Humans have long imagined the kinds of creatures or peoples that might live on Earth’s moon. This section briefly describes ideas about lunar life in the 17th, 19th the 20th centuries through a series of items from the Library of Congress’ collections. By examining ideas about life on the moon, insights emerge about the interplay between imagination and rigorous thought in our developing understanding of the universe.
The Peoples of the Moon in 1638
Publication of Galileo’s telescopic observations of the moon had an important effect on ideas about life on other worlds. The idea that the moon was a physical place, a world like the Earth, suggested that the moon could be inhabited by beings much like us. In this vein, in The Discovery of a World in the Moone (1638), English bishop John Wilkins, suggested it”tis probable there may be inhabitants in this other World.” In 1638 another Englishman offered a fictional account of a visit to just such an inhabited moon.
Francis Godwin’s The Man in the Moone, published in 1638, follows the exploits of Domingo Gonsales, a Spanish noblemen who after a series of adventures on Earth makes a voyage to the moon. After exploits in the East Indies, Gonsales finds himself on the island St. Helena where he discovers a species of swan like birds. Realizing these birds can carry an extraordinary amount of weight; Gonsales creates a harness system that he uses to fly around the island. He tries to fly back to Spain, but the birds keep flying higher and higher, taking him all the way to the moon. When he lands he finds there is a whole new world there, which he refers to as another Earth. It’s a place with plants, animals, and most surprisingly, a utopian civilization of tall, Christian people.
From the moon, Gonsales observes the Earth moving through the sky. This shift in perspective is helpful for thinking about the relationships between heavenly bodies. Looking up at the sky from the moon’s surface, it is the Earth that moves through the sky. Describing this frame of reference helps explain how a world (like the moon or the Earth) could be in motion yet seem like all the other heavenly bodies were moving around it.
This frontispiece from The Man in the Moone shows the Spaniard Gonsales’ flying engine; to travel to and from the moon. The success of the book is evident in it’s translation into French as L’homme dans la lvne, 1646. Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
Flying Bat People on the Moon?
In 1835 the New York Sun published 6 articles describing the discovery of various species of creatures inhabiting the moon. Allegedly written by Dr. Andrew Grant, the stories claimed to report on recent discoveries from the prolific astronomer John Herschel. The articles were in fact written by Richard Locke, a reporter working for the New York Sun. In the articles, Herschel is alleged to have observed creatures that look like bison, goats, unicorns, and tail-less beavers in forests on the moon. The most stunning find, however, was the discovery of human-bat creatures who had constructed temples on the moon.
This Italian lithograph offers another presentation of the human-bat creatures John Herschel was alleged to have seen on the moon. Scoperte fatte nella luna dal Sigr. Herschell, 1835. Prints and Photographs Division.
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