The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-11-30
News From the Moon.

very curious and startling appearances
in The noon. Astronomers have been
slow 10 accept the conclusions which
these observations suggest, because they
haze so long believed that the moon Is q
dead planet and Incapable of supporting
any life upon its surface. This belief is
based principally upon the assumed ab.
scncc Of Il lunar atmosphere. But these
recent observations indicate that the
moon ha, All atmosphere, and if it has
an sphere 1t may nave various forms
of il.c upon its surface, dierIngas much
from those upon the earth AS the moon
itself differs from the EARTH in It's geo
logical and Chronological features. II
would be very curious if the telescope,
the instrument which has banisllcd from
the moon the hosts Of strange creatures
with which Tie Imagination "f some OF
the nncirnto peOpicd il, and shown how
untitled il Is TOR the labl,atiOn Of beings
like ourselves and those we see around
t>. should now make Us Uriic"o 'ha. the
moon is the home oi beings more grotes.
iue in our eyes, perhaps, than any the
imagination has pictured. We do no,
,ay that this is probable, but only that 1t
is suggested by the very interesting oh.
scrvalious which hav: lately been made.
and whici, we shall briefly describe.
On the 9th oi March last, Mr.. Stanley
Williams, AN English observer, was look
ing Al the moon, in the early evening,
with "A telescope oi considerable power,
and giving particular attention to that
very singular oval valley known To us-
trunomers hy the name Of Plato. This
valley Is about sixty miles broad, re-
markably level, and surrounded by
rim. Of mountains averaging something
les than 4, 600 feet high, but shooting up.
here and there, into peaks nearly rs high
a. F.tLa When the sunlight strikes
across the SUBMITS OF the mountains on
one side, it throws the shining peaks into
-neniii relief hnl nll the valley within
remains shruudcd in darkness. The sun
VA. lust rising upon this mountain ring
wcn Mr.. Williams made his observation
of Plato, and his eyes at once detected
strange appearance. The interior OF the
valley, which usually appears totally
dark ut such times, WAS illuminated with
f,in, ptosphorescent light, making its
level tloor dlmly visible. 1t was not the
elect of reflection from the Illuminated
uiuunlains, because the interior oi ;he
valley was protected from such reflection.
Surue passing clouds, in our atmosphere,
shut out this interesting scene from the
sight Of the observer, for about an hour,
When the .ky cleared again, Mr.. Will.
iams looked once more, and SAW that the
strange light had disappeared. Mr..
Williams had made similar observation,
in the same spot, about five years ago.
About seven weeks after MIR. Williams
observation, which we have described,
there was total eclipse Of the sun, and
party of French and English astrono-
mers went To Egypt TO observe IT, III the
line Of tOtality ran across that country.
When these astronomers turned the spec.
troscopcs upon the edge Of tho moon as
it hid the sun on the 18th Of May they
perceived indications, in the strengthens
ing Of certain lines Of the spectrum, ol
the existence of al atmosphere on the
moon. This observation, though not
unprecedented, WAS hailed with satisftc.
ton by those who had always contended
that the moon WAS not ~ dead AS 1t
seemed. The existence of an ntmos-
plere would explain the phenomenon
which Mr.. Williams witnessed in the
valley OF Plato, IA, we'll ns various other
equally singular observations which have
been made by students OF the moon from
time to time.
But this was not nll. On the 18th oI
May, two days after the eclipse, John c.
Jackson of Delaware, while studying the
moon, us he had been accustomed to do
for years, with a rejecting telescope, was
surprised To see near the western edge ol
tho disk, aud over u portion OF the fial
region known ~ the Sea of Crises, some
thing which he described as q ieA.hery'
looking cloud. Just two months later
he saw similar appearance in the same
place And now Mr. l.. r.. Trouvelot
Al well-known astronomer, commenting
upon Stanley Williams observation, aays
that he has more shan once witnessed
similar appearances upon the moons
disk. He has seen lunar landscapes lose
their diatinctncss as if thin clouds were
tloating over them, and once around the
crater of Kant, he saw what may have
been ~ rare vapor slightly tinged with
purple He has also seen another large
crater illuminated with a faint purple
light Mr.. Trou-clot thinks these va
ri0us appearances arc manifestations Oi
II lunar atmosphere of n nature yet un'
known.
Curious observations of simila. ma.
tlre can be found scattered here and
there in astronomical records reachin buck
more thnn u century, but they have gen.
orally been looked upon with distrust oi
totally disregarded. These recent obser.
vations give them renewed Interest and
teni 10 vindicate their correctness. Ii il
can be shown that the moon has-aO at
mosphere, Sir william. He:sschepa' iAea
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 oi
the observations Of the German telescop.
ist who believed ne had discovered a big
city and great military works In the moon
but reasons might be shown for thinking
that the moon supports l:.e peculiar t.
itself The mere possibility Of such g
thing is somewhat startling, for the moor
is really n very near neighbor 10 the
earth. Few, perhaps, realize how close
We are 10 another world besides the earth
bns i. is very narrow span Of space
that separates us from the moon. The
mean distance is only 100000 miles, OF
less than ten times the circuit Of The
earth, and only about eighty times as fa,
as from here to San Francisco. Not Q
few sea captains have probably aailed a,
far as the distance from the earth TO the
moon. And yet so close at hand as thi.
there is world differing so widely from
the one we dwell upon that we can only
admit the possibility of it's being inhab
tied by assuming that its inhabitants are
as unlike ourselves "A their world is un.
like ours.-Ne.o York San. y
PTcI, ESnrcu -J,,dve Hilton rbn