point out those particulars of the story which should have been
sufficient to establish its real character. Indeed, however rich the
imagination displayed in this ingenious fiction, it wanted much of
the force which might have been given it by a more scrupulous
attention to facts and to general analogy. That the public were
misled, even for an instant, merely proves the gross ignorance which
is so generally prevalent upon subjects of an astronomical nature.
The moon's distance from the earth is, in round numbers, 240,000
miles. If we desire to ascertain how near, apparently, a lens would
bring the satellite (or any distant object), we, of course, have but
to divide the distance by the magnifying or, more strictly, by the
space-penetrating power of the glass. Mr. L. makes his lens have a
power of 42,000 times. By this divide 240,000 (the moon's real
distance), and we have five miles and five sevenths, as the apparent
distance. No animal at all could be seen so far; much less the minute
points particularized in the story. Mr. L. speaks about Sir John
Herschel's perceiving flowers (the Papaver rheas, etc.), and even
detecting the color and the shape of the eyes of small birds. Shortly
before, too, he has himself observed that the lens would not render
perceptible objects of less than eighteen inches in diameter; but
even this, as I have said, is giving the glass by far too great
power. It may be observed, in passing, that this prodigious glass is
said to have been molded at the glasshouse of Messrs. Hartley and
Grant, in Dumbarton; but Messrs. H. and G.'s establishment had ceased
operations for many years previous to the publication of the hoax.
On page 13, pamphlet edition, speaking of "a hairy veil" over the
eyes of a species of bison, the author says: "It immediately occurred
to the acute mind of Dr. Herschel that this was a providential
contrivance to protect the eyes of the animal from the great extremes
of light and darkness to which all the inhabitants of our side of the
moon are periodically subjected." But this cannot be thought a very
"acute" observation of the Doctor's. The inhabitants of our side of
the moon have, evidently, no darkness at all, so there can be nothing
of the "extremes" mentioned. In the absence of the sun they have a
light from the earth equal to that of thirteen full unclouded moons.
The topography throughout, even when professing to accord with
Blunt's Lunar Chart, is entirely at variance with that or any other
lunar chart, and even grossly at variance with itself. The points of
the compass, too, are in inextricable confusion; the writer appearing
to be ignorant that, on a lunar map, these are not in accordance with
terrestrial points; the east being to the left, etc.
Deceived, perhaps, by the vague titles, Mare Nubium, Mare
Tranquillitatis, Mare Faecunditatis, etc., given to the dark spots by
former astronomers, Mr. L. has entered into details regarding oceans
and other large bodies of water in the moon; whereas there is no
astronomical point more positively ascertained than that no such
bodies exist there. In examining the boundary between light and
darkness (in the crescent or gibbous moon) where this boundary
crosses any of the dark places, the line of division is found to be
rough and jagged; but, were these dark places liquid, it would
evidently be even.
The description of the wings of the man-bat, on page 21, is but a
literal copy of Peter Wilkins' account of the wings of his flying
islanders. This simple fact should have induced suspicion, at least,
it might be thought.
On page 23, we have the following: "What a prodigious influence must
our thirteen times larger globe have exercised upon this satellite
when an embryo in the womb of time, the passive subject of chemical
affinity!" This is very fine; but it should be observed that no
astronomer would have made such remark, especially to any journal of
Science; for the earth, in the sense intended, is not only thirteen,
but forty-nine times larger than the moon. A similar objection
applies to the whole of the concluding pages, where, by way of
introduction to some discoveries in Saturn, the philosophical
correspondent enters into a minute schoolboy account of that planet
-- this to the "Edinburgh journal of Science!"
But there is one point, in particular, which should have betrayed the
fiction. Let us imagine the power actually possessed of seeing
animals upon the moon's surface -- what would first arrest the
attention of an observer from the earth? Certainly neither their
shape, size, nor any other such peculiarity, so soon as their
remarkable _situation_. They would appear to be walking, with heels
up and head down, in the manner of flies on a ceiling. The _real_
observer would have uttered an instant ejaculation of surprise
(however prepared by previous knowledge) at the singularity of their
position; the _fictitious_ observer has not even mentioned the
subject, but speaks of seeing the entire bodies of such creatures,
when it is demonstrable that he could have seen only the diameter of
their heads!
