The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-11-27
A Spurious Professor Among the Failing
Stars.

we pupllSucu ycctciuay, onu HUN udvdha,
which we publish to-day, completely squelch
Mr.. Professor LOOMS, of Yale College, who has
fallen from public estimation as rapidly as the
meteors fell from the sky. All Of our astrono-
mers have been at fault; for they predicted
that the meteoric showers would be visible
here and not In England, whereas 1t turns out
that the phenomena were visible In England
and Havana, but not here. The other astrono-
mers have accepted their failure in silence.
however, and will do better next time; but
Mr.. Professor Loomis, Of Yale College, has sur
passed Dogberry and written himself down
a. an inoorrigible ass. Now that his Ignorance
and his malice have been fully exposed. Yale
College, which processes to be the principal
institution Of learning in the country, ought 70
be no longer disgraced by so incompetent
professor. or course he will not have sense
enough to resign but he should be summarily
and ignominiously expelled. What confidence
can students have In the lessons which they
receive from such teachersi How long can
college maintain its reputation if such spurious
professors are employed in its departmental
These are serious questions for the considers
ton Of the faculty and the trustees Of Yale,
and the facts by which these questions are
backed render them worthy Of prompt atten-
ton.
The mcteoric showers were announced 10
Previous to that date, thinking that it might be
of interest to the public to know whether any
display was visible in England, we telegraphed
to our London correspondent to send Us the
Information The display occurred. and on the
morning Of the 18th we published a special
despatch from Greenwich Observatory describ-
ing the number, location and direction of the
meteors. This telegram was not only inter
esting and valuable to astronomers, but to the
whole reading public, and it gained additional
importance from the comparative failure Of
the meteoric display as observed from this part
Of the globe. On the same day Mr.. Professor
LOOMS, Of Yale College, after perusing the
HERALD's special telegram, wrote letter to QpS
Of our contemporaries, in which he stated that
"thc grand display, which it was supposed
might possibly OCCUR this year, has not been
witnessed in the United States and probably
not in Europe, or it would have been announced
to us by telegraph" The English Of Mr.. Pro-
lessor Loomis is remarkably similar to that Of
Sairey Camp whose (which it was" has become
proverbial but his logic is even more shaky
than his syntax. He argued that there had
been no display in Europe because we had no
announcement Of it by telegraph; but there
was the HERALD, under his very nose, with the
telegraphic announcement. of the display To
escape from this fact, which overthrow ell his
theories, Mr.. Professor LOOMS then added that
"the telegram in this mornings HERALD, pur-
porting to have come from Greenwich, is evil
IDENTITY spurious" Why " evidently" spuriousi
Simply because 1t conflicted with the absurd
theories OF Mr.. Professor LOOMS!
Well, ten days passed and steamer arrived
letters from Herschel predicting that the me.
teoric display would occur on the 18th or l4th,
and In the London Telegraph Of the l4th inst
we found brief report-not 80 complete,
scientific and elaborate ~ our telegram-ds-
scribing the mete0ric showers ~ s..- W
people Of London. The evidence Of spurious
ness Is, therefore, decidedly against Mr.. Pro-
lessor Loomis. II Is the Yale College profess
sor not the HERALD telegram, that b evidently
spurious." In addition to the news from
Havana, which we publish to-day, we shall
receive by the next steamer 6les Of
the English papers with full accounts Of
the meteoric showers, and they will give
still further confirmation Of the accuracy
Of our despatch from Greenwich. We hope
that the other papers which copied the silly
letter Of LOOMS will print the facts for the In
formation Of their readers. The letters Of
Herschel and the report In the Telegraph are
quite sufficient for Mr.. Professor LOOMS, how.
ever. He must 60 upon the record a. "evi.
IDENTIFY spurious" like spurious coin, like spu'
rious Manager Wheatley, like the spurious
politicians Of Tammany Hall and like the
Of the Rev. DR.. Smyth because he breaches too
practically. Ignorant Of astronomy, he has
shown himself equally ignorant Of the HERALD
and Of ordinary courtesy and decency. To
trust such person with the education Of our
youth, now that his true character is developed,
would be blunder worse than crime. The
faculty and trustees Of Yale College cannot
afford to retain him in position where he NOT
only makes himself ridiculous but actually In
jures the institution which he Is employed TO
serve. Let him retire to the rural districts and
cultivate cabbages, beginning with his own
capm, or come to New York and join the Tam
many "ring," the Peter Funk "ring," the hack
drivers "ring," the coppsrhead newspaper
'ring,' the theatrical managers "ring" or any
other evidently spurious association.
GREELEY vs. BRYANr.-The poet Bryant has
found the weak spot in the philosophers
Greeley a. candidate for the United States