THE TWO WORLDS IN THE MOON.
MR. CRAMPTON, in the just published edition of his clever little work on the Lunar World,* tells us an amusing story of an enthusiastic friend of his own who holds that the "Heavenly Jerusalem" is preparing on the other side of the Moon, —which is, indeed, the reason why she always faces about so pro- vokingly just so as to keep the vision out of sight, like a tantalizing parent revolving on his own axis in order to keep pockets loaded with Christmas presents from the aggressive curiosity of the children till the proper moment arrives. When Mr. Crampton suggested to his- friend that the Moon, so far as we see her, is very like what Dr. Whewell calls her—a big cinder wholly devoid of the conditions of earthly life and growth—the gentleman who had ascertained the site of the New Jerusalem replied triumphantly that this was ex- actly the strength of his case :—" This side, it is true, is barren, but the Heavenly Jerusalem is on the other side, purposely con- cealed from us till the time comes."
This suggestion, sanguine as it seems, so far as it merely asserts that the Moon modestly puts the worst face on the matter, in relation to our earth, is not without real scientific support. A modern German astronomer, Professor Hausen, has, or is believed to have, made a discovery which raises all kinds of speculations about this rather tantalizing satellite. He has discoveredand proved, as he thinks, that this side of the Moon is nothing but a mountain range raised twenty-nine miles above the average level of the Moon's surface ; or, to express the same thing more technically, that the centre of gravity of the Moon is not her geometrical centre, but twenty-nine miles on the opposite side of her geometrical centre. That is, the more solid part of the Moon would be on the far side from the earth, and all that we see of her would be a bulging hemi- sphere, comparatively much less dense and weighty, projecting twenty-nine miles beyond the surface which the Moon ought to show to us if the density were equal throughout, and if the hemisphere on this side therefore were uniform in weight and form with the hemisphere on the other side. Professor Hansen supposes, in fact, —and astronomers appear to think he has proved his case,—that the Moon turns a sort of tower of crusty, broken, porous, and therefore lighter substance to the earth, so that we see only an exaggerated Alpine or Andes region projecting nearly thirty miles beyond the average level of the lunar surface. 1.1 this be true, there are all sorts of provoking consequences. As we never get a glimpse at the other side of the Moon, who keeps always facing about just so as to avoid showing us her other hemisphere, we never get a glimpse at the average level of the lunar surface. Hence all our conclusions as to the inhabitability of the Moon, derived from a knowledge that no clouds and no atmosphere of any appreciable degree exist on this side of the Moon, are untrustworthy. Twenty-nine miles above the average surface of the earth the rarity of even our own atmosphere would be probably so great as to render it scarcely appreciable at all, even to astronomical instruments, and quite unequal to the support of any of the vegetable or animal life of our earth. Accordingly, conjecture may take full possession of this invisible side of the Moon ;—and conjecture does, in fact, give it back the atmosphere which had been denied it, the outer margin of which is supposed so far to touch the mountain heights of this barren side, as to justify those astronomers who fancy they have seen proof of a very thin atmosphere in the refraction of stars just on the edge of the Moon, and to confirm the assertion of the astrono- mer Schroter, that he had discovered traces of twilight there, which could, of course, only be due to an atmosphere of some kind. Thus much may certainly be granted, that if Professor Hausen's discovery be true, the lunar atmosphere, if it exist at all, would certainly be attracted to the opposite or heavy aide, and might well fail to be sensible at an elevation of twenty-nine miles, even though quite dense enough to support terrestrial life and vegeta- tion at the average level of the lunar surface. It gives no proof that such an atmosphere exists, but does give very good reason why, if there be one, we have failed to detect it with any certainty.
But if this be so, and if, as a consequence, a lunar population ex- ists, but exists on the averted side of the Moon, this is certainly a very curious and startling exception to the argument from design which has been so often reasonably pressed, and often again pressed much too far, in astronomical speculation. For
• Adam and Charles Black.
what should we then have but an arrangement which would promote life exactly where the reflected light of the earth could not be available at all, and render life impossible ex- actly where the light of the earth is brilliantly visible ? When we remember that to the possible inhabitants of the Moon the night is 328 hours (a fortnight) long,—while the earthlight, if seen, would be fourteen times as brilliant as our moonlight, or equivalent to fourteen such moons as we see, there seems something distress- ingly arbitrary in an arrangement which grants all the conditions of life where there is no such lamp during the long night,—and withholds them exactly where such a substitute for sunlight exists.
