The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1881-05-06

THE EARTHS SATELLITE.
Prof Proctor's Last Lecture-The Moon in the
Last Stages of Its Life.

Prof Richard A. Proctor lectured in Stein
way Hall, New York, on a recent occasion
before the Teachers Association of that city
The subject was "The Moon" and he wa.
listened to and frequently applauded by a
very large audience. This was Professor
proctOr's last lecture of the season, as he
Will sail for England soon. lie spoke in
substance as follows:
The moon is the one member Of the solar
system that has PISSED through its life.
have been in the habit of saying that there
are hve stages ia every planets life First,
the vapory; second, fiery; third, mid-life
fourth, old age; and fifth, death. The moon
would pass through some of these in a less
| degree than other planets. 1t may be qIes-
TONED whether body so small as the moon
was ever in such state of such intense heat
as the sun. 1t seems TO me that the earlier
stages of the moons life were shorter on ac-
| count OF It's smaller mass. In the fiery stage
the moon would be so hot that water could
not rest upon its surface, but would be raised
up In clouds. There is reason to believe
that every planet has passed through that
| stage. The first stage of which we now get
evidence in the moon Is that of volcanic &C
ton. 1t must have lasted long time. Then
came the period of fitness for life. We see
certain features which, if they had prevailed
in the past, would have made her unfit for
such lite as we have had on earth. II is
not true that the moon reyolves around the
earth. The earth and the moon circle around
each other, and the real centre around which
both revolye Is the sun. The moon is dis
tant from the earth 2l3, SIS miles. 1t would
take an ordinary train of railroad cars ff-
teen months TO get there. Her diameter is
2,lSl miles. That gives surface by no
means contemplate. 1t amounts to about
l4,OO0,OO0 square miles. Her volume is one
forty-ninth that Of the earth, and her mass Is |
one eighty-first of it.
The force of gravity on the moon is one
sixth OF its force on the earth. We would |
be much more active there. Men would be |
SIX times as tall as we are upon the moon |
and still quite as active. Their weight |
would be thirty-six times rs great as ours on
the moon; on the earth it would be PIG times
as great, and they would be crushed by their
own heaviness. The lunar day is a great
deal longer than ours. The time between
sunrise and sunset is 29b Of our days. The |
moons year OF seasons equals 34G5 of our
DAYS. lhe seasons are much less marked,
her axis being much more upright than that
OF the earth. AT this present time, owing to
the length of the lunar day, the moon would
be totally unfit for any such life as we know.
In her day she becomes intensely hot and in
her night intensely cold. Lord Rose, by
means of his six-foot rejecting telescope and
the thermopyle, was able to measure both
the reflected heat of the moon and that
whsch she gives by radiation. lie found
that her surface is 500 times hotter at noon
than. at midnight. 1t would be 250o below
zero at midnight and at noon 25O' ab-ve, or
3S' above the boiling point. No creature
could live at either time. There NAV have
been some kind of which we do not know
All evidences go to show that there is none
now. According TO theories of geology, the
earth must now be about 5O0,0OOOOO years
Old. The moon probably reached her pres
ent state Ia about SO,O00,OO0 years. The
earth will probably not reach the same con-
iition as the moon in less than 5OO,OOO,OOO
years. We therefore need not fear that there
will be no room for the lives of our immedi-
ate descendants.