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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918 



ponds, or 

 oceans that 

 we earth folk 

 know so well, 

 and would 

 feel so at a 

 loss without. 

 The moon is 

 cold, dry, and 

 solid, a mass 

 of rock, of a 

 grayish hue, 

 much like, 

 perhaps, a 

 huge lump of 

 dull silver. If 

 you will take 

 a pair of opera 

 orfieldglasses, 

 or a small tele- 

 scope and ex- 

 amine the sur- 

 face of the 

 moon, the dis- 

 torted face of 

 the old man, 

 and the beau- 

 tiful profile of 

 the lady van- 

 ish, and in 

 their places appear mountains, plains, and irregular darker 

 patches. This is the moon as the astronomers know it. Look 

 closer, and you will see that the surface is covered with multi- 

 tudes of little rings, some large and ragged, some small, perfect, 

 and smooth. These are volcano craters, and many^of them are 

 much larger than any that we have on our earth, some being 

 more than a hundred miles from side to side. The largest one 

 that we can boast of, measures only seven miles! The irregular 

 dark patches are the shadows of mountains, and it is by means 

 of these shadows that astronomers measure the height of the 



The moon's surface seen through a telescope showing the 

 craters, Mercator and Campanus 



