PBOCElWiyaS or the PoLYTErllMi- AssociATJoy. 827 



could only (•haiii^o them into m (Miulitiou which would enal)lc them 

 to ascend into the atniofephere to a very limited extent, from which 

 they would be as inevitably precipitated by the withdrawal of the 

 causes which elevated them ; and if the moon has no atmosphere, as 

 astronomers assert, then its escape from the body would be utterly 

 impossible. 



Nor can the climate of the moon be the frozen region which some 

 astronomers have asserted it to be, for no fluid could have flovved for 

 hundreds of miles over stich very gentle grades throughout the long 

 jjeriods of geological epochs without being congealed b}' the slightest 

 frost, and, consequently, arrested in its flow. 



As astronomers have ascribed the formation of the lunar moun- 

 tains to vulcanic action, asserting, at the same time, that the moon 

 had no atmosphere, and, therefore, no elements to denude or soften 

 the rugged outlines originally produced, the belief w^as accepted, and 

 assertion followed, that the mountains of the mooTi wei-e peculiarly 

 broken, savage and precipitous. 



Xow, when we consider that, as a general thing, the mountains of 

 that body rise above the common level of the surfoce only about one 

 mile, while those of the earth attain an altitude of four, Ave and six 

 miles, it follows that the original ruggedness of the lunar mountain* 

 must have been a very hum])le imitation of that quality in those of 

 our oAvn earth. 



Xeither fact, nur observation, however, sustains this rugged theory 

 of the lunar formations, and there is ample evidence to prove that 

 denuding cau&es have been l)otu active and powerful upon our 

 associate planet; and, indeed, if there were no denuding agents, the 

 structiu'es would all have retained their original fonns ; it would 

 have been impossible to distinguish modern formations iVom those 

 of former epochs, and the surface of the moon would have looked 

 alike in every part. 



Oi'TKAi. Tkshmo.w. 

 If we compare the basis and surroundings of Tycho and Copernicus 

 we shall see that the causes which produced them were identical ; 

 that the formations themselves are merely of different epochs, and 

 indeed, the whole structure of the basin and ray system of Copernicus 

 shows that formation to have })ecn a very worthy ancient representative 

 of the more modern Tycho in every respect ; an«l this lieing the case, 

 it follows that the entire region about Copernicus as well as the basin 



