The Moon is Inhabited - Or is It

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Is the

MOON

INHABITED?A Survey of Informed Thinking

On this Subject in the

Nineteenth Century

By

Ronnie Bray



Is the Moon InhabitedBy Ronnie Bray

Let me divulge right from the start that I do not believe

the moon is inhabited . I never had, even when I was

introduced as a child to ‘the man in the moon,’ I was not a

believer and more than I believed that ‘the cow jumped

over the moon.’ However, many other people do believe

or have believed that the moon was an inhabited planet, and

this article sets out of discover who they were and why they believed that.

It is true that during the course of human history, people

have believed things that today seem strange, bizarre, even

crazy, but all people need to believe something is some

thing or other that serves as evidence, or else lack of

evidence that it could be otherwise.

The question of whether the moon is inhabited has

occupied the minds of men across centuries, and countless

words have been expended both for an against the view that

it either is or is not.

Robert Hooke, in the seventeenth century, thought that

he could construct a telescope with which we might discernthe inhabitants of the moon life-size-seeing them as plainly

as we see the inhabitants of the earth. But, alas! the

sanguine mathematician died in his sleep, and his dream

has not yet come true.



Since Hooke's day gigantic instruments have been fitted

up, furnished with all the modern improvements which

could be supplied through the genius or generosity of suchastronomers as Joseph Fraunhofer and Sir William

Herschel, the third Earl of Rosse and the fourth Duke of

Northumberland. But all of these worthy men left

something to be done by their successors. Consequently,

not long since, our scientists set to work to increase their

artificial eyesight.

The Rev. Mr. Webb tells us that "the first 'MoonCommittee' of the British Association recommended a

power of 1,000." But he discourages us if we anticipate

large returns; for he adds:

"Few indeed are the instruments or the nights that will bear it; but when employed, what will be the result? Since

increase of magnifying is equivalent to decrease of distance, we shall see the moon as large (though not as

distinct) as if it were 240 miles off, and any one can judge

what could be made of the grandest building upon earth at that distance." 1

If therefore we are to see the settlement of the matter in

the speculum of a telescope, it may be some time before we

have done with what Guillemin calls "the interesting,

almost insoluble question, of the existence of living and

1 Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, by the Rev. T. W. Webb, M.A., F.R.A.S. London, 1873, p. 58



organized beings on the surface of the satellite of our little

earth."2

Harley reminds us that things that are not seen may yetexist.

Four hundred years ago all Europe believed that to sail

in search of a western continent was to wish "to see what isnot to be seen"; but a certain Christopher Columbus went

out persuaded of things not seen as yet, and having

embarked in faith he landed in sight. The lesson must not

be lost upon us.3

Because we cannot now make out either habitations or

habitants on the moon, it does not necessarily follow that the night will never come when, through some mightier

medium than any ever yet constructed or conceived, we shall descry, beside mountains and valleys, also peopled

plains and populous cities animating the fair features of this beautiful orb. One valuable auxiliary of the telescope,

destined to play an important part in lunar discovery, must

not be overlooked.4

Mr. Norman Lockyer says,

"With reference to the moon, if we wish to map her correctly, it is now no longer necessary to depend on

ordinary eye observations alone; it is perfectly clear that

2 The Heavens, by Amédée Guillemin. London, 1876, p. 1443 Moon Lore, by Timothy Harley, 18854 Harley, Op. Cit.



by means of an image of the moon, taken by photography,

we are able to fix many points on the lunar surface." 5

With telescopic and photographic lenses in skilledhands, and a wealth of inventive genius in fertile brains, we

can afford to wait a long while before we close the debate

with a final negative.

In the meantime, continues Harley, eyes and glasses

giving us no satisfaction, we turn to scientific induction.

Speculation is a kind of mental mirror, that before now has

anticipated or supplemented the visions of sense. Not being practical astronomers ourselves, we have to follow thecounsel of that unknown authority who bids us believe the

expert. But expertness being the fruit of experience, wemay be puzzled to tell who have attained that rank. We will

inquire, however, with due docility, of the oracles of scientific research.

It is agreed on all sides that to render the moon

habitable by beings at all akin with our own kind, there

must be within or upon that body an atmosphere, water,changing seasons, and the alternations of day and night.

We know that changes occur in the moon, from cold toheat, and from darkness to light. But the lunar day is as

long as 291 of ours; so that each portion of the surface isexposed to, or turned from, the sun for nearly 14 days. This

long exposure produces excessive heat, and the long darkness excessive cold. Such extremities of temperature

are unfavourable to the existence of beings at all like those

5 Stargazing, by J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S. London, 1878, p. 476



living upon the earth, especially if the moon be without

water and atmosphere.

As these two desiderata seem indispensable to lunar inhabitation, we may chiefly consider the question, Do

these conditions exist? If so, inductive reasoning will lead us to the inference, which subsequent experience will

strengthen, that the moon is inhabited like its superior planet. But if not, life on the satellite similar to life on the

earth, is altogether improbable, if not absolutely

impossible.6

La Place writes:

"The lunar atmosphere, if any such exists, is of anextreme rarity, greater even than that which can be

produced on the surface of the earth by the best constructed air-pumps. It may be inferred from this that no

terrestrial animal could live or respire at the surface of themoon, and that if the moon be inhabited, it must be by

animals of another species." 7

Should we then wonder that a person speculates that it is

inhabited before we have become certain that it is not?

Isn’t it normal for people to express opinions that might

prove to be incorrect when science overtakes our

imagination at last? I opine that it most certainly is, and

history shows it to be so!

6 Harley, Op. Cit. p. 2347 The System of the World, by M. le Marquis de La Place. Dublin, 1830, i. 42

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The Moon is Inhabited - Or is It