86 SCENERY OF THE HEAVENS. 



the naked and arid wastes of the great African desert. Yet, even from such sites, Life, 

 brute and sentient Life, is not banished in the case of our globe. The Arab scours the 

 wilderness, though a land where no water is. The condor and the eagle scream in the 

 solitudes of the earth, and visit some of its proudest heights. Man, his foot-marks, home, 

 and handiwork, are to be met with upon the slopes of the burning Vesuvius. And is 

 there fellowship, in this respect, between our world and its companion ? Is the latter 

 with the former the abode of vegetable creations, animal existence, and intelligent 

 natures ? It can only be said in reply, that beyond a certain rarefaction of the atmosphere 

 with us, no life of man, beast, bird, or plant, does or can exist that we are quite unable 

 to conceive of anything kindred to terrestrial life existing under what appear to be lunar 

 circumstances, though it would be great folly and presumption to suppose that we are 

 acquainted with all the forms of organic being, and familiar with all the modes by which 

 organised beings may be sustained. Yet there is nothing startling in the contemplation 

 of the lunar globe as at present a desolation, a land not inhabited, considering the decisive 

 testimony of geology to the past condition of our now populous world. It may be making 

 ready to share a similar destiny, to receive and support at some future epoch the varieties 

 of Living Existence, a consummation towards which, according to terrestrial analogy, 

 progressive formation is the preparatory process. 



Occultations, repeatedly referred to in this chapter, are the apparent temporary extinc- 

 tion of planets and fixed stars by the moon in her monthly travels, and phenomena parallel 

 to eclipses of the sun. The lunar globe, in revolving round the earth, interposes in a direct 

 line between us and the celestial bodies that lie in her path, and for a time appears to 

 expunge them from the vault of heaven. Any of the planets may thus suffer an 

 occultation by the moon, because they all move in nearly the same plane as the terrestrial 

 and lunar orbit ; but, obviously, only those fixed stars can ever be hid by the interposition 

 of the lunar disk, which are situated at no greater distance from the ecliptic than the 

 moon's extreme latitude. The moon passed over Saturn, May 8th, 1832, and, in a few 

 seconds after contact, his immense globe and rings having a diameter of 177,000 miles 

 were hid by our comparatively insignificant satellite. When 

 *he moon is crescent-shaped, and occults a fixed star with the 

 ^ ar k P art f ner bo^J? the star is apparently extinguished with- 

 out visible cause : but, if a bright object, the occurrence is striking 

 and impressive. In this manner, on the 9th of July of the pre- 

 sent year, the dark limb of the moon will appear to strike the 

 star 9' Leonis from the heavens, the immersion taking place at 

 8 h 36'" P.M., the emersion at 9' 1 32 m . The smallness of the 

 star, and the prevalence of strong twilight at the time, will render a good telescope 

 necessary for the observation. 



Upon the subject of lunar influence, we have no conclusion established by careful 

 observation, beyond that of the moon being the chief agent of the rise and recession of 

 the tides. It has been, however, the common opinion of mankind from the earliest ages, 

 that the various lunar changes affect the terrestrial atmosphere and the state of the 

 weather, an idea which is probably correct, but which appears to be true in a sense 

 contrary to received popular prejudices. The evidence at present collected yields the 

 conclusion, that it rains more frequently during the increase than during the wane of 

 th(; moon, and that the chances of rain are the greatest when the moon is in perigee or 

 nearest the earth ; but the popular notion, older than the Christian era, that changes of 

 the weather take place most frequently at or near the change of the moon, has not been 

 verified. Contrary to general impressions, the new moon appears to be the least active 

 of all the phases in regard to weather-changes. These are the conclusions of Arago, 



