The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-10
HE AsToNIsHEs THE PROFESS
SORS.
The Lensmaker on Union Square Who
Upsets All Their Calculations.

From the New Ork World,
The most skilled workman in New
York is an operative whose business it is
to make the lenses of astronomical instru-
ments This man, who has reputation
| in the astronomical world throughout the
United States, has only one eye He is
| man of no education and does not under
stand the scientific principle upon
which astronomical instruments are
built, yet he can discount all the profess
sors Of Yale and Harvard in the manufac-
| ture of telescope. Indeed, he has more
than once astOnished these learned gen
tlemen by the ease and facility with which
he can turn their worthless productions
into highly effective Instruments Some
time ago elaborate plans were made for
the construction of a large telescope for
one Of the leading colleges of the United
States. The professors calculated with
mathematical nicely the relative breadth
of the lens to the length of the tube. the
diameter of the eyepiece and the density
of the glass. They drew complicated da-
grams showing different parts of the ma
chinery, figured out the quality and color
of the glass so as to harmonic with the
| local atmospheric conditions, and ordered
| the instrument built in Europe. In due
! time it arrived and was mounted in its
| observatory, and when the professors
| lOOhGu buEOuB II IL bllGN COulu lluG see any
| thing. A month or more was spent in
trying to fix the great telescope so that
it would do the work it was intended to
| perform, and yet it would not show the
moon on even the milky way. Then the
| New York lensmaker was sent for Just
at that time he did not care to work, and
the college professors had to wait for
him.
When he got ready he went out to
/ !, a., he
retaining fee which he demands under
such circumstances. He took a look at
their telescope and said he wanted to
| spend an hour with it alone The as
| tronomers granted this request, and he
went into the observatory with nothing
| but small handbag and there locked
| himself in. Nobody knew what he had
in the bag or what he did to the tele-
| scope, but he came out in about half an
hour and announced that it was all
right. When the astonished college
| professors looked through the great
glass 1t revealed stars of the smallest
magnitude and defined the cancellations
with precision and clearess, and it has
! since been one of the leading telescopes
of the United States. The New York
workman refused to tell what he had
done to the instrument. Upon another
| Similar occasion, however, he did not
! even ask to be let alone while he cor
! rected the obvious error Of a college tele-
! scope which had been secured from
| Europe at great cost, but which was
| far from being perfect.
! While the professors were explaining to
him that there was something the matter
with the Instrument, he took a look
| through il with his one eye, and giving
the eyepiece a half turn with his wrist
said that was all it needed That instru-
ment has since been in perfect working
order, Another time this genius took out
1 the lens of big telescope, "hefted" it in
! his hand, looked at it sidewise and took
out of his vest pocket a small box OF rouge
| powder Putting some of this upon his
thumb he gently rubbed the glass upon
one corner for about twenty minutes
| That corrected" the glass and made it
show objects in the proper proportion
What the man had done to it was to rub
off some of the glass, by simple abrasion, a
slice of glass so tilmy that it was thinner
than the thinnest paper Rouge powder
is used for grinding in the last stages of
the manufacture of fine lenses. Another