Port Royal commercial and Beaufort County Republican. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1873-1874, 1874-02-19
The Moon as a Giyer OF Light.

This orb, the moon, that moves
around the earth, seems to be there in
order to give light during the night
time, says Prof. Proctor. Let us see
what astronomy has taught us. 1t
teaches that the moon is very much
smaller than the earth, with diameter
of 2,100 miles. She is distant from
the earth 23S, 1928 miles. The surface of
the moon is less than the earth's in the
proportion of to 49,. In other words,
the surface of the moon is about a.
600,00 square miles, equal almost ex-
actly to the surface of North and South
America. 1t is also equal approx
mately to the surface of Europe and
Africa taken together. If the moon is
the abode of life there is plenty of room
for life there, and it is an interesting
question whether she now can maintain
life. We know that the volume of the
moon is to that of the earth as l to 49l,
while her density is rather less than
that of the earth, so that her mass is to
that of the earth as about to 81.
First of all, as to the offices of the
moon. If it is shown that she dis
charges important offices to the earth,
you will see that we are no longer
bound by the argument of design to
recognize her as the abode of life.
First, we know she serves for the diyis-
ion ofitime. She gives light by night.
God set His lights in the expanse OF
heaven, the greater to rule by day and
the lesser by night alternately. There
is a service performed by the moon
which is so regular as to suggest that
perha, the Almighty intended the
moon for that special purpose.
Laplace went so far as to say if he
had made the moon he would have
made it much more useful to man. He
would have put it four times its present
distance away from the earth, when it
would be far enough away to be a full
moon and give regular light continu-
ously by night. The first objection to
this is an astronomical one, for of all
nuisances the moons light is one which
the astronomer dislikes most, especi-
ally at time when when he wants to
study some nebule, or some barely
visible comet at those times the
moons brightness seriously interferes
| with his observations and I am sur
prised, indeed, that Laplace, himself
an astronomer, should have suggested
so inconvenient an arrangement as that.
But there are other difficulties. II
the moon is in that condition she would
always have to be opposite to the sun.
The sun would go around once year
and the moon also. The moon would
no longer be q measure of time, she
would no longer rule the tides in the
same way. She now raises q great
wave called the tidal-wave, represented
in height by 5. You have another
caused by the sun, represented by 2.
These two waves are sometimes COM
bined in q single wave, and act to-
gether, sometimes opposing, sometimes
coaIescing. According to these changes,
the tide varies in height from the diff
ference of 5 and to the sum of 5 and
2. That is to say, 3 the least height
and 7 the greatest. That is very i'm
portant matter. 1t is of great service,
as any one who lives by the seashore
knows it is of great interest to the
shipbuilder and merchant that there
should be variable tides, that there
should not always be high tides, nor
always low. That important service
would not have been subserved by the
moon if the consideration suggested by
Laplace had prevailed. There is an
other very important service. The
moon enables the astronomer or sea-
man in long voyages to ascertain the
longitude, which is nothing more or
less than the true time at the observers
station. If she moved - times more
slowly she would be less fit to indicate
the time in exactly the same degree as
the hour hand of the watch is less fit
than the minute hand. There are other
very great and importsnt advantages of
the real moon over that suggested by
Laplace, which 1 wonder did not occur
to mathematician such as he, the only
man who ever lived of whom it can be
said, "He was the rival of Newton" "
He himself said Newton was fortunate
in having lived before him. In another
man it would have been rank conceit,
but in Laplace it was considered as a
lust statement. Yet he failed to notice,
when he suggested this moons being
four times further from lis, that under
his conditions if spread SO as to give
the same light, the material of which
the moon would be made would be
lighter than any solid element known
to us. 1 think it was well that the
Almighty did not take counsel from La
place in creating the moon.