final paroxysm of despair, unconsciously circles an old cemetery and finally collapses comatose in the snow. Predictions for 1960 The book's description of the technology of 1960 is in some ways remarkably close to the actual technology of the 1960s. The book describes in detail advances such as cars powered by internal combustion engines ("gas-cabs") together with the necessary supporting infrastructure such as gas stations and paved asphalt roads; elevated and underground passenger train systems and high-speed trains powered by magnetism and compressed air; skyscrapers; electric lights that illuminate entire cities at night; fax machines ("picture-telegraphs"); elevators; primitive computers that can send messages to each other in a network somewhat resembling the internet (described as sophisticated electrically powered mechanical calculators that can send information to each other across vast distances);l wind power; automated security systems; the electric chair; and remote-controlled weapons systems, as well as weapons destructive enough to make war unthinkable. The book also predicts the growth of suburbs and mass higher education (the opening scene has Dufrénoy attending a graduation of 250,000 students), department stores, and massive hotels. A version of feminism has also arisen, with women moving into workplaces and a rise in illegitimate births. It also makes accurate predictions of 20th-century music, predicts the rise of electronic music, describes a musical instrument similar to a synthesizer, and outlines the replacement of classical music performances with recorded music. It predicts that the entertainment industry would be dominated by lewd stage plays, often involving nudity and sexually explicit scenes. Publication deferred Jules Verne's publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, thought that the book's pessimism would damage Verne's then-booming career, and suggested that he wait 20 years to publish it. Hetzel wrote to Verne about a draft of the novel that he had just seen: "I was not expecting perfection — to repeat, I knew that you were attempting the impossible — but I was hoping for something better." Hetzel was also critical of Verne for not covering new ground with the novel: "In this piece, there is not a single issue concerning the real future that is properly resolved, no critique that hasn't already been made and remade before. I am surprised at you ... [it is] lacklustre and lifeless." With that, Verne put the manuscript in a safe, where it was forgotten, only to be discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. The original French text was published in 1994 and