The proportion of land and sea.
[PLATE I].
51. Dr. Long, in the first volume of his Astronomy, pag. 168, mentions an ingenious and easy method of finding nearly what proportion the land bears to the sea; which is, to take the papers of a large terrestrial globe, and after separating the land from the sea with a pair of scissars, to weigh them carefully in scales. This supposes the globe to be exactly delineated, and the papers all of equal thickness. The Doctor made the experiment on the papers of Mr. Senex’s seventeen inch globe; and found that the sea papers weighed 349 grains, and the land only 124: by which it appears that almost three fourth parts of the surface of our Earth between the Polar Circles are covered with water, and that little more than one fourth is dry land. The Doctor omitted weighing all within the Polar Circles; because there is no certain measurement of the land there, so as to know what proportion it bears to the sea.
The Moon.
52. The Moon is not a Planet, but only a Satellite or Attendant of the Earth, moving round the Earth from Change to Change in 29 days 12 hours and 44 minutes; and going round the Sun with it every year. The Moon’s diameter is 2180 miles; and her distance from the Earth 240 thousand. She goes round her Orbit in 27 days 7 hours 43 minutes, moving about 2290 miles every hour; and turns round her Axis exactly in the time that she goes round the Earth, which is the reason of her keeping always the same side towards us, and that her day and night taken together is as long as our lunar month.
Her Phases.
53. The Moon is an opaque Globe like the Earth, and shines only by reflecting the light of the Sun: therefore whilst that half of her which is toward the Sun is enlightened, the other half must be dark and invisible. Hence, she disappears when she comes between us and the Sun; because her dark side is then toward us. When she is gone a little way forward, we see a little of her enlightened side; which still increases to our view, as she advances forward, until she comes to be opposite to the Sun; and then her whole enlightened side is towards the Earth, and she appears with a round, illumined Orb; which we call the Full Moon: her dark side being then turned away from the Earth. From the Full she seems to decrease gradually as she goes through the other half of her course; shewing us less and less of her enlightened side every day, till her next change or conjunction with the Sun, and then she disappears as before.
A proof that she shines not by her own light.
Fig. I.
54. The continual changing of the Moon’s phases or shapes demonstrates that she shines not by any light of her own: for if she did, being globular, we should always see her with a round full Orb like the Sun. Her Orbit is represented in the Scheme by the little circle m, upon the Earth’s Orbit ⊕: but it is drawn fifty times too large in proportion to the Earth’s; and yet is almost too small to be seen in the Diagram.
One half of her always enlightened.
55. The Moon has scarce any difference of seasons; her Axis being almost perpendicular to the Ecliptic. What is very singular, one half of her has no darkness at all; the Earth constantly affording it a strong light in the Sun’s absence; while the other half has a fortnight’s darkness and a fortnight’s light by turns.