ill they had successively witnessed its
effects." [1] it was in May, 1609, that Galileo turned his telescope
on the moon. "The first observations of Galileo," says Flammarion,
"did not make less noise than the discovery of America; many saw
in them another discovery of a new world much more interesting
than America, as it was beyond the earth. It is one of the most
curious episodes of history, that of the prodigious excitement which
was caused by the unveiling of the world of the moon." [2] Nor are
we astonished at their astonishment when they beheld mountains
which have since been found to be from 15,000 to 26,000 feet in
height--highlands of the moon indeed--far higher in proportion to
the moon's diameter than any elevations on the earth; when they saw
the surface of the satellite scooped out into deep valleys, or spread
over with vast walled plains from 130 to 140 miles across. No
wonder that the followers of Aristotle resented the explosion of their
preconceived beliefs; for their master had taught that the moon was
perfectly spherical and smooth, and that the spots were merely
reflections of our own mountains. Other ancient philosophers had
said that these patches were shadows of opaque bodies floating
between the sun and the moon. But to the credit of Democritus be it
remembered that he propounded the opinion that the spots were
diversities or inequalities upon the lunar surface; and thus
anticipated by twenty centuries the disclosures of the telescope. The
invention of this invaluable appliance we have regarded as marking
a great modern epoch; and what is usually written on the moon is
mainly a summary of results obtained through telescopic
observation, aided by other apparatus, and conducted by learned
men. We now purpose to go back to the ages when there were
neither reflectors nor refractors in existence; and to travel beyond
the bounds of ascertained fact into the regions of fiction, where
abide the shades of superstition and the dreamy forms of myth.
Having promised a contribution to light literature, we shall give to
fancy a free rein, and levy taxes upon poets and story-tellers, wits
and humorists wherever they may be of service. Much will have to
be said, in the first place, of the man in the moon, whom we must
view as he has been manifested in the mask of mirth, and also in the
mirror of mythology. Then we shall present the woman in the moon,
who is less known than the immortal man. Next a hare will be