ON THE PROMOTION OF SCIENCE. 



nave not devoted their attention to this sub 

 ject. 



The Moon being the nearest celestial body 

 to the earth, if, might have been expected that 

 th variety of scenery on her surface, and even 

 some parts of her physical constitution, might 

 have been ascertained and delineated. Yet all 

 that has hitiierto been discovered with certainty 

 in relation to this body is, that her surface is 

 strikingly diversified with mountains and valleys, 

 with vast caverns or hollows surrounded with 

 mountainous ridges, and with several elevated 

 peaks, which rise, like a sugar loaf, from the 

 middle of the plains. We have no accurate 

 delineation of the lunar scenery, as exhibited in 

 the various stages of the moon s increase and 

 decrease, except those which have been pub 

 lished by Hevelius and Schroeter, which have 

 never been translated into our language, and, 

 consequently, are very little known. Most of 

 our English books on astronomy contain nothing 

 more than a paltry and inaccurate view of the 

 full moon, which has been copied by one en 

 graver from another, without any improvements, 

 ever since the days of Ricciolus, and long before 

 the telescope was brought to its present state of 

 i-nprovement. It is not from a telescopic view 

 of the full moon that any specific deductions 

 can he made respecting the appearance and 

 arrangement of her diversified scenery ; but 

 from long-continued observations of her surface 

 about the period of the quadratures, and at the 

 times when she assumes a crescent or a gibbous 

 phase ; for it is only at such times that the sha 

 dows of her cavities and mountain-ridges can 

 be distinctly perceived. As there is none of the 

 celestial bodies whose constitution and scenery 

 we have so excellent an opportunity of inspect 

 ing, had we a sufficient number of astronomical 

 observers, furnished with good telescopes, the 

 surface of this globe might be almost as accu 

 rately delineated as that of the earth, and the 

 most prominent changes that take place on its 

 surface plainly detected. In order to bring to 

 light the minute parts of its scenery, it would 

 only be requisite to distribute the entire surface 

 of this luminary among a hundred or a thousand 

 observers, allotting to each one or more spots as 

 the particular object of his attention, with the 

 understanding, that he is to inspect them with 

 care through every variety of shade they may 

 exhibit, and during the different stages of the 

 moon s increase and decrease, and delineate 

 the different aspects they may present. When 

 we consider that, by means of a telescope which 

 magnifies 200 times, an object on the moon that 

 measures only 600 yards may be perceived as a 

 visible point, and by one which magnifies 800 

 times, an object not larger than 150 yards in 

 diameter may be distinguished we can scarcely 

 entertain a doubt, that a number of interesting 

 discoveries n.ight soon be made on the lunar 



surface, were such minute observations as thftse 



now suggested to be continued for a series of 



years, which might afford sensible and demon- 



str evidence o the moon s being a habi- 



t&quot; jrld. But bvi ore attention to such ob&quot; 



iome general, and f.he number of astro- 



. . observers be increased far beyond what 



it is at present, such discoveries can scarcely De 



expected. 



I shall only remark farther on this head, thai 

 several discoveries have been made by accident 

 ally directing a telescope to certain parts of the 

 heavens. It is well known that Miss Herschell, 

 while amusing herself in looking at the heavens 

 through Sir William Herschell s telescope, dis 

 covered at different times a variety of comets, 

 which might otherwise have passed unnoticed 

 by the astronomical world ; and several of the 

 new planets which have been discovered within 

 the last 50 or 60 years, were detected when the 

 discoverers were employed making observations 

 with a different object in view. The splendid 

 comet which appeared in our hemisphere in 

 1811, was first discovered in this country by a 

 sawyer,* who, with a reflecting telescope of his 

 own construction, and from his sawpit as an ob 

 servatory, descried that celestial visitant before 

 it had been noticed by any other astronomer in 

 North Britain. The author of this work de 

 tected this comet a day or two afterwards, be 

 fore he had been informed of the discovery, 

 while he was taking a random sweep over the 

 northern region of the heavens. He had di 

 rected his telescope to a certain star in the 

 neighbourhood of Ursa Major, and immediately 

 afterwards, taking a general sweep upwards and 

 downwards, and to the east and west, an un 

 common object appeared in the field of view, 

 which, after a little inspection, was perceived to 

 be a comet, and he naturally concluded that he 

 had made the first discovery, till the newspapers 

 afterwards informed him that it had been de 

 tected a day or two before. It was while Sir 

 W. Herschell was inspecting some small stars 

 near the foot of Castor, with a different object 

 in view, that he discovered the planet which 

 bears his name, and which he at first took for a 

 comet. It had been seen thirty years before, 

 but for want of numerous observers to mark its 

 motions, it had been marked in catalogues as a 

 fixed star. It was while Mr. Harding of Lili- 

 enthal, near Bremen, was forming an atlas of 

 the stars so far as the eighth magnitude, that. 

 on the 1st September 1804, he discovered in 

 the constellation Pisces the planet Juno, one of 

 the four asteroids situated between the orbits of 

 Mars and Jupiter. 



If, therefore, instead of a few individuals oc 

 casionally engaged in surveying celestial phe- 



The name of this gentleman Is Mr. Veitch, and 

 I believe he resides in the neighbourhood of Kelao. 



