THE ROMANCE OF THE MOON
An observer endued with an infinite range of vision, and placed in that
unknown center around which the entire world revolves, might have
beheld myriads of atoms filling all space during the chaotic epoch of
the universe. Little by little, as ages went on, a change took place; a
general law of attraction manifested itself, to which the hitherto
errant atoms became obedient: these atoms combined together chemically
according to their affinities, formed themselves into molecules, and
composed those nebulous masses with which the depths of the heavens are
strewed. These masses became immediately endued with a rotary motion
around their own central point. This center, formed of indefinite
molecules, began to revolve around its own axis during its gradual
condensation; then, following the immutable laws of mechanics, in
proportion as its bulk diminished by condensation, its rotary motion
became accelerated, and these two effects continuing, the result was
the formation of one principal star, the center of the nebulous mass.
By attentively watching, the observer would then have perceived the
other molecules of the mass, following the example of this central
star, become likewise condensed by gradually accelerated rotation, and
gravitating round it in the shape of innumerable stars. Thus was formed
the _Nebulæ_, of which astronomers have reckoned up nearly 5,000.
Among these 5,000 nebulæ there is one which has received the name of
the Milky Way, and which contains eighteen millions of stars, each of
which has become the center of a solar world.
If the observer had then specially directed his attention to one of the
more humble and less brilliant of these stellar bodies, a star of the
fourth class, that which is arrogantly called the Sun, all the
phenomena to which the formation of the Universe is to be ascribed
would have been successively fulfilled before his eyes. In fact, he
would have perceived this sun, as yet in the gaseous state, and
composed of moving molecules, revolving round its axis in order to
accomplish its work of concentration. This motion, faithful to the laws
of mechanics, would have been accelerated with the diminution of its
volume; and a moment would have arrived when the centrifugal force
would have overpowered the centripetal, which causes the molecules all
to tend toward the center.
Another phenomenon would now have passed before the observer’s eye, and
the molecules situated on the plane of the equator, escaping like a
stone from a sling of which the cord had suddenly snapped, would have
formed around the sun sundry concentric rings resembling that of
Saturn. In their turn, again, these rings of cosmical matter, excited
by a rotary motion about the central mass, would have been broken up
and decomposed into secondary nebulosities, that is to say, into
planets. Similarly he would have observed these planets throw off one
or more rings each, which became the origin of the secondary bodies
which we call satellites.
Thus, then, advancing from atom to molecule, from molecule to nebulous
mass, from that to principal star, from star to sun, from sun to
planet, and hence to satellite, we have the whole series of
transformations undergone by the heavenly bodies during the first days
of the world.
Now, of those attendant bodies which the sun maintains in their
elliptical orbits by the great law of gravitation, some few in turn
possess satellites. Uranus has eight, Saturn eight, Jupiter four,
Neptune possibly three, and the Earth one. This last, one of the least
important of the entire solar system, we call the Moon; and it is she
whom the daring genius of the Americans professed their intention of
conquering.
The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying
appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a
considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth.
From the time of Thales of Miletus, in the fifth century B.C., down to
that of Copernicus in the fifteenth and Tycho Brahé in the sixteenth
century A.D., observations have been from time to time carried on with
more or less correctness, until in the present day the altitudes of the
lunar mountains have been determined with exactitude. Galileo explained
the phenomena of the lunar light produced during certain of her phases
by the existence of mountains, to which he assigned a mean altitude of
27,000 feet. After him Hévelius, an astronomer of Dantzic, reduced the
highest elevations to 15,000 feet; but the calculations of Riccioli
brought them up again to 21,000 feet.
At the close of the eighteenth century Herschel, armed with a powerful
telescope, considerably reduced the preceding measurements. He assigned
a height of 11,400 feet to the maximum elevations, and reduced the mean
of the different altitudes to little more than 2,400 feet. But
Herschel’s calculations were in their turn corrected by the
observations of Halley, Nasmyth, Bianchini, Gruithuysen, and others;
but it was reserved for the labors of Boeer and Maedler finally to
solve the question. They succeeded in measuring 1,905 different
elevations, of which six exceed 15,000 feet, and twenty-two exceed
14,400 feet. The highest summit of all towers to a height of 22,606
feet above the surface of the lunar disc. At the same period the
examination of the moon was completed. She appeared completely riddled
with craters, and her essentially volcanic character was apparent at
each observation. By the absence of refraction in the rays of the
planets occulted by her we conclude that she is absolutely devoid of an
atmosphere. The absence of air entails the absence of water. It became,
therefore, manifest that the Selenites, to support life under such
conditions, must possess a special organization of their own, must
differ remarkably from the inhabitants of the earth.
At length, thanks to modern art, instruments of still higher perfection
searched the moon without intermission, not leaving a single point of
her surface unexplored; and notwithstanding that her diameter measures
2,150 miles, her surface equals the one-fifteenth part of that of our
globe, and her bulk the one-forty-ninth part of that of the terrestrial
spheroid—not one of her secrets was able to escape the eyes of the
astronomers; and these skillful men of science carried to an even
greater degree their prodigious observations.
Thus they remarked that, during full moon, the disc appeared scored in
certain parts with white lines; and, during the phases, with black. On
prosecuting the study of these with still greater precision, they
succeeded in obtaining an exact account of the nature of these lines.
They were long and narrow furrows sunk between parallel ridges,
bordering generally upon the edges of the craters. Their length varied
between ten and 100 miles, and their width was about 1,600 yards.
Astronomers called them chasms, but they could not get any further.
Whether these chasms were the dried-up beds of ancient rivers or not
they were unable thoroughly to ascertain.
The Americans, among others, hoped one day or other to determine this
geological question. They also undertook to examine the true nature of
that system of parallel ramparts discovered on the moon’s surface by
Gruithuysen, a learned professor of Munich, who considered them to be
“a system of fortifications thrown up by the Selenitic engineers.”
These two points, yet obscure, as well as others, no doubt, could not
be definitely settled except by direct communication with the moon.
Regarding the degree of intensity of its light, there was nothing more
to learn on this point. It was known that it is 300,000 times weaker
than that of the sun, and that its heat has no appreciable effect upon
the thermometer. As to the phenomenon known as the “ashy light,” it is
explained naturally by the effect of the transmission of the solar rays
from the earth to the moon, which give the appearance of completeness
to the lunar disc, while it presents itself under the crescent form
during its first and last phases.
Such was the state of knowledge acquired regarding the earth’s
satellite, which the Gun Club undertook to perfect in all its aspects,
cosmographic, geological, political, and moral.