translation petroleum (p41) and “oil briquettes” (p55).

i don't beleive Verne in 1895 was talking about what we think as petroleum?

is the word "petrole" ( oil or petroleum )?

or is it "huile"

note i believe Verne was referring to palm oil briquettes which fits the technological context?  also can I use you in a footnote?

[John Lamb]

I can not help with the French translations but as the name of his floating island is 'Standard Island', it may be useful to look at the background of the Standard Oil Company and their monopoly at the time. Standard Oil - Wikipedia  and the Rockefellers. As stated before I think Verne's sponsors went beyond the known ones of Gordon Bennett and Napoleon III. 

Best John

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[Jean-Louis Trudel]

Greetings,

Well, the word used in French on pages 83 and 108 of the edition
available on Gallica is "pétrole". And "pétrole" is defined by the
Grand dictionnaire universel of 1874 as a mineral oil found in the
ground and used for heating and lighting. So, "pétrole" should
usually be translated as "petroleum", yes. And I see "briquettes de
pétrole" farther in. The reference to petroleum is clear, but more
research would be needed to understand what Verne had in mind.

Interesting to be reminded, in the current context, that Verne was
predicting the U.S., in this undefined future, would extend from
Panama to the North Pole, with something like 90 states. And the
island has electric cars.

Jean-Louis Trudel

Le ven. 24 janv. 2025, à 16 h 01, quentin skrabec
<qrsk...@gmail.com> a écrit :

[quentin skrabec]

I will dig deeper there   Oil in 1895 was primarily for lubrication and kerosene lamps which was the main products- but for Verne it would have been a short extrapolation 

Some experiments of oil fired steam for ships took place in the late 1870s with limited success

In 1894, the oil tanker SS Baku Standard became the first oil burning vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean. 

By 1899  Navies were converting so Verne might have been projecting ahead

Palm oil briqutees were being used for heat in the 1860s.   

 

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From: jules-ve...@googlegroups.com <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of John Lamb <cads...@gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: [JVF] word translation in self propelled island

 

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[quentin skrabec]

Wow  THANK YOU    i will reference you — it gives me a different idea  

The mineral oil (petroleom) from ground is important point-- it rules out palm oil briquettes which were used for heating in the tropics- these were pressed biomass-  Verne appears to be creating a petroleum biomass briquette. Which were also being experimented with in the 1860s

I want to test to see if they would produce non black "light vapor" 

THANK YOU 

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[John Lamb]

Re Palm oil, there may well be a link between Price's Palm oil stearine  candles of Birkenhead and the fact that the colonists of Mysterious Island make candles using the same patented process as Price's factory of Birkenhead. Match up Verne's text and the patented  candle making process on Price's website. They were massive abolitionists and were visited at Birkenhead by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Elizabeth Gaskell at the bequest of Charles Dickens.

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[John Lamb]

My home town of Birkenhead was the world's biggest importer of palm oil in the 19th century. Imports started with Price's candles, and ended up with Lever Brothers (now Unilever) for soaps. Any mention of palm oil as a substitute usually alludes to replacing whale oil with palm oil rather than any links with fuel. Whales and their overhunting are mentioned several times in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Overriding all this is the promotion palm oil as an alternative to the slave trade.   Verne copies the abolitionists Price's patent in Mysterious Island, so putting him firmly in the abolitionist camp with his friend Victor Hugo. . Please see attachment

[quentin skrabec]

Here's a rough part on my article in progress -- open to comment

Verne did look to cleaner petroleum as a possible fuel alternative. Verne foresaw petroleum’s potential, using it to fuel his floating island, Standard Island, in The Self-Propelled Island, 1895.  Verne compares petroleum to the “pollution” of coal-fired steam engines as “the difference being instead of black smoke, the chimneys emitted only light vapor that did not pollute the atmosphere” in The Self-Propelled Island (1895).[i] Verne also predicted oil as a cleaner and more efficient[ii]replacement for coal.

