The Red Cloud chief., 1883-06-29

OF all the permanent heavenly orbs,
there Is none that is NO near It's, is seer
under 70 large an angle-or. il you
prefer IL. 81 so large an apparent size
and Is at the same time 30 gently il.
Illuminated rs 30 permit men To gaze nj
il uninterruptedly, and is so abundant
ly marked with divers figurings OF
brighter and darker parts all over Its
surface, rs the moon.
The well-known changes in general
form Of the luminous part Of the disc
or sphere, known rs the phases Of the
moon. arising from the different man.
ncr in which in which il IL illumined BY
the sun in the course Of the month a.
seen by Us on the earth, and resulting
in the popular ame Of New Moon,
First Quarter, Full Moon, Third Quar-
ter and New Moon Alphabetically in
terfere with the regular observations Of
the minutcr markings and details Of
the surface above alluded to. but the
phase-effects are easily allowed for;
n then there comes out this con-
c%lusiOn, or statement, in which all OBJ
servers, both past and present, agree
namely, that the always turns the
same face Of itself towards the earth,
during the whole time of every month
ly revolution she makes around il.
Hence also comes the equally undis-
putcd fact, that mankind Is acquainted
with only one side Of .hc moon, and
never will, in the ordinary course of
nature. know what markings or feat
ures, say of sea or land. plains or
mountains, there may be on the other
side.
How this effect m about, and by
what physical means il is kept up, not
only throughout the revolution of q
single lunar month, but for tens Of thou
sands Of such periods. i'm fact through
out all history-is an interesting branch
in the physical astronomy of modern
times; but not for us to enter into now,
for We have a preliminary question Civ
en- 10 us rs u present task-namcly,
with regard to the general and indubit-
ably observed fact above alluded to; and
which question may be formulated thus:
What are we To say or to believe as to
1.-The rotation of the moon," after hav-
ing ascertained that it keeps one
face steadily toward the earth. during
the whole of n monthly revolution
around il.
The answer ought not to be difficult:
and, indeed, SO early an authority as
Berosus. a Chaldean astronomer i'm the
fourth century before Christ, is record
ed to have come to the true judgment;
for he announced that the moon rotates
once on its axis in the same time that
it r~evolves once round the earth: and
that opinion has been held by every
practical astronomer, mathematician
and scientist since the time ut least of
Francis Bacon.
But these three titles or professions
by no means include all men, even of
education; for some are occasionally
violent on the other side. ut is
curious" said one Of our latest and
most brilliant of mathematical philoso-
piers. Clerk Maxwell. '.to see how
spectators are led by their neglect of
the exact sciences, To put themselves
in opposition to them, when they have
not the slightest point of contact with
their systems" And it has always been
SO. Whence we find that i'm the sixth
century AID, a iogician. named Sim
plicius must needs come out TO oppose
Berosus and the astronomers by declar-
ing that the observed fact Of the moon
always keeping the same face to the
earth during n revolution around it.
showed that ii (the moon) did not ro-
tate on an axis at all.
Now, if Simplicius had meant that he
was only speaking with regard to what
may be termed apparent astronomy"
he would have been eNcusable enough.
SO far as that mere temporary stepping
stone of apparent, in place of real and
absolute, astronomy is concerned. But,
unhappily, he did not mean that. He
wished, on the contrary, to expose what
he believed 10 be an outrageous blunder |
OF the astronomers at the very BEGIN
ming OF their own science. and to have |
the honor himself of teaching the world
his own discovery, by a truer interpre-
tation Of the observed and conceded |
facts of observation, that the moon in |
space does not rotate, or turn on an
axis at all.
II is strange, wrote the astronomer
Arago. in the beginning OF the century,
that this class of men can not see, that
If the moon did not turn on its axis. and
dad keep n part of its face ALWAYS
pointed to n particular direction in
space, that we, on the earth, would
then necessarily behold one side OF the
moon in q half of its monthly revo-
luton round the earth. and the other
side Of the moon through the remaining
half. But that class Of men, who ex-
is still. are obstinate in not seeing or
understanding the case in this way. and
hence they rush into the open to declare
mad.
Thus. 1t the Bath meeting of the
British Association for the Advance
ment Of Science there was quite q noisy
md abusive Eruption of these men.
that the idea of the moon
on An axis when IL l,r.p..-