THE MOON IN MASQUERADE 117 



orifice continually rising with the growth of 

 the mountains. 1 ' 



3. WHITE KAYS. These are brilliant white streaks 

 which radiate in every direction from some of the 

 chief craters, the system emanating from Tycho being 

 the most impressive. These rays are obscure when 

 close to the moon's limbs, but flash out strongly when 

 the sun is on the meridian. At such times they reach 

 out hundreds of miles, traversing with apparently equal 

 ease mountains and plains. 



4. The surface is believed to consist mainly of 

 lava flows from the craters, which however appear to 

 have become extinct. The hemisphere experiencing day 

 is supposed to be baked to the temperature of boiling 

 water, while the other side undergoing night is un- 

 doubtedly reduced to well-nigh the absolute zero. 



SOLUTION 



There is no sound reason that science has yet ad- 

 duced, save only the undeniable evidence of sight, why 

 the surface of the moon should be more rugged than 

 that of Mars. Even those who may still be disposed 

 to echo Mr. Darwin's views as to the original unity 

 of earth and moon, must concede that only by resort- 

 ing to violent assumptions can the character of either's 

 topography be? held to resemble that of the other enough 

 to justify his inference. To every crater on our 

 planet, the moon can show fifty; and a comparison of 

 these craters' individual sizes yields a contrast no less 

 startling. Were the conditions exactly reversed, Mr. 

 Darwin's hypothesis would be no less false, but at least 

 it would possess more plausibility. 



In beginning my discussion of the planet Mars, 

 I argued the presence of oceans from the mere fact 

 of its axial rotation; and here, applying the converse 

 of the rule, we might conclude, were the fact not al- 



