Evening star., 1931-12-09
moon IN TRANCE y
SCIENTIST HOLDS
Cambridge Savant Declares
Satellite Gives Evidence
of Heat in Interior.

she drifts through the heavens In 4
condition analogous to . cataleptic
trance.
This is essentially the hypothesis ad-
vanced by v. s. Forbes of Cambridge
University, England, In the annual re-
port of the Smithsonian Institution,
just issued, by which he accounts for
puzzling surface features Of the earth's
pale satellite.
Externally the moon is dead, her
features cold and rigid as those Of any
corpse. There Is no living thing, no
air, no water Yet, Forbes holds, there
Is strong evidence that this heavenly
body Is hot inside, due to enormous
stores OF radioactive material, such Is
rsdfurn, uranium and thoriun, in the
rocks; that this heat has caused great
volcanic eruptions In the past and may
do SO again.
Peaks Of Recent Origin.
First, he points out. the surface fea-
lures Of the moon, such as It's great
mountain peaks, stand out in very
sharp relief. Therefore, they must be
OF comparatively recent origin Other
wise, Forbes says, two great destructive
forces known to be operating on the
moon would have rounded and fattened
their contours. Every two weeks the
moon Is subjected to enormous tenn
perature changes. Thus the surface
rocks would alternately contract with
intense cold and expand with intense
neat, resulting in a crumbling OF every
exposed surface. Secondly, the satellite
has no trick blanket OF atmosphere,
like the earth. 1t Is under continual.
intense bombardment Of meteors. On
the earth most Of these projectiles from
outer space are consumed by the fric-
ton Of the atmosphere, 80 that they
never strike the surface except - fine
ash particles. On the moon there Is
nothing to stop them. 30, Theoretically,
the moons features should be natteued
as are the buildings Of 4 city under
intense cannon bombardment
furthermore, the Cambridge scholar
says, optical investigations show great
dinerences In the colors OF the moons
rocks, from light to dark. The effect of
such bomtardment of meteors, over
millions OF ye. rs would be to cover the
surface with layer OF meteoric dust,
so that every po vt Of the surface would
be of approximate the same color. An
other puzxling fe, ture is that II the
moon Is an entirely cold body it should
oe contracting from the intense cold.
But there are innumerable clefts and
fractures, which indicate that In reality
1t is expanding on the inside.
Moon Very Old.
Now, Forbes point out, the moon In
very old-presumably torn away from
the earth when this globe still was in
liquid condition. II the satallite has
comparatively youthful face IL must
nave been "hfted"--the old features
covered over with new material from
the inside. The only way this could
have happened is by volcanic action.
and volcanic action requires heat of
some kind in the interior.
Various considerations, he ssys. lead
TO the conclusion that the moon Il
largely made up Of material torn out
Oh the surface layers Of the earth. On
earth these lighter rocks are consider
ably richer in radioactive elements
than the heavier, basic rocks of the
lower layers. Heat generated by the
d1sintegration Of the heavy, unstable
elements Is recognized As one of the
primary causes Of the worlds internal
heat. But the moon, in proportion to
It's size, contains 4 much larger amount
OF these elements than the earth
Hence the generation Of internal heat
must be much greater there.
This heat, Forbes points out, causes
expansion and melting of the interior
rocks. Expanding gases are formed
AFTER time they must get out OF their
narrow prisons by breaking through
the weakest points on the crust. So
there Is volcanic eruption and the COW
ering up Of the old surface features bv
immense quantities Of lava. -
Traces sf Eruptiens.
Examination Of the moons fea-
tures," Forbes sayB, appears 10 lend
very substantial support to. Shis con-
ception. Everywhere thsre are trsces
OF exceptionally violent eruptions.
craters occupying very large propor-
taon Of the surface. That the largest
craters, Is . general rule, appear 10
have been formed ffrst confirms the
expectation that the initial outburst OF
the compressed lavas would be of sreat
violence. The great riffs and fractures
were formed As the thin skin Of un-
melted crust failed to extend TO cover
the now greater volume Of the sphere. /"
At present, Forbes holds, the moon
9 In = quiescent condition, which had
leo astronomers to the erroneous con-
ciuslon that 1t Is . celestial corpse. It
does not radiate any hest percepttble
to instrumental measurement on earth.
II Is, however, accuhulating heat In its
lower layers which sooner or later viii
break out again In great erupttons, pro-
ducing entirely new surface features.
A period Of violent erupttons, Forbes
says, would give the moon an atmos-
phere, because Of the elemental case.
released. This would be only temporary
because the force Of gravity on the
moon As too small to hold the light gas
particles. which quickly would escape
into outer space f :.
Eventually, Forbes holds, the catalep-
tic trance Of the pale queen Of night
will end tn death, because RADIO active
generation Of heat cannot last forever