142 



Marvels of the Universe 



That is what the thinkers amongst men have succeeded in landing out after several centuries of 

 observations. But our curiosity is far from being satisfied by these astronomical preliminaries. 

 As we contemplate the moon shedding her pure light upon sleeping Nature, other reflections cross 

 our minds and the dehcate crescent of silver light appears symbohc of a magnificent interrogation 

 mark which the heavens have set before us. 



The moon is a world, and it is the nearest to the earth. It receives from the sun the same rays 

 which create the hfe upon the surface of our planet. Besides, everything in Nature has an end — a 

 goal. Is it not, then, very natural for us to ask what part our satellite plays in the laws of the 



Universe and what the con- 

 ditions may be which pre- 

 vail in the lunar world 

 whose destiny is so closely 

 bound up with our own ? 



As soon as an explorer 

 on this planet discovers a 

 country that no civilized 

 being has trodden before 

 him, whether it be some 

 region of burning desert or 

 the rocky peak of a moun 

 tain at last scaled, or some 

 frozen tract in the polar 

 zone, the matter that in- 

 terests us most to know is 

 the exact quality of the 

 locality and consequently 

 to discover its e.xact charac- 

 teristics. 



We know that even upon 

 our own planet the soil, the 

 flora and the fauna are as 

 infinitely varied as are the 

 countries, and even in the 

 most deserted regions the 

 careful observer can always 

 find out something which is 

 worthy of remark. By the 

 same method of reasoning the differences between one world and another must be greater still, and 

 the true interest of astronomy is exactly to study the special characteristics of each and to consider 

 its condition from the standpoint of life. 



Moreover, the lunar world, in spite of its relative proximity, is very different from our own, and 

 if an inhabitant of the earth could transport himself to its surface he would feel himself very out of 

 place. Unhappily, none of us could prove these new impressions ; not that the 238,610 mUes 

 (which is about the measure of distance separating us from this star of the night) would be too far 

 for a terrestrial traveller, for many men, by boat or by railroad, have made as long a journey as 

 if they had been to the moon. An employee on the Metropolitan Railway travels by the electric 

 car as much as 238,000 miles in eleven or twelve years. But by the laws of Nature and by the 

 mechanics of earth the crossing of the space between the planets, which is void of air, is for ever 

 forbidden to us. So it is that we make excursions upon our satellite by the aid of the telescope and 



Photo hy'\ 



\_TUe Lick voaercatory. 

 THE MOON 



A beautiful photograph taken at the Lick Observatory when the 



M 



00 n was 



fourteen days, one hour. old. 



