"Days and
nights of such an enormous length would at the present time, I grant,
give rise to variations in temperature altogether intolerable to any
ordinary organization. But things were quite different in the era
alluded to. At that time, the atmosphere enveloped the Moon in a gaseous
mantle, and the vapors took the shape of clouds. By the screen thus
formed by the hand of nature, the heat of the solar rays was tempered
and the nocturnal radiation retarded. Light too, as well as heat, could
be modified, tempered, and _genialized_ if I may use the expression, by
the air. This produced a healthy counterpoise of forces, which, now that
the atmosphere has completely disappeared, of course exists no longer.
Besides--friend Ardan, you will excuse me for telling you something new,
something that will surprise you--"
--"Surprise me, my dear boy, fire away surprising me!" cried Ardan. "I
like dearly to be surprised. All I regret is that you scientists have
surprised me so much already that I shall never have a good, hearty,
genuine surprise again!"
--"I am most firmly convinced," continued the Captain, hardly waiting
for Ardan to finish, "that, at the period of the Moon's occupancy by
living creatures, her days and nights were by no means 354 hours long.
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