The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-07-08

lanQ set out to make the world t6NNTSSMtfy
crave the tulip which, it was I&lg44sZ
learned, would thrive on certain Is:
types of Dutch soil useless for AA<ssaA<1
anything else. Soon all the world
wanted this flower, and bulbs "a Scene
sold for high as $4,000 apiece
The Dutch growers waxed rich
and then the fad waned leaving purchasers all
over the world with expensive bulbs but no
market. Centuries later Americans were to fall
for ginseng, alfalfa, mushrooms and silver foxes
It's great game.
Perhaps the most celebrated hoax in history
was the 'moon hoax" conceived by Richard Adams
Locke newspaper reporter, and perpetrated Dy
the New York Sun in 1885. It's success depended
upon mans interest in astronomical phenomena,
that Unsuitable curiosity to know what lies be-
y0nd the veil of space which surrounds the earth
Science today is convinced that the moon has
no life upon it, but a century ago, before the
day of powerful telescopes, the public knew little
of the heavens beyond what 1t could see with the
naked eye after dark. Speculation always
keen as to whether or not life existed on the
Today we wonder the same thing about
the planet Mars.
Moon Hoax Fools Two Continents
And so the New York Sun chose very fertile
field in 1885, when it began the publication of
Lockes fantastic imaginings with all the serious
ness of great scientific discovery. For time
the credulous public of two continents, and even
the scientists were completely deceived. This stu
pendous feat brought the Sun the largest circula
tion in the world and in the opinion of Edgar Al
Ian Poe established the penny newspaper as an
institution.
Locke could write about almost anything His
fund of general information was huge, and he
could turn out prose or poetry, politics or pathos
anecdotes astronomy. In 1884 Locke heard
Of an astronomical expedition to South Africa.
Now during July and August, 1885, things were
a bit duh the island of Manhattan, and the
newspapers were running short of material with
which to entertain and attract their readers
Locke needed money, and so he laid plan before
Mr.. Day, the Suns editor On August 81, the fol
lowing item appeared on the second page of the
Sun:
Celestial Discoveries-The Edinburgh Courant
says: 1--WE have learned from an eminent publisher
of this city Sir HerscheI. at the Cape of Good
Hope, has made astronomical discoveries of
the most wonderful description by means or an
immense telescope of an entirely new principle
Then after four days the Sun published what
purported to be a reprint from supplement to
the Edinburgh Journal of Science. There had
been such publication a few years before but
it was not generally known that 1t had ceased
publication. In three columns on page one the
Sun carried the astonishing announcement of
recent discoveries which will build imperish-
able monument to the age in which we live"
They Describe the Telescope
technical description Of the telescope followed,
and hypothetical account told of the channels
through which this remarkable news had travelled
from Cape Town Thus was laid the founda-
ton of what was to follow. To queries as to
where it had obtained its supplement to the Edin-
burgh Journal of Science, the Sun declared in an
editorial that "it very politely furnished us
by medical gentleman Immediately from Scot
land,
No great excitement had been caused so far, but
{olk~
of actual description of the landscape of the
moon Sir Johns telescope was so powerful,
the story asserted, that it brought objects to
within a few feet of the observer. This is what
the astronomers in Cape Town were reported
to have seen
THE trees for period of ten minutes were Of
UNMARRIED kind and unlike any except the larg-
est class of yews in English churchyards. They
were followed by level green plain which must
have been more than half mile in breadth
column farther on, in wonderful valley of
this wonderful moon, life at last burst upon the
scene:
I'm the shade of the woods the southeastern
side beheld continuous herds of brown quad
the bison but smaller than any species of the bos
genus in natural history. II had
distinctive feature, which afterward found
to nearly every lunar quadruped we have
discovered; namely, a remarkable feshy appendage
the eyes, crossing the whole breadth of the
forehead and united to the ears It Immediately oc
CURED the acute mind of DR.. Herschel that this
was protective covering for the against the
great extremes Of light and darkness to which all
the inhabitants Of side Of the moon are period
ically subjected"
Find Humans on the Moon
The issue of August % satisfied public curiosity
as to the presence of human creatures on the
moon. The astronomers were looking at the
cliffs and crags of part of the satellite:
sBut whilst gazing upon them we were thrilled
with establishment to perceive four successive
D birds descend with slow, motion
from the cliffs the western side and aIight
the plain About half of the first party
had passed from view, but of all the others
we had perfectly distinct and deliberate view.
They averaged four feet in height. We're covered.