Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-19
MAY LIVE ON THE MOON.
Astronomer Says Orb IL PassinE
Through ID Glacial Epoch.
From the Chicago TrihuI

AS astronomical starter for the new
| century DR.. l.. J. Van Marter of Toledo.
| Ohio. advances some new theories as TO an
! ice-bound, snow-bound moon, having traces
| of vegetation i'll the depressions and prob
| ably having inhabitants. He holds that
! the planet simply is In its glacial epoch at
| this time and that the depressed surfaces,
| which at some day may be ocean bottoms.
| are the regions where animal and vege-
| table life first appears.
''Refectoscopy" Is the coined word which
| DR.. Van Marter uses as indicating his
method of observation. This re1ectoscopy
| he defines as the science of determining
what substance IS by an analysis of the
! light reflected from it. This, he says il
entirely different from the spectrum analy-
sis, as that shows only what is in the
| flame. In refiectoscopy he determines by
| an analysis of the light reflex the substance
| from which that light emanates Summing
up his theories and the proofs that he feels
| to have established. they are, in brief:
That the moon is covered with snow and
| ice.
That the so-called extinct volcanoes on
| the moon are ice mounds and caps.
| That, considering the present state of the
| planet, there are reasons for believing that
/ it is inhabited.
| Incidentally he explains how atmos-
phere free from moisture cannot refract
SHOWS obscure the face of the moon.
THE absolute c!earness of the moons
| atmosphere" he says, Its lack of clouds.
| rain and snow, is because watery vapor Is
| chilled and condenses before 1t get
| away from the valleys; this also explains
| the formation OF the ice mounds and ice
| caps. In the low and shielded valleys it ia
warmer than on the surrounding highlands
| Vapor rises, but because of the intense cold
| cannot rise and float away far, but is
condensed. This process repeated over and
over resulted in the crater-like formations.
The moon being almost entirely covered
with snow and ice, the sun cannot vaporize
sufficient water for the formation of clouds,
, and this explains their absence in the
moons atmosphere.
AS to the snow reflex. DR.. Van Marter
says he determines it just oculiss
| diagnoses atrophy of the optic nerve from
its light reflex. He says:
1.-The light reflex from the moons noun
tains, poles and highlands is pure white.
but gloomy and lusterless. From the moons
equatorial lowlands there is the same quail
ity Of light, only somewhat darkened, and
this is evidence of struggling vegetation.
Lava, igneus rock or meteoric metal does
not give a pure white reflex: volcanoes or
barren mountains do not; snOw-clad noun
tains do. Sailors in the tropics sleeping on
deck In the moonlight get disease of tho
eyes similar tosnow blindness. Thus do every
bit of evidence and its logical analysis her-
monte with my deductions"
He concludes that the uniformly pure
whiteness of the highlands also points to
snow, Just as the whiteness of the rims OF
the darkened areas point to impinging gla-
ciers.
DR.. Van Marter insists that the volcano
idea is absurdty for several reasons. 1t
assumes the absence of water, in the first
place, and without this element the doctor
says that rock would not have crystallized,
even conceding that the jagged outline OF
the moon surface could be rock. That 1t
is not rock he claims to prove for the rea-
son that no volcanic rock could reflect
white light.
Again, he says that the large size Of tho
so-called volcanoes, with diameters of twen-
ty to fifty miles, points to an instant cool.
ing, and that without the agency of waite.
he says would be impossible. On the other
hand, slow cooling would have superlm-
posed conical peaks. leaving the crater cups
at the apex instead Of low down in tho
present giant basins.