The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-04-21
ABOUT THE MOON.
N'ncerning Our Nearest Neighbor
in the Solar system.

N'ncerning Our Nearest Neighbor
in the Solar System.
lew weeks ago an important ad-
tieSs was given in London by Sir Rob
o., CIV Dal' the Astronomer Royal of Ire
,a"o' about the moon. In its course,
no made known the most recent conclu-
'ionS OF astronomers as to the moons
composition, its climatic condition and
'ne probability of its being inhabited.
AS our nearest neighbor in the solar
ss'en' the moon must always be an
oo!ect OF peculiar interest and of ard
cut Investigation to the jewellers upon
liie earth. So much nearer is it than
either Of the planets, that we can learn
more about it, and observe its physical
features more infinitely. We know that
that the moons diameter is only one
Iourth OF that of our globe; that it is
only two hundred and forty thousand
miles distant from us; that, if the moon
should disappear from its orbit as our
satellte, a most important physical
change on the earth, the cessa-
tion Of tides, would take place; and
thatm bulk, the moon is eighty times
less heavy than the earth. We can dis
Germ, through powerful telescopes, the
general formation of that half of the
moons surface which is turned toward
US. We are told that there are visible
two craters of volcanoes sixty miles
A<Se1Aother, ten thousand feet deep;
rhato'e mighty peak rises to height
OF twety-four thousand feet; and that
a vast psin is visible, seventeen thou
sand tet deep, and over fifty miles
wide.
IL mas lorg been a warmly debated
question AIMING astronomers whether
1t IS possible Hat the moon could sup
port ve&ettiol and animal and human
life. But agenral agreement has now
been reached bythem, that the moon
is much olde: THAI the earth; that it is
"as dead as doc NALL" that it has
neither atmos2her, air or water; that,
in short, it is noting else but ball
Ct extinct volcanic batter, lighted only
by the rays of the listant SUM-" No
tires ever issue from tie great volcanoes
which are apparent o, its surface; the
huge, hollowed-out raters emit no
smoke. A vast and eternal silence
reigns through all the lreary, treeless,
lifeless expanse.
The moon, indeed, is apparently
abandoned to death. nurishing no in
habitants, producing nothing resem-
bling trees, flowers, or beautiful things of
any kind-useless. in short, except as a
mass of extinct volcanic rubbish, which
drags the sea into tides, and reflects
the sunbeams into moonlight; but
whirls, like a corpse in cerements of
silver-cloth and black velvet, round
and round the earth"
The astronomers have carefully con-
structed geography of the moon, and
have mapped out its region, and given
names to its various features. For in
Stluce, they have called some of the
mountains of the moon, "Copernicus, "
"osidonius, " "Clavius," after earthly
psosophers; others, they have chris
49, by the names of the famous
peaB OF the earth; and the dreary val
leys and waterless bays and lakes have
received fauciful but inapposite names,
such as ''the Bays of Clouds" the
Lake of Nectar" and the Gulf of
Rainbows."
1t is doubtful, according to Sir Robert
Ball, if any increase of the magnifying
powers of telescopes will add any fur
Their definite knowledge to that which
has already been acquired about the
moon, He believes that, when the
moon is brought by greater lenses to
within fifty Gnstead of, as now, two
hundred and fifty miles of the earth,
as it probably will be in the near
future, the result of this improved OBJ
servaton will be mainly valuable as
confirming the conclusions already ar
rived at - Youths Companion.