IF THERE WERE MEN IN THE MOON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2008, 18 August 1892, Page 39

IF THERE WERE MEN IN THE MOON.

Wg must remember that in every fibre of our constitution we have been specially adapted to the life on this particular globe. We know how our senses are adjusted in harmony with the particular atmosphere in which the earth is surrounded ; we have now to notice another point, in which the texture of our bodies is arranged to suit the material contents of this globe on which we dwell.

It may seem strange to learn that the strength of our bones and muscles has been adjusted not solely with regard to the size of our bodies or the quantity of matter they may contain, but with reference to the dimensions and mass of the earth. It might be, that on another globe, even though the atmosphere was exactly like our own both in density and in composition, even though it was supplied with water as ours is, even though it provided us with abundance of suitable food and had a climate agreeable to our constitution, yet it might be wholly impossibla for us to exist there by reason of an incompatibility between the strength of our frames and the mags of th 9 globe on which we stood.

Thus to take the case of the moon, which only weighs about one-eightieth part of the earth ; the gravitation with which the moon would draw all bodies toward it would be much less than the similar gravitation on the earth. The weights of all objects would be reduced to about one-sixth part of that which we find them to possess here.

The buoyancy of our bodies would be so great that athletic feats would be easy on a body the size of the moon, which could never be attempted on this globe by beiEgs with muscles like ours. If a man weighing 12at were to be tranferred to the moon, the weight of his body, measured, at least, by the attraction which the moon would exercise upon it, would be reduced to about 2at. If his muscles and his frame remained the game, it would seem as if he would be able to jump over a wall 12ft high on the small globe without any greater exertion than would be required to clear a wall 2ft high on the earth.

Looked at from every point of view, it seems hardly possible that there can be any life on the moon resembling the life that we know of on the earth. — Good Words.