San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-09-28
THE STARS INHABITED.
GRASS GROWING ON THE MOON.
GATHAM TALKS ABOUT HIS WON
DERFUL TELESCOPE.
Saws the Scientists of Universities
Are Old Fogies.

CHICAGO, Ills, Sept. 2S.-Before
a company of friends and neigh
bors who met a his residence last
night, Louis Gatham exhibited a
model of his sectional lens tele-
scope. He also answered the OBJ
iections made by astronomers
Hale and Burnham to his an
nouncements that he had discover
ed what seemed to be signs Of vege-
tation on the moon. In answer to
the objection that astronomers
with excellent telescopes had never
seen green spots on the moon.
Mr.. Gatham said: "There can be
but two reasons for this fact. First,
no first-class telescopes were in use
for making observations the night
/ saw the spot. Second, if observa-
tions were made, the telescopes
were inferior to mine" Mr.. Gatham
said his sectional tense had been ex.
amined by Prof. Colbert who said
it had excellent defining and would
prove of great interest to the whole
scientific world. Many emminent
engineers had pronounced the sec
tional tense instrument superior to
any instrument of the same size.
"A 20.inch built up tense" said Mr..
Gatham "With clear glass of even
density, will be equal in power to
any telescope that has a 4O-inch
solid lense." He then spoke Of his
observation of a green spot on the
moon as follows: about 9 o'clock
on the evening Of August II, In
sweeping with my telescope over
the face of the moon / saw a spot
of vivid green in the midst OF
mountains, in the valley OF Sinus
Roris. Green is a color hitherto
unknown to me among the shades
of the moon. l thought there
might be an error somewhere but
after changing the eye piece six
times it was there each time, a
we'll defined space OF green. The
idea of it being an error Of the
telescope is out Of the question be-
cause when allowing the moon to
pass through the whole field of the
glass the strange spot kept sta
tionary on the moon with every
magnifying power used. Seven
persons besides myself saw it, and
| it is not to be supposed that all OF
us were color blind. If Luna had
a Flora it must be far different
from ours on earth. Science has
not progressed so far as to know the
atmospheric air prevailing on the
moon. In fact all the elements OF
of the earth's atmosphere are not
positively known. To say that
vegetation cannot exist on such a
large planet is to make an asser-
ton which cannot be proved.
Lunar vegetation must be very diff
ferent from that of the earth. That
Lunar should be without any ami
NAL life | cannot understand. On
earth in the Arctic region where
the cold Is intense, the air light,
we find the polar bear, the whale,
and other animals suited to the
climate and conditions. If men
had never known of the existence
OF the sea animals, and il we COM
mon men were asked If such ami
mails could exist there we would
say I'VE do not know. But most
scientific men graduated from our
universities would simply say,
mo- because scientific men did not
know of their existence they would
conclude that such animals could
not exist there. That there is vege-
tation on the moon is highly prob
able. But it does not follow that
the color should be green. The
greenish tint observed August II
may have been a rare exception"
In conclusion Mr.. Gatham said he
believed inhabitants Of Mars were
making signals to the earth and he
thought communication between
neighboring planets by means OF
signals would eventually be estab-
lishad