TO KNOAA^ THE STARRY HEAVENS 



6i 



of any world except this little speck of 

 dust on which they happen to he living", 

 and indeed little enough about that. They 

 are ignorant of what ought to be primary 

 in their knowledge of the earth, namely, 

 its place in the universe of worlds. They 

 cannot tell 30U the difference between a 

 star and a planet. They are amazed at 

 the statement that the moon is not found 

 to-night where it was last night, as an ex- 

 perienced teacher was to whom I spoke 

 of it. They have no clear idea of the phe- 

 nomena and causes of eclipses. They do 

 not know one star from another, nor one 

 constellation from another. When the 

 subject is astronomy, they either take no 

 part in conversation or allow themselves 

 to be betrayed into the most egregious 

 mis-statements. And, when they walk 

 abroad at night, and moon and counties.? 

 orbs are shedding radiance over the 

 earth, they either do not notice at all, or 

 else are as lost as if they were amid the 

 lal^yrinth of Venetian canals. As for any 

 thrill of healthy emotion, or uplift of 

 soul, by reason of acquaintance with the 

 stars, thev are utter strangers to it. 



The observatories are already splen- 

 didly equipped. What we now want is to 

 unlock the treasures of the observatories, 

 to let the light stream out of them that 

 has streamed into them ; to translate the 

 great facts and figures which they have 

 accumulated into the familiar language 

 of the people ; to make easy to the aver- 

 age mind what has been hard even to the 

 trained mind ; to inspire a thousand at a 

 time with the splendor, romance and 

 magnificence of the universe, which have 

 again and again heaved the bosom of the 

 lonely astronomer as he has kept his 

 vigil at night. This can be done ; on a 

 very small scale it is being done. Its pos- 

 sibility and utilitv have been abundantly 

 demonstrated. The next man or woman, 

 believer in education and in general en- 

 lightenment, and lover of his less fortu- 

 nate fellowmen, should make his gift, not 

 to an already well equipped institution, 

 but rather to the people — -"Popular As- 

 tronomy." 



A similar need exists in all other de- 

 partments of natural science. That is 

 the reason The Agassiz Association 

 should be strongly supported. 



We Need $700 More 



An Observatory — "Per Naturam ad 

 Deum." 



I am pleased to see that you are going 

 to have a telescope by which you may be 

 able to diffuse astronomical knowledge 

 and arouse interest in the queen of sci- 

 ences. Some years ago I had it dem- 

 onstrated to me that only one person in 

 thirty could explain the phases of the 

 moon, and I doubt if we would find more 

 than one person in one hundred that can 

 point out a single star in the heavens 

 and call it by name. This should not 

 be : it is ingratitude to God who has bralt 

 a wonderful universe and given man 

 vision and intellect to see it and compre- 

 hend it . People generally believe it re- 

 quires so much time and study in order 

 to know anything- about this great .sub- 

 ject that they pass it up. It never oc- 

 curs to them that it is as much man's 

 dutv to study the works of God as it is 

 to study his words. 



I have had an observatory of some 

 kind or another here for thirty years and 

 every now and then some one comes to 

 the observatory, and tells me about what 

 he saw in a former visit years ago and 

 how he remembers what he saw. This 

 shows that the views and impressions 

 are lasting. There is nothing like as- 

 tronomy to give one a proper conception 

 of the Creator, for as his conception of 

 creation grows his conception of the 

 Creator must grow in proportion. — John 

 A. Cook, The Cook Observatory and 

 United States Weather Station, Alacon, 

 Missouri. 



"Ox Up Lunam with the Shanghai." 



Andover, Massachusetts. 

 To the Editor : 



The account in the April number of 

 Thk Guide to Nature of the chicken 

 house astronomical observatory recalls to 

 mind the fact that once upon a time the 

 fourth largest telescope in America 

 adorned a henhouse in the back yard of 

 a little house off what is now Massachu- 

 setts Avenue, Cambridge. 



It was in 1842 or 1843 that J. D. Whit- 

 ney, the geologist, his brother \\^illiam, 

 who afterwards was editor of the Cen- 

 tury Dictionary and the author of the 

 famous "W^hitney's German Grammar," 

 the great Latinist, George M. Lane, and 

 two astronomers, B. A. Gould and Jo- 

 seph Winlock, all then young men, took 

 a house together, which thev named 

 "Clover Den." 



