Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-28


to his hearts content it he would only re-
frain from masquerading as a Yale pro-
lessor. This shrewd, would-be scientist has
not been slow to make capital out Of his
chance connection with the famous Uni
versity, for he knows that the public will
turn willing ear to Prof. Totten, Of Yale,
whore plain Lieutenant Totten would go un-
needed. Totten never was bona fide men,
ber Of the Yale faculty; he WAS not elected
by the Yale corporation on account of any
special fitness for instructing; in fact, he was
not elected by the corporation at all, and 1
believe did not receive a penny from that
body for his services.
He was detailed by the United States Gov
eminent to give instruction in military sci
ence and tactics in accordance with an act
OF Congress providing for such instruction
in any college requesting it. 1t is pretty
rough on old Yale to be saddled with a
crank who is ready and willing to talk nom
sense by the ream to anyone who is willing
to print it. Certainly the students felt no
respect for him. They soon sized him up
for what he was worth, and it is doubtful if
the Second Adventist can muster half a dozen
undergraduates credulous' enough to
swallow his theories.
Need Facts More Than Theories
Astronomy is science; science is knowl-
edge, not guesswork, and all we want is a
little more common sense in dealing with
these things. or course, it is all very well
to make theories, if we do so with a careful,
cautious consideration of the known, for
only thus do we attain to new knowledge;
but we can't all be .Keplers and Newtons.
and it is better to leave theorizing to those
prepared to theorize nationally. Before
assuming the existence of Marsian neigh
bors, and speculating as to how we can ask
them who struck Billy. Patterson, or as to
how we can let them know that the G. o. II.
has again kissed the Queens hand, let US
make sure that we know what Mars really
is. For perhaps not few readers of THE
DISPATCH are no better Off than my friend
alluded to above.
OF the several thousand twinklers visible
to the naked eye, five besides the earth re-
volve around the sun and shine with light
reflected from that body. These are planets,
and their distances from the sum- using the
earth's distance from the sun as measure,
are as follows: Mercury. 4; Venus. 4; earth,
l.; Mars, Lb; Jupiter, So; Saturn, 9.5. The
Venus and Mars, OF course approaches
nearer to these than the others, hence their
SURPRISING brilliancy. As to the stars, only
one is shown In the accompanying diagram.
To be sure, we usually call it the sun, but it
only looks larger than the other stars be-
cause it is nearer to us. The logical reader
will at once exclaim.
The Distance Of the Stars.
"But the stars are immeasurably fainter
than the sun, so they must be fmmeasura-
bly, further away" which is, OF course the
case. 1t would take an immense lot of paper
pieh 10 fou fho Ia
this) large enough to include the star
to us after our sun, for on the above
scale of planetary distances the distance OF
this star would be about 220, 600, or something
like four miles from the center of the dia-
gram.
Now that we have audaciously tried to
grasp the whole realm of astronomy in
few short lines, let us take a closer look at
the movements of Mars. hisdiagram shows
the planet in which we are most interested
In its present position or rather as it was on
August 4, when the earth came in a straight
line between Mars and the sun. These op-
positions of Mars as they are called occur
every 7sO days, but not always when Mars Is
as near the sun as it is now. For notice that
Its orbit is not circle but decidedly clip
tical, and consequently its distance from
the sun varies.
The Oppositions ofthe Future.
But why do not all oppositions occur
when Mars is at peIihelion, or in other
words nearest the sun? Simply because the
period of revolution around the sun of Mars
and the earth are not commensurate. If
Mars went around tine SUI in exactly two
years, then on August 4, 1894, the two planets
would line up just as on Augusta. 1892. But
Mars takes less than two years (6S7 days)
to complete its circuit around the sun and
will arrive again at its present
position before the earth has had time to get
around twice and return to where it is now.
But after so days in the third lap the earth
will have overtaken Mars, and in Septem-
Der, 1894, Mars will again be in opposition.
But you notice then it will have swung
further from the sun and from us (by sew
sral million milesl and will not be SO bright
rs now, though much brighter than the un-
favorable opposition of 1885 as shown in the
diagram.
Is Mars inhabited? The bootblack at the
,orner can answer as we'll as Schiaparelli
for one knows as well as the other. Repu-
able bona fide astronomers will never adj
nit more than this: I'VE do not know that
t fs not Inhabited And it is more than
likely that our grandchildren will be no
wiser than we, for 33,OOOOOO miles will be
earful barrier to investigation for years to
,ome. WYLIE.
PrrrsBURe, August q.
Chance for an inventor.