Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-03-26
A rip TO h e M o on .
BY N. scHELE DE WERE.

Nothing strikes the general observer so
much, when his eve rambles inquiringly
oxer thesurface of the moon, as the incred-
ible vatiety of light in different parts
Some have sought the cause of this strik-
ing phenomenon in the diversity of the
soil, ascribing to the darker portions O
looser earth, and preceiving in the green
ish sheen of some plains even traces OF
vegetation. Doubtful as it must needs be.
whether any color could be distinguished
at such a distance, this is certain, that the
! lighter portions represent rigid masses and
rejecting elevations. A most strange SEN
sation is prodhced by the long beams of
dazzling light, resembling liquid silver,
which, now isolated and now united to-
gether into broad bands of rays, pass in
countless hosts, over whole, large regions
| They often centre in some peculiarly bril-
| liant, circular mountain, and the gigantic
| Tycho sends his rays of surprising splen-
dor over more than one fourth of the
whole orb, over hill and dale, valley and
mountain. At other places they form
broad masses of mystic light, often twenty
miles square. Mountains, ridges, or lava
streams they are not, though formerly the
world believed them such, because they
pass over the very tops of mountains
Can they be CLASSY or crystalized masses
of volcanic material, which, suddenly
cooled, now stand in rigid pallor and re-
fleet light with an intensity unknown TO
us on earth?
As yet we have met with no trace of
life on the moon. Are there no inhabi-
tants on our strange satellite? In our day,
when the plurality of worlds threatens to
become the war-cry of sects and schools,
the question is but natural, and many an
eager inquirer has no doubt asked himself:
what may life be ON the moon? Have
they built cities and founded empires
there, like the men of the earth? Does a
blue sky smile upon them, and do merry
springs leap down the green slopes of their
mountains?
Nor is the question altogether of recent
date. While Sir John Herschel explored
the wonders of the southern heaven on
the Cape of Good Hope, there appeared
unexpectedly Ittfe pamphlet, which
created no small sensation even among
the learned. 1t purported to be his first
account CT new discoveries in the moon,
and contained marvellous reports of sheep
of STANCE shape, of men with the wings of
bats, of cities and fortified towns. The
world, however, soon found that this was
an ingenious hoax from the pen of an
American, who had thus practically test
ed the credulity of his cotemporaries-
The credit which the clever imposture
found, even among the well-infOrmed,
is an ample apology for the sanguine ex-
pectations of those who still hope, by the
aid of improved instruments, to discover
the man in the moon; or, like good old
Bishop Wilkins, to pay him neighborly
visit, for which in sober earnest, most in
genious plans have been devised. Dis
tinguished astronomers insist upon hav-
ing seen large buildings in the moon;
Gruithuisen tells us of an edifice near the
equator, in its most fertile regions, of
twenty-five miles diameter and surround
ed with large walls, which face, with as
founding accuracy, the four quarters Of
the compass. As it is only ie premier pas
gai coute, Schwabe, in Germany, soon dis
covered on the outside some smaller
buildings, and even earth-worksl
One point; above all, is apparently lost
sight Of by those who cherish such san
guine hopes. If we could distinguish a
man, or any other object at the distance
of five miles, it would still require an in
strument, which would magnify objects
fifty thousand times, to see anything of
that size on the moon. But if the far
dis tant future should ever produce such
an improvement in telescopes, that would
only increase, and in alarming proportion,
the difficulties arising from the density
of our atmosphere and the daily move
ment of the earth. Even with our pres
ent instruments, far as they are yet from
the desired power, these impediments
are so great as seriously to impair their
usefulness All that has as yet been ac-
complished is to see objects of the extent
of one hundred yards; perhaps we may,
ere long, succeed in distinguishing works
of the Size of our pyramids and largest
but the best they will only ap-
pear as minute points, far too small to ex-
hibit form or shape.
The eye, then, is utterly incapable of
ife-endowed beings in the !
moon. This would, of course, in itself not /
preclude the existence of inhabitants in
that globe. Every argument, on the con- |
trary, leads rather to the conclusion, that /
the life of other worlds is, on the whole /
governed by the same laws as that of our
earth. The same infinite variety which
the eye and the mind of man,
when he studies our animal creation here
below, and the exquisite adaptation of
these countless forms to their precise pur-
pose, must needs continue throughout
God is not only great, but also
in his greatness, and the eter-
nal laws of nature, which are, after all,
but an expression of his will; must apply
to other worlds also. The enquiring mind
will. therefore, not without benefit try to
derive additional knowledge even from
the scanty facts with which we are as yet
only acquainted.
We know tolerably well the soil, the
climate and the surface of the moon,
What. then, do they teach us as to life on
that globe? The first circumstance that 7:
strikes the traveller on the moon, is the
wonderful facility of motion. Gravity is ,
in the moon six times less than on the
earth, so that the same power with which (
we here lift eighteen pounds would there
raise hundred weight. The arm that /
ean throw a stone on earth ten feet high ,
would on the moon throw it up sixty feet.
The inequalities of the soil there would, ,
10 an earth-born man be no difficulties;
ne would glide over hills and mountains,
which here below require gigantic struc-
lures, with the ease of the winged birds of
heaven This must at once produce a
radical difference between life on earth
and life on the moon.
If we look next for the two great ele-
nents of earthly life, air and water, we
ind that the moon is but i'll provided for
N that respect. With all sympathy for i
great discoverers and sanguine optimists,
we are compelled to deny the existence
Of either water or air, such as we have
them on earth, in our satellite. We know ,