Chapter VIII
Reading edition
CHAPTER VIII
THE MOON, CHILD OF THE EARTH AND THE SUN 212
The moon a favorite subject for intellectual speculation—Its nearness to the earth graphically illustrated—Ideas of the ancients—Galileo's discoveries—What first raised a serious question as to its habitability—Singularity of the moon's motions—Appearance of its surface to the naked eye and with the telescope—The "seas" and the wonderful mountains and craters—A terrible abyss described—Tycho's mysterious rays—Difference between lunar and terrestrial volcanoes—Mountain-ringed valleys—Gigantic cracks in the lunar globe—Slight force of gravity of the moon and some interesting deductions—The moon a world of giantism—What kind of atmospheric gases can the moon contain—The question of water and of former oceans—The great volcanic cataclysm in the moon's history—Evidence of volcanic and other changes now occurring—Is there vegetation on the moon?—Lunar day and night—The earth as seen from the moon—Discoveries yet to be made