CHAPTER V, 



THE CONSTANT FACE OF THE MOON. 



THE myriad bodies that adorn the skies are of varied 

 degrees of brilliancy and of the widest range in dimensions. 

 It seems a reasonable question to ask which of all the 

 celestial bodies is the smallest. I speak not now of 

 telescopic objects, I am only alluding to those which can 

 be seen by unaided vision. Many of the stars which lie 

 on the verge of visibility seem extremely minute, but then 

 we have the best reasons for believing that this apparent 

 smallness is merely a delusion. The stars, so far as they 

 are known to us, are found to be bodies far exceeding the 

 earth in size, so much so that many of them are comparable 

 with our sun itself. The planets are smaller than the 

 more important stars, notwithstanding the fact that the 

 apparent lustre of Venus or of Jupiter under favourable 

 circumstances exceeds that of any star. It is, however, 

 somewhat surprising to learn that, so far as is at present 

 known, the very smallest of all the orbs visible to the 

 unaided eye is our satellite, the moon. Seeing that the 

 illumination dispensed by the moon is greatly in excess of 

 that sent to us by all the other heavenly bodies put together, 



