The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1895-05-11
LIFE ON THE MOON.

no one at present living on the
moon who is in the least like our
selves, for the conditions existing
there would be fatal to lives such as
ours. In the first place there is no
atmosphere worth speaking OF, at
least no more than is to be found in
the exhausted receiver OF an air
pump. Then the moon has to do
without water; or, at any rate, IL
there is any it is probably ice.
A day on the moon lasts for
fortnight, aud all the while the sun
is pouring down light and heat,
which at the first blush seems as If
IL ought to make it very hot, as
there is no atmosphere to serve as a
protection; but, on the other hand,
there is nothing to prevent it radi.
ating the heat away almost as quick
ly as il gets it, aud so it seems likely
that it resembles somewhat the tops
OF mountains on the earth which,
though nearer to the sun than the
valleys, and less protected by atmos.
pbere, yet are regions Of perpetual
snow. But if we cannot make very
good guess as to the temperature in
the daytime, yet we can be sure the
thermometer in tho lunar night
Chat also lasts a fortnighD must go
down to at least 200 degrees below
zero.
Moreover, apart from the tedious.
ly long days, there is no variation
all through the year, for seasons
such as we have are practically un-
known on the moon. Even the
earthshine on the moon is not what
it was, for now it never shines on
half the moon at all, and hardly
shifts its positions even for the parts
where it does.
Again, in times long past, when
perhaps there was some water on
the moon, the earth must have
caused enormous tides, which in
their way must have been very in
convenient; but now, even il the
water were there, the earth would
not cause tides, for it does not shift
it's position enough to produce
them.
But there are other peculiarities
about this curious world due to its
mass that claim some attention.
Everybody knows that the moon is
very small body only 1000 miles or
so across; the number OF acres on its
surface is only one to every thirteen
acres on the earth, aud il we had
hole as big as the earth it would
take fifty moons to fill it.
A pound Of feathers and a pound
of lead weighed together have the
same weight, but a cubic yard OF
feathers and cubic yard Of lead
weigh very differently; and so it is
with the earth, that while it is fifty
times as big as the moon, it is eighty
times as heavy, for it is made OF
heavier stuff.
II the moon were as large as the
earth, and only weighed one eight
eth Of what the earth does, then
the force OF gravity on the moon
would also be an eightieth OF what
it is on the earth; but as the sur
face OF the earth is much farther
from its centre than the moons sur.
face is from its centre, it follows that
on the moon We get sort OF con-
centrated essence OF great gravity
which brings it up from only being
an eightieth to being sixth OF what
it is on the earth. But even that
would have curious effect on peo-
pie living on the moon. A man
weighing list. here would only
weigh 2st. there, and il we can jump
eft. high on the earth we could clear
36ft on the moon.
Corpulency on the moon would be
shorn OF half its terrors, and aerial
navigation would be perfectly easy
If there were as good an atmos-
phere as We have here, II the same
sort OF proportion were to exist on