National Republican., 1874-04-01

really limit life on the Garth; beyond 9 certain
height on the mountains there is no life except o
| mere animalculR and these carried up by the air
and 50 far as analogy teaches us We must oeiieT
| that there is no life In the moon.
THEORIES TO ACCOUNT FOR THE cRArERs.
Besides, there 10 no sign Of water. We cal
| recognize regions, such as those inclosing tn
floors, which are sometimes perfectly level an
sometimes show streaks and marks, and they a.
the water under that shalloW air would be raise
into the lunar atmosphere, and increase or dc
crease these markfnRG
Now, IL certainly seems probable st arst sight
WhEe the aspect Of the mot 10 such as have dc
scribed, that at one time or other there must hay
Deen great amount Of yapor around it AL ~
Of yspor. There are those who say. a. PTolesso
Mallett Of England, that there arc no yolcanoe
without the action Of water. IL that De the case case
are due to volcanic ernptions, and there must hsv
been water on the surface. What has become 9
TatsI The TsTs s5s sWay the
Il was vas the the theory Of Winston, who aocssed New
ton Of being Jealous Of him. and & %nissSnf tht nam
comet would cause the distraction ofthe earth D.
| hre, and that one had already done % by water
| But we know that, while the moon might ge
something from comet, no comet could dra,
Another one was once attached to Is that tn
those who held this theory. and as Il is exploded
covered with snow. That whitensss must be &C
HHSY AL u snow low and giaeisrs snd tho asnospSsr'
also may have become ffoten- Carbonic acid ga
may be fressn into something like snow. The Oh
white; It is more nearly black than white. Idar,
say you remember Dr.. Tyndalls telling you ths
II the moon was black It would yet be white Il
and It appears thst It is no Shiter than weather
beaten brown sandstone. Sir John Herschel dis
covered 1t thus: He noticed the moon setting BY q
Elections Of light were the same. oertsin parts d
the moon are brighter than others, and from Zoll
ner's observations II seems that these may bt
regions are probably darker Very much than Oui
ordinary skies. ..- ...a
Another explanation is that the lunar ocean,
have been Withdrawn into the substance Of the
moon. Mars has oceans smaller than ours, when
the earth is compared with bis Dimensions; AND
We may suppose It due to the withdrawal Of Q
h s coOIing coli con- contracted and left spaces into which
q portion Of the water withdrew. We should hnd
reason for believing that Mars small planet, IN
be Withdrawn into the interior. But there is Q
dIfhculty In that; the atmosphere remains unac-
counted for, and II seems difficult to understand
that any atmosphere Of moderate extent would be
withdrawn entirely within the, lunar cavities and
give no sign Of existence.
There remains yet another theory-that the
moon Is egg-shaped, and the center of gravity
being displaced on the further side, has carried
TO that side the oceans and air OF the moon, and
that the side Of the moon never toward us may be
O comfortable abode Of lfe The little end Of tb :
sgg toward US has no waters, and they are draw q
TO the further SIDE The one objection to that is,
that If the moon is eggshaped, the oceans and the
atmosphere ought to be on this side instead Of the
other. II the more pointed end Of the egg-shape
were toward the earth, 1! would correspond to .
hill Of matter, to pile Of It on our side. That
pile Of matter would act as an attracting cause
and draw the oceans and the atmosphere from the
further side to this; and We find, so far can see,
no theory counting for the displacing Of any
former oceans or atmosphere in the moon. We
have great difficulties to account for, and we may
find reason to doubt whether the signs Of volcanic
action indicate eruptions, or whether they may
have been produced by forces acting from outside.
PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES OF THE NOON.
The room was here darkened and several photo
graphic pictures Of the moon shown. Pointing to
the moon In the first quarter, the Professor con-
tinued: This picture Of the moon in the first quar-
You see it LEFT for right, because In the telescope
one always sees II this way, and 1t is preferable
TO follow the plan in the books on astronomy and
show the pictures as shown by the ordinary tele-
scope we viii now have the second and third
quarters. The photographic study Of the moon
was oommehced by your American couutryman,
DR.. VIII. Draper, IN 1870, and one Of the works
we study is SO much in advance even Of those men
of the present day that we owe great deal to DR..
Draper. He began in 1870 his Photographic work
on the moon, and that work greatly increased in
perfection. Mr.. De La Rue, Of England, got
mastery Of photography, and Mr.. Rutherford, of
New York, made maps which Mr.. De La Rue
acknowledge frankly were better than any one of
his, owing 70 the clear atmosphere Of New York.
