They could
easily excuse his excitement on the subject. And so could we, if we only
remember that _Tycho_, though nearly a quarter of a million miles
distant, is such a luminous point on the lunar disc, that almost any
moonlit night it can be easily perceived by the unaided terrestrial eye.
What then must have been its splendor in the eyes of our travellers
whose telescopes brought it actually four thousand times nearer! No
wonder that with smoked glasses, they endeavored to soften off its
effulgent glare! Then in hushed silence, or at most uttering at
intervals a few interjections expressive of their intense admiration,
they remained for some time completely engrossed in the overwhelming
spectacle. For the time being, every sentiment, impression, thought,
feeling on their part, was concentrated in the eye, just as at other
times under violent excitement every throb of our life is concentrated
in the heart.
_Tycho_ belongs to the system of lunar craters that is called
_radiating_, like _Aristarchus_ or _Copernicus_, which had been already
seen and highly admired by our travellers at their first approach to the
Moon. But it is decidedly the most remarkable and conspicuous of them
all.
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