The story of the sun, moon, and stars . much hotterthan it is at present. It is not, indeed, at all unrea-sonable to believe that when the moon was hot enoughfor its volcanoes to be active, the earth was so hot thatlife was impossible on its surface. This supposition YET MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 173 would point to an antiquity for the moons craters fartoo great to be estimated by the centuries and thethousands of years which are adequate for the lapseof time as recognized by the history of human seems not unlikely that millions of years may haveelapsed since the mighty craters of Plato o
The story of the sun, moon, and stars . much hotterthan it is at present. It is not, indeed, at all unrea-sonable to believe that when the moon was hot enoughfor its volcanoes to be active, the earth was so hot thatlife was impossible on its surface. This supposition YET MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 173 would point to an antiquity for the moons craters fartoo great to be estimated by the centuries and thethousands of years which are adequate for the lapseof time as recognized by the history of human seems not unlikely that millions of years may haveelapsed since the mighty craters of Plato or of Coper-nicus consolidated into their present LUNAR ERUPTION—FEEBLE ACTION. It will now be possible for us to attempt to ac-count for the formation of the lunar craters. Themost probable views on the subject are certainly thoseadopted by Mr. Nasmyth, as represented in the cuts,though it must be admitted that they are by no meansfree from difficulty. We can explain the way in whichthe rampart around the lunar crater is formed, andthe great mountain which so often adorns the centerof the plain. The first of these cuts contains an im- 174 STORY OF THE SUN, MOON, AND STARS. aginary sketch of a volcanic vent on the moon in thedays when the craters were active. The eruption ishere in the full flush of its energy, when the internalforces are hurling forth a fountain of ashes or stones,which fall at a considerable distance from the vent; andthese accumulations constitute the rampart surround-ing the crater. The second cut depicts the crater ina later stage of its history. The prodigious explosivepower has now been exhausted, and perhap
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidstor, booksubjectastronomy
