bio atmosphere, and If it has no atmosphere, there 

 can >>e no life such as we know. There 

 may bo life of other forms inconceivable, and 

 It would be idle to inquire what they may be. I believe 

 there is co life. I find a limit to where life is on our 

 earth. We may say the conditions on our earth are not 

 the same throughout greater or less light, less moisrure 

 or more moisture ; but we find that these coud.t.ous 

 really limit life on the earth ; beyond a certain bight on 

 the mountains there is no life except of mere amnial- 

 culae and these carried up by thp air; and so far as 

 analogy teaches us we must believe that there is no life 

 in the moon. 



THEORIES TO ACCOUNT FOR THE CRATERS. 



Besides, there is no sign of water. We can recognize 

 regions, such as those inclosing the floors, which 

 are sometimes perfectly level, and sometimes show 

 Streaks and marks, ana they always remain un- 

 changed. If there were water, the water und</r that 

 shallow air would be raised iuto the lunar atmosphere, 

 find Increase or decrease th^se markings. 



Now, it certainly seems probable at first sight, while 

 the aspect of the moon is such as I have described, that 

 at one time or other there must have been a great 

 amount qf vapor around it. All the craters must have 

 thrown out enormous quantities of vapor. There are 

 those who say, as Prof. Mallett of England, that there 

 are no volcanoes without the action of water. If that 

 be the case, thesa signs of past volcanic action iu the 

 rnoon are due to volcanic eruptions, and there 

 must havo been water on the surface. 

 What has become of the water! There are four sug- 

 gestions made in reply. One, that a comet carried away 

 the lunar oceans and atmosphere. Wo give up that at 

 Once. It was the theory of Whiston, who accused New- 

 ton of being jealous of him, andWhiston's name has 

 been nearly forgotten. He thought that a cornet ivould 

 cause tbe destruction of the earth by fire, an<l that one 

 bad already done so by water. But we know that while 

 the moon might get something from a coinet, no couist 

 Could draw anything from the moon. 



Another oae I was once attached to, is that the surface 

 It Covered with frozen snow. I was one of those who 

 h, ,<l thie theory, and as it is exploded I will take it for 

 luy own. Say the white surface is covered with snow. 

 That whiteness must be accounted for, and there are 

 signs of a great downfall of snow, and glaciers, aud the 

 atmosphere also may have become frozen. Carbonic acid 

 gas may be frozen iuto something like snow. The 

 objection to that theory is that the moon is not white: it 

 IB m ore nearly black than white. I dare say you remem- 

 ber Dr. Tyudall's telling you that if the moon 

 \vas black, it -r, would yet be white in the 

 Bky. Measures of its light have been taken. 

 aud It appears that it is no whiter thau weather- 

 beaten brown sandstone. Sir John Herschel discovered 

 it thus. He noticed the moon setting by a mountain of 

 sandstone, and their respective reflections of light were 

 the samo. Certain parts of the moon are brighter than 

 others, and from Zollner's observations it seems that 

 these may bo looked on as white, but great portions of 



Proctor's Astronomical Lectures. 29 



the lunar regions are probably darker very much than 

 our ordinary skies. 



Another explanation i that the lunar oceans have 

 been withdrawn into the substance of the moon. Mara 

 has oceans smaller than ours, when the earth is com- 

 pared with hia dimensions; aud we mav suppose it due 

 to the withdrawal of a portion of the water into t.iifl 

 planet. The planet in cooling contracted and left spaces 

 into which a portion of the water witudrew. We siiould 

 find reason for believing that Mars, a small planet, in 

 cooling, cooled BO much that ..11 the water wovilu be 

 withdrawn into the iuttrior. But there is a difficulty in 

 that; the atmosphere remains unaccounted for, aud it 

 seems difficult to understand that any atmosphere of 

 moderate extent would be wiihdrawn entirely within 

 the lunar cavities and give no sign of existence. 



There remains yet another theory that tbe moon is 

 egg-shaped, and the center of gravity being displaced on 

 the further side, has carried to that side the oceans and 

 air of the moon, and tbat the side of the moon, never 

 toward us may be a comfortable abode of life. The little 

 end of the egg toward us has no waters, and they are 

 drawn to the further side. The one objection to that is, 

 that if the moon is egg-suapoJ, the oceans and the 

 atmosphere ought to be on this side instead of 

 the other. If the more pointed eud of the 

 egg-shape were toward the earth, it would 

 correspond to a hill of matter. 10 a pile of it on our side. 

 That pile of matter would act, as an attracting cause and 

 draw the oceans and thi atmosphere from tae furtbcr 

 side to this side ; and wo find, so far as I cau see, no 

 theory accounting for tne displacing of any former 

 oceans or atmosphere in the moon. We have great diffi- 

 culties to account for, and we may tiBJ reason to c'o.ibt 

 whether tho signs of volcanic action indicate eruptions, 

 or whether they may have been produced by forces act- 

 ing from outside. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES OF THE MOOX. 



We will now have the room darkened, aud pass to the 

 examination of this picture. This picture of the mooa 

 in the first quarter is not tuat whieu you see wich the 

 naked eye. You see it left for right, because in the tele- 

 scope one always sees it this way, aud it is preferable 

 to follow the plan iu the books on astronomy and show 

 the pictures as shown by the or.linary telescope. We 

 will now have the second and third quarters. The pho- 

 tograpbic study of the moon was commenced by your 

 American countryman, Dr. W. H. Draper, iu 1810, and 

 one of the works we study is so much iu advance 

 even of those men of the present day that we owe a 

 great deal to Dr. Drapor. He began in 1840 his 

 photographic work on the moon, aud that work 

 greatly increased in perfection. Mr. D.i La Rue of En- 

 gland got a mastery of photography, and Mr. Ruther- 

 ford of New- York made maps winch Mr. Do La Rue 

 acknowledged frankly were better than any on* of his, 

 owing to the clear atmosphere of New-Yori. Dr. 

 Henry Draper made lunar photographs earlier. I have 

 had no opportunity of comparing his with Mr. Ruther- 

 ford's, and I should be sorry for you to suppose that iu 

 tna superiority attributed to Rutherfurd'a photographs 



