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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



summer of 1891, chance took him up 

 the sacred mountain of Ontaki. His 

 interest in the curious rites of the Shin- 

 to pilgrims during their ascent of this 

 Mecca led him to get in touch with the 

 high priests on his return to Tokio. 

 The result was a book on some hither- 

 to but little known aspects of Shinto- 

 ism. 



All this illustrates the versatility of 

 the man, for the real work of his life 

 was the astronomical research of his 

 later years. If there is any truth in the 

 popular conception of an astronomer as 

 a bearded and uncouth recluse, it was 

 certainly not exemplified in Lowell. 

 A man of the world, who was studying 

 to be a man of many worlds, dressed 

 with the greatest care, to whorn a 

 faint touch of other days gave a slight 

 suggestion of a dandy of the past gen- 

 eration. Appreciative of the refine- 

 ments of existence, enjoying a good 

 dinner and telling a good story, he was 

 the life of any gathering in which he 

 chanced to find himself. Withal a 

 charming and attentive host, as those 

 who have been fortunate enough to en- 

 joy his hospitality at Flagstaff will tes- 

 tify. With multitudes of friends in 

 many lands, he had but a small num- 

 ber of intimates to whom he fully re- 

 vealed the complete charm of his per- 

 sonality and his steadfast affection 

 for a few people. Even to those chosen 

 few it was only given by occasional 

 glimpses to realize that deep under a 

 somewhat uncompromising attitude of 

 mind lay a real humility of spirit. Is 

 it perhaps a paradox that the fore- 

 most believer in intelligent life on an- 

 other planet shared with many of the 

 scientific men of his days an attitude 

 of robust scepticism on the future life 

 of man? Although far too much in 

 sympathy with the philosophy of the 

 East to fear death in the usual sense, 

 he resented deepb' '_'ie idea of the ter- 

 mination of 1 ^:.ersonality, in a way 

 characteristic of men of energy and in- 

 tellectual force. 



:{; ^ % :); :(: 



During all his early activities Lowell 

 had kept a live interest in mathematics 

 and astronomy. In 1877 the Italian 

 astronomer Schiaparelli began a sys- 

 tematic study of the planet Mars, 

 which led to his discovery of a remark- 

 able series of markings which he called 



canali, a word which has been incorrec- 

 ly translated into canals, and has 

 proved a source of much subsequent 

 confusion. Lowell followed with deep 

 interest the discoveries of the Italian 

 savant, for the character of the work 

 was calculated to fire the enthusiasm 

 of a man of imagination of scientific 

 proclivities. By the early nineties Schi- 

 aparelli's eyesight had so far failed that 

 it was evident that his observing days 

 were over. And Lowell determined to 

 give his energies and his fortune to 

 continuing the work. Before founding 

 an observatory to be devoted chiefly to 

 the study of the planets, with charac- 

 teristic intelligence he and his assist- 

 ants spent many months in a syste- 

 matic series of explorations and tests 

 to discover the most suitable spot. The 

 site finally chosen was on a plateau 

 above the town of Flagstaff, Arizona, 

 at an elevation of over seven thousand 

 feet. In order to obtain the best 

 "seeing," it is necessary that the air 

 should be quiet and rarefied. It is a 

 singular fact that most observatories 

 have been placed with a view of being 

 seen rather than seeing, in the neigh- 

 borhood of great cities or institutions 

 of learning ; while the few observato- 

 ries that are more intelligently placed 

 have not profited by Lowell's discovery 

 that the currents of air swirling about 

 a mountain top make it a far less ideal 

 locality than a plateau. 



Around the dome of the original su- 

 perb twenty-four-inch refracting tele- 

 scope, erected in 1894, has grown up a 

 small village with quarters for his em- 

 ployees, and seperate houses for his as- 

 sistants, whom he treated with unfail- 

 ing generosity, courtesy and considera- 

 tion. Here, under a separate dome, a 

 forty-inch reflecting telescope was also 

 eventually installed, one of whose chief 

 uses has been to establish the useless- 

 ness of that class of instrument in the 

 study of planetary detail. Lowell's 

 own house, a low picturesque structure, 

 looks out on as magnificent a view as 

 ever gladdened the eye of a roving 

 man or soothed the spirit of a con- 

 templative philosopher. Below a steep 

 foreground of rugged pines stretches 

 a broad forest-covered plain, broken 

 with patches of natural park. Directly 

 across rises the mighty mass of the 



