Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-09-29
GATHMANN's NEW LENS.
He Exhibits a Model of His Telescope
 to Number of Friends.

to Number of Friends.
 CHICAGO, Sept. 20.-Bafore a company Of 25 friends and neighbors who met at his home Thursday night, Louis Gath mann exhibited a model of his sectional lens telescope He also answered to ob- jections made by Astronomers Hale and Burnham to his announcement that he had discovered what seemed to be signs of vegetation on the moon. In answer to the objection that astronomers with excellent telescopes had never seen 8 green spot on the moon, MT. Gathmann said:
 There can be but two reasons for this fact: First, no frstclass telescopes were in use for making observations the the night l saw the spot. Second, if observations were made the telescopes were inferior to mine"
 Mir Gathmann said his sectional lens had been examined oy Professor Go bert, who said it had excellent defining and would prove of great interest to tho whole scientific world Many eminent engineers had pronounced the sectional lens instrument superior to any instra- ment of the same size.
 "A 2o-inch built up lens, said Mr. ttathmann, with clear glass of even density, will be equal in power to any telescope that has 40-inch solid lens
 He then spoke of his observation of green spot on the moon as follows.
 "About o'clock on the evening of Aug. 12 in sweeping with my telescope over the face of the moon I saw a spot of vivid green in the midst of noun tains in the valley of Sinus Boris. Green is q color hitherto unknown to me among the shades of the moon. 1 be- lieved there might he an error some where, but after changing the eyepieee six times 1t was there each time, well defined spec of green The idea of it being an error of the telescope is out of the question, because, when allowing the moon to pass through the whole field of the glass, the strange spot kept stationary on the moon with every magnifying power used. Seven persons besides my,e f saw 1t and 1t Is not to be supposed that all of us were color blind
 If Luna has a flora itmust be far diff fereHt from ours, because tho conditions on the moon are vastly different from ours on earth. Science has not pro eresscd so far as to know the atmos- pheric air prevailing on the moon In fact, all the elements of the earth's at- mosphere are not positively known. To say that vegetation cannot exist on such a large planet is to make an assertion which cannot be proven. Lunar yeRe- tation must be very different from that of the earth That Luna should be without any animal life F cannot under stand On earth in the Arctic region, where tho cold is intense and the air isat. We Gnl the polsr bear the whale aHd other animals suited to ths e1imat5 and the conditions. If men had never known of the existence of the sea ani- mas, and if we common mon were asked il such animals could exist there we would say, We do not know. But most scientific men, graduated from our uni versailles, would simply say, No Be ean5e scientific men did not know ef their existence, they would conclude that such animals could not exist there. That there is vegetation on the moon is highly probable; hut 1t does not follow that tho color should be green. The greenish tint observed on Aug l2 may have been rare exception.
 In conclusion, Mr. Gathmann said he believed the inhabitants of Mars were making signals to tho earth, and ho be- lieyed communication between neigh boring plants by means of signals would eventually he established