HOW THE EARTH APPEARS FROM THE OTHER PLANETS. 671 



iiiigher than Teneriffe, their sides bright with flowers and birds of brilliant 

 plumage. 



"Its inhabitants about the same size as ourselves, since they dwell 

 in a planet of the same diameter, but in a more favored celestial zone, must 

 devote all their time to love." 



Could the people of Yenus spare time enough from such an agreeable 

 •occupation to study their skies, when their planet is nearest to our earth 

 Ihey would be repaid by a magnificent sight. Our globe would appear to 

 them as a brilliant star, tinged a delicate blue, and larger than any in their 

 sky. "With suitable telescopes they would have much the same view of our 

 earth as from Mercury, except that the configurations would be more dis- 

 tinctly marked. The author we have just quoted, in speaking of the bril- 

 liancy of the earth, as seen from Yenus, says : "Though the long nights in 

 Yenus have no moons to light them. Mercury, by reason of its brilliancy 

 and close vicinity, and the earth, by reason of its size, must be more than 

 equal to two moons. 



The moon never leaves our globe ; therefore it is called our satellite. 

 Though to us it appears larger than the stars, it is really smaller than any 

 of them. Its seeming size is on account of its nearness to the earth, it be- 

 ing distant from us only about 238, OUO miles. 



The surface of the moon is covered with black spots, which can be seen 

 ^vith the naked eye. Through the telescope it can be seen that they are 

 mountains and extinct volcanoes. Astronomers have calculated that these 

 mountains are higher than any on our earth. 



The moon has no atmosphere, according to Sir John Herschel and other 

 careful and accurate observers. If it had we would know it during the 

 occulations of stars and eclipses of the sun. The moon's climate must 

 therefore be very strange, passing suddenly from a heat equal to our torrid 

 -zine, to cold greater than the Esquimaux feels. As there is no air, it seems 

 impossible that human beings like ourselves can exist on the moon. There 

 is no sign of vegetation or anything which would indicate a change of sea- 

 sons. If there were any one on the moon to see it, the earth would appear 

 to them as a magnificent ball. The jDlanets and sun would move behind it 

 in brilliant succession. 



The earth has phases like the moon; when it is at its full, the scene is 

 :grande8t. The basins of our seas and oceans, the contour of our conti- 

 nents, the north and south poles wearing their snowy caps — all these could 

 ■clearly be seen shining through a vaporous halo. With the aid of a very 

 powerful glass, the avenues of l^ew York and the big trees of California 

 ■might be seen. 



The planet Mars is our next door neighbor, and much resembles us in 

 •" atmospheric phenomena and polar cold." To the naked eye it is not very 

 brilliant. Judging by its reddish hue, it is surrounded by a dense atmos- 

 phere. We knovv^ this because the stars which it passes are hidden before 

 they are eclipsed by the globe of Mars itself. 



