VERNE, Jules, French noveliit: b. Nantes, 8 Feb. 1828; d. Amiens, 24 March 1905. His early education was obtained in the Nantes Lycia; he then studied law in Paris, but early turned his attention to literary work, at first writing short pieces for the stage, and in 1863 attracted attention by a story, (Cinq Semaines en Ballon,) or (Five Weeks in a Balloon,) vrhich instantly met with Popular approval. He inaugurated a new school in fiction, basing his stories on the inventions of the day, delineating wildly extravagant voyages and adventures to which he added very cleverly prepared sci entific and geographical detail. The interest in his boolcs depends entirely an incident, and though extretnely entertaining, his characters are subordinate and inerely inserted to sustain the narrative. Among his boolcs, all of which were translated into several lanrages, are (Le Desert de Glace) (1867); (A ourney to the Centre of the Earth) (1872) ; Twenty Thou sand Leagues Under the Sea) (1873); (Me ridiana, The Adventures of Three Englislmien and Three Russians in South Africa.) (1873); (From the Earth to the Moon Direct in Ninety Seven Hours Twenty Minutes and a Tnp Round It) (1203); (The Fur Country; or Seventy Degrees North Latitude) (1874); (Around the World in Eighty Days) (1874); (A Floating City,) and (The Bloc'rade Rimners) (1874) ; (The English at the North Pole) (1874) ; (Dr. Ox's Experiment) (1874);
(A Winter Amid the Ice) (1875) ; (The Mysterious Island) (1875) ; (The Survivors of the Chancellor) (1875); (Michael Strogoff, the Courier of the Czar) (1876) ; (The Child of the Cavern) (1877) ; (Hector Servadac, or the Career of a Comet) (1877) ; 'Dick Sands, the Boy Captain) (1878) ; (Le Rayon Vert) (1882) ; (Keraban-le-tetu) (1883); (L'Etoile du Sud) (1884) ; (Le Pays de Diamants) (1884) ; 'Le Chemin de France) (1887) ; (Deux Ans de Vacances) (1888); (Famine Sans Nome) (1889) ; (Cmsar Cascabel) (1890); (Mathias Sandorf) (1890) ; 'Nord contre Sud) (1890)1 (The Purchase of the North Pole) (1890) ; (Claudius Bombamac) (1892) ; (Le Chateau des Carpathes) (1892) ; (L'Ile Hake) (1895) ; (Le Sphinx des Glaces) (1897) ; (Le Village Aerion) (1898) ; (The Master of the World) (1904); and (A Drama in Livonia' (1905). His comedy (Les Pailles Rompues) was written in 1848 and produced at the Gymnase in 1850 and his (Onze Jours de Siege) quickly followed. Several others were dramatized and (Le Doc teur Ox) was changed to an opera. He was made a member of the Legion of Honor and his books were crowned by the French Academy, but to his disappointment his literary vrorth was more fully recognized abroad than in his own country. See TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDF1 THE SEA.