, 1859-03-04
The Earth and Moon.


moon, always gorgeous, is never the same
}, Before it floats Pickering drapery adorned
: with movable ever-changing spots, which
e are continually disappearing, to give place
a to others of fresh form and pnttern.-
: Cloudy belts are drawn in certain directions
e 10y the agency of monsoons and trade
$ winds. Stripes diyerging in other direc-
G tons gre the traces of the polar gales,
{ which rush towards the temperate zones,
e sweeping the heaviug masses of mist and
D vapor before them The freaks and violence
a of the untamed winds give to our planet a
= more singular and chungeable aspect than
( that of Jupiter as we behold him striped
S across with transverse bands or belts In
: consequence Of these continual alterations
5 Of the outer veil, it rarely is possible to
catch complete view of the configuration
+ Of our continents or Of the exact limits Of
: our widespread oceans. Lunar students
, Of terrestrial geography, unable ever to
? obtain at once an entire view Of either Of
our hemiSphereS, might nevertheless con.
. struct an accurate map by noting down the
= details Of various countries as they pre-
sented themselves from time to time, and
: then combining the fragments into whole
: 1t would simply be an exercise of the same
, mental powers which a child exerts when
! he fits together his puzzle map of England
finding its proper place for every one Of the
t countries which have been mingled pell-
nell in the box Selenie members of the
|, Geographical Society enjoy the great ad.
vantage of having foil view of localities
t which are all but inaccessible to us. They
{ are able to inspect Central Africa with less
+ fatigue than Doctor Livingston, and they
can form an idea of what the North Pole
is like, without sharing the sad fate Of
] Franklin.
But while the outlines of the earth'S disc
, are vague and difficult to determine, her
f coloring is decided and strongly contrasted
/, At each pole of the shining planet is n
vast white spot which offers singular
, phenomenon. Although perpetualIy there,
and never eiIaced, they periodically vary in
size, rc-assumiug their original appearance,
, after the completion of the three hundred
and sixty-liye revolutions on its axis, which
constitute the terrestrial year. In proper
ton as the white spot on one pole diminish
/, es, that of the opposite pole increases; it
is as if one Of the rival powers re-conquer-
ed portion Of ground exactly equal to
that lost by the other, so that they advance
and retreat reciprocally, maintaining, on
4 the whole, between the two, an equal
amount of territory. Nevertheless, the
! northern white spot is always considerably
smaller than the southern. To Selenites,
who have no notion or knowledge Of water
and ice, the variation Of these two white
| spots, must remain an impenetrable mystic
u ry. We, who observe the same phenome-
non in the planet Mars, can easily account
, for it. e
In short, the earth's complexion is bril-
liant, coming and going as her sentiments,
her passions, and the state Of her health
vary. She turns brightly pale when and
where it is winter, and bushes tenderly
green under the influence Of spring. The
!, divers colors Of the different parts Of our
globe change, like the hues of magic
lantern, according as they are reflected
from an arctic circle or torrid zone, q
continent or sea, sandy desert or q leafy
/, forest, o mountain or a plain, and even from
an Old World-or New The regular re-
turn once in every four-and-twenty hours
of these richly-Iinted spots, to the same
position, demonstrates at once to moonite
t philosophers what has given men so much
: trouble to establish the fact of the earth's
revolution on her axis, 1t does more; it
{ provides sojourners on the moon with the
|, most magnificent clock that was ever i'm
! agined. 1t is gigantic, permanent, and
S keeps perfect time; it never stops, and new
f er requires winding up. The rotation of
, the earth in four-and-twenty hours replaces
t the hand which travels round the dial plate
Every fixed spot, situated at different
S terrestrial longitude, is number which
marks the hours and the minutes us it
e passes over this or that lunar MERIDIAN
9 The spots which at any given moment
= make their appearance at the edge Of the
. earth's disc, will be situated, six hours af-
c terwards, exactly on the straight line which
e passes from pole to pole, through the cen
e tire of the disc; and six hours afterwards
: they will have reached the opposite edge
S of the disc, and will then Immediately dis
: appear. Every spot takes exactly four
c and-twenty hours to return to the lunar
\ meridian which it has passed. In order to
e ascertain the hour aud its divisions by look
: ing at this admirable clock-face, all that is
c required is to know the time it takes for
t the different spots to pass from one merid-
5 ian to another. The appearance Of a spot,
I as Well as its Disappearance, also suffice to
n tell what o'clock-or rather, what on earth
sit is. A visitor to the moon would
T reckon the hour of the day by watching
o the passage Of the earth's spots over the
S lunar meridian, by exactly the same meth
; cd as he employs at home, when he lays
= down the rule that fifteen degrees to the
2 east is an hour later, and fifteen degrees to
the west an hour earlier than at the place
where he happens to be. Thus, when it is
a noon on the meridian of Paris, it is one
d o'clock on that Of Upsal, aud two O'Clock
:. on that Of Suez.
n Unfortunately for residents on the moon