The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-07-16
For the Farmer and Mechanic.
. Aoor,--A Scientific Tramp.

halt rJIua-n Article is wandering
M among our papers which exactly
=, the leg'l definition of a tramp,
A. having no visible means of sup
Yet 1t Is printed 10 perfectly good
n and without hesitation swallo Red
thousands of those who depend upnr
,b papers for their scientific educa
m luer ready acceptance may per
a, be accounted for in their belief that
will in some way explain the mysterI
b, influence OF the moon upon our ter
-~strial weather.
The article purports to be a translation
tgm the Ny1 Pressoa HcitaNersl,!Il =
sui recounts the wonderful discoveries oil
The distinguished Professor BleHdntdnh,
ID Berlin, a being whose ldeutlty Is about
I'M a par with his protcge, the man ID
moon. For ages the hndtcS have been
ssarching for some evidence OF this Old
sIphabitant, but it has remained for DIR.
RTandmann TO discover that the obstacle
In the way of securing the photograph OF
this historic personage was the "mteasitq
~ the Egbt D01rer Of the o $ utntOs-
l,Lcre - A phrase which sounds very
scientific. but which however Is entirely
devoid of the slightest trace Of sense
Moreover centuries OF careful investiga
non havesa i>tactorily demonstrated that,
L the moon has IN atmosphere, it must
be- many hundred times rarer than our
own, as thoInCst delicate testes give US no
evidence OF Its existence Our modern
\ Calico, nav NJ discovered the difficulty,
Iet not the fact of It's having been an &C
/ cident Getract from his l%aurels) proceeds
to overcome it by smoking his object
/ glass with camphor. This process of the
partial observation Of the object glass is
,pmetimeS employed in observation upon
tfe,sun on account of the intensity of both
- Iight and heat, but with the second
hand. siited and diluted light of the
moon. no one else has ever found it nee
e,,ary. Now u hero photographs the
nmIuary, an operation that has been re-
/ Ieatedly and successful accomplished
4. since about 1850. From his negative he
makes a magic lantern slide and proceeds
10 throw up the picture of a diameter
/ Of 55t feet, when all his signs Of indus
TN and traffic and his towns and habi-
ta.igus Of all kinds were : plainly discern
ible.' Il Is to be regretted that he did
not carry his enlargement a little further
and give us a description of our human
cousins. Let us look at this photograph
in the light of vel established figures
The distance of the Don in round num-
bers Is 30, 900 miles. With a telescope
the apparent distance decreases in the
same ratio as the magnifying power in
creases. that is. a telescope ma~gnifying
10 diameter would cause the moon to ap
pear As it were ~ O06 miles off, one OF
lul diameter. 2,i00 miles, one of / 900
diameter. 240 miles, etc. To this reduc
ton Of distance theoretically there is no
limit, but, unfortunately, there is a prac-
teal one. Upon our largest and finest
telescopes powers as high as > 900 or
800 diameter have been tried, but owing
10 the necessary limit to human work
sanship and the greater difficulties exis-
3ngin our own atmosphere (not the mten-
~ NJ its hight powcr, however, they have
proven useless. The common testimony
u astronomers is that the best results
upon the moon are to be obtained with
power of 500. To give the renowned
professor a fair margin. we will assume
that with his smoked object glass he ua
able 10 take a perfectly sharp and clear
negative under a power of 1000. This
would represent the moon as at a dis
lance Of 2i0 miles, as we have seen.
Now no photograph will bear magnify
,ug more than a certain amount with
out losing all of its detail. A cabinet
portrait, even, magnified five times APP
pears as large as the face from which it
vas taken, but the finer details, as hairs
upon the face. pores OF the skin. etc,
which are distinct in the original. be-
come o~bliterated. To obtain his circle
tjj. it. the Doctor must have mag
nihed his negative at least 80 times.
But the moon as viewed through the
best telescope with a power of 1000
does not present ever the most marked
ana well defined objects at all distinct
j.. The photograph can Go no better.
1t must be confessed that the learned
professor betrays just a trifie of ignor-
auu5 10 to the ideas at present held re-
speyting the nature of the moons sur
face when he says "Those level plains
which were formerly held to be oceans
Of water proved to be verdant (!) fields,
and what formerly were considered
mountains turned out as deserts OF sanC
aud oceans of water" How was il
discovered that the fields were green {:
Up to the present time photography
has tried in vain to successfully repre-
seut color, and the Doctors knowledge
: based entirely upon his photograph
Moreover, fields a thousand or two mile:
IN length would compare very well with
our vast wheat fields of California ant
Dakota. To some Of US whJ have
thought there were mountains on tht
moon. it is quite humiliating now t.
learn that the shadows which we have
so often watched lengthen or shorter
on the lunar surface, as the sun Wa
setting or rising (on the noon were
cast by deserts of sand and oceans o
water,' and not by such ridiculous oh
iects as mountains. Truly we must iiv'
and learn. Pan.
JILL. H. .rornrnL1