Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-05-30
Is the Moon Inhabited?

lhumhTOu, tno cIuiucut Icucu
astronomer. This learned gentle
man takes view radically at vari-
ance with the doctrine held by the
scientific world at the present day,
concerning the fauna and fora of
our satellite, if, indeed, it has been
believed that either animal or vege-
table life ever existed on that planet.
The standard textbooks, as we'll as
higher treatises on the subject of
astronomy treat of the moon as a
"dead world" that is to say, q
planet which has outlived its useful
ness as the abode of organized ex-
istencs Of any type or character.
Whatever may have been it's condi-
ton in the remote antiquity of the
solar system, the result of the most
careful telescope scrutiny has been
such as to lead astronomers to con-
clude that neither water nor atmos-
phere can exist upon its surface in
any such conditions as could sub.
serve the requirements of vegeta-
BILE and animal kingdom, bearing
any analogy to our own.
Within a few years, however, pa
tent observers have been rewarded
by some strange developments which
would seem to evidence, concluslvely,
that inanimate life, at least, wos not
yet entirely dead in the moon. New
craters are forming in her mountain
Gus regions and old ones are under
going radical changes in their form.
1t is only a few weeks ago that q
column of smoke was reported to
have been seen issuing from noun
tain peak, where the closest observa-
ton had never seen anything of the
kind before. With the successive
increase of telescope power, many
prominent objects upon the surface
of the moon have been found to
possess or present certain vicissi.
tudes of visibility, as if, at times they
were yelled in obscurity. by over.
hanging clouds, just as terrestrial
landscape might be hidden from a
balloonist who was sailing along
over thick stratum of watery vapor.
But here begins the chain of argu-
ment in favor of lunar life and &C.
tivity. If such thing as fire exists
in the moon, then there must be GER
tain gases to sustain it. One of them
must be oxygen, and if oxygen exists,
then it is fair to suppose that hydro
gen and nitrogen exist with it in
vario1s combination. But the most
na.utll combinations with which we
are acquainted, are water and air.
If water and air exist upon the
moon, it would be contrary to all the
known laws of nature to suppose
that there was no form of organized
life there. The tendency of inor-
gauic matter is to produce organic
forms, but organization strictly i'm
plies life and all its accompaniment.
Whole mountain ranges upon the
earth are composed of the. remains
of either animal or vegetable life.
But since the moon was originally a
part of the earth, it is readily con-
cluded that many of her stratifed
rocks, too, may he largely composed
of organic remains. M. Camille
Flammarion is now soliciting aid for
the construction of a monster tele-
scope, with which he hopes to set
tie, forever, the vexed question as to
the present inhabitants of the moon,
the issue involving both their exist
ence and physical condition.
That astronomer estimates that an
instrument of sufficient power to
determine this point can, be con-
structed for two million francs. The
highest magnifying power that can
now be applied to the moon, with a
a clear definition, is about two thou
sand diame.ers. Now, since our
satellite is removed two hundred
and forty thousand miles from us, O
power of two thousand times would
bring that body, in effect, to within
one hundred and twenty miles of
the observers eye, distance which
only provokes the desire for nearer
view. A power of eighty thousand
times, all other things being equal,