But, perhaps, it may be said that it is entirely gratuitous to suppose an atmosphere essential to the ,existence of rational life, and that, therefore, there is no reason why the lumi- nous cinder which we behold should not be peopled by living beings organized somewhat differently from ourselves. The answer is very simple. Of course, we cannot disprove the existence of rational or spiritual life anywhere in space, for so far as the Infinite and Eternal life is concerned we believe that it exists everywhere alike : but so far as we localize to any extent the life of finite and organized beings like our own, we must do so under con- ditions as nearly as possible resembling our own. The only reason why we pitch upon satellites, planets, or stars at all, rather than empty space, as possible residences for beings like ourselves, is that there we have those physical conditions of rest and motion, and a confining attraction, which liken the situation very much to ours. The Moon seems a likelier place than the interlunar spaces for sen- tient beings only because on the Moon there would be a gravitating chain to keep them within limits, and a solid surface to walk, stand, or lie down upon. But if this gives us more reason to expect organ- ized beings, than we should have without it, it necessarily follows that the existence of any other universal physical condition of our life, which exists or is absent on the Moon, gives us so much more reason to expect or deny the existence of beings organized like ourselves there. Now if we suppose for a moment that there is a real and substantial atmosphere on the other side of the Moon, while there is no such atmosphere on this side, let us consider how fundamentally different the life of the Cislunites and the Ultra- montane Lunites must be, and how infinitely more like ourselves the Ultramontane Lunites, who never can see the earth, would be than their inaccessible neighbours, the Cislunites, who do not indulge in lungs, but whose eyes enjoy the advantage of that luminous spectacle.
In the first place, bodies must be organized on a totally dif- ferent principle, if lungs are to be given to the one and denied to the other ; not only the lungs, but the whole circulating system would be essentially different ; there could be no distinction between the arterial and venous blood without the lungs,---even if there could be any animal heat or blood at all without them. Most scientific men hold that without an atmosphere the sun's heat would never accumulate sufficiently to permit of any fluid or liquid form of matter. Even the gases they suppose to be frozen on this side of the Moon,—just as at a very moderate height in our atmosphere, even under a tropical sun, the cold is intense enough to freeze mercury. Hence it is obvious enough, not only that the whole bodily organization must be utterly different on the possible atmospheric and non-atmospheric face of the Moon,—but all that depends thereon. Chemistry, physio- logy, medical and surgical science must be totally different in the opposite hemispheres. You cannot easily imagine any one common disease, or common remedy, except the knife, in the two worlds ; and even steel without fire—and where all the gases are solid, com- bustion must be at least difficult--cannot be manufactured in earthly fashion. Where there is no air at all, the inconveniences of overcrowding must be small, because purely mechanical ; epi- demic diseases can scarcely exist, and both smells and sounds must be faint. Solid whispering galleries must supply (if there be ears) the place of atmospheric vibrations, and a Cislunist audience must be connected with the speaker, or rather, perhaps, sound-maker (for without the medium of air the tongue and lips would scarcely be chosen to originate the vibrations) by some solid nexus.
Again, without steam or wind the Cislunists would have no great natural motive power unless the 14 days' continuous sunshine developed some great store of heat, of which we know nothing ;- and this, without the accumulating folds of the atmospheric blanket, we cannot think likely. Without air and water there could be no vegetables in our sense, and no birds or fishes,--and little or no colour as distinguished from light and shade. It would be a world only of photographic art, if any ; for it is the reflecting and refracting power of the air which gives diffused tints and makes the heavens blue instead of black. Of all the lists of earthly occupa- tions scarcely one would be possible in an airless and waterless and plantless world, the mineralogists, geologists, mathematicians, and pure mechanicians, alone excepted. Bakers, who depend on corn ; brewers, On water and barley and hops ; grocers, on tea, sugar, and raisins ; sailors, on sea and wind, would clearly be even less possible than physicians and chemists. Sleep itself, if it existed, would be indistinguishable from death, as neither pulse nor breathing could exist, and a man would have to move to prove that he was alive. Drinking would be impossible,—and if eating remained, it would be essentially different, while the absence of animal heat, and of storm, wind, and rain, would render houses, clothing, and all such accessories of life entirely needless. In a word, the Cislunites must be, if they exist, infinitely more different from their neighbours the Lrltramontane Lunites if the latter live in an atmosphere, than the latter are from us ; indeed, the only really common physical apparatus which the two could have would be eyes and muscles,—in both of which the Cislunites would have the advantage; because they would have a moon four- teen times as big as ours during the long night ; and be much less troubled with their own weight at a height of twenty-nine miles above the surface of their world than their neighbours. Even in Language the whole field of metaphor and symbol must be utterly different. It is clear that if they have a Colenso, the controversy cannot turn on such a word as Inspiration ; and that when they die they cannot be said to expire; nor can their team for "spirit" be derived from any word indicating the breath of life.
On the other hand, if there really be an atmosphere and a popu- lation on the other side of that lunar cinder, the people are probably (unless they sleep for a fortnight together, which is too beautiful to be true) very much more advanced in their astronomy than our earth, having so much longer uninterrupted periods for study of the heavens. But they must have been long embarrassed to know that they move round a centre of attraction that they can never see, nor hope to see ; and must feel a certain annoyance at knowing that there would be such a splendid nocturnal lamp if they could but scale that inaccessible hemisphere of extra-atmospheric cinder at their antipodes.
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