how any reliable connection between the phases of the
moon and the condition of the weather.

It has been stated, on very good authority, that no telescope ever shows
the surface of the moon as clearly as we could see it with the naked eye
were it only 240 miles distant from us.

Supposing, then, that we were able to approach our satellite, and view
it without optical aid at such comparatively close quarters, it is
interesting to consider what would be the smallest detail which our eye
could take in. The question of the limit of what can be appreciated with
the naked eye is somewhat uncertain, but it appears safe to say that at
a distance of 240 miles the _minutest speck_ visible would have to be
_at least_ some 60 yards across.

Atmosphere and liquid both wanting, the lunar surface must be the seat
of an eternal calm; where no sound breaks the stillness and where
change, as we know it, does not exist. The sun beats down upon the arid
rocks, and inky shadows lie athwart the valleys. There is no mellowing
of the harsh contrasts.

We cannot indeed absolutely affirm that Life has no place at all upon
this airless and waterless globe, since we know not under what strange
conditions it may manifest its presence; and our most powerful
telescopes, besides, do not bring the lunar surface sufficiently near to
us to disprove the existence there of even such large creatures as
disport themselves upon our planet. Still, we find it hard to rid
ourselves of the feeling that we are in the presence of a dead world. On
she swings around the earth month after month, with one face ever
turned towards us, leaving a certain mystery to hang around that hidden
side, the greater part of which men can never hope to see. The rotation
of the moon upon her axis--the lunar day--has become, as we have seen,
equal to her revolution around the earth. An epoch may likewise
eventually be reached in the history of our own planet, when the length
of the terrestrial day has been so slowed down by tidal friction that it
will be equal to the year. Then will the earth revolve around the
central orb, with one side plunged in eternal night and the other in
eternal sunshine. But such a vista need not immediately distress us. It
is millions of years forward in time.

[14] _Journal of the British Astronomical Association_, vol. x.
(1899-1900), Nos. 1 and 3.

[15] Certain of the ancient Greeks thought the markings on the moon to
be merely the reflection of