An idea from Dr. Ox
An idea from Dr. Ox (also Doctor Ox or A Fantasy of Doctor Ox ) is a short story by the French author Jules Verne . It was published in 1872 under the French title Une fantaisie du docteur Ox and with the short story A drama in the air ( La science en famille. Un voyage en ballon ) was part of the short story An idea of Dr. Ox ( Le Docteur Ox ). The German title of the short story is an idea of Dr. Ox , the English title is Dr. Ox's experiment .
action
The Belgian town of Quiquendone has existed for 800 years, has 2393 inhabitants and is located 15.25 km southeast of Bruges in Flanders on the Vaar, a tributary of the Scheldt . From the scientist Dr. Ox is chosen because of the phlegmatic nature of its inhabitants as the site of an unusual experiment. He laid pipes for gas lighting throughout the city. The gas lighting should be operated with oxyhydrogen , a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen . With his servant Gédéon Ygène, he plans to turn the town's inhabitants into guinea pigs. The peaceful city is to be completely turned inside out in this way. The mayor van Tricasse is looking for Dr. Ox to inquire about the status of the lighting project, and becomes enraged. Dr. Ox plans a first experiment in the local theater. During the performance, the actors, the members of the orchestra and the audience go into a frenzy. In front of the theater, however, everyone calms down again. Dr. Ox and Ygène are planning the next major experiment. Gradually, symptoms of the frenzy began to show up across the city. Previously peaceful citizens challenge each other to a duel. The citizens finally plan to go to war against the neighboring community of Virgamen. Ygène gets scruples and wants to stop the experiment, Dr. However, Ox wants to do it to the end. They argue. The mayor is now in a dispute with a friend on a tower. Both of them calm down at the top, but when they reach the bottom the argument continues. Dr. Ox and Ygène are meanwhile also under the effect of the experiment. The townspeople go to war. Ygène tries to stop them, but is in turn stopped by Dr. Ox stopped. Both are beaten and arrested by the civil army. Dr. Ox explodes with a loud bang. Dr. Ox and Ygène can escape. Suddenly all residents become peaceful again. Dr. Ox had introduced high doses of oxygen through his gas pipeline network, deliberately causing the residents to change in order to prove his theory that virtue, courage, talent, imagination and all other faculties of the mind were just an OxYgène question (oxygène: French for oxygen) be.
Stage work
The French composer Jacques Offenbach wrote the operetta Le Docteur Ox based on this model in 1877 .
literature
- Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . Deutscher Bücherbund / Bertelsmann, Stuttgart and Munich 1992.
- Volker Dehs and Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne . Voices and interpretations of his work. Fantastic Library Wetzlar, Wetzlar 2005.
- Volker Dehs : Jules Verne . Jules Verne. A critical biography. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005. ISBN 3-538-07208-6
Individual evidence
Web links
- "An idea from Doctor Ox" as an e-book in HTML on zeno.org
- An idea by Doctor Ox in Andreas Fehrmann's Jules Verne Collection