Abstract
ORIGIN OF THE LUNAR FORMATIONS.—The experiments by which Scrope attempted to reproduce the characteristic features of the moon's surface have been repeated with slight modifications by M. Stanislas Meunier, and the results which he has obtained are certainly very suggestive, if, indeed, they do not furnish the key to the origin of the various formations which the moon presents to us.(Comptes rendus, January 28.) Plaster is mixed with water in which a little glue has been dissolved to prevent too rapid setting, and the mixture is heated in a frying-pan over a gas-burner until ebullition commences; the gas is suddenly turned off at an opportune moment, and the mass is left to cool undisturbed. Experimenting in this way, and by varying the consistency of the paste, M. Meunier has obtained many features besides the intermingling circular cavities produced by Scrope. The central peaks which are so frequently noticed in lunar craters are reproduced perfectly, being formed at exactly the same time as the circular borders, and even resembling their lunar prototypes in being generally somewhat lower than the edges of the craters. Further, the artificial craters tend to form in groups of two or three, or even more, and sometimes one ring will envelope several; some parts may be covered with cavities, with or without central peaks, and relatively large smooth areas at once recall the lunar “seas.” If the experiment be carried on until nearly the whole of the water is evaporated, fissures also make their appearance.
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