Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-02-05
The Man In the Moon.

THE man in the moon has long had
singular fascination for earth dwelling
mortals Volumes have been written TO
prove or to disprove his supposed exist
encc, and fancy has ever been busy in
iabricating imaginary voyages TO his
domain. The sort Of literature of which
Poe's adventures of Hans Pfaal" is II
type, has had many volaries and admir-
ers Hans Piaal was wealthy Dutch
man, who, for some misdeed, found it de
sirabe to Quit his native city, like the
late lameuted Genet as unobirusively as
possible. So he secretly constructed II
balloon, and, with better luck than Pro
iessor Wise, succeeded in getting Oh in it
between two days. After an eventtul
voyage he arrives Mt last NJ the moon,
where he makes several wonderful dis
coveries, which are not yet set down in
any lunar geography. NJ jules Verne,
also, after exhausting all the plausible
impossibilities of land and sea, has turned
his attention in the direction OF planetary
exploration, and lately dispatched happy
party OF voyagers moonward IN an inn
mense hollow ball fred from an enormous
cannon The idea, il may be remarked,
was anticipated in a rather clever paper
published in Hayper's Hugaztpo many
years ago, and is considered by the Spec
later TO fall short in point of ingenuity
10 Poe's invention.
These are samples of the efforts made by
imaginative writers TO get 10 the moon.
Restless fancy, on the other hand, has
been not less earnest in its efforts 10 get
the moon to us, The erection OF the inn
mense rejecting telescopes of Sir William
Herschel and Lord Rose excited the
widest hopes in the bosoms Of these Wis
ionaries who persisted in believing that
the man in the moon was something more
than a myth. The first peep into these
gigantic Instruments, it was confidently
hoped, would reveal the whole domestic
life of the neighbor planet. Many people
still living will recollect the great excite
ment produced by Locks celebrated
moon hoax, perpeiratcd something less
than half a century ago. II was published
here in the form Of a letter written by the
astronomer Herschel to a scientific jour
nal of Edinburgh, and purported to be Il
minute account of the animal and yegea-
BILE life which that philosopher had dis.
covered ia the moon In spite of many
palpable absurditics and numerous gross
inaccuracies, the story found eager ere
dence, until the next mail from Europe
exploded it, The story now reappears,
but in u more plausible and qgasiscien-
titic shape.
The fact is recognized that there is
limit 70 The power of telescope pene-
tration, which, so far as the moon is
concerned, denies to earthly vision the
privilege OF seeing objects on its surface,
the size Of which is less than about sixty
feet square. But these objects can be
photographed, and it has been supposed
that by an application of the microscope,
the photograph could be so magnitied
that every square foot Of the moons sur
fact would be as infinitely visible to us IA
like portion Of the earth itself. The diff
ficulty in the way of this desirable con-
summation has hitherto been that the ir-
regularities of the smooihest photograph
ic medium were developed under the
magnifer with such surprising luxuri-
ance as altogether TO cf1ace the picture.
1t was necessary, therefore, To find n ma
terial so smooth and textureless that even
the microscope could not persuade il in
To- undue eXaggeration. This, IT is now
reported the mysterious French savant,
whose aid is always invoked on these oc-
casions, has at length discovered in sort
Of paper made of the fibcrs Of the milk
weed Armed with this potent auxiliary,
our sayant has succeeded in taking photo
graphs which, powerfully magnitied,
prove beyond question the existence OF
animal life in the moon. Two apparently
human inhabitants were even discovered
walking calmly about, head downward,
like flies upon q ceiling--a circumstances
which prevented the savant from securing
more than an inaccurate view Of the ex-
IRENE SUBMITS Of their craniums, For fur
ther details all terrestrial lunatics are now
looking in breathless suspense.
Such stories may serve 10 amusc the
more serious labors Of the astronomer,
and have the merit, beyond most fctions
Of the kind, Of doing no positive harm.
The absurditics Of the present one are
obvious Rot The least Of them is the fact
THAT the collodion film on which telescope
photographs are taken, probably comes as
near an absolutely textureless material as
any that can be had for the purpose. En-
thusiasts on this subject may as well
make up their minds that the ~oon, at
least, or so much as we can see OF Il; is
untenanted by man or beast, and devote
their romantic energies to colonizng
some more favorable planet--Neo York
Times