Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1883-04-06
THE MOON AND THE SUN.

LECTURES OF PROF. wINsTON-soM OF
THE DELUsIoNs ABOUT THE MOON
STRIKING FA CTS ABOUT THE SUN.
&C, &C, &C.
No two lectures, more interes ting to all
classes and all ages Of our people, have
been delivered in Staunton, than those of
Prof. Chas. Fl. Winston, A. NJ. Professor
of Physics in Richmond College, delivered
last week, the subject being the Moon and
the Sun.
He opened his lecture on the Moon Thurs
day night by saying that he supposed the
gentlemen in the audience would be in
terested in the subject of the moon, as
many Of them consider her their weather
prophet, and of course, the ladies would
be interested in the subject, for Plutarch
2Oo0 years ago said that there was man
In the moon, and tradition still has it so.
Being well equipped with the necessary
apparatus and with numerous photographs
OF the moon, he showed that she, being
once in semi fluid condition and acting
in obedience to the laws Of gravitation,
had protuberance On the side next to the
earth, which always keeps the same face
of this, our nearest celestial neighbor, to-
ward US, and consequently she does not
rotate upon an axis as do many of the
heavenly bodies.
He stated that
I'D
was no mere cOnJec; ure, but had been al
ready ascertained by means Of parallact ic
angles. the modus operandi of which was
clearly shown to the audience by black.
board Illustrations and that the phases,
or SD called changes of the moon" were
only changes in the relative positions of
the sun, earth and moon. When the earth
comes In nearly between the sun and the
moon, we have "full MOON" aud as the
earth moves from this position it seems to
lose its circular shape. aud soon assumes
the shape of crescent. This is due to the
circumstance that only that part of To 9
moon upon which the sun is SHINING ap-
pears bright to us, and when the bright
side is turned toward US, we see her in a
circular shape; and when these bodies
the sun. moon and earth. change their rel
alive positions to each other a different
part OF the moon becomes lighted up by
the sun, and as only a portion of this
bright part is turned toward US it presents
= to the eye bright crescent; and when the
whole of this lighted-up part is turned
from us we have dark moon"
By the use of the most odern ap5 lian
ces for magnifying and viewing the moon
we conclude that she IS a burnt out cinder.
possessing over
FIVE HUNDRED
visible mountains and numerous cra.ers.
Newcomb observed that the cracked-open
craters, mountains and shadows of noun
talns are what present the spotted appear
ance, hence Milton calls her the spotted
globe"
1t has also been noticed during obsar-
yations made while the moon is passing
over some other heavenly body that sue
possesses neither air nor water, aud con-
sequenGly can not be inhabited, if inhabi-
ted at all. by any such life as We have on
earth. Moreover the days and nights
there are each fourteen days (of "a hours)
long, and the extremes from heat to cold
must vary from four hundred degi ees
above zero to four hundred below
According to observations made by sci
entists year after it has been clearly dem
onstrated that the moon has
NO INFLUENCE WHATEVER UPON THE
WEATHER, CROPS, AND 50 FORTH,
therefore the Evolutionary theory which
tells us that the size of our dinner meat
depends not upon the honesty of the cook,
but upon the phase of tine moon during
which 1t was butchered. falls to the
ground. So also does the idea entertained
by many of the old time people that unless
shirt > is made the right time of the
moon" it slips up. He illustrated with a
very iDgeniously contriv, slide the great
influence which the moon excites upon
THE TIDES,
saying that the interval of time between
high tides at any given phase uniformly
accords with the lunar day; and that the
height of these tides is greater during GER
tain phases of the moon than at others;
and that they are greater when the moon
is nearest to the earth tn an when she is
farthest away-all acting in accordance
with Newton's great law which tells us
that the attraction between any two Civ
en- bodies is in proportion to their prox-
unity to each other. Hence it is that we
aGd high tide upon opposite sides of
the earth at the same time; for the water
upon the side of the earth next ths moon,
being ne2Eer to the moon. is drawn to-
ward ner mure than the solid mass of the
earth; and the water on the opposite side.
being farthest off, Is drawn less than the
whole mass of the earth. So the moon
seems to exert an attraction upon half the
water and repulsion upon the other, thus
producing pfotuberance on opposite
sides of the earth at the same time. After
holding the audience almost spell bound
for two hours with few happy remarks
he closed with the line from Keats-"A
thing of beauty is a JOY forever
LIE sun.
On Friday night Prof. Winston spoke
on the Sun and interested an attentive al-
dience no less than on the preceding
nlght. He first spoke of the great regal
power and eplendor of the sun which is
the source of all terrestrial motion. life
and energy. controlling the motion of
every bird, the growth of every plant, &c.
and that in his brightness he does net al
low man to look upon him with the naked
eye. The
DISTANCE TO THE SUN
which has been demonstrated in various