The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-03-26
THE ASTRONOMICAL USES OF BLIND
BOYS.

to the improvement Of the telescope. For
reasons not necessary to elaborate, it is ad-
mitted that this limit has nearly, il not quite,
been reached. ROSES great telescope does
about all that the science of the optician is
capable of accomplishing in the way of light
gathering power, combined with defniteness
and distinctness of image; but even that teles-
cope makes nothing more out of the nearest
fixed star than a point of Light, and does not
bring the moon nearer than, say sixty miles.
But at sixty miles the Lunarians, if such
creatures there be, would be invisible to human
eye-sight It is sad to know that telescopes
will never reveal them to us-that by scien-
tifc agencies we shall never be able to ex-
anime tho condition and investigate. the
habits Of those beings who might, if
brought within the range of our scrutiny, be
made SO interesting to us. As sort Of
consolation for this deprivation, astronomers
have invented the theory that in consequence
of certain trifling deficiencies, such as a total
absence Of air and water, life can not exist on
the moon. They are careful, however, to as
sure Us that they mean life as known to US, for
it would clearly be illogical to assert that some
fern of life, entirely unknown TO US, might
not exist on our satellite. Because We need
water for purposes of navigation, to say moth
ing of washing and little drinking, it does
not follow that the Lunarians may not get
along very comfortably without ships. or
steamboats,, or that they may not constitute
great total abstinence society in regard to
water as we'll as. cocktails. However this
may be, if is gratifying to know that We shall
not be for long without the means for solving
these important problems. According to the
San Francisco Morning Call nature has come to
our reliefb by furnishing blind boy who ful6lls
all the conditions desired in the long.desired
bat perpetually delayed telescope. This re-
markable juvenile phenomenon is nine years
of age, and, up to the time when his wonder
full gift of presbyopia was developed, was sup
posed by his parents to be completely blind.
On the 18th of December last-it is we'll to be
accurate in matters of such importance-the
boy cried aloud, and was found by his fond
and astonished progenitors sitting up in bed
and gazing intently at the moon. The
amazing fact then became manifest that,
although the boy was unable to see anything
on the earth, he could plainly see everything
that was going on in the moon. He supposed
that luminary to be about 200 feet distant;
though how blind boy was able to make any
estimate whatever of distance we are not in
formed. Omitting this trifing discrepancy in
the report, We may say that. greatly
to the relief of the fond parents,
whose faith in the mau-in-ths-moon
was thus Immediately restored, and
much to the establishment of the wise m en- of
the West, who were incontinently called in,
the boy at once overturned the theory Of
lunar uninhabitability. Hs declared that he
saw "things'' moving about on the surface of
the moon, rolling over mountain tops, and
skipping with amazing velocity across pro-
found valleys. These 'eshings" were evident
~ living beings. They were when full-grown
shaped like chariot wheels, and their mode of
locomotion was rapid revolution on what
might be called Q ventral hub. The young
ones were formed like an orange or pumpkin,
only arriving at the dignity Of hubs and
spokes on reaching, let us say. the age of pu-
berry. In fact, the mature Lunarian seems to
be . gigantic rotifer, capable Of loco
motion at an enormously rapid rate,
and pass his existence in playful
revolution around his airless and waterless
abode The discovery of this remarkable
rsce of beings is calculated to make US dis
conten.ed with planet like ours, which re-
quires that we should have legs and arms
and lungs to support our sluggish existence,
and to make US envious of creatures who
are gifted with spokes and formed like
wheels, SO that they can roll around thei,
world without lst or hindrance.
Space does not permit US to recite the fur
Their discoveries made by the blind boy under
the able direction of the California savans, bu
| il is necessary to explain the strange and