The story of the Sun, New York, 1833-1918 / by Frank M. O'Brien.

78

THE STORY OF " THE SUN"

wide, shaped like the Bay of Bengal, and studded with
volcanic islands. One island in a large bay was pinnacled with quartz crystals as brilliant as fire. Near
by roamed zebras three feet high. Golden and blue
pheasants strutted about. The beach was covered with
shell-fish. Dr. Grant did not say whether the fire-,making beavers ever held a clambake there.
The Sun of Friday, August 28, 1835, was a notable
issue. Not yet two years old, Mr. Day's newspaper had
the satisfaction of announcing that it had achieved the
largest circulation of any daily in the world. It had, it
said, 15,440 regular subscribers in New York and 700
in Brooklyn, and it sold 2,000 in the streets and 1,220
out of town-a grand total of 19,360 copies, as against
the 17,000 circulation of the London Times. The doublecylinder Napier press in the building at Nassau and
Spruce Streets-the corner where the Tribune is to-day,
and to which the Sun had moved on August 3-had to
run ten hours a day to satisfy the public demand. People waited with more or less patience until three o'clock
in the afternoon to read about the moon.
That very issue contained the most sensational instalment of all the moon series, for through that mystic
chain which included Dr. Grant, the supplement of the
Edinburgh Journal of Science, the " medical gentleman
immediately from Scotland," and the Sun, public curiosity as to the presence of human creatures on the orb
of night was satisfied at last. The astronomers were
looking upon the cliffs and crags of a new part of the
moon:
But whilst gazing upon them in a perspective of
about half a mile we were thrilled with astonishment
to perceive four successive flocks of large winged creatures, wholly unlike any kind of birds, descend with a
slow, even motion from the cliffs on the western side