Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-11-23
.Alisrellaueons &eading.
NEWS FROM THE MOON.

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NEWS FROM THE MOON.
The telescope has lately revealed some very
curious and startling appearances in the moon.
Astronomers have been slow to accept the con-
clusions which these observations suggest, be-
cause they have so long believed that the moon
is a dead planet and incapable OF supporting
any life upon it's surface. This belief is based
principally upon the assumed absence of a lu-
mar atmosphere. But these recent observa-
tions Indicate that the moon has all atmos-
phere. and if it has All atmosphere, it may
have various forms of life upon it's surface,
differing as much from those upon the earth as
the moon itself differs from the earth, in it's
geological and Chronological features 1t
would be very curious if the telescope, the in
strument which has banished from the moon
the hosts of strange creatures with which the
imagination of some of the ancients peopled
it, and shown how untitled it is for the habita-
tion of beings like ourselves and those we see
around u.s. should now make us believe that
the moon is the home Of beings more grotesque
in our eyes, perhaps, Ian any the imagna-
tion has pictured. We do not say that this is
probable, but only that it is suggested by the
very interesting observations which have late
ly been made, and which we shall briefly des-
cribe.
On the 9th of March last, Mr.. Stanley Will
liams, an English observer, was looking at the
moon, in the early evening, with telescope of
considerable power, and giving particular at
tention to that very singular oval valley known
to astronomers by the maine of Plato. This
valley is about sixty miles broad remarkably
level, and surrounded by a ring of mountains
averaging something less than 1000 feet high.
but shooting up, here and there, into peaks
nearly as high as Gtna. When the sunlight
strikes across the SUBMITS Of the mountains
on one side, it throws the shining peaks into
splendid relief, but all the valley within re-
mains shrOuded in darkness. The sun was
just rising upon this mountain ring when Mr..
Williams made his observation of Plato, and
his eyes at once detected strange appearance.
The interior of the valley, which usually ap-
pears totally dark at such times, was lllunl-
mated with faint phosphorescent light, ma
king it's level floor dimly visible. 1t was not
the effect of reflection from the illuminated
mountains, because the interior of the valley
was protected from such reflection. Some
passing clouds, in our atmosphere, shut out
this interesting scene from the sight OF the
observer, for about an hour. When the SKY
cleared again, Mr.. Williams looked once more,
and saw that the strange light had disappear
ed. Mr., Williams had made similar obser-
vation, in the same spot about five years ago.
Abont seven weeks after Mr.. Williams OBJ
servation, which we have described, there was
total eclipse of the sun, and a party OF French
and English astronomers went to Egypt to OBJ
serve it, as the line of totality ran across that
country. When these astronomers turned the
spectroscopes upon the edge of the moon as 1t
hid the sun on the 18th of May they perceived
indications, in the strengthening of certain
lines of the spectrum, of the existence of an
| 1nfY hn
though not unprecedented was hailed with
satisfaction by those who had always contend
ed that the moon was not as dead as it seemed.
The existence of an atmosphere would explain
the phenomenon which Mr.. Williams witness
ed in the valley of Plato, as we'll rs various
other equally singular observations which have
been made by students of the moon from time
to time.
| But this was not ali. On the 10Th of May,
two days after the eclipse, John G. Jackson of
Delaware, while studying the moon, as he had
been accustomed to do for years, with re-
fectng telescope, was surprised to see near
the western edge of the disk, and over por-
tion of the fiat region known rs the Sea OF
Crises something which he described as a
feathery-looking cloud. Just two months later
he saw a similar appearance in the same place.
And now Mr.. l.. Z. Trouvelot, a well-known
astronomer, commenting upon Stanley Will
| liams observation, says that he has more than
once witnessed similar appearances upon the
moons disk. He has seen lunar landscapes
lose their distinctness as if thin clouds were
floating over them, and once around the crater
of Kant, he saw what may have been rare
vapor slightly tinged with purple. lie has al
so seen another large crater Illuminated with
faint purple light. Mr.. TrouvelOt thinks
these various appearances are manifestations
| ofo pof, yotr krn
Curious observations of similar nature can
be found scattered here and there in astron-
omical records reaching back more than CEN
tury, but they have generally been looked upon
with distrust or totally disregarded. These
recent observations give them renewed inter-
est and tend to vindicate their correctness
If it can be shown that the moon has an at
mosphere, Sir William Herschel's idea that
our satellite is inhabitable will not be deemed
so ridiculous as it has seemed to some modern
astronomers. We should not expect to obtain
any confirmation of the observations OF the
German telescopist who believed he had dis
covered big city and great military WORKS IN
the moon, but reasons might be shown Tor
thinking that the moon supports life peculiar
to itself. The mere possibility of such thing
is somewhat startling, for the moon is really a
very near neighbOr to the earth. Few, per-
| haps realize how close we are to another world
besides the earth, but it is very narrow span
of space that separates us from the moon
The mean distance is only 24O, 900 miles, or less
than ten times the circuit of the earth, and
only about eighty times as far as from here to
San Francisco. Not few sea captains nave
probably sailed as far as the distance from the
earth to the moon. And yet so close at hand
as this there is world differing 50 widely
from the one we dwell upon that we can only
admit the possibility of it's being inhabited by
assuming that its inhabitants are as unlike
ourselves as their world is unlike ours.-NeW
NIL