262 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Mine of Interests and Pleasures 

 in Unknown Names. 



EDWARD F. BICELOVV. 



How seldom does an unknown name 

 suggest the possibility of a mine of 

 treasures as valuable as gold, although 

 such experience is not rare. Every 

 person has had his pleasure in life ex- 

 tended by new acquaintances. We may 

 hear a name and pass it by as mean- 

 ingless, yet later that person's friend- 

 ship may mean to us much more than 

 words can convey. 



by which to measure other entertain- 

 ments. I have never yet found any- 

 thing that I think is better than the 

 formerly meaningless Wang. I have 

 learned that a term absolutely mean- 

 ingless may finally become an intel- 

 lectual gold mine. 



Dear reader, perhaps you shy 

 and jump like a skittish horse when 

 you see or hear a scientific name. 

 You lean against the fence, your hands 

 in your pockets, your eyes cast down. 

 Now listen to these two words, Al- 



HOW THE EDITOR OF THIS MAGAZINE BEGAN STUDYING ASIRONOMY TWENTY-FR'E 



YEARS AGO. 



It is true that a word signifies noth- 

 ing unless we know what it signifies. 

 That sounds trite but it is equally 

 true to say that strange words have 

 become nuggets of gold to us. 



I recall an experience of the kind in 

 "Wang," the name of a comic opera. 

 When it was first announced it made 

 no impression upon me, and when I 

 heard that tickets were selling rapidly 

 I thought how silly it is for sensible 

 people to find pleasure in that meaning- 

 less Wang. But when a friend induc- 

 ed me to call on Wang, I experienced 

 a change of heart. The interview was 

 the most enjoyable entertainment of 

 the kind that I have ever had, and 

 Wang has ever since been a standard 



maack and Alesartim. Meaningless to 

 you. are they? Never heard them be- 

 fore? The first is Gamma Androme- 

 dae. the second Gamma Arietis. You 

 say, "They mean nothing. Go away." 

 Please recall my experience with 

 Wang. Come out and share in the 

 continuous performance now going on 

 at the Sound Beach Astronomical Ob- 

 servatory. Your new acquaintances, 

 Almaack and Mesartim, will give you 

 i:)leasure not heretofore realized by you, 

 if you will do a little thinking along 

 with seeing. You may make an origi- 

 nal discovery in Mesartim and go back 

 more than two hundred years to the 

 time when Sir Isaac Newton was earn- 

 ing his fame, in those good old davs 



