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Show Influence of the Moon In tho courto ot a recent lecture a "Tlmo and Tide" Blr Itobert Hall tila "The "moon, as trtrr ono knowi, tl tho greator causo of tbo tides, the sun's Influence being not taoro than half ot our satellite' bccauio of th oxtremo noarnvss of the latter body. In dltlant ugci the moon apuc around aa tho earth still dona, but tao tidal action of our world on the moon hss so atoppod that rpln that bow tbo always turns tbo samo faco to us. Tbti tidal action acta like a brake on a revolving re-volving wheel, and tho tlmo will como, hundrcda of millions ot years hence. If tbo solar system lnita ao long, when tho earth also will turn tho same face to tho moon nnd our day ba at least a month long Hut the Interaction cf tidal force lend to drive our tatol-lite tatol-lite further and further from us. Year b year tho moon la getting a few Inches more distant, and reversing the argument year by year. In the great patt, the moon wn nearer to ui, Prof, (loorgo Darwin has shown that long, long ago the moon rototro.) dote to tho earlh, and still earlier termed part of this globe. From tbst tine to tbe present ho calculates at least 61,- 000,000 years mutt have olaptcd The birth of the moon took place therefore, there-fore, aomeahero about that date la tho past" Blr Itobert Hall obicrvcd that when tho moon wa near to us It attraction must havo produced enormous tldct, many tlmo greater than those that wash our shore to-day, and be aug-gested aug-gested that theso tides by their powerful pow-erful erosion and wasting ot tho land, accelerated tho geological force, and so reduced tho tremendous periods which tho gcotoglats bnvo demanded. Hitherto, however, no evidence ot these prodigious tldea haa been fur-nlahed fur-nlahed by the rock, and most geolo-glsts geolo-glsts are content with halt the time which Prof Darwin nllowa alnco tho moon waa formed. Blr Itobert threw on Ihe screen pictures of tho lunar surface, alrlesa and waterless and covered with the wrecks of ancient volcanoes. Bpacea there are where seas once were, but ages ago they sank Into tho cavernous Interior, where doubtless the ancient fires have long been extinct, for no traro ol change can bo discerned on that icon of weird desolation. |