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On the Comparative Height of the Mountains of the Earth , 
the Moon , and Venus** 
SCHROETER, the learned astronomer of Lilienthal, 
who has several excellent telescopes by Herschel, pub- 
lished some time ago a work on the height of the lunar 
mountains, as compared with those of the earth ; and 
lately he has published a new work on the height of the 
mountains of Venus. . Faujas, who not long ago under- 
took a journey into Germany, of the utmost importance 
to the sciences, brought back with him these two works 
of Schroeter. We there see the manner in which that 
indefatigable astronomer makes his observations. It is 
by the projection of the shadows formed by these moun- 
tains when they begin to appear on their horizon in regard 
to us, or when they are about to disappear below the ho- 
rizon. He distinguishes the mountains into different or- 
ders. 
The plate in Schroeter’s work consisted only of outline* 
and he expressed the diameter of the three globes merely 
by straight lines. The annexed delineation (See Plate) 
was drawn by Alexander Faujas, the son, who to military 
talents unites a stong attachment to the sciences. He has 
rendered the height of the mountains more just, and, from 
his drawing the respective magnitude of the three globes 
can be better estimated. It is here seen that the moon, 
which is about forty-nine times smaller than the earth, has 
mountains more than 4000 toises in height j* ; w hile that 
of Chimboraco, one of the Andes in South America, the 
highest mountain of our globe, is little more than 3000. 
Venus, which is less than the earth by a ninth has moun- 
tains 23,000 toises in height. It must here be remarked, 
that the highest mountains on these three globes appear all 
to be volcanic. 
* From the Journal de Physique, Prairial, An. 7. 
t The French toiseis to the English fathom as 1 to 1-0664* 
