The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1871-08-19


But here IL question il naturally suggested
i whether oar EN- noen, which 10 bat quarter
OF nillioa ct Ail0 away from us, ought not
first to be examined for signs of life, Or ut least
of being fitted for the support of life. When
| the Telescope was first invented, it is certain
that astronomers were moro hopeful of recog.
nizing such Signs in the moon than in any other
celestial body. As telescopes of greater sad
greater power were constructed, our satellite
was searched with more and more eager soru.
tiny. And many q long year elapsed before
| astronomy would accept the conclusion that the
mons surface is wholly untitled for tho support
| of any OF those forms of life with which We are
familiar upon earth. That the belief in lunar
men prevailed in the popular mind long after
astronomy had abandoned it, is shown by the
eager credulity with which the story of Sir
John Herschers supposed observations of the
customs and manners of the Lunsrians was &C.
cspted even among we'll educated men. Who
can forget the gravity with which the most
amazing hoax was repeated in all quarters? 1t
was, indeed, ingeniously contrived. The anx.
iety of Sir John Herschel to secure the assistance
OF King William, and the care with which I" our
sailor.king inquired whether the interests OF
nautical astronomy would be advanced by the
proposed inquiries: the plausible explanation of
the mode of observation, depending, We were
gtavely assured, upon the transmission of light;
low.workers. "a the moment arrived when their
search was to commence; the flowers, resembling
peoples, which first rewarded their scrutiny
and the final introduction upon the scene of
those winged beings-not, strictly speaking,
men, nor properly to be called angels-to whom
Herschel assigned the generic appellation, Yes.
2'ertalO Homo, or Bat-men. All these things, and
many others equally amusing, were described
with marvellous gravity, and with an attention
to details. reminding one of the description in
" Gulivers Travels" One can hardly wonder,
then, that the narrative was received in msny
quarters with unquestioning faith, nor, perhaps,
even at the simplicity with which (Sir John
Herschel himself relstee) well.meaning persons
planned measures for sending missionaries
"among the poor benighted Lunarians."
Yet astronomers have long known full Ger.
tainly that no forms of life, such az We are ia.
miliar with, Can exist upon the moon. They
know that If our satellite has an atmosphere at
oil, that atmosphere must be 90 limited in extent
that no creatures We are acquainted with could
live in it. They know that she has no oceans,
seas, rivers or lakes, neither clouds nor rains
and that if she had, there would be no winds to
watt moisture from place to place, or to cause
tho clouds to drop fairness upon tho lunar fields.
They know, also, that the moons surface is sub.
jected alternately to q cold far more intense
than that which binds our arctic re-
giohs in everlasting frost, and to heat com.
pared with which the fierce noon of tropical day
Is q the freshness OF spring morning. They
search only over the lunar disc for the signs OF
volcanic action, feeling we'll assured that no
traces OF the existence of living creatures will
ever be detected in that desolate orb-7Ae Corn
I'LL Magazi,e.