The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1881-07-21
THE EARTH,s SATELLITE.

Professor Proctor. in . recent lee.
tnre on The Moon spoks in substance
ss follows:
The moon is one member of the so.
lar system that has passed through its
life have been in the habit Of saving
there are five stages in every planets
life: nrst, the vspory; second, the fiery
third. mid life; fourth, old age; fifth,
death. The moon would pass through
some OF these In 3 less degree than
other planets. 1t may be questioned
whether body 90 email a. the moon
Was ever In such 9 state Of intense hest
as the sun. IL seems to me that the
earlier stages OF the moons life were
shorter ON account Of its smaller mass
In the fiery stage the moon would be
80 hot that water could not rest upon
It's snrfaS=.. bp: wo=!!ii rise up in clouds
There - reasJn TO believe tina. every
planet has passed through that stage
The first stage OF which we pow get
evidence in the moon 10 that of yolcan-
10 action. II must have lasted long
time. Then came the period of fitness
Tor life. We see certain features.
which if they had prevailed in the past
would have made her unfit for such life
rs we have on the earth. 1t is not true
that the moon rsvolves around the
earth. The earth and the moon circle
around each other, and the real center
round which both revolve is the sun.
fhe moon is distant from the earth 23S.-
SlS miles. IL would take an ordinary
train OF cars fifteen months to get there.
Her diameter is 2,l6l miles. That
gives htrs not contemptible surface
Ii amounts to about II ,OOO, 900 square
miles. Fer volume is one foriy-nInth
OF that Of the earth. aud her mass is
one eighty-frst Of it. .'Ths force of
gravity on the moon is one-sixth Of its
force on the earth. We would be much
more active there. Men uLoa the
no n might be six times as tall as
we sre. apd yet be- quite as active.
Their weight would be thirty.six times
% grs ct as ours, on the moon; on the
earth il would be two hundred and
sixteen times % great, and they would
be crushed by their own hsaviDess.
The lunar day is grea, deal lonsei
than ours. The time bel vsen sunrise
AID sunset il twenty mine and one-half
of our days The moon's year of sea-
sons equals three hundred and forty
six and one-half Of our days The sea-
sons are much less marked. her axis
being much more upright than that Of
the earth. At this present time, ow-
ing to the length of the lunar day. the
moon would be totally unit for such
life as we know. In her day she be-
comes intensely hot and her night
intensely cold Lord Rosse, by means
of his six-foot rejecting telescope and
thermopyle. was able to measure both
the reflected heat of the moon and
that which she gives out by radiation
lie found that her surface is 500 de-
grees hotter st noon than at midnight.
II would bs $50 degs. below zero at
midnight. and at noon $50 degs above.
or 38 degs. above the boiling point
No creature could live at either time.
There may have been some kind OF life
which we do not know. All evidences
60 10 show that there 10 none now. Ac.
cording TO the theories of geology. the
earth must be 500, 600. 600 years old.
The moon probably reached her pres
ent state in aboat 10000, 900 years.
The earth will probably not reach the
same condition rs the moon in less
than another 500 .000.0O years. We
therefore need not fear that there will be
no room for the lives of our immediate
descendants