Year: 1872

No CELESTIAL body has attracted more
interest than the moon, and none has
given rise to more speculation; the greater
portion of the theories are utterly absurd,
and in direct contradiction to observation
and to positive knowledge, founded on
such observation, and to the circum.
stances in which we know that the moon
exists. Our knowledge of the nature of
it's surface is more positive than that Of
any other celestial body, simply by reason
of the short distance it is placed from us;
while the distances of all other heavenly
bodies is counted by many millions of
miles, the distance, of the moon is only
thirty times the diameter of our earth.
The result of this is that we possess a
more correct knowledge Of the topograph-
ical details of that part of its surface
which is always turned toward US, than
we do OF many regions of our own planet,
for instance, the interior of Africa, Asia,
Australia and South America, which
have been either not at all or only partial
ly investigated.


The first point we know positively is
that the moon is some fifty times smaller
than the earth, and is of the same den-
sity; consequently gravitation, which is
always in direct ratio to the mass, is
fifty times less than On our earth, if we go
to a distance, from the moons center,
equal to the terrestrial radius, 1000 miles.
But as on the moons surface we are
about 81 times nearer to it's center Gts
radius being so much shorter), gravitation
is increased in the ratio of the square of
this number, by the law that the attrac-
tion is inversely as the square of the dis
tance; we have thus to take
the square of 81, or 1877, nearly,
and multiply this by $50 which
gives nearly 0.275, or somewhat more
than quarter, for the gravitation on the
earth. If, then, everything on the moons
surface weighs only quarter of what it
weighs on the earth, the volcanic action,
which is the agent in lifting up noun
tains, must be subject to only one-quarter
of the resistance, and is able to lift, under
the same circumstances, four times as
much material as it does on our earth.
This theoretical view is in perfect accord
ance with observation, which has shown
that the mountains in the moon are much
higher than those on our earth, particular
ly if we take in account the smaller size of
the moon; of the two spherical bodies the
moon, therefore, has the most irregular
conformation.


AS the rotation of the moon is so much
slower than that of our earth, being only
once on its axis during twenty nine days,
the time of its revolution around the
earth, there is no appreciable difference
in the lengths of it's polar and equatorial
diameter; while in the case of our earth,
the equatorial diameter is some twenty
seven miles longer than the polar axis, an
an amount surprising the highest noun
tains on our earth some five times. AS
the moon turns always the same side to-
ward US, it is argued by some that it has
no aXial rotation, and this is true in regard
to the earth, but in regard to the sun it
really revolves, and it's different sides re-
ceive successfully the solar rays, as we
may observe during the so-called phases
of the moon.


When those phases are carefully no.
ticed with good telescope, especially
some days before or after the new moon,
it is seen that the uneven projecting parts
throw long shadows, which become short
er in proportion as the solar rays come
nearer to the perpendicular; by measur-
ing the lengths of these shadows, the
height of the mountains has been calcu-
lated with the same accuracy as we may
perform the same operation on our planet,
and the different mountains and plains
have been mapped out, in doing which
photography has recently been of great
assistance. The study of these details by
ploded some cid notions about the exist
ence of land and water on the moon,
about it's atmosphere, and even about its
inhabitants. There is no such a thing as
water or an atmosphere in the moon, and
consequently no rain, no seasons, no allu-
vial lands, no place were plants can grow,
and no animals to be fed by the plants,
consequently there is no life in the moon;
it is, to all intents and purposes, a dead
satellite. In order to obtain clear insight
into the conditions of Nature there, we
have only to investigate the natural con
dition of the tops of our snOw-capped
n ountain ranges, the Andes Or the Him
alayas. They project so high up from
the earth's surface that we practically
may consider them as without an atmos-
phere, and at midday the sun pours its
tropical rays on their tops without rails
ing their temperature enough to melt the
snow. Suppose, now, that large noun
tain top Of this kind is raised 100000
miles high; there is no reason to believe
that the sun would communicate more
heat to the same, and if we increase its
mass to the size of the moon, the solar
effect will be all the same. This shows
the absurdity of such reasonings as those
which ascribe, to that side of the moon
on which the sun is shining, a burning
heat, and to the other side the opposite;
no doubt the latter side is still colder than
the former, but the whole moon is always
at temperature far below the freezing
point, and even far below that of our
highest mountain tops. This view is
corroborated by several eminent astrono-
mers, who, being familiar with the de-
tails of the moons surface, found the
very same details when ascending the
Peak of Teneriffe, which is an extin-
guished snow covered volcano. The ex-
animation of the moon shows indeed
more indications of volcanic eruption
than the earth, where the greater portion
of these indications have been, as it
were, washed away by the effects of the
atmosphere; succession of heat and cold,
rain and frost, has abraded mountains,
decomposed rocks and changed them into
earth and clay, and distributed them in
valleys and basins, and brought the earth's
surface to the condition in which we see
it, and which, next in Importance to an
atmosphere containing oxygen, carbonic
acid and water, is essential to the exist
ence of vegetable and animal life.


We must, then, conclude that the moon
is the opposite of the sun. In the latter
body, temperature prevails, perhaps, ex-
ceeding any heat we shall ever be able to
produces; in the moon most intense cold
exists. If this body has not yet cooled
down to the temperature of the absolute
absence of heat, which most probably is
1902 below the zero of Fahrenheit, it has at
leastsreached Temperature certainlyfar be-
low the freezing point of water and even of
mercury, at which the solidification takes
place at 70e lower.


1t is, at the present day, very amusing