The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1861-02-14
Life on the Moon.

Until quite recently the surface Of the moon has
been supposed 10 be a vast lifee.s desert Astrono-
mers have abused tie moon IL every possible way.
They have said there was no heat IL mOonshIne.
They have denied the moon al atmosphere. and con-
-eluently water and organic life. They have made
Us believe that i residence IN the moon would be ex-
~ceedingly undesirable. The old faith N the goddess
Of the night was quite overturned IN scientific circles,
and the fascination Of moonlight were departing day
BY day.
But this Is all changed. Knox and Melloni have
shown. ty very exact observations, that there is heat
in the moons rays. Zantsdeschi has discovered that
this heat produces q sensible effect upon the m.mosa.
An English philosopher mas found that the earth IS
colder during the first quarter Of the moon than 1t IS
IN the second.
Upon the growth Of plants the moon exercises a re-
markab.e influence. The chemical action Of light Is
necessary to their.priucipal work, the absorption Of
carbon from the carbOuic acid gas Of the atmosphere.
This work all plants carry On during the day, and
IN the night they sleep, except when the moon shines.
She wakes them and sets them at work. 50 the far
mers who plant only Just before the full moon are
right, and the scOffers who call them superstitious
are themselves the foolish ones. For, if sowu before
or near the new moon, the young plants get above
ground just At the full, when the tender things
need sleep. But If sOwn just before the full, they
come up about usw moon, pass their babyhOOd under
the soothing influences Of dark nights, and when the
full moon comes are sturdy urchins, able 10 work
night and day.
The m0On-worshipers are right, also, in regard to
the influence Of the moon upon the weather. Her
schel, AragO, and Whewell recognized that the moon
has some slight power III dispensing clouds. The
sailors 90 further, and say the moon eats up clouds.
ut the last meeting Of the British Association it was
shown that the weather through q long series Of
years depended . little-a very little-upon the
phases Of the moon and now 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.
However, fine weather and greater rainfall may 20
together.
Finally, Webb, after a careful comparison Of the
present appearance of the moon with the very pre-
else maps made by Nader some twenty years ago,
has shown that there have been considerable changes.
Some Of the snail cTaters, III particular, have a no
tably different form from what they had when Mad
Ter observed them. These changes show the existence
OF water and an atmosphere. Father Secchi, Direc-
tor Of the Roman Observatory, after much obserya-
ton. has come TO the conclusion that the peaks of the
highest mountains on the moon are covered with
snow. And to make Us still more at home on the
moon, lie Ia Rive, the owner of the observatory at
Crawford, near London, gives il rs his opinion, that
what were ~ first marked down as seas, and after
ward supposed TO be barren plains, are in fact extern
sive forests. In support of this comes up a great as
tronomic authority, Schwabe, the discoverer of the
periodic times Of the suns spots. Besides these
great smooth plains, which were called seas, there
are Il number Of burrows OF wrinkles, nearly a hun
dred, the nature of which was entirely unknown.
Their length varies from three to thirty-fve miles,
and their greatest breadth Is about five thousand feet
most Of them are considerably narrower. Their sides
are parallel and smooth some run in strait lines and
aSAnt III EtlAlN CuINtl. oIAllilaIlly Luey are SeDdr-
ate. 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 surface Of
the moon, except on the highest mountain chains.
Of these burrows Schwabe has made careful study
at various times. He found them to consist Of very
fine parallel dark lines, separated by clear spaces.
y few months later the lines or streaks had disap-
peared, but after a while they returned, again TO
disapl ear. In this periodic change he thinks 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 trees are in
full leaf the ground is 50 covered as to produce a uni
form shade, and the lines disappear.
Nothing Is more natural than 10 suppose that the
dark spots on the moon are forests but how shall we
account for the growth of these trees in right lines?
This hypothesis We must for the present consider TO
be only a hypothesis. With the aid of photography.
which will secure for US accurate pictures Of the
moon from time TO time, we may hope that the ques-
ton will be solved. and that we may really find out
what Is going on upon the surface of our satellite