LIFE IN MARS. 113 



nising such signs in the moon than in any other 

 celestial body. As telescopes of greater and greater 

 power were constructed, our satellite was searched with 

 a more and more eager scrutiny. And many a long 

 year elapsed before astronomers would accept the con- 

 clusion that the moon's surface is wholly unfitted for 

 the support of any of those forms of life with which 

 we are familiar upon earth. That the belief in lunar 

 men prevailed in the popular mind long after astrono- 

 mers had abandoned it, is shown by the eager credulity 

 with which the story of Sir John Herschel's supposed 

 observations of the customs and manners of the Luna- 

 rians was accepted amongst even well-educated men. 

 Who can forget the gravity with which that most 

 amazing hoax was repeated in all quarters ? It was, 

 indeed, ingeniously contrived. The anxiety of Sir John 

 Herschel to secure the assistance of King William, and 

 the care with which our 6 sailor-king' inquired whether 

 the interests of nautical astronomy would be advanced 

 by the proposed inquiries ; the plausible explanation of 

 the mode of observation, depending, we were gravely 

 assured, upon the transfusion of light ; the trembling 

 anxiety of Herschel and his fellow-workers as the 

 moment arrived when their search was to commence ; 

 the flowers, resembling poppies, which first rewarded 

 their scrutiny ; and the final introduction upon the 

 scene of those winged beings not, strictly speaking, 

 men, nor properly to be called angels to whom 

 Herschel assigned the generic appellation, Vesper- 

 tilio Homo, or Bat-men. All these things, and many 



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