I^:^PWLEDGE ♦ 



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 Offi.ee, 74, Ureut Queen^street, W.O. 



dd he addressed to the VaiV 



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espnndeiits. 

 ould he made 



THE MAN IN THE MOON? 



[1812]—" Hallyards " still believes that the absence -of any 

 traces ot human work upon the moon's surface ig sufficient to 

 warrant the belief that the moon was never inliabjted ; I venture 

 therefore a few further remarks for his consideration. The moon 

 being so much smaller than the earth there is every reason to 

 suppose that the chain of life there would never be able to attain 

 a degree so near perfection as that which is possible upon the 

 earth. The inhabitants of the moon may have been cave-men, or 

 even as advanced as any community of th& genus Homo, existing 

 over five thousand years ago, of whicli we have any record, and yet 

 have left not the faintest trace^f their existence perceptible from 

 the earth. If the whole population ot Central Africa wore anni- 

 hilated to-day, a very short time indeed would suffice to obliterate 

 all evidence of their existence. But if the superiority of the 

 Lunarians is to bo conceded, we may go to the other estremo, 

 and suppose that before their extinction they had excelled the 

 present civilisation ot our globe ; in which case, onr ideas being 

 limited to the civilisation of the past and present, we could form 

 absolutely no conception of the works of a greater civilisation or of 

 their ruins ; just as the intelligence of a pre-historic man would be 

 powerless to discriminate between Fingal's Cave and St. Peter's at 

 Rome, which was human work and which the work of nature. 



" Hallyards" "cannot conceive any reason why the Pyramids 

 should not last as long as the earth itself." The primary reason 

 appears to be because civilisation ahiwH no disposition to tolei-ate 

 the existence of such lumber, even for the antinnarian's sake; 

 already the Gre*t Pyramid has been considerably despoiled to 

 bnild a portion of the City of Cairo, and the work of destruction 

 will be accelerated as that city increases in importance; so far, 

 man is an agent in tho destruction of his own work, and it is 

 readily conceivable that if the moon was ever distigured by 

 "ramparts" (hard upon human morality to expect "ramparts" 



from its surface. It may be of interest to "Hallyards" to know 

 that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid, which were originally 

 480 ft. in height, and 756 ft. square for tho base, have l>een 

 diminished to 400 ft. for the height, and the base to 732 ft. sciuaro ; 

 truly nothing wonderful for the work of four thousand years, if wo 

 compare it with other human erections, but stiU sullicient to rub it 

 ofits fame for stabilit}» ; and although in its position it is favoured 

 with atmosphere and weather less destructive in their effects than 



1 liovo before mo as I write, shi ' ' ' 



yards" says. 





" Hall- 



for 



siders to have been " al 

 "In an airless, water 



of such works in the fit 

 both air and water in 



tho air had disappraic. 



a criticism throwing discredit up 



work or journal I cannot n clIIcc- 



Having little tinn; t.. s],:ur al 



[Oxygen is not "roiiR\imfiI" i 

 Oxygen goes into tho lungs of r 

 contained in the different jiarts 

 form of carbonic dioxide (tho "c 

 chemistry). Plants breathe this, 1 

 and restore the pure oxygen to tl 

 —ED.] 



Mint, I will take up the other 

 nd by. Alex. Mackie. 



e sense used by Mr. Maokie. 

 als, combines with the carbon 

 ie biidv, and is exhaled in the 

 nic acid " of the old books on 



mosphore again by exhalation. 



NATURAL SELECTION. 



; tho crayfish, tbaJL, c 





c'iy_ yea 



ired), apparently 



•) the rule, on the whoh 



y buttertlies, 

 lo very many; . 



:ther ni 



ith q 



(which appear inilixj and 

 to hold good. 



The suspicion occurs, then, that there is, in reality, no Btrnggle 

 for etristenre, but merely for excessive existence. The superfluity 

 are cnt off, but not the proper quantity. My lovely (not 

 "lonely") philosopher, whom I formerly subprenaed and produced 

 in court ("(lights of jiainted moths," '&c.) again says: "Little 

 and big, minnow and leviathan, are alike to tho Soul— that" (he 

 continues, with his sublimo audacity) " equally shoves Judaa and 



Darwin was struck by the formation or metamorphosis of species. 

 What strikes me is, //"ic the lid is kept do^r,,. From the oldest 

 laid-bare rocks forms meet us and greet us wl)ich meet us and greet 

 us now : not only the uninteresting slug-shell, lait the faerie dragon- 

 fly, with the inimitable tracery of the liivine .Vrchitect (not carving, 

 moulding, from without ; but creatiiig, becoming, from within : — 

 Nature). How the lid is kept down is what strikes me :— Thus far 

 Shalt thou go, and no farther! Kverything in its place :— every 

 note and dot, jot and tittlr of the gigantic orchestra, from the hum 

 of ephemeraj up to " tlir music of the spheres." What, too, can be 

 more astounding— e.jr., than tlie co-appearance of " the still small 

 voice," tiny marsupials with the unutterable Sanrians and Ptero- 

 saurians :— dragons ("that tare each other in the slime") and 

 sea-serpents, swamp-Berpents, ItHJ ft. Inng ! ! Will the selectionarians 

 derive the Saurians from tho marsnpjuls : or rice versa, or how ? 

 Let ns grope our way ont of tho fog '. 



Mr. Fountain (why should any of na quarrel ? we are all only 

 battling for the (ruth in the dark) was very severe upon me for 

 saying " JIatter ever was and ever will be." I am glad to see 

 that " F. W. II." is an equ.ally guilty sinner with mo in " cocksure- 

 uess" about this extra-Eaclidoan problem. 11.' says, " Since what- 





leLavo 



^ated o 



nt, self-wise, self-desL„.-. 

 fibryology does demonstrate that life begins with simple 

 1. That ri'lU'ction has not escaped me ; but I turn it 

 fight in my ranks. It begins with protoplaam, but not ' 

 otoplas 



rotopUi 



of jell 



becomes hairy. l..ook 



1 var.l anil iii.iro lu longth, and hero, by the 

 iniinsicrs iiave not cxtinguiehed tho little 

 ., J>nn Paul calls them, of tho universe 



liinisolf upon what the French term the 

 I-, .urn surroundings. This, of course, I 

 : transplanted plant, which from hairless 

 ,t the Americana, moiUded by the ambiant 



