Glimpses of the Moon

The topography of the moon's surface, which consists mainly of innumerable crater-like circles and arcs varying in size from several hundred miles across to less than is telescopically visible, is explained on a somewhat new theory by Colonel John Millis, army engineer and geologist, writing in Popular Astronomy. Rejecting the theory that the moon's features could be the product of volcanic action, he believes that the satellite was formed by a coalescence of masses coming together by mutual gravitation. If, then, meteors fell into the moon while the crust was cooling, they would penetrate the surface, throwing up circular ridges, and the holes thus caused would probably be filled nearly level by molten matter from the interior. As the ball grew by these constant accretions, the corresponding expansion of the surface would both enlarge the diameter of the original craters and in some cases break them up, causing the irregular arcs and mountain chains, just as the designs on a child's balloon change shape when it is inflated. The theory is at least as plausible as any other that has been advanced.