It might as well be remarked, in conclusion, that the size, and
particularly the powers of the man-bats (for example, their ability
to fly in so rare an atmosphere--if, indeed, the moon have any), with
most of the other fancies in regard to animal and vegetable
existence, are at variance, generally, with all analogical reasoning
on these themes; and that analogy here will often amount to
conclusive demonstration. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to add,
that all the suggestions attributed to Brewster and Herschel, in the
beginning of the article, about "a transfusion of artificial light
through the focal object of vision," etc., etc., belong to that
species of figurative writing which comes, most properly, under the
denomination of rigmarole.
There is a real and very definite limit to optical discovery among
the stars--a limit whose nature need only be stated to be understood.
If, indeed, the casting of large lenses were all that is required,
man's ingenuity would ultimately prove equal to the task, and we
might have them of any size demanded. But, unhappily, in proportion
to the increase of size in the lens, and consequently of
space-penetrating power, is the diminution of light from the object,
by diffusion of its rays. And for this evil there is no remedy within
human ability; for an object is seen by means of that light alone
which proceeds from itself, whether direct or reflected. Thus the
only "artificial" light which could avail Mr. Locke, would be some
artificial light which he should be able to throw-not upon the "focal
object of vision," but upon the real object to be viewed-to wit: upon
the moon. It has been easily calculated that, when the light
proceeding from a star becomes so diffused as to be as weak as the
natural light proceeding from the whole of the stars, in a clear and
moonless night, then the star is no longer
visible for any practical
purpose.
The Earl of Ross's telescope, lately constructed in England, has a
_speculum_ with a reflecting surface of 4,071 square inches; the
Herschel telescope having one of only 1,811. The metal of the Earl of
Ross's is 6 feet diameter; it is 5 1/2 inches thick at the edges, and
5 at the centre. The weight is 3 tons. The focal length is 50 feet.
I have lately read a singular and somewhat ingenious little book,
whose title-page runs thus: "L'Homme dans la lvne ou le Voyage
Chimerique fait au Monde de la Lvne, nouuellement decouuert par
Dominique Gonzales, Aduanturier Espagnol, autremΘt dit le Courier
volant. Mis en notre langve par J. B. D. A. Paris, chez Francois
Piot, pres la Fontaine de Saint Benoist. Et chez J. Goignard, au
premier pilier de la grand'salle du Palais, proche les Consultations,
MDCXLVII." Pp. 76.
The writer professes to have translated his work from the English of
one Mr. D'Avisson (Davidson?) although there is a terrible ambiguity
in the statement. "J' en ai eu," says he "l'original de Monsieur
D'Avisson, medecin des mieux versez qui soient aujourd'huy dans la
c≥noissance des Belles Lettres, et sur tout de la Philosophic
Naturelle. Je lui ai cette obligation entre les autres, de m' auoir
non seulement mis en main cc Livre en anglois, mais encore le
Manuscrit du Sieur Thomas D'Anan, gentilhomme Eccossois,
recommandable pour sa vertu, sur la version duquel j' advoue que j'
ay tirΘ le plan de la mienne."
After some irrelevant adventures, much in the manner of Gil Blas, and
which occupy the first thirty pages, the author relates that, being
ill during a sea voyage, the crew abandoned him, together with a
negro servant, on the island of St. Helena. To increase the chances
of obtaining food, the two separate, and live as far apart as
possible. This brings about a training of birds, to serve the purpose
of carrier-pigeons between them. By and by these are taught to carry
parcels of some weight-and this weight is gradually increased. At
length the idea is entertained of uniting the force of a great number
of the birds, with a view to raising the author himself. A machine is
contrived for the purpose, and we have a minute description of it,
which is materially helped out by a steel engraving. Here we perceive
the Signor Gonzales, with point ruffles and a huge periwig, seated
astride something which resembles very closely a broomstick, and
borne aloft by a multitude of wild swans _(ganzas) _who had strings
reaching from their tails to the machine.
The main event detailed in the Signor's narrative depends upon a very
important fact, of which the reader is kept in ignorance until near
the end of the book. The _ganzas, _with whom he had become so
familiar, were not really denizens of St. Helena, but of the moon.
Thence it had been their custom, time out of mind, to migrate
annually to some portion of the earth. In proper season, of course,
they would return home; and the author, happening, one day, to
require their services for a short voyage, is unexpectedly carried
straight tip, and in a very brief period arrives at the satellite.
Here he finds, among other odd things, that the people enjoy extreme
happiness; that they have no _law; _that they die without pain; that
they are from ten to thirty feet in height; that they live five
thousand years; that they have an emperor called Irdonozur; and that
they can jump sixty feet high, when, being out of the gravitating
influence, they fly about with fans.
I cannot forbear giving a specimen of the general _philosophy _of the
volume.
