Part 7

The earth is accompanied by a MOON or satellite, whose distance is 237,000 miles, and diameter 2,160. Her surface is composed of hill and dale, of rocks and mountains, nearly two miles high, and of circular cavities, sometimes five miles in depth and forty in diameter. She possesses neither _rivers_, nor _lakes_, nor _seas_, and we cannot discover with the telescope any traces of living beings, or any monuments of their hands. Viewing the earth as we now do, as the _third_ planet in order from the sun, can we doubt that it is a globe like the rest, poised in ether like them, and, like them, moving round the central luminary?

[2] _As when the moon, &c._ This comparison is inferior to none in _Homer_. It is the most beautiful night-piece that can be found in poetry. He presents you with a prospect of the heavens, the seas, and the earth; the stars shine, the air is serene, the world enlighten'd, and the moon mounted in glory.

[3] For an account of the singular views which the ancients had entertained on this subject, see "The Theology of the Phœnicians," by _Sanchoniatho_, who flourished about the time of the Trojan war. Published in a collection of _Ancient Fragments_. New York. 1835.