Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-12-23

lHuuHLdlu OIL europe. Inc greatest
peak in the Leibnitz mountains on the
moon rises to the tremendous height
of 4l,600 feet Mount Everest, in the
Himalayas, earths highest peak,
pushes its way but $4,000 feet above
the level of the sea. These lunar
peaks have been measured with won
derful accuracy, as the clearness Of
the moons atmosphere and the free.
dom of its surface from clouds and
haze make the operation an easy and
exact one with the aid of the mi.
crometer.
All over the weird face OF Luna are
indications of a wonderful volcanic
activity, and the astronomers of the
earth are wondering If we are to wit.
ness the surface of our neighbor once
again in a cosmic agony. Seams
and cracks, CHASTITY evidences of a
cataclysm more rending than any In.
dicated on the surface of the earth,
show something of the moons travail
In past ages. These cracks, tiny fis-
sures in the field of view of the big
gest telescopes, cross and recross the
surface and zigzag along the beds of
the primeval seas
Craggy and irregular pyramids
break the monotony of the moons sky
line, but an earth dweller wandering
in these ancient sea beds would be
stricken dumb with the utter desola.
ton that would surround him. The
worst of the waste places of the earth.
the Bad Lands, the Clay Cliffs of
western China, the windswept passes
of the Tibetan mountains, the Sa-
hara, Death Valley itself, would all
be fertile and greatly to be desired
areas In comparison with the chin
news of dead volcanoes set in a Mil,
tonian region paved with cinders and
scoria of long extinct craters.
If men should visit the moon, grant.
ing they were able to live for mo
ment in its wonderful atmosphere
they would find some weird conditions
existing, Nothing could be seen un.
less the rays of the sun were falling
directly upon the surface of the OBJ
ject There would be no diffused light
and the long twilights of the earth
would be unknown. When the suns
rays faded from q peak or a rock.
that instant the rock or the mountain
top would be swallowed up in black
ness. The instant member of the
party stepped into the shadow of q
lunar crag he would be lost to view
Utter silence would brood over the
face of the desolate country and no
sound could be heard no matter how
loud 1t might be. An avalanche, or
the rolling of a rock down the mile
long wall Of a lunar crater would not
cause sound.
The earth would loom up in the sky
four times greater in size than the
moon ever appears to the earth's
lovers who marvel at it's size on mid.
summer night. Its white polar caps
| of ice and snow would be plainly visi-
Bile, the great dark oceans and the
shifting cloud areas would be con.
spicuous on its glowing disk. The
suns rays reflected from the broad
face of the earth would give faint
heat, but neither the reflected rays
nor the direct beams of the sun him.
self would be able to warm the cold
lunar rocks to a temperature an
preaching that of the earth
The unknown side of the moon has
always exercised a great power over
the more imaginative of the astron.
omers. Theories have been advanced
that on this unknown face entirely
different conditions might be found.
smiling areas in which the traces of
lunar volcanoes and forgotten seas
would be missing from the lunar land
scapN The absence of air and water
In any quantities on the earth side of
the satellite has always led the stu.
dents to the conclusion. however, that
the moons period of habitation, II It
ever had such an era, vas in the dim
and remote past