Light Spots in the Lunar Night. 57 



1794. Apr. 2, while the 13 ft. telescope was showing hint, as 

 might be expected, a large increase of faint specks in the earth- 

 shine which could not be reached by his smaller instruments, 

 he perceived in the region of Agrippa (26) and Godin (27) 

 an extremely fine point of very bright light, intense enough to 

 distinguish itself from all the rest, and to resemble a minute 

 glimmering star ; and which struck him so much the more, 

 since it was entirely new to him. Its aspect was not that of 

 earth-light, and its incidental nature was proved by the fact 

 that a full quarter or half an hour later, when he wished to 

 observe it again, though circumstances were equally favourable, 

 he could find it no more with any certainty. With straining 

 vision he imagined that he perceived a similar one further W., 

 but it was not clearly distinguishable. Such a phenomenon he 

 was then disposed to think might be readily referred to some 

 artificial cause, since terrestrial fires of considerable size would 

 no doubt be visible from the moon ; it would seem, however, 

 more consistent with our other knowledge to refer it to a vol- 

 canic origin.* 



It will excite no surprise in the minds of those who have 

 attended to the subject, that these observations were ignored 

 by B. and M., viewed, at least, as the mere effect of more favour- 

 able circumstances and curtailed periods of observing. But 

 the day has gone by, we hope, for such a superficial treatment 

 of the subject ; and the question has recently been revived in 

 a very interesting form. 



1865. Jan. 1. Mr. C. Grover, of Chesham, an observer 

 whose name has already been made known to our readers, was 

 looking at the moon at 6h. p.m., the sky being very clear, with 

 an excellent 2-inch achromatic, when he perceived a little speck 

 of light, which was very distinctly seen like a 4 mag. star 

 very slightly out of focus, with a little light haze around it. ~ 

 Powers of 50, 65, and 80 were used, but the first was preferable. 

 It was in view for fully half an hour, without change, and 

 showing a perfectly steady light. He most carefully studied 

 its position, and, the outlines of Plato and the M. Imbrium 

 being discernible, found that it was close under the E. foot of 

 the Alps, very near the mouth of the wedge-shaped valley : and 

 consequently either exactly on the site of Schr/s phenomenon, 

 or so near to it that the coincidence is at any rate rnost remark- 

 able. The epoch of Schr.'s observation was 3d. 12h., before 

 new moon ; that of Grover' s 3d. 21h. after, and the site of 

 the luminosity lying near the first lunar meridian, it is obvious 

 that, allowance being made for probable dissimilarity of 

 libration, the distance of the spot from the terminator on the 



■* A naked-eye observation of a bright spot, recorded in Phil. Trans. 1794, 

 was evidently an occultation of Aldebaran, disguised by irradiation. 



