Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-14
NO SECRET TO LOSE.
Mr.. John A. Brashear Says a Tele-
scope Made With Lenses That
COULD BE USED AT ANY DISTANCE
Would be Considered by Scientists as Of
No Value Whatever.
HOW TO TELL A PERFECT TELESCOPE

"What a blessing it would be to mankind
if some inventors could be induced to re-
serve the time and energy that they waste
in trying to accomplish the impossible"
was the philanthropical remark made by an
astronomical expert, and one of the best
posted in the business, Mr.. John A. Brssh-
ear, to a DISPATCH reporter, yesterday
afternoon. Instances are multiplying of
men expending their efforts in useless en-
deavors; every day some one rises from OBJ
scurity to proclaim a wonderful discovery,
that invariably turns out to be nothing"
and, leaning back in his chair on the bal
cony o his handsome residence overlooking
Perrysville avenue, Mr.. Brashear gazed
thought ully in front of him. while the per-
fumed zephyrs blew sweetIy through the
suburban air.
"My attention was called to telegram in
to-day's DISPATCH" continued Mr.. Bra
shear, announcing the death in Syracuse
of William Malcolm, who was thought to
have in his possession scientific secret of in
estimable value. 1t is reported that he dis
covered a method Of making telescopes
which could discern, with equal accuracy,
an object 20 feet or 20 miles away, without
alteration of the focus"
SIS that secret lost to the world?"
THE SECRET ALL RIGHT.
Mr.. Brashear's intellectual features lit up
with smile as he replied: "The world is
all right, so far as that secret Is concerned.
There is nothing in il. The whole thing is
chimera. We can make lenses that can
discern objects 20 feet or 20 miles away with
out altering the focus, but astronomers would
condemn them at once. Such lenses would
be considered utterly worthless. They
would be useless for the reason that their
construction renders them necessarily poor"
"But Mr.. Malcolm's discovery was re-
garded as wonderful"
cot course; 1t would be wonderful if
man could lift himself by his boots, and 1t
would be wonderful if these new-style teles-
copes could do all that is claimed for them,
but the trouble is they don't There is a
law Of optics as we'll as law Of gravitation,
and these laws are in some cases amenable
to improvement, but never to such paradox
ical institutions as lenses that with equal
facility would sweep any field at one focus.
You understand that the lines of light, after
going through the lens, converge at point
called the locus. If an object stationed
at the focus is moved either forward
or backward it grows dim because
the lines of light do not all meet on it. Now,
by using a combination OF several lenses, and
diaphragming them down by means of
discs of paper, etc., placed at different
points in the adjustment of the glasses,
some OF the rays are made to converge at
distant focus, another set meet at nearer
point, and so on. All objects coming under
each focus are made visible. but the great
objection arises that the vision is too dim
for practical use. That is why such tele-
scopes are of no account
WOULD BE A GRAND THING.
SIT would be grand thing for the human
race il lens could be devised that like the
human eye, would bring all things to view
with one focus. You know, if a man has lost
his sight and still retains all parts of his
eye save the crystalline lens, he can be
made to see by putting lenses on the out
side, such as the cataract glasses which are
now in use. The trouble with a cataract
glass is that the focus is always just one
distance rom the eve, and if an object is
held nearer or further away it does aot
come under that focus, and consequently
cannot be seen. An object must be directly
under the focus before it can be distin-
guished.
"One thing to remember IN buying a
telescope is to test the instrument by setting
an object about ], 900 feet or so away; then
move the object quarter of an inch either
to the right or left, and if it grows slightly
dim, that is sure sign that the telescope is
a frst-class article. The whole aim is not
to get an instrument that will cover the
country, but a telescope that has one focus,
and good one.
wILD-EYED IDEA.
"Four years ago canard was originated
in the West by an enterprising newspaper
writer. He wrote an account of how some
one had taken two plates of glass, six inches
in diameter, connected the edges and in
Jected glycerne, which was said to have
caused the lens to swell out. This is only
one of the wild and fanciful flights which
writers take, but thousands Of
people believed it. By this glass 1t was
claimed that the inhabitants of the moon
could be seen throwing apples at one
another.
1.-THE people look at my work up here as
by halo OF secrecy, when the |
secrecy is only skill acquired through hard
work. There are numerous gifted amateur
astronomers throughout the country who |
have discovered many important matters
through careful study, but there are others |
who originate, or claim to originate, impos-
siblc methods before acquiring any previ- |
ous knowledge Of optics"