"I must not forget here, that the stars appeared only on that side of
the globe turned toward the moon, and that the closer they were to it
the larger they seemed. I have also me and the earth. As to the
stars, _since there was no night where I was, they always had the
same appearance; not brilliant, as usual, but pale, and very nearly
like the moon of a morning. _But few of them were visible, and these
ten times larger (as well as I could judge) than they seem to the
inhabitants of the earth. The moon, which wanted two days of being
full, was of a terrible bigness.
"I must not forget here, that the stars appeared only on that side
of the globe turned toward the moon, and that the closer they were to
it the larger they seemed. I have also to inform you that, whether it
was calm weather or stormy, I found myself _always immediately
between the moon and the earth._ I_ _was convinced of this for two
reasons-because my birds always flew in a straight line; and because
whenever we attempted to rest, _we were carried insensibly around the
globe of the earth. _For I admit the opinion of Copernicus, who
maintains that it never ceases to revolve _from the east to the west,
_not upon the poles of the Equinoctial, commonly called the poles of
the world, but upon those of the Zodiac, a question of which I
propose to speak more at length here-after, when I shall have leisure
to refresh my memory in regard to the astrology which I learned at
Salamanca when young, and have since forgotten."
Notwithstanding the blunders italicized, the book is not without some
claim to attention, as affording a naive specimen of the current
astronomical notions of the time. One of these assumed, that the
"gravitating power" extended but a short distance from the earth's
surface, and, accordingly, we find our voyager "carried insensibly
around the globe," etc.
There have been other "voyages to the moon," but none of higher merit
than the one just mentioned. That of Bergerac is utterly meaningless.
In the third volume of the "American Quarterly Review" will be found
quite an elaborate criticism upon a certain "journey" of the kind in
question--a criticism in which it is difficult to say whether the
critic most exposes the stupidity of the book, or his own absurd
ignorance of astronomy. I forget the title of the work; but the
_means _of the voyage are more deplorably ill conceived than are even
the _ganzas _of our friend the Signor Gonzales. The adventurer, in
digging the earth, happens to discover a peculiar metal for which the
moon has a strong attraction, and straightway constructs of it a box,
which, when cast loose from its terrestrial fastenings, flies with
him, forthwith, to the satellite. The "Flight of Thomas O'Rourke," is
a _jeu d' esprit _not altogether contemptible, and has been
translated into German. Thomas, the hero, was, in fact, the
gamekeeper of an Irish peer, whose eccentricities gave rise to the
tale. The "flight" is made on an eagle's back, from Hungry Hill, a
lofty mountain at the end of Bantry Bay.
In these various _brochures _the aim is always satirical; the theme
being a description of Lunarian customs as compared with ours. In
none is there any effort at _plausibility _in the details of the
voyage itself. The writers seem, in each instance, to be utterly
uninformed in respect to astronomy. In "Hans
Pfaall" the design is
original, inasmuch as regards an attempt at _verisimilitude, _in the
application of scientific principles (so far as the whimsical nature
of the subject would permit), to the actual passage between the earth
and the moon.
{*2} The zodiacal light is probably what the ancients called Trabes.
Emicant Trabes quos docos vocant. -- Pliny, lib. 2, p. 26.
{*3} Since the original publication of Hans Pfaall, I find that Mr.
Green, of Nassau balloon notoriety, and other late aeronauts, deny
the assertions of Humboldt, in this respect, and speak of a
decreasing inconvenience, -- precisely in accordance with the theory
here urged in a mere spirit of banter.
{*4} Havelius writes that he has several times found, in skies
perfectly clear, when even stars of the sixth and seventh magnitude
were conspicuous, that, at the same altitude of the moon, at the same
elongation from the earth, and with one and the same excellent
telescope, the moon and its maculae did not appear equally lucid at
all times. From the circumstances of the observation, it is evident
that the cause of this phenomenon is not either in our air, in the
tube, in the moon, or in the eye of the spectator, but must be looked
for in something (an atmosphere?) existing about the moon.
======
THE GOLD-BUG
What ho! what ho! this fellow is dancing mad !
He hath been bitten by the Tarantula.
_--All in the Wrong._
MANY years ago, I contracted an intimacy with a Mr. William
Legrand. He was of an ancient Huguenot family, and had once been
wealthy; but a series of misfortunes had reduced him to want. To
avoid the mortification consequent upon his disasters, he left New
Orleans, the city of his forefathers, and took up his residence at
Sullivan's Island, near Charleston, South Carolina. This Island is a
very singular one. It consists of little else than the sea sand, and
Poe, Edgar Allen - The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe Page 11