46 FaxLcied Jrchitectural Remains in the Moon. 



middle of the moon, especially the one near Higinus, shines 

 brillianlly when the sun is up. This, however, is not to be as- 

 cribed to the effect of the reflection from a liquid surface as 

 from a mirror, but is owing rather to a great elevation or es- 

 carpment of the internal bounding wall. If these grooves had 

 any thing in common with our rivers, the subordinate character 

 of these appearances evidently proves that the existence of water 

 in the moon cannot be compared with what we find on the Earth. 

 Were this a system of rivers, they would be arranged altogether 

 differently. They might, indeed, be more or less compared to 

 rivers, did such exist, on the steppes of Persia or of Arabia, or 

 on the northern border of the parched Sahara. 



Still less can it be admitted that these grooves are great artifi- 

 cial roads. It would be to allow by much too great a similitude 

 between terrestrial and lunar relations, to presume that the inha- 

 bitants of the moon engage in such works as these. The fact that 

 we can perceive them, which supposes a breadth of at least twelve 

 or eighteen hundred feet (and the majority are much wider), is 

 in no degree favourable to the supposition. This is equally true 

 when we consider the manner in which they present themselves 

 to our examination. In the region of Giittenberg there are 

 three long grooves which are quite parallel, and distant only 

 two miles from each other ; and analogous phenomena are to 

 be detected in other places. No more are they directed to- 

 wards remarkable points, but generally terminate in an open 

 country. 



2. SypposHltiousArddtectural Remains inthe Moon. — We may 

 here observe that the zeal which has been displayed in seeking 

 for the traces of lunar architecture, has not hitherto led to any 

 successful result, nor, in fact, to any prospect of one. It is 

 exceedingly improbable that, even in future ages, and mak- 

 ing every allowance for the advancing improvement of our 

 mechanical and optical apparatus, there shall ever be discovered 

 in the moon, objects analogous to our cities, roads, or ramparts. 

 All that civilization has hitherto produced, or is now effecting 

 on the surface of the Earth, is, independently of man''s intellec- 

 tual powers, effected by two principal agents, one of which de- 

 pends upon the changes of the atmosphere, and the other, upon 

 the proportions which subsist between mechanical powers and 



