The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1881-05-05
WHOLE NO. 1767.
IN. Y. Tribune.l
The Earth's Satellite.

PROFESSOR PRoCToR's LAST LECTURE
THE MOON IN THE FINAL STAGE OF
ITS LIFE.
Professor Richard A. Proctor lee
tured in Steinway Hall before the
Teachers Association Of this city.
His subject was 1.-THE Moon" and he
was listened to and frequently ap-
plauded by very large audience.
This was Professor Proctor's last lee
ture this season, as he will sail for
England soon. He spoke in sub
stance as follows:
The moon is the one member of
the solar system that has passed
through it's life. [ have been in the
habit of saying that there are five
stages in every planets life: first, the
vapory; second, the fiery; third, mid
life; fourth, old age; and fifth, death.
The moon would pass through some
of these in less degree than other
planets. 1t may be questioned
whether body so small as the moon
was ever in state of such intense
heat as the sun. 1t 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 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 action. 1t
must have lasted a long time. Then
came the fitness for life. We see
certain features which, if they had
prevailed in the past, would have made
her unfit for such life as we have on
our earth. 1t is not true that the
moon revolves around the earth. The
earth and moon circle around each
other, and the real centre around
which both revolve is the sun. The
moon is distant from the earth 23S,-
S1S miles, 1t would take an ordinary
train of railway cars fifteen months
to get there. Her diameter is 2,1S1
miles. That gives her surface by
no means contemptible. 1t amounts
to about IA, 100000 square miles. Her
volume is one-forty-ninth of 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 might be six times as tall upon
the moon, and still quite as active.
Their weight would be thirty-six
times as great as ours ON the moon;
on the earth it would be 216 times as
great, and they would be crushed by
their own heaviness. The lunar day
is great deal longer than ours. The
time between sunrise and sunset is
twenty-nine and one-half our days.
The moons year Of seasons equals
346t Of our days. The 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 Rosse, by
means of his six-foot rejecting tele-
scope and the thermopyle, was able to
measure both the reflected heat of the
noon and that which she gives out by
'adiation. He found that her surface
S 500 degrees hotter at noon than at
1t would be $50 degrees
below zero at midnight, and at noon
$50 degrees above, or 3S degrees above
he boiling point. No creature could
i've at either time. There may have
been some kind of life which we do
lot know. All evidences go to show
hat there is none now. According
o the theories of geology, the earth
must now be about 500,000,000 years
I'D. The moon probably reached her
PRESENT state in about S0,000,000
ears. The earth will probably not
each the same condition as the moon
n less than another 500,000,0O0 years.
We therefore need not fear that
here will be no room for the lives of
ur immediate descendants.