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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1363 



hanced in brightness and althougli a glorious 

 sight there is no showing of round disks like 

 ithe sun, moon or the near planets when ex- 

 amined in the same way. 



In some way my attention was drawn to a 

 man somewhat back from the head of the line 

 who seemed to be in a condition of tense ex- 

 citement over the experience in store for him. 

 iHe may have traveled hundreds of miles (as 

 they do in California) for the opportunity of 

 viewing the heavenly bodies with the aid of 

 the enormous glass and, impatient with those 

 ahead of him who lingered somewhat at the 

 eye-end of the telescope, he seemed to fear lest 

 the world should come to an end before his 

 turn came. Having observed (I have no doubt 

 a very common experience) that the first look 

 through a large telescope or a microscope of 

 very high power is generally a disappointment, 

 I quietly " attached myself " to this man and 

 was at his side when at last his chance came. 

 He had been told the nature of the object and 

 eagerly putting his eye to the eye piece he stood 

 perfectly motionless for one long minute. 

 Then, after glancing around to see if any 

 of the members of the " staff " were near by, 

 and assuming, doubtless, that I belonged to the 

 " line," he held his open hand by his mouth to 

 prevent the spread of his voice and hissed into 

 my ear the words " damned fraud." 



I have told this story several times in the 

 last quarter of a century, having thought it a 

 rather good one and before Professor Wood 

 despoils me of it by " running across it " in the 

 Novum Organum, the Principia, the Dowager 

 Duchess Cristina's account of her visit to Gali- 

 leo's Observatory or some other old place, I 

 hope he will remember that constructive criti- 

 cism is the only thing that goes these days and 

 that a good story should never be " scrapped " 

 except for the purpose of making a better one. 

 T. C. Mendenhall 



P. S. This letter might be indorsed, " At- 

 tention Mr. David Wilbur Horn," another icon- 

 oclast who on the same page shows a disposi- 

 tion to rob us of the charming picture of the 

 young Galileo standing amidst his Aristotelian 

 enemies at the foot of the tower of Pisa 



(though Professor Cajori has him at the top 

 I insist that he must have been at the bottom 

 in order to witness the effect of his experi- 

 ment upon his opponents) calmly and confi- 

 dently awaiting the arrival of the two balls 

 simultaneously released at the top. 

 , Have we not believed that imagination was 

 a sine qua non in the equipment of a man of 

 science? Even the swinging lamp in the 

 Duomo has been robbed of its romance by the 

 discovery that it was not in existence in Gali- 

 leo's day. We may cling to the rope by which 

 it is suspended, however, for, as far as I know, 

 no one has yet proved that it is not the actual 

 thing whose vibrations the young philosopher 

 found to be isochronous. 



And before it is too late I hope some enter- 

 prising company will " film Archimedes spring- 

 ing from his bath and running into the street, 

 naked as a pair of his own compasses." 



T C. M 



To THE Editor of Science: Apropos of 

 thrice told tales, as illustrated by the com- 

 munication of Mr. Wood in Science January 

 14, 1921, I may point out that the familiar 

 story of Lincoln, in his young days, nailing a 

 lie in court by showing the witness lied when 

 he said he saw the deed done in the moon- 

 light, because the moon was not at that date 

 in the sky at night, is found practically the 

 same, when ascribed to different occasions by 



(1) Plutarch in the life of Alcibiades as to 

 the desecration of the statues of Hermes. 



(2) Chambers' "Book of Days," Lippincott 

 ed.. Vol. I., p. 14, in another court scene. 



(3) " Lincoln, the Lawyer,"' by Frederick 

 Trevor Hill, p. 230 seq. 



The human mind runs easily and copiously 

 in well-worn channels and one may easily con- 

 struct plausible hypotheses, without intro- 

 ducing that of plagaiarism. I have recently 

 seen the story of the lesson taught by the stars 

 ascribed, I think, to still a fourth source, 

 which I now forget. There are so few really 

 good stories we might well allow them to 

 travel as far and as long as they continue to 

 instruct and amuse, without going too deeply 

 into the question of the absolute varacity of 



