"
You know the shadowy figure which you can see, sometimes more distinctly
than at others, on the face of the moon (when I was a child I was told that
it was "the man in the moon"!), this appearance is caused by deep valleys,
or by the shadows of terrible mountain peaks, which were once volcanoes,
throwing out smoke and lava. While I was looking through his telescope, the
showman pointed out to me two of the highest of these peaks, and told me
their names, that is the names which the astronomers had given them; for
these rocky heights have been marked upon maps of the moon, just as the
Welsh mountains are marked upon the map of England and Wales. Upon these
maps we can find Mount Tycho, Mount Gassendi, Mount Copernicus--all of
them extinct volcanoes--and the name of Apennines has been given to a vast
mountain-chain; and the heights of all these mountain peaks have been
ascertained by measuring the shadows cast by them. There are oceans and
seas also marked upon these moon-maps, but they were named at a time when
it was not yet known that they were great plains; for, as I told you, no
trace of water, cloud, or even mist has been discovered there.
Are you sorry to hear that the moon which looks so lovely to our sight, is
found by those who can get a nearer view to be such a weird and desolate
place that it seemed as if only death reigned there? I know I was, when
first I read about it, and saw a picture of the moon, and wondered at its
bare mountain peaks, with their rugged craters and dreadful precipices, and
its "Ocean of Storms" and "Lake of Death," as two of the sea-like plains
have been called.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184