22 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



more than twenty million dollars. At her 

 table the most eminent men of science in 

 the world have sat. She believed in her 

 "husband's future when he was only a 

 mill hand, and she helped him to become 

 the foremost living maker of astronomi- 

 cal instruments. When she died, in 1910, 

 the world acclaimed her as the greatest 

 influence in her husband's distinguished 

 career. — The Youth's Companion. 



An Astronomical Observatory for the 

 Community. 



-CONTRIBUTED EDITORIAL IX "THE GREEN- 

 WICH PRESS," GREENWICH. CONNECTICUT. 



BY EDWARD F- BIGELOW- 



For the first time this part of Fair- 

 field County has an astronomical ob- 

 servatory available to the general 

 public. Every reader should be inter- 

 •ested in knowing what the value of a 

 community observatory may be. In 

 •our utilitarian activity and in our sen- 

 sational age with its multiplicity of 

 attractions, the first questions are : 

 "What is the use of an observatory? 

 Is it worth while? Why should I take 

 any time to gaze at the stars?" If you 

 would experience the satisfaction of 

 filling your mind with uplifting 

 thoughts, then the observatory has its 

 use, but it is of no use to those who can 

 find pleasure only in life's frivolities. 



Neither the Sound Beach astronom- 

 ical observatory nor any other in the 

 United States, however spectacular the 

 celestial display may be, can compete 

 with the sky rockets and the pinwheels 

 of a Fourth of July pyrotechnic cele- 

 bration. So much has been said in 

 print and elsewhere about the grandeur 

 of astronomv and of the wonderful 

 spectacle visible in the heavens that I 

 "have learned that such statements 

 must be made with discrimination and 

 qualifications. To see a world like Jupi- 

 ter, thirteen hundred times as large as 

 the earth, with its circling satellites, is 

 spectacular when one tries to realize 

 what it really is, but it is a disappoint- 

 ing display when it is contrasted with 

 a sky rocket. Visitors at the observa- 

 tory have often said, "Is that all? I 

 thought Jupiter was bigger than the 

 earth, but it is only a little disc of 

 light with four little 'stars' near it." 



Visitors gazing upon the volcanoes 

 and the mountains of the moon have 

 T'oiced their disappointment '."I thought 



those things were big volcanoes ; but 

 the whole afifair looks only like a piece 

 of lace." As the astronomer turned the 

 telescope toward the Orion Nebula, 

 and ventured to say that it is the big- 

 gest thing in the universe, and with 

 delight looked at the trapezium, he 

 thought that it would certainly elicit 

 words of appreciation from the visitor, 

 but the result was, "I don't see much of 

 interest in that little cloud." 



It is not the eye that sees things as- 

 tronomical. The mind must mentally 

 grasp the tremendous facts revealed 

 by the telescope. When that point of 

 view is assumed and the position real- 

 ized, there is nothing more wonderful 

 in nature than the volcanoes, mountain 

 chains and amazing ocean depths on 

 the moon, the mottlings and streaks on 

 Mars, the brilliancy of Venus, the calm 

 serenity of Jupiter and its moons, the 

 sight of a world in formation as it is in 

 the Orion Nebula, the marvelous dis- 

 tance and dainty, delicate beauty of the 

 Pleiades. 



These are not spectacular; they eject 

 no sparks of fire, they explode no deaf- 

 ening bombs, they cannot compete 

 with an automobile that surges by at 

 a mile a minute ; they oflFer none of the 

 thrills of an elopement, a burglary or a 

 murder in a novel or a moving picture 

 show. They are quiet, calm, stately, 

 dignified, magnificent. 



Of all the anomalies and paradoxes 

 in human nature, nothing is more as- 

 tonishing than the general indifference 

 of many human beings to their sur- 

 roundings. We are whirling on celes- 

 tial pivot at the rate of over a thous- 

 and miles an hour, we are rushing 

 through space even more rapidly, 

 amidst marvels of every description, 

 through stupendous distances, and 

 among suns, planets, nebulae, yet few 

 ever seriously give a moment's thought 

 to these things. 



The other day an old man died, and 

 I heard a friend say that he is walking 

 the gold-paved streets and gazing at 

 the wonders of heaven. I said : "He 

 lived for nearly eighty years on the 

 earth and he hardly ever gazed at any 

 of its wonders. I do not believe he will 

 suddenly acquire a habit of looking at 

 God's creations in any other place." 

 He and hosts of other people are al- 

 lowed to stay on the earth for a few 

 decades, but how little time do they 

 devote to the earth and its surround- 



