The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-11-10
News from the Moon.

the moon is dead planet and incapable
of supporting any life upon its surface.
This belief is based principally upon
the assumed absence of lunar atmo.
sphere. But these recent observations
indicate that the moon has an atmo-
sphere, and, if it has an atmosphere, it
may have various forms of life upon
its surface differing as much from those
upon the earth as the moon itself differs
from the earth in its geological and
climatogical features. 1t would be very
curious if the telescope, the instrument
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 habitation of beings like our.
selves and those we see around us,
should now make us believe that the
moon is the home of beings more
grotesque in our eyes, perhaps, than
any the imagination has pictured. We
do not say this is probable, but only
that it is suggested by the very interest
ing observations which have lately been
made, and we shall briefly describe.
On the 9th of March last Mr.. Stan
ley Williams, an English observer, was
looking at the moon in the early eve
ming with telescope of considerable
power, and giving particular attention
to that very singular oval valley known
to astronomers by the name Of Plato.
This valley is about sixty miles broad,
remarkably level, and surrounded by
ring of mountains averaging something
less than 1000 feet high, but shooting
up here and there into peaks snearly as
high as Etna. When the sunlight
! strikes across the submits of the noun
tains on one side it throws the shining
peaks into splendid relief, but all the
valley within remains shrouded in dark
ness. The sun was just rising upon
this mountain ring when Mr.. Williams
made his observation of Plato, and his
eye at once detected strange appear
ance. The interior of the valley, which
usually appears totally dark at such
times, was illuminated with faint phos-
phorescent light, making its level floor
dimly visible 1T was not the effect of
reflection from the illuminated noun
tains, 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. Will
liams looked once more, and saw that
the strange light had disappeared. Mr..
Williams had made similar observa-
ton, in the same spot, about five years
ago.
About seven weeks after Mr.. Will
l:am's observation which we have de
scribed, there was total eclipse of the
sun, and party of French and English
astronomers went to Egypt to observe
it, as the line of totality ran across that
country. When these astronomers
turned their spectroscopes upon the
edge of the moon as it hid the sun on
the 18th of May they perceived indica-
tions, in the Strengthening of certain
lines of the spectrum, of the existence
of an atmosphere on the moon. This
observation, though not unprecedented
was hailed with satisfaction by those
who had always contended that the
moon was not as dead as it seemed
The existence of an atmosphere would
explain the phenomenon which Mr.
Williams witnessed in the valley O
Plato, as well as various other equally
singular observations which have beer
made by students of the moon from
time to time.
But this was not all. On the 10Th o
May, two days after the eclipse, Johl
G. Jackson of Delaware, while studyin,
: the moon, as he had been accustome,
) to do for years, with a rejecting tele
, scope, was surprised to see near tn
western edge of the disk, and over
portion of the fiat region known as tn
r Sea of Crises, something which he dc
/. scribed as a feathery looking cloud
Just two months later he saw simila
appearance in the same place. An
} now Mr.. l.. +. Trouvelot, well-know
4. astronomer, commenting upon Stanle
J. Williams observation, says that he ha
t more than once witnessed similar az
pearances upon the moons disk. II
: has seen lunar landscapes lose their d
: tinctnesS as if thin clouds were floatin
Q over them, and once, around the crat,
of Kant, he saw what may have been
I rare vapor slightly tinged with purpl,
a lie has also seen another large crate
It illuminated with a faint purple ligh
a MIR. Trouvelot thinks these various a.
pearances are manifestations of luna
y atmosphere of nature yet unknown.
Curious observations of simil
g nature can be found scattered here ar
d there in astronomical records reachir
back more than century, but the
have generally been looked upon wi
distrust or totally disregarded. The
recent observations give them renew'
N interest and tend to vindicate their &C
70 rectness. If it can be shown that Il
% moon has an atmosphere, Sir Villa
20 Herschels idea that our satellite is
l. habitable will not be deemed so ride
u lous as it has seemed to some mode
10 astronomers. We should not expect
y obtain any confirmation of the obser,
10 tions of the German telescopist who |
@. leived he had discovered a big city a.
m great military works in the moon, b
4; reasons might be shown for thinki
- that the moon supports life peculiar
~ itself. The mere possibility of sucl
r. thing is somewhat startling, for t
ar moon is really very near neighbor
a. the earth. Few, perhaps, realize h
III close we are to another world besit
n the th,but it is very narrow span
IN space that separates us from the mo-
at The mean distanceis only 240, 900 mil
at or less than ten times the circuit of
'e earth, and only about eighty times
~ far as from here to San Francisco. !
or a few sea captains have probably sal
RS as far as the distance from the earth
iy the moon. And yet so close at hs
er- as this there is world differing
IRE widely from the one we dwell upon t
We we can only admit the possibility of
IRE being inhabited by assuming that its