The Portland daily press., 1896-06-27
WILL BE SEEN ON MARS.
Proctor Memorial Association Plan
ming Telescope.

1t will Be a Memorial to Richard A. Proc
tor, the Astronomer, and viii be Erect
ed at an International Observatory to
BE Located on San Miguel Mountain,
California; Now Scheme of Con-
struct ing Monster Lens.
An International observatory to be
Loo ased on San Miguel Mountain, Cali
foEnia, with telescope powerful enough
to see men or Mars and pick up pins on
the moon, is soon be erected, according
to A. II. Isham of San Francisco, says
the New York Times. Mr.. isham, who
is Vice President of the Worlds Proctor
Memorial Association, arrived in this
city last week on his way to Belfast, Ire
land, to confer with Mrs. Proctor. the
widow of Sir Richard A, Proctor, the
astronomer. He has also been to Wash
ington, where he consulted all the repre-
sentatives of foreign governments on the
giant telescope project. 1t is the inten-
ton 10 erect the observatory as memo
rial to Astronomer Proctor, and secure
the support of all oi yilized countries.
The bylaws of this Proctor Association
set forth that every nation is to have a
representative astronomer at the observa
ory. Mr. Isham has given the site for
the observatory on San Miguel. This
mountain is said to pe well situated for
an observatory. 1t comprises abo1t IL, 600
acres, and has an elevation of 5000 feet.
II s1z-. u H.
maading view Of San Diego Peninsula
and the Isles of Coronado.
1t is the intention of the Proctor Memo
rial Association to construct p telescope
on a new plan, with magnifying power
four times that of the new Yerkes lens
six-inch lens in the famous Lick Obser-
yatory. If this experimental telescope is
q success, another and still larger one
will be mounted. and then the secrets of
Mars and other planets will be fully re-
vealed, according to the advocates of
tAe project.
Before coming to this city Mr.. Isham
completed arrangements with Louis
Gashmann of Chicago for his telescope,
which is to be built on an entirely new
principle. The objective will be ten feet
in diameter. The Yerkes lens is forty
inches in diameter. If the first telescope
with the 120-inch objective is successful,
one with q /, 200-inch objective will be
put up on Mount San Miguel, and then,
according to Mr.. Isham, the scientific
world will be able to have special dis
patches from the other planets by means
of signals. The Gathmann telescope
is built on the principle of a number of
small lenses combined. An objective
made On this principle, it is said by the
inventor, is as perfect in focus, clear in
definition OF image as either one of the
lenses would produce if it was slngly used
and apart from the Others. Mr.. Gath
mann has been experimenting for year
with seven-inoh objective made up of
thiteen small lenses. Several scientists
who have made observations through
this telescope say it is more powerful
than a thirteen-inoh glass. The Yerkes
glass cost $500, 600, and the Gathmann
telescope will not cost more than $50, 900.
The great expense is in getting big
glass without flaws 1t was the belief of
the scientific world that forty-inch
Ions was about the limit of perfection,
and larger lenses were not considered
practical. The Gathmann Ian is to
tAke large number of perfect small
glasses and group them with Opaque sub
stances between, and the whole ground
H.. -
if they were solid piece of glass. There
is practically no limit to the size of the
glass which can be constructed on this
sectional plan, and the only thing that
remains to be demonstrated is the prac-
tioal results to be obtained.
The PIopctor Memorial Association is
going to give Mr.. Gathmann the oppor-
tunity to prove to the scientific world
that a telescope built on the sectional
plan can accomplish more than the exist
ng glasses. His friends say he has al
ready done this at his private observa-
tory In Chicago with the seven-inch OBJ
jective made up from thirteen small
lenses, but the big guns Of the scientific
world will want to see results from big
telescope, for the great value of this new
invention will lie in the one point of it's
increase in power over the largest lens
now possible to turn.
"We havesorganized the Proctor Memo
rial Association under the laws of Cali
fornia," said MIR. Isham. Gin order to
secure funds for the construction and
maintenance of the temple of light,
which is to be a worlds memorial to one
of the worlds greatest scientists, it was
decided to ask all oiviliz ed nations to
lend their aid. Who knows what scien-
tifc discoveries may be made and what
facts may be revealed to us through this
great lens constructed by Mr.. Gathmann,
four times as large as any yet made, and,
furthermore, who knows what the re-
searches may reveal when the second
great instrument with lens fifty times
as powerful as the Yerkes is put in