Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/819

 MOORCROFT and moon, a reduction being made for the sun's perturbing influence. As the actual de- flection is known, and can therefore be com- pared with the result thus theoretically deter- mined, we have a means of testing the various determinations of the moon's distance. Prof. Colbert of Chicago considers that the lunar elements deduced balance each other most sat- isfactorily if we take the following values: mean equatorial horizontal parallax, 57' 0*67" ; mean distance in miles, 238,973 ; mass of moon to earth's as 1 to 81-38 ; and thence he deduces : diameter of moon, 2,160-35 m. ; volume of moon to earth's as 1 to 49'2 ; density, earth's as 1, 0-6044; distance of centre of orbit from the earth's centre, 13,121-5 m. ; mean distance of centre of gravity of earth and moon from the earth's centre, 2, 900-86 m. It may be remarked, however, that the various elements dealt with are not as yet determined so exactly that very much reliance can be placed on the method of testing here indicated. It is to be noted, in passing, that the term lunar parallax as com- monly used is applied (not quite correctly, however) in such a way that the earth's radius, instead of being to the distance as cosecant of the parallax, bears to it the ratio, arc : radius. (See Chauvenet's "Astronomy.") The faint apparition of the entire lunar disk at the time of new moon is considered to be due to the reflection of the light received from the earth, whose illuminated hemisphere is then turned toward her. MOORCROFT, William, an English traveller, born in Lancashire about 1780, died at And- khui, between Bokhara and Cabool, Aug. 27, 1825. He was a veterinary surgeon, and went to India in 1808 as superintendent of the East India company's stud in Bengal. With the view of introducing stallions from the neigh- borhood of Balkh and Bokhara, and at the same time of establishing commercial inter- course with the trans-Himalayan districts, he travelled beyond the Himalaya in 1812 and 1819, pursuing a route in which no European had preceded him, determining the sources of some of the rivers of Punjaub, and visiting Ladakh, Serinagur, Cabool, and Bokhara. He purchased several valuable horses, with which he set out on his return in the summer of 1825, but died of fever, under suspicious circum- stances. An account of his explorations up to his arrival at Bokhara was published by Prof. H. H. Wilson, "Travels in the Himalayan Prov- inces of Hindustan and the Punjab, in Ladakh and Kashmir," &c. (London, 1841). MOORE. I. A central county of Forth Caro- lina, drained by Deep, Little, and Lumber riv- ers ; area, about 700 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 12,- 040, of whom 3,019 were colored. It has a di- versified surface, and the soil is fertile near the streams. The Western railroad of North Caro- lina passes through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 56,328 bushels of wheat, 170,450 of Indian corn, 45,545 of oats, 52,906 of sweet potatoes, 21,751 Ibs. of tobacco, 14,209 of wool, MOORE 801 68,072 of butter, and 930 bales of cotton. There were 1,435 horses, 644 mules and asses, 3,616 milch cows, 5,508 other cattle, 10,072 sheep, and 15,125 swine. Capital, Carthage. H. A S. county of middle Tennessee, bounded S. by Elk river ; area, about 160 sq. m. It was formed in 1872 from portions of Franklin and Lincoln counties. The surface is diversified and the soil generally fertile. Capital, Lynchburg. MOORE, Alfred, an American jurist, great- grandson of Sir Nathaniel Moore, governor of Carolina in 1705, born in Brunswick co., N. 0., May 21, 1755, died at Belfont, N. C., Oct. 15, 1810. At the age of 20 he became captain in a regiment of North Carolina troops, commanded by his uncle Col. James Moore. He subsequently resigned, but when the British seized Wilmington, he raised a troop of volun- teers, with whom he rendered great service to the American cause. The war left him penni- less, and the general assembly in 1790 made him attorney general ; and though he had not yet mastered the first rudiments of law, he soon attained by hard study a foremost rank in his profession, was raised to the bench in 1798, and became associate justice of the su- preme court of the United States in 1799. He resigned in 1805. MOORE. I. Hcnjamiii, an American bishop, born in Newtown, L. I., Oct. 5, 1748, died at Greenwich, Conn., Feb. 27, 1816. He gradu- ated at King's (now Columbia) college in 1768, was ordained in England as a minister of the Episcopal church in 1774, became an assistant minister of Trinity church in New York, and succeeded to the rectorship in 1800. On Sept. 11, 1801, he was consecrated bishop of the state of New York, as successor of Bishop Provoost. He was also president of Columbia college. In February, 1811, he was attacked by paralysis, which rendered him incapable of further active duty. A collection of Bishop Moore's sermons (2 vols. 8vo, New York) was published after his death by his son Clement C. Moore, n. dement Clarke, an American scholar, son of the prece- ding, born in New York, July 15, 1779, died in Newport, R. L, July 10, 1863. He graduated at Columbia college in 1798, and in December, 1821, was appointed professor of Hebrew and Greek literature, and afterward of oriental and Greek literature, in the Protestant Episcopal seminary in New York. To this institution he gave from his family inheritance the large plot of ground on which it stands. He retired in June, 1850. Dr. Moore published a Hebrew and English lexicon (New York, 1809); a col- lection of "Poems," the best known of which is the "Visit from St. Nicholas" (1844); and " George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, King of Albania" (1850). MOORE, Edward, an English poet, born in Abingdon, Berkshire, Aug. 22, 1712, died in London, Feb. 28, 1757. His first poetical work, entitled " Fables for the Female Sex," appeared in 1744. In 1750 he married Miss Hamilton, who secured a place in the royal household.