258 



Popular Science Monthly 



An isolated mountain at the north terminus of the Apennines. Rising 15,000 feet above the 

 plain it is but one of scores of similar solitary peaks, the sublime grandeur of which cannot be 

 overestimated. Even at midday the sky is darker than on our darkest starlight nights, with 

 the stars and planets shining brighter than it would be possible to see them from our earth 



mittently obscured by slowly-moving white 

 vapor in the terrestrial envelope, lying 

 usually in long streaks roughly parallel to 

 the equator. 



The Terrible Desolation of 

 the Moon 



And now assuming that we have planted 

 ourselves upon a more elevated portion 

 of the moon, our attention, which has been 

 directed to the sky, is now concentrated 

 upon the surrounding landscape. We be- 

 hold everywhere a scene representing the 

 wildest desolation. The shadows assume 

 total blackness and appear quite im- 

 penetrable to one's vision ; for absence of an 

 atmosphere means no diffusion of light. 

 In stepping behind a bowlder or any other 

 part which does not receive the direct rays 

 of the sun, one becomes invisible. Volcanic 

 cones, ranging in diameter from a few 

 hundred feet^to many miles, literally crowd 



the surface as far as the eye can reach. At 

 a distance of forty miles or so the summits 

 of a gigantic mountain range are seen 

 peering above the horizon, and as clearly 

 defined as the adjacent neighborhood. It 

 is difficult if not nearly impossible to pass 

 correct judgment on the distance of the 

 various features owing to the lack of aerial 

 perspective. The region close by is seen to 

 be composed chiefly of hills of volcanic 

 debris, rocks, bottomless pits, yawning 

 crevasses and piles of slag — doubtless a 

 scene of inconceivable commotion in ages 

 antedating mortal history, but now a world 

 devoid of sound or disturbance, and minus 

 evidence of organic life. Indeed we realize 

 that we are in touch with a world which is 

 typical of a dream of lifelessness, an 

 apparition denoting not death, but a world 

 upon which life has never appeared. No 

 atmospheric elements have been at work to 

 tarnish the pristine hues of many parts 



