Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/63

Rh then progress would be as by wings: we should fly, where now we crawl.

As to the physical problems presented by the moon, the questions relating to the light and heat—the radiant energy—it sends us, and to its temperature, are the most attractive at present, especially for the reason that the results of the most recent investigators seem partially to contradict those obtained by their predecessors some years ago. It now looks as if we should have to admit that nearly all we receive from the moon is simply reflected radiation, and that the temperature of the lunar surface nowhere rises as high as the freezing-point of water, or even of mercury. At the same time, some astronomers of reputation are not disposed to admit such an upsetting of long-received ideas; and it is quite certain that, in the course of the next few years, the subject will be carefully and variously investigated. Closely connected with this is the problem of a lunar atmosphere—if, indeed, she has any.

Then there is the very interesting discussion concerning changes upon the moon's surface. Considering the difference between our modern telescopes and those employed fifty or a hundred years ago, I think it still far from certain that the differences between the representations of earlier and later observers necessarily imply any real alterations. But they, no doubt, render it more or less probable that such alterations have occurred, and are still in progress; and they justify a persistent, careful, minute, and thorough study of the details of the lunar surface with powerful instruments: especially do they inculcate the value of large-scale photographs, which can be preserved for future comparison as unimpeachable witnesses.

I will not leave the moon without a word in respect to the remarkable speculations of Professor George Darwin concerning the tidal evolution of our satellite. Without necessarily admitting all the numerical results as to her age and her past and future history, one may certainly say that he has given a most plausible and satisfactory explanation of the manner in which the present state of things might have come about through the operation of causes known and recognized, has opened a new field of research, and shown the way to new dominions. The introduction of the doctrine of the conservation of energy, as a means of establishing the conditions of motion and configuration in an astronomical system, is a very important step.

In the Planetary system we meet, in the main, the same problems as those that relate to the moon, with a few cases of special interest. For the most part the accordance between theory and observation in the motions of the larger planets is as close as could be expected. The labors of Leverrier, Hill, Newcomb, and others, have so nearly cleared the field that it seems likely that several decades will be needed to develop discrepancies sufficient to furnish any important corrections to our present tables. Leverrier himself, however, indicated one