Evening journal., 1908-04-20
ARTFUL MOON HOAXES
Lies That Have Been Told About
the Queen Of the Night.
FOOLED THE WHOLE WORLD


1885 and Was Reprinted All Over tho
clobe-oerman Yarn That Fell Flat.
One OF the must curious facts con-
cerning the goddess Of night is her
intimate connection with liars Of vari-
Gus Tx. The joke Of its day and gener-
alton was the famous "moon hoax OF
the New York Sun. perpetrated in
1885. Sir John Herschel had gone 10
the Cape Of Good Hope to take astro-
nomical observations. Inspired by too
deep potations or by Niconet's sneers
at the moonstruck Arago or by the
balefui rays Of the queen of night her
self, the idea came to Richard Adams
Locke. a Sun reporter. that mythical
account Of Sir Johns work would
make first class 'story" for his pa
per. It has been stated that Louis
Gaylord Clark aided the plot. but this
is not probable, and some doubt even
Nicollet's influence and hold that the
whole scheme lay between Locke and
his bottle only
However that may have been, there
appeared In the Sun in September a
long article purporting TO be letter
from Dr. Andrew Grant to the Edin-
/ burgh Journal Of Science describing
some wonderful discoveries that Her
schel had made concerning the nature
and inhabitants Of the moon. The
astronomer. It was said. had been ena-
bled by a remarkable combination of
| powerful telescopes and microscopes to
| bring the moon so near that the OBJ
! server could recognize the character of
rocks on her surface. perceive the
color Of flowers and detect the charac-
teristics Of men and animals that he
saw. These observations proved, of
! course, the existence Of animal life on
the orb and It is curious that among
the types perceived there were several
that Darwinism-had 1t been born at
that date-might have recognized as
missing links" All the types Of life
on the lunar surface were inferior,
proving, as the writer of the article
grandilOquently observed, that imam
may now fold the zodiac around him
with a loftier consciousness of mental
supremacy"
Gle was amazing. OF the Issues Of the
Sun containing It edition after edition
was called for until 100000 copies had
been sold. The article was also Issued
in pamphlet form-both in the United
! States and England-and was disposed
Of in countless numbers. On the Eng
lish edition all reference to DIR. Grant
and the Journal Of Science was wisely
omitted) A French translation was
also promptly made by NJ. Nicollet, Of
which over half a million copies were
sold on the continent Of Europe.
1t may be said that a whole world
was taken in by this magnificent joke.
Except a few scientists who perceived
the splendid absurdity Of the detailed
descriptions and few skeptics who
never believed anything on general
principles everybody was hoaxed. There
were rather more dOubters among ed
4 ucated persons abroad than here, as
might have been supposed, though even
there the numbers Of believers formed
a fine tribute to the ingenuity that
framed the STORY" NJ Arago was
4 said to have been completely taken in,
whereby the malice that inspired the
translation Of the tale by his political
opponent. Nicollet, was abundantly sat
isied. This latter gentleman, in fact.
gained great deal more than he was
at all entitled to-in amusement and
literary credit as well as hard CASH
from Mr.. Locke's imaginative effort
Yet other jokes on the moon-and on
n. A
times that are quite worth recording.
About 1862 a Boston paper published
story purporting to be translated
from an article written by a German
astronomer. This declared that "a sec
ond satellite to this earth planet was
to make its appearance within a few
years, when every person gazing at
the goddess Of night in her resplendent
glory would be tempted to quote line
from an old song, ''The moon Is full.
and so am l." for he would "see dou-
BILE" The article gave very elaborate
calculations to impart TO its absurdl-
ty a semblance Of truth, but all this in
genuity seems to have been thrown
p away. Whether the Boston paper real
ly originated the joke or actually Dor
rowed 1t from Germany seems not to
have been known, but In any case II
fell fat At that time our civil war
situation did not give the people time
or inclination to take up hoaxes Of any
sort.
Again, In 1874 the New York World
published a dispatch based on some
mythical observations made by a sup
posed member OF a British scientific
society. which stated that the frame Of
the moon was seen to be gradually
cracking and threatened ere long to
fan into separate fragments. This was
a Especial cable" sent by CORE
spondent, and the worst victim Of the
hoax was the paper receiving It.
Again, In 1876 the Chicago Times,
itself a joker Of no mean repute. was
completely taken In This paper pub
lished a cable account Of powerful
2 reflection that had been erected near
Paris, which when directed toward the
moon had revealed large buildings on
tAat orb. also gangs OF men chained
together engaged In various occupa-
tons. It was the theory OF the OBJ
server OF these new marvels that the
side OF the moon turned toward the
a