1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



695 



and a map exhibiting their appearance at any one 

 lime will continue at all times to exhibit that ap- 

 pearance with the same fidelity and precision." 



The first inference which he draws from this 

 circumstance is, that the same side of the moon 

 is always turned toward us, and as she turns 

 round on her own axis, in about twenty-seven 

 days and eight hours, the Selenites, or inhabi- 

 tants of the moon, as denominated from the 

 Greek word 'moon,' must have 328 hours day- 

 light, followed by 328 hours night. The next is, 

 that there are lio clouds suspended around her; 

 and a third inference, drawn from other data, is, 

 that there are no indications whatever of seas 

 and water in the moon ; and if there is any at- 

 mosphere at all, it must be a thousand times less 

 dense than that of the earth. It would require a 

 perfect air pump to produce such a degree of ra- 

 refaction under a receiver, and such an atmo- 

 sphere would, as far as regards all the phenomena 

 of animal and vegetable life, be a vacuum. The 

 following description gives a frightful picture of 

 this silvery orb of night: 



"The character of the entire surface of the 

 moon, so far as telescopic power has made it 

 known to us, is just what might have been ex- 

 pected in a world deprived of air and water, and 

 of the tribe of beings to whose life these are ne- 

 cessary. This most inhospitable planet exhihits 

 a wide waste ol' surface, diversified by nothing 

 but its lofty mountains and cavernous valhye. 

 Chains of mountains and insulated hills are 

 spread over every part of the surface, and lift 

 their menacmg and precipitous sides frequently 

 to the height of five perpendicular miles. In 

 manj' places huge masses of earth spring directly 

 from the plain and carry their peaked summits 

 to the altitude of twenty thousand feet. Nor is 

 the extent of the base of these stupendous emi- 

 nences less astounding that their heights. The 

 diameters of the bases of several detached hills 

 of this kind, which measure five miles in height, 

 vary from twenty-four to forty-six miles. 



"But the circumstance which deprives the 

 moon's surface of every trace of analogy with 

 that of the earth, is the enormous circular cavities 

 which are found in almost every part of it. Some 

 of these caverns are four miles in depth and forty 

 miles in diameter. Their edge is generally de- 

 fended by a high natural wall. Frequently a co- 

 nical mountain rises to a'considerable height from 

 the bottom of this dark circular hole. The top of 

 this cone is rendered visible when the rays of the 

 sun fall directly into the cavern. This internal 

 conicle mountain has sometimes a circular cavity 

 in its apex like the crater of a volcano. 



"The provision which gives to the several pla- 

 nets the grateful returns of the seasons is denied 

 to the moon, and accordingly not a trace can be 

 discovered on her surface of^ the slightest varia- 

 tion which can be ascribed to change of season. 



"If, then, the moon be the habitation of living 

 things, they must be constituted with functions 

 very different from all those which characterize 

 the animal and vegetable kingdoms of the earth. 

 In the absence of atmosphere, the Selenites can- 

 not of course be respiratory animals. Sound, 

 which depends on air for its production and con- 

 veyance, there can be none. Speech and hearing 

 would therefore be useless faculties. 

 " No azure firmament offers its mild tint to the 



eye of the Sclenite. The blue of our sky \a the^ 

 proper color of our atmosphere. In the absence of 

 an aimosphere, the fiiiiiament of the moon is one 

 eternal and unvaried black, through which the 

 glowing orb of the sun holds its solitary way, 

 vainly endeavoring to difluse brightness beyond 

 the edge of his own disc. On the arid and ur>- 

 crrateful waste beneath, his genial rays fall in vain 

 — no atmosphere is present to collect, retain, and 

 difi'uee their warmth ; and if they fail to sustain 

 animal and vegetable life on the summits of our 

 Alps and Andes, merely because of the rarefied 

 state of the atmosphere at those heighls, how 

 much more inefi'ectusl must they be in the absence 

 of any atmosphere whatever. 



"Seeng, then, that while we find on all the 

 planets the same provisions to fit them for the. 

 dwelling places of creatures like ourselves, and 

 those provisions supplied in the same manner, 

 and to the same extent; and, on the contrary, 

 finding all of those arrangements, without one 

 exception, denied to the moon, we must, in the 

 absence of any direct evidence on this question, 

 come to the conclusion that our satellite is a bar- 

 ren uninhabited waste, playing doubtless some 

 necessary part in the creation, but not the higher 

 one assigned to the earth and planets ; that it is, 

 in fine, a desert rock, resting its head in the wide 

 ocean of space, unappropriated to and unfitted 

 for the resting place of any living thing. 



For the Fanners' Register. 

 LEGISLATIVE AID TO AGRICULTURE. 



No. I. 



Two years have now nearly passed since the 

 advocates for legislative aid being given to agri- 

 cultural improvement have ceased their previous 

 and earnest efforts for that great object. It was 

 not that the object sought had lost any value in 

 their estimation ; or that they did not still think 

 that its attainment was imperiously required for 

 the resuscitation and continued prosperity of the 

 great and general interests of Virginia. But their 

 arguments and petitions had met with no favor 

 from the legislature; and, indeed, scarcely any re- 

 sponse, or appearance of hearty concurrence, from 

 the great body of the agriculturists of the coun- 

 try. U nder such discouraging circumstances, the 

 most ardent and zealous advocates for govern- 

 mental aid to agriculture, had no choice but to 

 cease their efibrts. 



But circumstances of recent occurrence have 

 served to rekindle hope, and to urge to renewed 

 efforts. The commercial convention, which late- 

 ly held its session in Norfolk, included this sub- 

 ject among the necessary elements of the com- 

 mercial prosperity of the commonwealth ; and 

 unanimously approved the report and resolution 

 of the committee on this subject, (which was 

 published in the last No. of the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, p. 570,) and directed committees to present 

 and sustain those views before the then approach- 

 ing sessions of the legislatures of Virginia and 

 North Carolina. The highly respectable body 

 which directed there proceedings, though called 

 together, and acting mainly, to aid the resuscita- 

 tion of commerce, was nevertheless composed prin- 

 cipally of delegates from the country, who be- 



