THE CONSTANT FACE OF THE MOON. 51 



Fig. 4. The Lunar Disc shown against the Map ol Europe. 



of France enters the Mediterranean. Bisecting Sardinia 

 and grazing the south of Sicily the circle then keeps well 

 to the south of the Grecian Archipelago, shoots beneath 

 Asia Minor, and touches land again in Palestine. Here 

 it rises towards the north, including the Black Sea in its 

 ample interior, and just cutting off a corner of the 

 Caspian. Finally, the curve bends towards the Ural 

 Mountains, and completes its circuit of the Continent. 

 This little sketch will also show that when we look at the 

 full moon the objects there so conspicuous must be as 

 large, say, as Spain or the Black Sea. 



The distance of the moon from the earth is, in round 

 numbers, two hundred and forty thousand miles; how- 

 ever, it varies somewhat, so that in extreme cases the 

 moon's distance may be twenty thousand miles more 



