652 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 176. 



class of persons whose admiration for the 

 science is at least distantly related to the 

 love for the sensational which dominates the 

 followers of modern seers and sooth say ers. 

 Great telescopes are no sooner erected than 

 these papers begin to demand extraordinary 

 revelations of celestial wonders. The as- 

 tronomer, quietly pursuing his investiga- 

 tions in the observatory, is from time to 

 time startled by imperative demands to in- 

 troduce a waiting and anxious public to the 

 equally expectant inhabitants of Mars. Iili- 

 nute particulars as to the appearance, 

 strength, stature and habits of these hypo- 

 thetical beings, whose existence is freely 

 taken for granted, are expected to be the 

 results of a few moments' observation with 

 the great telescope. When the astronomer 

 mildly protests that his observations are 

 likely to afford little or no material for dis- 

 cussions of such topics, he is at least sup- 

 posed to so cultivate his imaginative powers 

 that he shall be able to supplement his un- 

 satisfactory observations by intuitive per- 

 ception of things which are beyond his tele- 

 scope's unaided appreciation. And it must 

 be admitted that this demand on the part 

 of some portion of the public press, while in 

 one sense only a certain phase of the almost 

 universal desire for sensation, has not lacked 

 encouragement from men who are generally 

 regarded as serious astronomers, intent on 

 arriving at the truth by the methods of 

 exact science. To such is due a widespread 

 belief in the inhabitants of Mars, who in the 

 popular novels of the day have not even 

 been content with life upon their own planet, 

 but, in accordance with the astrological sig- 

 nificance of the god of war, have come to 

 bring destruction upon the inhabitants of 

 the Earth. However entertaining we may 

 find the doings of these strange individuals, 

 whether at home or abroad, we must not 

 make the mistake of classing the works 

 which describe them with the literature of 

 science, but rather accord them their proper 



place among the pleasant romances which 

 we owe to men of letters. 



I cannot better illustrate one phase of 

 this pseudo science than by a reference to 

 the celebrated ' Moon Hoax,' which caused 

 such a stir at the time of its appearance. 

 "When Sir John Herschel sailed for the Cape 

 of Good Hope in 1833 he little imagined 

 what marvelous discoveries lay before him. 

 It is true that he was provided with a great 

 reflecting telescope of twenty feet focal 

 length, which was to be used upon the 

 previously unexplored regions of the south- 

 ern heavens, and it could not have been 

 difficult for him to form some conception of 

 the valuable additions he was certain to 

 make to astronomical knowledge. But the 

 imagination of others by far outran the 

 more prosaic course of his own mind, and 

 results were obtained for him which un- 

 fortunately his telescope never served to 

 show. Many who are present are no doubt 

 familiar with a pamphlet entitled ' Great 

 Astronomical Discoveries lately made by 

 Sir John Herschel, LL.D., F.R.S., etc., at 

 the Cape of Good Hope,' which was ' first 

 published in the New York Sun, from the 

 supplement to the Edinburgh Journal of 

 Science.^ In the truly entertaining pages of 

 this ingenious narrative we find an example 

 which certain reporters of our own day seem 

 to have taken to heart. Let me quote a 

 paragraph of nonsense which is so amusingly 

 conceived and proved so effective when pub- 

 lished that one is almost ready to forgive 

 the perpetrator. After a lucid historical 

 discourse on the great telescopes which had 

 been made by Sir "William Herschel and 

 other previous investigators, followed by an 

 impassioned paragraph which may well be 

 considered to approach in eloquence the 

 most fervid astronomical literature of our 

 own day, our author treats us to an account 

 of a conversational discussion between Sir 

 John Herschel and Sir David Brewster, 

 which began with a consideration of certain 



