THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 105 
there just before the dawn. Before us looms the towering 
rampart of a crater, a chequer work of dead black and yellow- 
white beneath the beams of a full earth. No half tones, for 
atmosphere is lacking, and each shallow depression is a pit of 
blackness. The silence is absolute, though tremors beneath 
our feet show that the volcano is not dead. Suddenly puffs of 
vapor shoot our from its cone, rolling off to each side in silvery 
clouds, which fall about us in showers of tiny ice spicules min- 
gled perhaps with solid carbon dioxide and sulphur. Sud- 
dently, and without warning, the brilliant disk of the sun lifts 
above the horizon and the lofty crags spring into light. Soon 
the icy clouds disappear in vapor, and the full blaze of the sun 
pours down on the rugged landscape. F rightful jagged peaks 
soar aloft brilliant with frost. White plains stretch out on all 
sides, setting out in startling relief the long spires of shadow 
from the crater walls. A-few days elapse, with the sun ever 
growing higher and more powerful. The zone of snow con- 
tracts, points of rock everywhere rise dark through the white 
mantle. Now perhaps we find that many of the rocks in 
favored locations are painted in rich harmonious colors with a 
scaly crust of lichens. - There an orange yellow garment clings 
to those round boulders standing so clear against the dark blue 
sky. Here, ashy green, a field of lichens covers a sunny slope, 
from which the snow has quietly and invisibly disappeared into 
thin air. Soon the snow has vanished entirely from all but ex- 
ceptionally sheltered spots, and the lowly vegetation makes the 
most it can of its few brief days of sunshine. Now the air be- 
gins to chill again as the lengthening shadows point to the west — 
* and the growth, immensely slow as it is, once more ceases, and 
once again the winding sheet of frost wraps all the landscape 
in silent white. ’ 
I have shown that we are justified in supposing that or- 
ganic life on the Moon would be dependent on a similar en- 
vironment to organic life on earth, as protoplasm, the founda- 
tion of life, is the only combination of chemical elements which 
possesses or is likely to possess the capacity of living. Some 
may urge that 'we must not limit the power of the Creator. 
