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That he saw a luminous object near the moon: that that part of the moon became illuminated, and the object was lost to view; but that then its shadow underneath was seen. Serviss explains, of course. Otherwise, he'd not be Prof. Serviss. It's a little contest in relative approximations to realness. Prof. Serviss thinks that what Schroeter saw was the "round" shadow of a mountain--in the region that had become lighted. He assumes that Schroeter never looked again to see whether the shadow could be attributed to a mountain. That's the crux: conceivably a mountain could cast a round--and that means detached--shadow, in the lighted part of the moon. Prof. Serviss could, of course, explain why he disregards the light in the first place--maybe it had always been there "in the first place." If he couldn't explain, he'd still be an amateur. We have another datum. | think it is more extraordinary than-- Vast thing, black and poised, like a crow, over the moon. But only because it's more circumstantial, and because it has corroboration, do | think it more extraordinary than-- Vast poised thing, black as a crow, over the moon. Mr. H. C. Russell, who was usually as orthodox as anybody, | suppose--at least, he wrote "F.R.A.S." after his name--tells in the Observatory, 2-374, one of the wickedest, or most preposterous, stories that we have so far exhumed: That he and another astronomer, G. D. Hirst, were in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney, N. S. W., and Mr. Hirst was looking at the moon-- He saw on the moon what Russell calls "one of those remarkable facts, which being seen should be recorded, although no explanation can at present be offered."