DR.. Henry Draper made lunar photographs
earlier. have had no opportunity Of comparing
for you to suppose that in the superiority attrib
uted to Rutherfords photographs was making
Q comparison between Mr.. Rutherford and DR..
Draper.
There you have picture of the full moon, and
you will notice how exceedingly dark these
ridges are on the bright upper region Of the moon,
and that wonderfully bright region where crater
oyerlaps crater, even as 1t is there shown by the
photograph and more remarkably by telescope
" tha nrmbsr of ,Ssss craiers nnd tSa
number has gone on growing greater, until at last
q map Of so many has been made that they cannot
DR.. SchmIdt's was the noblest work Of that kind
that exists, and It is very unfortunate that We
oainot get money enough In Europe to publish It,
and make him some remuneration Tor the work OF
g!bbous moon, passing on to the third quarter.
This picture is by Mr.. Rutherford. Around the
right Of the moon we begin to see region about
taken place. Low down on the right is q small
lark round spot on this curved bright streak. In
he Floor Of Plato. It looks very DARK indeed,
specially In the case OF the gibbous moon.
In the next picture you win see how It becomes
lighter When this is looked at closely
md certainly when looked at through q tele-
scope It is found thatt looks lighter at the time of
he quarters than at the time ofthe full moon when
brightly illuminated. Now, 1t has been suggested
that on that spot some process of vegetation is
taking place In that case we should have q very
striking fact Of some change taking place
there. Unfortunately for that, 1t happens that
there is also q strong argument against the
theory that there has been any real change there.
or course when you view the spot at the time Of
the charters you have shadows thrown; and in
contrast with those shadows the floor Of that spot
naturally looks lighter. Whereas in the case Of
the full moon, all around It there Is brightly
power, and therefore by contrast
the spot looks dark. have made the calculations
myself and found that that is absolutely the case;
troSs shtsr II % mere % subjective 5 1 eect and
we have not the evidence we hoped for, evidence
of change There is an illustration of that fact in
transit across the face of that planet. They look
black by contrast, but start into brightness as
iOon as they move of the disk Of the planet.
THE LUNAR MOUNTAINS.
We will have this other picture, which De La
Rue said was better than any he ever took him.
,elf.r>We have here the moon in the third quarter
Here is the lower region, the Floor Of Plato, here
The lunar Apenntnes, here the crater of Ooperni-
GUS, and here the lunar crater Aristarchus, the
bright spot which he took for an eruption. The
fact was that that very bright spot, by reflection
of the earth's light, became visible That was the
very same thing, only more distinctly shown; the
details are somewhat more distinctly shown. The
Apennines can De very plainly recognized, passing
in curved streak upward. Here Is Copernicus,
here Kepler, and here Arlstarchus. From these
three centres there is radiation, and It appears
,learly to observers that strata were upheaved
II different times; the LITTER ones seem TO break
through the earlier ones. 1t is hoped that by that
we can learn something Of the chro-
biological order In which the changes Of the moons
Iurface took place.
This picture has been enlarged by Mr. Ruther-
ord. Here Is Oopernicus and here you see the
Apennines on the lower lightened side. The
noon you see is covered all over with these irregu
arities. We know how volcanic eruptions are
brought about First there is q gradual contrac-
lion Of the skin, the outer crust Of the earth; q
rated, and these gases escape out Of the mouth of
the volcano. II any such processes happened upon
The moon they must have been much more violent.
But then ope would have thought that any one
Of the lunar craters the largest being three
or four miles across, would have been large enough
20 let all the gas In the whole moon escape.
Now, what was the necessity Of 30 manyi II was
by DR.. Hook that in o former state Of
existence there was q bubbling, and as the bub-
We will have another picture brought on, still
further illustrating this. Here you see the Floor
Of Plato again, and the Apennines also, seen run
ming across toward the left OF the picture, This
crater Is the crater Aristarchus.
We will now have that carried away, and have
another series Of pictures Of different kind. We
Will have two pictures Of the Floor Of Plato.
You will notice that the shadows there are
thrown on the Floor, in the picture on the right.
In the picture on the left, where It 10 morning,
you win notice how that long bank differs from
recognize how far the appearance Of the moon
NAV chanQe from a mere change n the fliumina.