The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-07-12

o-HT human soul always goes to e4tTe"e6-
OILY hundred years ago astronomers
= and poets alike wrote OF the inhaor
tants OF the Moon, the Seienites. Win ah VI
the assurance Of witnesses VINO haa reah'
soan them and recognized in them creatures
organized just like the Inhabitants OF our
planet, without stopping to think that other
worlds might not be like ours. the conditions
Of existence being so different. They even
described the landscapes, the streets ana the
great cities, the Notifications. the industrial
establishments, the smoke OF factories. even
the weekly day OF rest.
But all at once ideas changed. From 1881
TO 1910 the German astronomer Maedier oe-
voted himself to careful study of the moon
and his beautiful map became a classic his
work was followed by that of Schmidt, director
of the observatory at Athens who Issued
.sclenogra phic" chart which was even moro
complete. Maedler thought that the terres-
trial globe would pass through no geologic
changes from time onward and as to
the moon. in his eyes. 1t was an ankylosed
world for ages. upon whose surface there were
no variations.
Upon the authority OF this eminent observer
III aphorisn soon appeared in the classic
works: The moon is dead star. And Tor
more than half century most books repeated
this legend with the exception OF some few
thinkers who do not give themselves up to
strated but seek the truth Independently, set
ting aside all preconceyed notions.
Solitary torch OF night, as 1t moves through
the heavens, this star is the pale witness OF
the v!cissitudes of earth. Its tranquil
clarity seems enveloped in mystery. Its land
scapes and monuments all TRANSPORTED
But this light. if it be the image
OF nearing lethargy, Is not. as has been sup
: posed, the absolute image of death.
OF course the aSpeCts of our satellite do not
resemble those which earth would offer
at the distance.
Nor have we, III observations OF the
moon, the moving variations which appear on
the planet Mars. an intense activity associated
with marked seasons and almost daily meta.
morphoses.
Nor there the fantastic and formid.
able revolutions, such as we observe that
giant world Jupiter, just now passing through
lis period OF primordial elaboration. But the
attentive study Of tho holds many sur.
prises Tor naturalists and astronomers.
II seems interesting to analyze the moss
precise observations made to compare them
carefully. and 10 prove in how far our notions
should be modified. am especially interested
because the very first subject which l pre-
scented to the Academy of Sciences the
ariablity of the lunar crater OF Linnaeus, and
that was in 1857. SO have been working up
on this article for some forty-seven years.
i was not the only one at that time to hold
that the not yet dead. and since then
Webb. of England William Pickering, OF the
United States and Klein of Germany, have
agreed with me- but they are the exceptions
Some even go SO far as to say that the moon
never had air. water or life.
The first classic affirmation that must be
disputed is that the moon has no atmosphere.
This statement is founded upon calculation
by the great astronomer Bessel, which has to
be entirely recast. Inasmuch as when the
moon. by virtue of its own motion in. the
heavens is about TO pass star, We may fix
the precise moment of the disappearance OF
the star as we'll the exact instant of ite
temperance. and arrive the duration OF
the occutation. hiding. of the star.
On the other hand. We can determine abso-
Iutely by calculation what line the star follows
behind the lunar disk during it's occultation
and thence deduce the time which the
takes to move forward in the heavens a dis
lance TO that line. For, during the ecipses Of
stars, if the rays of light were detected ever
little by the refraction of a lunar atmos-
phere, in place of disappearing at the precise
instant of seometrcal contact the star would
remain visible sometime afterward, because
the rays would be infected by that atmos.
phere; by the same reasoning, the star would
begin to reappear on the opposite side Of the
lunar disk some time before the tnterposition
had completely ceased; the duration Of the
occutation would necessarily be decreased In
this way.
About 1880, Bessel thought that he might
state that the diameter of the moon figured
from the duration of the occultations differed
by less than second Of of the diameter
directly measured. and that the refraction
produced on these occultations by supposed