740 . THE UNIVERSE. 



CHAPTEE III. 



THE MOON. 



This sole and faithful satellite of the earth, formed by 

 a fragment detached from it, now cold and wan, rolled 

 round us when it began a red and blazing sphere, vomiting 

 torrents of fire from its whole surface. Whilst gravitation 

 was regulating its form and path, the moon, in the course 

 of thousands of years, exhausted its fires to show us at last 

 its pale and silvery face, the sad luminary of our nights, 

 the s^Dlendid nocturnal mirror which reflects to us, pale 

 and cold, the divergent rays of the sun. 



Compared to the immeasurable distances of the nebuhie 

 and starts, the space which separates us from our satellite is 

 quite insignificant; she is our next-door neighbour, and the 

 eye can so clearly discern her foi'm and peculiarities, that 

 she seems almost to touch us. But this insignificant dis- 

 tance, abstractly considered, is yet vast enough. Tlie 

 distance from the earth to the moon is about 237,000 

 miles. If it were possible to get there Ijy means of 

 steam, it would require I year and about 322 days for a 

 locomotive starting from our giolie and travelling at a high 

 rate of speed to reach the moon and land its passengers. 

 A heavy body, projected from tlie lunar orbit, would, it is 

 true, reach us much cpiicker. In iiis charming work on 

 celestial marvels, M. Camille Flammarion says, it would 

 arrive at the surface of the earth in 3 days, 1 hour, 45 

 minutes, and 13 seconds. 



