That in thy orb the wretched may have rest.”

[The height of the moon’s atmosphere is supposed to be 1.622 miles; or a little more than a mile and a half.

The observations on the moon have been so accurate, and so often repeated, by means of the best glasses, that the map of the moon is now considered nearly perfect. On this map is laid down the position of spots, cavities, and mountains, representing their size, height, depth, and peculiarities. They are very numerous.

Some of these mountains are full five miles high. They descend in height, from the highest to small elevations.

Several astronomers, particularly Herschell, has distinctly observed and described volcanos in the moon, actually flaming; and others in an expiring state. Craters of extinct volcanos are visible, and so numerous as to indicate very clearly, that volcanic action was once very extensive and powerful in the moon.

Some of the cavities are more than three miles and a half deep, and sixteen broad at the surface. Ferguson’s Astronomy, additional chapters by Dr. Brewster.]

That stones have fallen from the clouds or from much higher regions, is a fact which has recently been very closely investigated, and also fully demonstrated. A table, constructed by M. Izarn, a foreign chemist, exhibits a variety of facts of this kind, from which the following is an extract.

Substances. Places where they fell. Period of their fall.
Shower of stones. At Rome. Under Tullus Hostilius.
Shower of stones. At Rome. Consuls, C. Martius, and M. Torquatus.
A very large stone. Near the river Negos, Thrace. Second year of the 78th Olympiad.
Three large stones. In Thrace. Year before J.C. 452.
Stone of 72 lbs. Near Larissa, Macedonia. January, 1706.
About 1,200 stones; one 120 lbs. Another of 60 lbs. Near Padua, in Italy. In 1510.
Another of 59 lbs. On Mount Vasier, Provence. November 27, 1627.
Two large stones, weighing 20 lbs. Liponas, in Bresse. September, 1753.
A stony mass. Niort, Normandy. In 1750.
A stone of 7½ lbs. At Luce, in Le Maine. September 13, 1768.
A stone. At Aire, in Artois. In 1768.
A stone. In Le Contenin. In 1768.
Extensive shower of stones. Environs of Agen. July 24, 1790.
About 12 stones. Sienna, Tuscany. July, 1794.
A large stone of 56 lbs. Wold Cottage, Yorkshire. December 13, 1795.
A stone of 10 lbs. In Portugal. February 19, 1796.
A stone of 120 lbs. Salé, Department of the Rhone. March 17, 1798.
Shower of stones. Benares, East Indies. December 19, 1798.
Shower of stones. At Plann, near Tabor, Bohemia. July 3, 1753.
Mass of iron, 70 cubic feet. America. April 5, 1800.
Mass of do. 14 quintals. Abakauk, Siberia. Very old.
Shower of stones. Barboutan, near Roquefort. July, 1789.
Large stone, 260 lbs. Ensisheim, Upper Rhine. November 7, 1492.
Two stones, 200 and 300 lbs. Near Verona. In 1762.
A stone of 20 lbs. Sales, near Ville Franche. March 12, 1798.
Several do. from 10 to 17 lbs. Near L’Aigle, Normandy. April 26, 1803.

The stones generally appear luminous in their descent, moving in oblique directions, with very great velocities, and commonly with a hissing noise. They are frequently heard to explode, or burst, and seem to fly in pieces, the larger parts falling first. They often strike the earth with such force, as to sink several inches below the surface. They are always different from the surrounding bodies, but is every case are similar to one another, being semi-metallic, coated with a thin black encrustation. They bear strong marks of recent fusion. Chemists have found, on examining these stones, that they very nearly agree in their nature and composition, and in the proportions of their component parts.

Their specific gravities are generally about three or four times that of water, being heavier than common stones. From the above account, it is reasonable to conclude, that they have all the same origin. I believe it is generally agreed among philosophers, that all these aërial stones, chemically analysed, evince the same properties; and that no stone, found on our earth, possesses exactly similar properties, nor in the same proportions: this is an extraordinary circumstance, and deserves particular notice. At the sitting of the Society of Natural History at Halle, July 6, 1816, M. Chladni submitted to the inspection of the members present, a collection of meteoric stones, or stones fallen from the atmosphere; and to the exhibition, he added his own observations on their nature and formation. Dr. Kæstner, taking up the subject in the same point of view which M. Chladni had given of it, admitted that these stones are not natives of this earth, but of other celestial bodies; to which he added, that the chemical analysis of them proves, that many of the same substances as are found in our mountains, and among the solids of our globe, are also component parts of the solids and mountains of other globes; certainly of those celestial bodies which are nearest to us; and probably of the others which form our planetary system.

That these stones are projected from lunar volcanos, very strong reasons have been assigned to prove. As 1. Volcanos in the moon have been observed by means of the telescope. 2. The lunar volcanos are very high, and the surface of that globe suffers frequent changes, as appears by the late observations of Schroëter. 3. If a body be projected from the moon to a distance greater than that of the point of equilibrium, between the attraction of the earth and the moon, it will, on the known principles of gravitation, fall to the earth. 4. That a body may be projected from the lunar volcanos beyond the moon’s influence, is not only possible, but very probable; for on calculation it is found, that four times the force usually given to a twelve pounder, will be quite sufficient for this purpose: it is to be observed, that the point of equilibrium is much nearer; and that a projectile from the moon will not be so much retarded as one from the earth, both on account of the moon’s rarer atmosphere, and its less attractive force.[123]

Of all the phenomena of the heavens, there are none which engage the attention of mankind more than eclipses of the sun and moon; and to those who are unacquainted with the principles, nothing can appear more extraordinary than the accuracy, even to a second of time, with which they are predicted. Eclipses of the sun are occasioned by the shadow of the intervening new moon falling on the earth, and those of the moon are caused by the shadow of the earth falling on the full moon, the earth at the full moon being always in a direction between the sun and moon.

It is ascertained that, for an eclipse of the sun to be annular, the most favorable circumstances will be when the sun is in perigee, and the moon in apogee; and, for an eclipse to be total, the most favorable case is when the sun is in apogee, and the moon in perigee. The motion of the moon being much swifter than that of the earth, and the motions of both being directed from west to east, an eclipse of the sun must always begin in the western edge of the sun; and as the moon is a great deal less than the earth, her shadow forms a cone, the section of which is much less than the earth, so that a small portion of the earth only can, at any time, be involved in the shadow at one time. Hence it is, that an eclipse of the sun is not perceived, at the same instant, in every part of the hemisphere that is turned towards the sun, and that, in some parts, it will not be seen at all. For instance, a friend of mine, writing from Ceylon in the month of May, (1817,) says, “On the 16th of this month, we had a fine sight of an eclipse of the sun about noon: I think about 3-4ths of the surface were covered.” But in this country we had no solar eclipse at the same time. Again, in different situations, different parts of the sun’s disk will appear eclipsed; but, on the contrary, an eclipse of the moon is perceived, at the same moment, in every part of the earth where this planet is visible, and appears every where to occupy the same portion of her disk. Hence, eclipses of the sun are much less frequent in any particular place than eclipses of the moon.

If the nodes of the moon constantly corresponded with the same points in the heavens, the eclipses of the sun or moon might be expected in the same months, and even on the same days; but as the nodes shift backwards, or contrary to the earth’s annual motion, about 19½ degrees in a year, the same node will come round about nineteen days sooner every year than in the preceding. From the time, therefore, when the ascending node passes by the sun, as seen from the earth, there will be only 173 days before the descending node passes by him. If, then, at any time of the year, we have eclipses about either of the nodes, their return may be expected in about 173 days, in or near the other.