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JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 
A LRIP TOMHE PUAN FSSA URINe 
Read before the Astronomical Section of the Hamilton 
Scientific Association on the 17th April, 1903. 
BY W. BRUCE. 
On a clear, beautiful and starlit night in the year 1867, 36 
years ago, as I was taking a walk on one of the wide streets of 
the city of London, Ontario, I passed a comfortable dwelling 
before which was a square of grassy lawn, and sitting on a 
chair in the centre of it was a fine old English gentleman look- 
ing intently through a three-inch telescope pointed to the south- 
ern quarter of the heavens, and as I paused, while passing, he 
said: “Mr. Bruce, would you like to look at the planet 
Saturn through my telescope?” “Yes, sir,” I said “I would 
be delighted, as I have never seen Saturn through a telescope,” 
and putting my eve to the object glass, I then saw for the first 
time in my life the grand old planet as it appears through a 
good 3-inch refractor. I was charmed with the view of it, as 
it appeared in just the best position for good observation. 1 
was delighted beyond measure, and during the hour ] remained 
with him he showed me many of the wonders of the starry 
sky, and I look back with the greatest pleasure at that first 
evening with the telescope in company with that fine old gen- 
tleman, who had made astronomy his hobby, as one of the red 
letter evenings of my existence, for which I will never cease to 
thank him. And many an evening I spent with him and his 
telescope after that, until I left London. 
Since then I have taken many an imaginary journey 
through our planetary system, and to-night our worthy presi- 
dent has asked me to give you my trip to the planet Saturn, so 
I invited all of the members of our Astronomical Society of 
Hamilton to accompany me in the “ Bruce Aerial Ship,” which 
has been very much improved since our last trip to the planet 
Venus, which I hope some of you will remember. 
