30' The Universe. 



The craters of the moon are circular, 

 and surrounded with an annular bank of 

 hills : they are remarkable for their 

 width, many of them being from four to 

 fifteen geographical miles in diameter : 

 some are not deeper than the level of the 

 moon's surface ; others are 9000, 12,000, 

 and 15,000 feet in depth ; that of one 

 which M. Schroeter calls Bernoiiilli, is 

 above 18,000 feet. 



On the face of the moon are likewise 

 volcanoes \vhich appear to the observer 

 as lighted coals, and illuminate the neigh- 

 bouring mountains. 



With respect to the nature and con- 

 ' struction of the moon and the probability 

 of its being inhabited, Dr. Herschel, in 

 his papers published in the Philosophical 

 Transactions of 1795, concludes, after 

 tracing the great similarity between it and 

 the earth, as follows : u There seems on- 

 ly to be wanting, in order to complete 

 the analogy, that it should be inhabited.- 

 To this it may be objected, that we per- 

 ceive no large seas in the moon ; that its 

 atmosphere (the existence of which has 

 even been doubted by many) is extreme- 

 ly rare, and unfit for the purposes of ani* 



