The moon hoax : $b or, A discovery that the moon has a vast population of human beings — John Locke — John Shaqi
The moon hoax : $b or, A discovery that the moon has a vast population of human beings
John Locke · en
To render our enthusiasm intelligible, we will state at once, that by
means of a telescope of vast dimensions and an entirely new principle,
the younger Herschel, at his observatory in the Southern Hemisphere,
has already made the most extraordinary discoveries in every planet of
our solar system; has discovered planets in other solar systems; has
obtained a distinct view of objects in the moon, fully equal to that
which the unaided eye commands of terrestrial objects at the distance
of a hundred yards; has affirmatively settled the question whether
this satellite be inhabited, and by what order of beings; has firmly
established a new theory of cometary phenomena; and has solved or
corrected nearly every leading problem of mathematical astronomy.
For our early and almost exclusive information concerning these
facts, we are indebted to the devoted friendship of Dr. Andrew Grant,
the pupil of the elder, and for several years past the inseperable
coadjutor of the younger Herschel. The amanuensis of the latter at
the Cape of Good Hope, and the indefatigable superintendent of his
telescope during the whole period of its construction and operation,
Dr. Grant has been enabled to supply us with intelligence equal,
in general interest at least, to that which Dr. Herschel himself
has transmitted to the Royal Society. Indeed our correspondent
assures us that the voluminous documents now before a committee of
that institution contain little more than details and mathematical
illustrations of the facts communicated to us in his own ample
correspondence. For permission to indulge his friendship in
communicating this invaluable information to us, Dr. Grant and
ourselves are indebted to the magnanimity of Dr. Herschel, who, far
above all mercenary considerations, has thus signally honored and
rewarded his fellow-laborer in the field of science. The engravings
of lunar animals and other objects, and of the phases of the several
planets, are accurate copies of drawings taken in the observatory
by Herbert Home, Esq., who accompanied the last powerful series of
reflectors from London to the Cape, and superintended their erection;
and he has thus recorded the proofs of their triumphant success. The
engravings of the belts of Jupiter is a reduced copy of an imperial
folio drawing by Dr. Herschel himself, and contains the results of his
latest observation of that planet. The segment of the inner ring of
Saturn is from a large drawing by Dr. Grant.
We first avail ourselves of the documents which contain a description
and history of the instrument by which these stupendous discoveries
have been made. A knowledge of the one is essential to the credibility
of the other.
THE YOUNGER HERSCHEL'S TELESCOPE.