The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1874-03-26
rHuAN IN THE NOON.

been written to prove or to dlsprOve MS
supposed existence, and fancy has ever
been busy in fabricating imaginary voy-
ages to his domain. The sort of liter
allure of which Poe's Adventures OF
Hans Pfaal' is type, has had many
votaries and admirers. Hans Pfaal was
a wealthy Dutchman, who, for some
misdeed, found it desirable to quit his
native city, like the late lamented Ge-
net, as unobtrusively as possible. SO
he secretly constructed a balloon. and
with better luck than professor Wise,
succeeded in getting off in it between
two days. After an eventful voyage he
arrives at last at the moon, where he
makes several wonderful discoveries,
which are not yet set down in any lu-
mar geography. NJ. Jules Verne, also,
after exhausting all the plausible I'M
possibilities of land and sea, has turned
his attention in the direction of planeta-
ry exploration, and lately dispatched
happy party of voyagers moonward IN
an immensee hollow ball fired from an
immense cannon. The idea, it may be
remarked, was anticipated in rather
clever paper published in Harper's Mag
azine many years ago, and is considered
by the Spectator TO fall short in point OF
ingenuity to Poe's invention.
These are samples of the efforts made
by imaginative writers to get TO the
moon. Restless fancy, on the other
hand. has been not less earnest in lis
efforts 10 get the moon 10 us. The cree
ton of the immense rejecting telescopes
of Sir William Herschel and Lord Rosse
excited the widest hopes in the bosoms
of these Missionaries who persisted in be-
lieving that the man in the moon was
something more than a myth. The first
peep into these gigantic instruments, il
was confidently hoped, wouldreveal the
whole domestic life of the neighboring
planet Many people still living will
recollect the great excitement produced
by Lockc's celebrated moon hoax, per
petrated something less than half a
century ago. 1t was published here in
the form of letter written by the as
tronomer Herschel to scientific jour
nal Of Edinburg, and purrorted 10 be
minute account of the animal and veg
etable life which that philosopher had
discovered in the moon. In spite oi
many palpable absurdities and numer
Gus gross inaccuracies, the story found
eager credcncc. until the next mail from
Europe exploded it. The story now re-
appears, but i'll more plausible and
quasi.scientitic shape
The fact is recognized that there is
limit 10 the power Of telescope penetra-
ton, which, 50 far as the moon is con
cerned, denies to earthly vision the priv
ilege of seeing objects on It's surface.
the size of which is less than about fl
ty feet square. But these objects can
be photographed, and it has been sup
posed that by an application Of the mi
croscope, the photograph conld be 50
that every square foot Of the
moons surface would be as infinitely |
visible to us as like portion Of the
earth itself The difficulty in the way
Of this desirable contamination has
hitherto been that the irregularities Of
the smoothest Photographic medium
were developed under the magnificr
with such surprising luxuriancc as al
together to efface the picture. 1t was
necessary. therefore, to find material
so smooth and texturelcss that even the
could not persuade it into
undue exaggeration. This, it is now
the mysterious French savant,
whose aid is always invoked on these
occasions, has at length discovered in a
sort of paper made of the fibcrs of the
milk weed. Armed with this potent
auxiliary, our servant has succeeded in
taking photographs which, powerfully
prove beyond question the
existence of animal life in the moon.
Two apparently human inhabitants were
even discovered walking calmly about,
lead downward, like flies upon a cell
ng-a circumstance which prevented
he savant from securing more than an (
inaccurate view of the extreme SUBMITS
If their craniums. For further details |
III terrestrial lunatics are now looking
n breathless suspense. Il
Such stories may serve to amuse the 1
more serious labors of the astronomer c
md have the merit, beyond most fictions c