The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1875-11-26
THE LATEST MOON STORY.


nable results in the arts; il has been re-
served for NJ. Lasinai Coreau to make
it still more valuable in the sciences by
employing glass treated in VI. Bastie'S
| way for optical purposes. He has con-
sirncted Herewith the lenses of large
Georgian telescope with which he has
thus far resolved and. by employing the
| Rutherford method. has photographed
three hitherto unknown nebulse in Argo
and foar in Seorpio, besides the resnlt~
of which nave spoken, Of the revolu-
tion of nebule not previously seen, the
discoveries in regard to lunar togo
graphy, and in general to selenography
of all kinds. are of the utmost impor-
tance. When in Russia astronUm err
were first turning their attention TO that
elittering surface on the moon, which
was supposed bv them 10 be hinge mir
ror erected by the lunar inhabitants for
the purpose of e< abiishing a sort of a
telegraaphic communication with the
people of the earth, it happened thai
NJ Lastnai Coreau was supervising the
near completion Of his telescope at the
works of NJ. EIchens, the constructor OF
the new instrument for the Paris OBJ
servatory. NJ Lastnai Coreau has
tnrned his telescope upon the moon. and
has found, indeed. the glittering surface.
but has very conclusivelY shown that it's
use Ia not that which has been attribu-
ted to it. Without entirely conclusive
the moon is without an atmosphere.
although many have asserted that, on
account of the fact that the moons Gen.
tire of gravity is some eight miles away
from its centre of sphericity, the air
and water of that planet had gravitated
to that side of the neon which is never
turned toward the earth. Able investi
gators have shown the falsity OF both
propositions; there ia an atmosphere on
the moon which envelopes it ours
does the earth. From his Investigations
with his instrument, which practically
brings the moon within ten miles of the
earth for purposes of observation within
limited area, NJ. Lastnai Coreau has
shown that in the moon there are be-
ingss shaped generally like men, but
much larger, and that thousands of them
are working towards some common end
with mirror, which. instead of 100 feei
is considerably.over l 900 feet in diane
| ter. 1t is swung on gimbals on gigantic
supports in snch way as TO turn in
any desired direction, and seems to
serve many purposes, or at least to he
able 10 serve them. 1t is concave, and
from the fact that it is generally turned
in such a direction that its rays strike
over an enormous field of what seems TO
be growing grain, it seems evident that
il is used to concentrate the rays Of the
sun in auch a way az, to render possible
the growth Of crops on the moon, which
is cold and in most places barren, as il
has hitherto been supposed to be in
places. What hot-house is in winter
men is to them, save that it supplies
them with food by concentrating the
rays of light aud heat and throwing
them upon the fields. As it turns, Of
ten a nearly unbearable light like that
of the sun has been thrown on the eyes
of .he observer, so thai at times he is
forced TO observe with colOred glass
over the object glass of his instrument.
He describes the men as looking like a
colony of gigantic miners living in
hints, upon which, at stated hours
hence the observed regularity of the
signalling-the lights and warmth are
permitted to fall. At other times the
rays of the mirror are concentrated on
what looks like black earth. perhaps
with the purpose of warming it and
making it suitable for the future raising
of other crops.
1t is indubitable that there is lunar
atmosphere, since not only do plants
grow-and this necessitates an atmos-
phere like our own-and men live, but
NJ Lastnai Coreau has seen gigantic
birds wheeling around the awful crags
and above the mighty chasms of the
moon. He has seen them descend in
| flocks toward the grain fields, and also
has seen at such times the rays of the
mirror turned directly upon them-not
slantingiy as on the grain. hut directly
SO that they have fallen lifeleas to the
earth and eagerly been devOured by the
men. 1t is M. Lastnia Coreau's opinion
that these are convicts or men who for
some reason have been banished from
| the warmer and more habitable lunar
hemisphere as to a sort of Siberia,
where they must work out their own
purposes and live only through their
own incalculable exertions.
If this supposition be correct, it shows
that on that portion of the lunar surface
which is hidden from as, high degree
of civilization must have been reached.
| It seems impossible that this huge mir
ror could have been constructed by
those beings who use it, under the cir
cumstances in which they are now plac-
ed, for to construct snch a continuance
presupposes the existence of vast found
ries and skilled workmen, of food to
support them in their work, of division
of labor, and in short, of all that we
know under the name of civilization,
but a civilization Of degree of perfec-
tion which we, at least, have not yet
reached.
| There are other considerations which
render this great discovery highly prob
able. The moon, during the long ages
since it was FIRST cut of from the earth,
has passed through all the phases of the
earth. MeteOric stones which have fas-
len on the earth show that the celestial
bodies are composed of the same sub
stances as the earth. The moon must
have passed through changes analogous
with those which have taken place in
the earth; it must have had its azoic,
pal@ozoic, and mesozoic ages; and, as