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Gruithuisen, Franz von Paula. "Uber einige neu entdeckte regulare Bildungen auf der Mondoberflache und andere veranderliche Gegenstande daselbat." ("Concerning some newly discovered regular formations on the lunar surface and other variable objects the same.") pp 101-109, in (Bode, J.E., editor) "Astromomisches Jahrbuch fur das Jahr 1828" (AND "Astromomisches Jahrbuch fur das Jahr 1829", two volumes bound in one). Berlin, printed in 1825 (with the 1829 vol published in 1826); C.F.E. Spathen. 260pp, folding plate; plus 260pp, 2 folding plates, both lovely, including a lunar image. [++] Bound in calf-backed marbled boards. The binding is very tight, and the text crisp and bright. There are three one-inch oval rubber stamps from their former home, the library at Harlem. One stamp is on the title page; the other two are on the top and bottom of the text block, though these are half-faded away. VG copy. [++] The first 75pp or so of each volume dedicated to ephemeris/ephemerides of major celestial bodies, using both modern names of the month as well as their Middle High German equivalent, e.g. "Jenner","Brachmnat", "Heumonat", etc.). [++] Edited by Johann Elert Bode (1747 1826) who was a German astronomer known for his reformulation and popularisation of the Titius Bode law. Bode determined the orbit of Uranus and suggested the planet's name." The journal known chiefly as the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch is one of the longest-lived astronomical journal publications (begun in 1776). [++] In this paper Gruithuisen a very accomplished and pioneering physician (his pioneering work in transurethral bladder stone destruction served as the groundwork for generations of urologist) and an excellent astronomical observer--reports to the astronomical community his findings of artificial, being-built structures on the Moon. This was not so outre an idea as it sounds now, as some of the leading scientists of this period reckoned that there was extraterrestrial life and that some of it was as close as our own Moon. Littrow, Olbers, and even Gauss accepted this possibility. In this short paper Gruithuisen is very excited about his observations (from what I can determine), writing about "abstract anomalies", changing and shifting surfaces of the same location over a period of time, walls, dried river beds, and much else. And then, in the closing paragraph of the paper, just when you figure out that the author really *is* talking about built structures on the Moon, he refers to the "Mondebewohner", "the Moon Dwellers". He tried to sell this idea to the astronomical community, but he failed. Still, given the time, and the capacity of the instruments, and what was known, Gruithuisen did make a valiant effort to record and explain what he thought he was seeing. [++] This is at least a second attempt for Gruithuisen, an earlier (first?) and much longer version appearing in 1824: "Entdeckung vieler deutlichen Spuren der Mondbewobner besonders eines collossalen Kunstgebildes derselben" (Discovery of Many Distinct Traces of Lunar Inhabitants, Especially of One of Their Colossal Buildings), found in Kastner s Archiv fur die gesammte Naturlehre 1:129 171, 2:257 322. This is a much longer version than we see here in the Bode. [++] "Franz von Paula Gruithuisen (1774-1852), the Bavarian medic, physician and astronomer, enfant terrible of German science, is known for his insightful observations and many extravagant conceptions. However, since the seminal monograph of Baldwin (1949), he is also referenced for early contributions to the meteoritic origin concept of lunar craters. "See: Grzegorz Racki, "In search of historical roots of the meteorite impact theory: Franz von Paula Gruithuisen as the first proponent of an impact cratering model for the Moon in the 1820s' in "Meteoritics & Planetary Science", February 2019. [++] N.B.: the image at the top right of the engraving depicts one of G's structures.
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