The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-11-22

in spite of their interest. The other
reason is less credtable to our intel
ligence and to our application of the
facts of history.
Same Old Argument.
1T is the same old argument en-
ployed by the ancients from the days
of Aristotle to those of Calico, and
for which some persons have gone so
| far as to ridicule them. Apply it to
the present case it may be expressed
briefly as :. because owing to a
plausible and generally accepted theory,
| life is believed to be impossible
on the moon, therefore 1t is unneces-
sary to consider the facts which may
be safely ignored. Life is therefore
said not to exist on the moon. 1t
would appear that human nature has
not changed very much in 1000 years."
The "terminator," or boundary line
between light and darkness, which
would correspond with that part Of the
earth where the day was breaking, is
the more interesting because the light
and shadow effect shows the moons
features in relief, enabling the astrOn-
omer to make out clearly it's extreme
ly rugged and mountainous surface.
Fifty-six hours of sunlight in the
crater Of Erastosthenes II, which Doc
ject of study, evoked plant life. Moth
ing in Doctor chickering's report indi-
Gated that these were cultivated
crops. After describing the appear
ance of dark patches, which sprung
into existence and then faded out, he
continued:
Expressing the matter otherwise,
we may say that the vegetation re-
quires two and half days to appear,
it lasts for only two days, and then
rests for three days. and then pro-
duces the second crop, lasting for four
days more, which then gradually dis
appears in the evening shades. We
thus have evidence Of a variety Of lu-
mar vegetation. The wings of the
northern spot begin to develop as
soon as the sunlight strikes them"
These periods vary, however, in diff
ferent areas of vegetation observed.
Crops with different exposures vary
in duration from two to eleven days,
and the average is about a week.
"In quickness of development" says
Professor Pickering, ''some of it even
vies with our mushrooms and toad
stools. The crop has to be brief in
order to ripen at all, and it is doubt
full if any of it in the region we have
described lasts through the lunar
night"
Telling how dark patches and lines
varied in, their positions he continued:
1T thus appears that the runs on the
MOON like the canals on Mars, shift
their positions over the surface. In
both cases the surface discoloration
has changed it's place. This cannot be
due to mineral or inorganic forces.
Life, therefore, exists on both these
planets.
Indeed" he continued later, Sin
stead of finding the moon a dead, I'M
changeable body, as it is usually re-
garded, we find that the shifts and
changes taking place in certain of the
lunar detail, after all the shadows
have disappeared, present the chief
difficulty to the selenographer (geog
rapher of the moon) who endeavors
to sketch these features with ac-
curacy"
After describing how fields of vege-
tation darken, spread, grow pale and
shrink, Doctor Pickering continued:
''This description typifies the changes
constantly occurring in many well-de
fined lunar fields in the course of their
changes much more
marked than any occurring on Mars"
The Southern Field.
Discussing one area of apparent veg
citation, which he calls the Southeast
ern field, Professor Pickering contin-
ues:
eve now come to one of the most
Of all the fields Of this
crater, because its changes are not
only very marked, but also because
they occur chiefly near the time of the
full moon, so that they can lie studied
for several hours continuously"
After describing how the vegetation
varies with different amounts Of sun
light, the astronomer says that the
field finally acquires the pattern of
lobster or crab, with sharply
curved claws
another curved canal" he contin-
ues, lis now formed on the northern
side behind the front one, owing to
the interior fading of the field. The
advance of the dark head of the man
now progresses slowly down the era
ter's inner wall OF floor"
Doctor Pickering told of snowstorms |
or snow "eruptions" on the moon and |
Of discovering clouds within large era /.
ters, whose circular movements puz-
zled him. Professor Pickering, in his |
studies on Mars, did not uphold the |
theory that intelligent beings neces-
sarily existed there or that the canals
we're artificial. He sought to prove
that winds attaining a velocity of 230
niles an hour at times swept the plan