NEWS FROM THE MOON. 21 f 



but to the student of astronomy the contrast between 

 the poet's fancy and the reality will mar the imagery. 



The moon in her scientific aspect has been sufficiently 

 coy, however. Notwithstanding her nearness and the 

 seemingly favourable conditions under which we study 

 her, very much less has been discovered respecting her 

 than was anticipated when Galileo first observed 



Imagined lands and regions in her orb. 



She remains in many respects a mystery to us. We 

 see little in her structure or aspect that is intelligible. 

 Nevertheless, what has been learned is full of interest, 

 even in its very strangeness, and in the perplexing 

 problems which it suggests for our consideration. 



Every one probably knows that the moon is nearly 

 240,000 miles from the earth ; that she is about 2,100 

 miles in diameter (which is less than the earth's 

 diameter about as 100 is less than 367); that the 

 earth's surface exceeds hers about 13^ times, while the 

 earth's volume exceeds the moon's about 49J times. If 

 to this I add that the moon is made of somewhat 

 lighter material, or, to speak more exactly, that her 

 mean density is somewhat less than the earth's, so that 

 the earth exceeds her 81 times in mass or quantity of 

 matter, I have indicated the principal circumstances 

 which characterise the moon's globe as compared with 

 the earth's. I shall have a word or two to add 

 presently, however, about her probable shape. 



We commonly regard the moon as a satellite of the 

 earth, and we are taught at school and in our text- 

 books, that while the earth travels round the sun, the 



