Marvels of the Universe 



139 



THE LUNAR WORLD 



BY CAMILLE FLAMJMARION. 



At the hour of dusk, when all Nature seems to rest after the fevered activity of the day and to 

 \-ield gentlj- to the calm of the evening, a spirit of tender and high-souled thought comes over the 

 thinker. It is the spirit of the vast skies and, above all, of the moonlight, whose rays, as soft as 

 they are brilliant, spread little by httle over the sleeping world. 



The sun has disappeared behind the western horizon ; and with him the day has fled. The earth, 

 a revolving sphere, is carried forward in its daily course, bearing us onward to the east and enveloping 

 us more and more in darkness. But soon a pale light invades the firmament. Towards the east 

 the silver orb of the full moon, the radiant Phcebe of ancient mythology, ascends into the heavens, 

 where she reigns as supreme ruler until the dawn. Often she is the unwitting enemy of astronomers, 

 whose observations of the stars, the planets or the comets she nullifies as she eclipses with her 

 exceeding beautj' the rest of the Universe. She is the star of the night par excellence, the star 

 of mystery and of dreams, the first halting place of the human mind as it hastens forward to the 

 conquest of the skies. 



Ever since there have been e^-es to see and brains to think upon the earth, the moon, 

 of a surety, has - held captive the first looks and the first thoughts. Her positions on the 

 celestial globe, the changes of her appearance, her presence on certain nights and her absence on 



[lly Arllmr Ticirllf. 

 THE EARTH AND THE MOON 



In this picture we are supposed to be standing on some neighbouring planet and viewing the Moon from the side, thus 

 getting an idea of its true form. As the same end is always presented to the Earth the idea we gain that the Moon is round 

 from the terrestrial view-point is necessarily misleading. 



