Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1891-11-06
something of an ass, sir! GOOD aay,

ures might give wrong impressions, II
was only to convey the idea that peo-
pie who cared very much for each
other might get along with very little
money and that the ordinary estimates
for necessary income did not apply"
'You don't know papa! He'll keep
his word, even one uttered in excite
ment He has almost superstition
regarding the literal observance of any
promise made, though it might be ac-
cidental and really meaning nothing.
You are very clever-as great math-
ematician as papa IS. You must prove
to him that figures sometimes really
lie, even where computations are all
correct. Surely there must be some
way of doing that?''
I'm afraid not, dear. The moon
isn't made of green cheese"
But there must be some way and
you must find it. You shall be like
knight of old who is to gain maiden's
hand by the accomplishment of some
great deed of derring-do Am l not
worth it, sir?" and she stood before
him jauntily, with her pretty elbows
out
He looked down into face so fair and
so full of all fealty and promise of sweet
wifehood that he resolved in an in
slant that, if it lay in human power to
meet the terms of the old mans gro
tesque challenge, the thing should DO
accomplished. He said as much and
what he said was punctuated labially.
Being a professor, it would never have
done for him to neglect his punctua-
ton.
1t was not three months after the
stormy Macadam-Morgan interview
that Prof. Morgan's great book on
''Eclipses, Past and to Come" made it's
appearance. And it was not three
weeks after that great works appear
ance when all the scientific world was
in turmoil
Prof Macadam had, for a season
after the interview between him and
Prof Morgan, maintained cold and
formal air in all his intercourse with
the latter gentleman, but after a time
this wore away and the old relations,
never very familiar, were resumed.
Indeed, it seemed at length that Prof.
Macadam had forgotten all about the
affair or, If he remembered it at all
did so only as an exhibition of fool
ishness which his own force and wis
dom had checked forever. When, there
fore, Prof. Morgan's book appeared 1t
was read at once with interest as the
word of n scientist who, though not
veteran, was of undeniable ability and
good rcpute. But when the book had
been considered, there was literary
earthquake! Prof. Macadam reviewed
it and sought to tear it, figuratively,
limb from limb He was ably sup
ported by other pundits everywhere.
The point upon which the debate
hinged was n remarkable one.
AS already indicated, Prof Morgan's
standing as an astronomer was undis-
puted, and Prof. Macadam did not
question the accuracy of his reasoning,
so far as mere computations went 1t
is known, even TO the non-scientific,
that eclipses of the moon can be fore
told with the utmost accuracy, and not
only this, but that astronomers can
readily determine, by the same meth
DDS reversed, when eclipses of tho
moon have occurred at any time in the
past. 1t was to one of Prof. Morgan's
past eclipses that Prof. Macadam OBJ
jected.
In recent issue of great foreign
review, NJ. Camille Flammarion, the
French astronomer, advanced the view
that this globe has been inhabited
twenty-five million Of years, which is
accepted by other scientists as fair
estimate 1t is also admitted taat the
moon was ut one time part of the
earth and was hurled off into space be-
fore the crust upon this body had fair
ly cooled. Of course there is no way
of fixing the exact date of this inter-
esting event, but, for the sake of con-
venience, it is put at about one hun
dred million of years ago 1t may
have been n little earlier or a little
later But that does not matter.
In the table of dates CT past eclipses
in Prof Morgan's book be referred to
certain eclipse of the moon which
occurred about two hundred millions
of years b. c., and not u flaw could be
discovered in his figuring. But Prof.
Macadam did not hesitate to make a
charge He asserted with great vehe-
mence that, as there was no moon two
hundred millions of years b. c., there
could have been no eclipse of the
moon. Had there been an eclipse of
the moon, then, he admitted that the
eclipse would have taken place at just
the time Prof. Morgan's table indicat-
ed, but, as the case was, he referred
to such an event tcontemptuously as IAN
| Irish eclipse" and was extremely
scathing in his language. His review
closed with an expression of regret
that an educator connected with the
great Joplin university could have been
| guilty of such an error, not of figures
but of logic.
Prof. Morgan replied to all his crit
les, Prof. Macadam included, in mas
terly article in which he declared that
he was responsible only for his mathe-
matics, not for the degree of cohesion
of the earth's mucby mass, hundreds OF
millions of years ago, and that the
eclipse he had calculated must stand.
Prof. Macadam came to the charge
once more, briefly but savagely. He
again admitted the correctness of the
computation but ridiculed Prof. Nor
gan's attitude on the subject. Ellis fig
ures," he concluded, simply lie"
The day following the appearance OF
! Prof Macadam's final article, he was
called upon, in his study, by Prof Nor
gan. The younger man did not present
the appearance Of a crushed controver-
sialist. On the contrary, his air was
! PLEASANTLY expectant. II called" said
he, ito learn how soon you expected