68 
THE GUIDE TO NATURE 
that the brilliant object discovered near 
the sun on August 7 at the Lick Ob- 
servatory was seen in the early morn- 
ing west of the sun on August 9 at the 
Lowell Observatory. For some reason 
this fact was not announced until the 
end of the month. This proves that the 
object moved and was a comet. Its 
position would now be unfavorable for 
observations in the northern hemi- 
sphere. 
America’s Oldest Astronomical Ob- 
servatory. 
BY CHARLES NEVERS HOLMES, NEWTON, 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
The oldest astronomical observatory 
in the United States is that which was 
erected at Williams College in 1838. 
In 1834 Professor Albert Hopkins 
sailed for Europe to obtain the neces- 
sary astronomical instruments, and 
when he returned in 1836 he and some 
of his students quarried the rock from 
which this primitive observatory was 
built. It was dedicated on June 12, 
1838, and was of course named the 
“Hopkins Astronomical Observatory. 
It may well be called the pioneer ob- 
servatory of America, although there 
was a small astronomical observatory 
constructed by the University of North 
Carolina, in 1826. 
The Edges of the Universe. 
Astronomers in years long gone by, 
as well as in our own times, contrib- 
uted so much real and demonstrable 
knowledge to the sum of human in- 
formation on that sublime science that 
it is well always to bear in mind the dis- 
tinction between what has actually been 
discovered and proven, and that purely 
speculative astronomy which is all that 
may be applied in studying that vaster 
field of the universe of which our en- 
tire solar system as we know it is but 
a small component part. Still, even in 
the light of all that has been accom- 
plished in astronomical research, there 
is something very like a challenge to 
ridicule in an outgiving from the Amer- 
ican Astronomy Association’s confer- 
ence in Middletown, in this State, last 
week. If that outgiving is correctly 
reported in the press, we are informed 
that it takes light, traveling at the rate 
of 186,000 miles a second, a period of 
t, 000,000 years to travel from one edge 
of the universe to the other. It is a 
great pity, having shown how far the 
edges are apart, not to have thrown 
some light on what those “edges” are — 
are they just plain stone walls, for ex- 
ample, and particularly, what is on the 
outside of them? — Editorial in “The 
Daily Advocate,” Stamford, Connecti- 
cut, September 6, 1921. 
* * * * * 
COMMENT BY OUR PROFESSOR BARTON. 
I was present at the meeting in 
Middletown. I did not hear the state- 
ment in question but it may have been 
made as stated. There is nothing what- 
ever ridiculous in it. No doubt what 
makes it appear ridiculous is a misun- 
derstanding on the part of the reader 
as to the meaning of the word universe. 
As commonly understood the word 
universe includes all created things 
and hence there is but one universe. In 
astronomy the word is used in a dif- 
ferent sense and frequently used in the 
plural. Thus we speak of the spiral 
nebulae as island universes ; that is, 
universes or systems separated from 
ours and other universes. The state- 
ment quoted was merely a statement in 
regard to the dimensions of our uni- 
verse and does not imply that all 
created things lie within those dis- 
tances. — Samuel G. Barton, University 
of Pennsylvania. 
A Friendly Chipmunk. 
BY F. H. SIDNEY, WAKEFIELD, MASS. 
Mr. Frank P. Busiel, First Vice- 
President of the New England Asso- 
ciation of Railroad Veterans, who lives 
at East Andover, New Hampshire, is 
fond of animals. He and a little chip- 
munk living in a stone wall near Mr. 
Busiel’s home are on friendly terms, 
the chipmunk often climbing on Mr. 
Busiel’s shoulder and there eating corn 
from his hand. After filling the pouch 
with corn the chipmunk will skip away, 
hide the corn in his cache and return 
for another load. 
A single quart of sea water may con- 
tain more than a hundred times as 
many living creatures as there are stars 
visible to the eye on the clearest night. 
The perennial question, “How does 
a bird soar?” continues to occupy the 
attention of Mr. John Burroughs and 
several other contributors to the 
“Atlantic.” As usual, there is no agree- 
ment as to the facts, and no reasonable 
theory. And yet the problem appears 
simple enough ! 
