The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1860-05-22
EIGHTH vOLUME---NUMBER 4n.
LIFE ON THE MOON.


Until quite recently the surface of the moon has
been supposed to be vast lfeless desert. Astrono.
mers have abused the moon in every possible way.
They have said there was no heat in lnoonshine.
They have denied to the moon an atmosphere, and
consequently water and organic life. They have
made us believe that a residence on the moon
would be exceedingly undesirable. The old faith
in the Goddess of the Night was quite overturned
in scientific circles, and the fascinaions of moon
light were departing day by day.
But this is all changed. Knox and Melloni
have shown, by very exact observations that there
is heat in the moons rays. Zantcdeschi has dis
covered that this heat produces sensible eff
feet upon the mimosa. An English philosopher
has found that the earth is colder during the first
quarter of the moon than it is in the second
Upon the growth Of plants the moon exercises
remarkable influence The chemical action of
light is necessary to their principal work, the alb.
sorption of carbon from the carbonic acid gas of
the atmosphere. This work all plants carry on
during the day, and in the night they sleep-ex-
cept when the moon shines. She makes them and
sets them at work. So the farmers who plant only
just before the full moon are right, and the scof-
fers who call them superstitious, are themselves
the foolish ones, For, if sown before or near new
moon, the young plants get above ground just at
the full when the tender things need sleep. But
fsown just before the full, they come up about
moon, pass their babyhood under the soothing
influence of dark nights, and when the full moon
comes are sturdy urchins, able to work night and
day.
The moon-worshippers are right, also, in regard
to the influence of the moon upon the weather.
Hersehel, Arago and Whewell, recognized that
the moon had some slight power in dispensing the
clouds. The sailors go further, and say that the
moon eats up the clouds. At the last meeting Of
the British Association it was shown that the
weather, through long series of years, depended
a little-very little-upon the phases of the moon;
and Quetelet, the Director of the Brussels
Observatory, has shown that between the first and
last quarters of the moon, mOre and not less, rain
falls, than during the remainder of the time. How
ever, fine weather and greater rainfall may 60 to-
gether.
Finally, Webb, after careful comparison of tho
present appearance of the moon with the very pre-
else maps made by Nader some twenty years ago,
has shown that there has been considerable changes
Some Of the small craters, in particular, have a
notably differeut form from what they had when
Nader observed them. The changes show the ex-
istence of water and atmosphere Father Sec
Chi, Director Of the Roman Observatory, after
much observation, has come to the conclusion that
the peaks Of the highest mountains on the moon
are covered with snow. And, to make us still moro
at home on the moon, De la Rive, the owner of
the Observatory at Crawford, near London, gives
it as his opinion, that what were at first marked
down seas, and afterwards supposed to be barren
pains are in fact extensive forests. In support
of this comes up great astrOnomic authority,
Schwabe, the discoverer of the periodic times Of
the suns spots.
Besides these great smooth plains, which we're
called SEAS there a number of burrows or wrin-
kles, nearly hundred, the nature Of which was
entirely unknown Their length varies from three
to thirty five miles, and their greatest breadth is
about five thousand feet; most Of them are consid-
erably narrower Their sides are parallel and
smooth, some in straight lines, and some arc
gently curved. Ordinarily they arc separate but
sometimes they cross each other; often they cross
craters, but occasionally they seem to be cut off by
them. They are found all over the moon, except
the highest mountain chain
OF these burrows Schwabe has made careful stu
dy at various times He found them to consist of
very fine parallel dark lines, separated by clear
spaces. A few months later the lines or strcaks
had disappeared, but after while they returned,
again to disappear
In this periodic change of time he thinks that
he finds proof that these lines are rows of trees,
and the clear streaks between them are the bare
ground seen when the trees are leafess When
the are in full leaf the ground is so covered
as to produce a uniform shade, and the lines dis
appear.
Nothing IS more natural than TO suppose that
the dark spots on the moon are forests; but how
shall account for the growth Of these trees in
right lines? With the aid of photography, which
will secure for us accurate pictures of the moon
from time to time we may hope that the question
will be solved and that we may really find out
what is going upon the surface of our satellite