Captain Rozet on the Surface of the Moofi. 131 



ready been very thick, because the fissures are of large di- 

 mensions. 



7. As no liquid, in any considerable quantity, has ever ex- 

 isted on the surface of the moon, or in its atmosphere, it re- 

 sults that no organised beings, similar to those of the earth, 

 can ever have lived there ; and if that planet, as is pretty ge- 

 nerally admitted, has no atmosphere, it can possess no beings 

 in whose organization liquids form a part, and we cannot con- 

 ceive of organic beings without liquids. 



8. Lastly, from the whole of my investigations, there re- 

 sults the following important fact, viz., that the surface of 

 the moon permits us to see all the phenomena of its consoli- 

 dation, and the traces of the revolutions which it has under- 

 gone. On our earth these phenomena are almost all con- 

 cealed by aqueous deposits ; but various regions, in which 

 rocks resulting from fusion have remained uncovered, pre- 

 sent forms very analogous to those exhibited by the surface 

 of the moon. It is probable that, if the terrestrial surface 

 were stripped of the seas, and of all the sedimentary deposits 

 which cover it, annular forms would predominate. The same 

 may be said in regard to all the planets of our system ; for 

 the circular undulations of matter in a state of fusion, seem 

 to me to be a consequence of the movements inherent in the 

 different bodies, which, by becoming agglomerated round 

 great centres of attraction, have formed those planets.* 



* The above is an extract from a Memoir which has very lately been referred 

 by the French Academy of Sciences to a committee, consisting of Messrs Arago, 

 Elie de Beaumont, and Liouville. — Comptes Rendus, vol. xxii. 