Verne uses petroleum and/or petroleum biomass to heat steam boilers for electricity production on Standard Island. Verne was operating in the future, so the translations offered several possibilities for his petroleum fuel for Standard Island. The fuel in the older O.I Evans translation is described as “oil” (p. 31) and petroleum briquettes (p. 40), while the exact same text in the Marie-Therese translation uses petroleum (p41) and “oil briquettes” (p55). Verne translator and researcher Jean-Trudel cleared up one point. The French word used was “petrole” in both cases, and in the Grand Dictionnaire of 1874, petrole is defined as “a mineral oil found in the ground used for heating and lighting.”[iii] This word analysis is critical becuase Verne is using a petroleum-based product.

In The Self-Propelled Island, Verne uses petroleum or petroleum briquettes to replace coal to drive the steam engine dynamo, producing electricity.  Pressed palm oil briquettes were used in some counties in the 1890s for heating, but Verne used the word petroleum. Verne considered petroleum and/or petroleum products to be clean burning fuels. Verne predicts the future petroleum briquettes based on some emerging technology and his imagination. Petroleum briquettes were just being experimented with. In 1901, an American company exhibited pressed petroleum ( crude bitumen), starch, and other biomass briquettes.[iv]   

Verne states that petroleum briquettes are “less cumbersome, less dirty than coal, and have more heating power.”[v]  Amazingly, now 130 years later, petroleum briquettes are being looked at for the same attributes Verne noted.  Research on petroleum and new patents for processing and chemical binders are emerging. The new look at petroleum briquettes lists similar advantages noted by Verne: ease of handling versus coal, its clean burning, and heating power. A recent study of biomass petroleum briquettes made from bitumen, starch, and rice husks found they are competitive in industrial heating.[vi]

Petroleum oil, in general, emerged as a somewhat “cleaner” fuel by 1895; however, its refining was a significant pollutant by 1899. One of Verne’s fictional travelers in The Will of an Eccentric (1899) describes the oil refining atmosphere of Warren, Ohio, as a “sickening” atmosphere, tarry chemical water pollution and even explosive water pollution, which argued the famous 1969 burning of the oily Cuyahoga River in near-by Cleveland.

Unfortunately, Verne incorrectly wrote off natural gas as a clean alternative

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[i] Jules Verne, The Self-Propelled Island, Marie-Therese Noiset Translation, University of Nebraska Press, p. 41

 

[iii] Jules Verne Forum, “Word Translation in Self-propelled Island,” Google Groups, 1/24/25 Jean-Louis Trudel to Quentin Skrabec

[iv] “Petroleum Briquettes,” Pacific Petroleum, The Idaho Springs News, Vol xix, no. 33, Nov 15, 1901

[v] Jules Verne, The Self-Propelled Island, Marie-Therese Noiset Translation, University of Nebraska Press, p. 54

[vi] Ikell et al, “Study of Briquettes Produced with Bitumen, CaSO₄ and Starch Binders,” American Journal of Engineering Research, Vol. 3 ,2014 

[rfb...@aol.com]

Although Verne's abolitionism is known, take note that by making the American Southerners on the artificial island Francophone Catholics from Louisiana, he was inviting French readers to identify with them in this extra inning of the Civil War. This shift from his pro-Northern stance in THE BLOCKADE RUNNERS, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and NORTH AND SOUTH suggests that like many US figures, Verne softens on the South postwar once the slavery issue is officially resolved. (Though also recall he rejected Hetzel's suggestion to make Capt. Nemo a John Brown militant abolitionist.)

And yes, Verne frequently predicts continued American expansion. (The major exception is VILLAGE IN THE TREETOPS which opens with scoffing at the USA possibly seeking African territory.) It is always difficult to separate Jules and Michel, but in YEAR 2889 the prophecy is a globe divided among a half dozen imperial super-states. (Given the current attention to Greenland, the Michel-revised HUNT FOR THE METEOR makes much of that island becoming independent in the same Multi-Star Spangled Banner future.)

Ross

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[quentin skrabec]

So Verne predicted Greenland would become part of uS  🙂:) 

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[Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd]

In "Sans dessus dessous", definitely by Jules, we see a similar interesting phenomenon. The polar regions become economically interesting, and some super-rich technocrats just claim possession by means of dubious methods and a load of money, to the chagrin of the weak European powers. Anything for profit, screw the rest of the world.

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