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Hevelius singularly reduced these figures, which Riccioli, on the contrary, doubled. All these measures were exaggerated. Herschel, with his more perfect instruments, approached nearer the hypsometric truth. But it must be finally sought in the accounts of modern observers. Messrs. Boeer and Moedler, the most perfect selenographers in the whole world, have measured 1,095 lunar mountains.
The selenographic maps make it the lower one, because they are generally drawn up according to the image given by the telescopes, and we know that they reverse the objects. Such was the Mappa Selenographica of Boeer and Moedler which Barbicane consulted. This northern hemisphere presented vast plains, relieved by isolated mountains. At midnight the moon was full.
This was said in a tone which quenched Michel Ardan's last hope. The portion of the moon which the projectile was nearing was the northern hemisphere, that which the selenographic maps place below; for these maps are generally drawn after the outline given by the glasses, and we know that they reverse the objects. Such was the Mappa Selenographica of Boeer and Moedler which Barbicane consulted.
According to him, the colour common to the vast plains, known under the name of "seas," is dark grey, intermingled with green and brown. Some of the large craters are coloured in the same way. Barbicane knew this opinion of the German selenographer; it is shared by Messrs. Boeer and Moedler.
"Yes, sir; and I may add that the most skilful observers, MM. Boeer and Moedler, agree that air is absolutely wanting on the moon's surface." A movement took place amongst the audience, who appeared struck by the arguments of this singular personage. "We will pass on again," answered Michel Ardan, with the greatest calmness, "and arrive now at an important fact.
These natural accidents naturally excited the imaginations of these terrestrial astronomers. The first observations had not discovered these rifts. Neither Hevelius, Cassin, La Hire, nor Herschel seemed to have known them. It was Schroeter who in 1789 first drew attention to them. Others followed who studied them, as Pastorff, Gruithuysen, Boeer, and Moedler.
Such is the reason for the apparent reversal of these two cardinal points, and this must be remembered whilst following the observations of President Barbicane. Helped by the Mappa Selenographica of Boeer and Moedler, the travellers could, without hesitating, survey that portion of the disc in the field of their telescopes. "What are we looking at now?" asked Michel.
Lecouturier and Chapuis, a fine model set up in 1860, of very correct design and clear outlines. Such is the nomenclature of the different maps relating to the lunar world. Barbicane possessed two, that of Messrs. Boeer and Moedler and that of Messrs. Chapuis and Lecouturier. They were to make his work of observer easier. They had excellent marine glasses specially constructed for this journey.
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