82 SCENERY OF THE HEAVENS. 



of mighty thunderings the voice of the passionate storm, or the melancholy wailing 

 of the autumnal gales. No clouds are there, analogous to those which in ten thousand 

 fantastic shapes are present with us, dropping fatness upon the fields, and casting shadows 

 upon the landscape a covert in the daytime from the heat. No rain, hail, or snow 

 descends upon the lunar soil. It is difficult to imagine water at all, or any liquid, upon the 

 surface ; for if the atmospheric pressure were removed in relation to the earth, its liquids 

 would be dissipated by the heat of the sun ; and how much more might this result be expected 

 at the surface of the moon, where the heat accumulated by its fifteen days' continuous 

 exposure to the solar rays must be intense. There can be, therefore, no seas or lakes, or 

 else evaporation would take place, and clouds be formed, perceptible through a telescope. 



But though apart from the majestic features of the ocean, the tracts of cloud that float 

 in our atmosphere, and the commotions that agitate it, the lunar surface exhibits several 

 points of accordance with the terrestrial superficies. There are mountains answering in 

 their contour to those which diversify our own globe, intermingled with plains, glens, and 

 extensive depressions. To the naked eye, the face of the moon appears chequered, 

 exhibiting dusky patches and bright parts, which, in former times, the fancies of the 

 ignorant converted into images of terrestrial things. Shakspeare, in the Midsummer Night's 

 Dream, introduces these vulgar devisings in the speech of the clown : " All that I have 

 to say is to tell you that this lantern is the moon ; I the man in the moon ; this thorn - 

 bush, my thorn-bush ; and this dog, my dog." Some of the ancients viewed this diversity 

 of aspect as caused by a diversity of surface, and approximated closely to the truth in 

 explaining the appearances. Plutarch cites it as the opinion of Clearchus : " that which is 

 called the face of the moon are the images and appearances of a great sea ; " and in another 

 passage he remarks, " as our earth hath certain large bays, so we conceive the moon is 

 overspread with large hollows and ruptures, containing water or a thick air, into which 

 the sunbeams are not able to enter, whence no reflection is produced by them." With 

 the powerful aid of a telescope, the lunar superficies presents an aspect that is excessively 

 torn, ragged, and disturbed ; and we are able to define peculiar physical features. There is 

 however no foundation for some reports in Circulation as to the discovery of minute lunar 

 objects ; and but little reason to suppose that any instrumental power will be obtained 

 sufficient to disclose them. Schroeter conjectured the existence of a great city on the 

 east side of the orb, north of her equator, an extensive canal in another place, and fields 

 of vegetation in another. Fraunhofer also announced the discovery of an edifice, 

 resembling a fortification, together with several lines of road. The hope has likewise been 

 entertained of discerning the dwellings and persons of the lunarians, should there be any ; 

 but these are visions, sanguine and baseless. Assuming, says M. Mlidler of Berlin, that 

 a* German mile is the utmost limit of distance at which the keenest unassisted eye can 

 distinguish human beings, to bring the moon to that distance, a magnifying power of 

 51,000 would be necessary; but, up to the present time, 300 is the highest power which 

 has been applied to that object with advantage. Alone therefore, upon this ground, those 

 who indulge the imagination of studying any lunar samples of social and domestic economy, 

 are clinging to a forlorn hope. 



The time when the moon's unevenness of surface may be most favourably seen, is when 

 she is horned or gibbous. The boundary of the light and dark parts of the disk would 

 obviously be an unindented line if the disk were perfectly plane, and had no surfaces higher 

 than the rest. But look at the lunar crescent. The bounding line appears notched and 

 broken, which is precisely the aspect which elevations and depressions will produce. 

 Close by the edge of the illuminated portion, yet within the dark part, wholly surrounded 

 with shade, there are small shining points, like islands of light in a sea of darkness. These 

 are gradually joined to the luminous space, and become part and parcel of it, as the moon 



