proof that the matter of which it is composed is similar to that of our earth, and also proves the existence of a lunar atmosphere, which some philosophers have doubted. The science of astronomy is therefore infinitely indebted to the zeal of Mr. Herschel.
"This phenomenon was also seen by Count Bruhl, Mr. Cavendish, Mr. Aubert, etc.—Yours, etc., Z. Z."[1]
Lalande, of the Royal College of France, told a somewhat more wonderful story to the scientific world in a paper which he wrote for the Academy of Dijon. "Herschel," he says, "has seen in the moon two peaks or mountains formed almost before his eyes; there are in their neighbourhood certain currents resembling those torrents of lava that flow from a volcano at the time of its greatest eruption. This observation was confirmed by an actual eruption very visible in his telescope of 9 feet: it is a fire or light like that of a star of the fourth magnitude seen by the naked eye, and it appeared on the obscure part of the moon. This may help to explain the observation of Ulloa, who, in the total eclipse of 1783, saw in the middle of the moon a luminous point, which he conjectured to be a perforation." Alas for the astronomers who probably saw what they devoutly wished to see—a volcano in action on the moon! It was all moonshine, apparently a reflection of light from our earth, when sixteen times the amount of light showered on us at full moon is then thrown by us on her! But a hole through the middle of the moon, perhaps twenty miles round! There is no air that we know of on the half of the moon that we see, and there is no water. There are
- ↑ Scots Magazine vol. xlix. 318, quoted from Gentleman's Magazine.
