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© Copyright 2001, Jim Loy
On August 21, 1835, the New York Sun newspaper published a story about Sir John Herschel, and his new, huge telescope that he had erected in South Africa. It said that the telescope could produce an unprecedented 42,000 magnifying power, and that it showed rocks, flowers, and huge crystals on the moon. Subsequent issues of the Sun described huge herds of bison, strange goats, bears with horns, and biped beavers that lived in huts with smoke coming out of their chimneys. Further issues described flying humans with bat wings. They sold a lot of newspapers. Soon they came out with a book: Great Discoveries Lately Made by Sir John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope, which immediately sold out. Pirated copies of the book took up the slack. On September 16, the Sun admitted that the series of stories might be a hoax, after other newspapers exposed the hoax. The source of all of the stories was a journalist named Richard Adams Locke. He reportedly confessed, but his confession might also have been a hoax.
Of course, this all seems really stupid. But, even today, the average reader probably lacks the scientific knowledge to refute any of the above. But, someone should have pointed out that 42,000 power was insufficient to show a beaver or a flying man at the distance of the moon.