The San Francisco call., 1897-12-19

In an interview at Boston the other
day Astronomer See told the world
What makes the stars twinkle. To-day
::-t++N world has its astronomical ewes
: focused on the high attitudes of
Northern Arizona The two facts are
rot dlsasGCcIated. Professor T. ]. ].
See. is astrOnomer-in-c charge of the
Lowell Observatory, and the big a
inch Alvin Clark lens through which
lie observed and recorded the etheric
vibrations that inspired the author Of
'.TVlnkle, Twinkle, Little Star, is
mounted On the summit of a pine-girt
hall on the outskirts of Flagstaff
Tomorrow or next day the lens
may be somewhere else, for Flagstaff
is not its permanent station. TIE Lo-
Wei Observatory has no fixed resi-
df ace. To-day it rests at an elev2 ion
more than 1000 feet, in an atmosphere
uedrer and puTer than any ether as
trofcmical station in the world. Last
Year it was in Mexico, before yhat Ill
Flagstaff. Soon it will be moved to
Peru-the great lens is already being
PACKED Tor shipment. From Peruvian
mountain tops it will retucn. in a year
or' 50, to Arizona, though probably not
10 Flagstaff. a point farther south will
uoubtlesS be chosen, where the wind
movement is less than upon the hill
top among the pines and where the
Wlntry skies are less cold and more sc
rene. 1t is an itinerant observatory
but this fact has 5iven it advantage i'll
many ways srI erior to those Vi the
regular astronomical stations
Pm ffessOr Holden has sought u rid
euleA nd scorn its achievements. but
the masters Of astronomy the world
over have rejoiced at its exceeding
usefulness and most valuable discover
les. Its establishment in 1894 WAS due
- the generosity and astronomical
tastes of Percival Lowell, a grandson
Of the founder of Harvard Institute
and graduate of Harvard College Of
the class of II. With ample fortune
at his command. he secured an excel
lent glass of IS inches aperture, and
with the assistance OF. A. z. Douglass,
d young Harvard astronomer and for
awhile with Professor Pickering, he
began in earnest the work in which he
had hitherto been interested as an
amate:,r.
Mars, then at its nearest approach
to earth, was the first study. This was
continued until the warIike planet re-
ceded far into the blue depths, with re-
suits as important to science as any
secured by astronomers. The Martian
canals of Schiaparelli, discovered in
18L7. were not only demonstrated by
the: Lowell Observatory at flagstaff in
1884. but were measured and their du-
p1fcation established. Yet Holden of
the Lick Observatory had ridiculed
heclaim of their existence. Profess
sor douglass at Arequipa, Peru, in
1912. was the first observer to find the
canals in the darkened portion of
Ma.rs- The work of Martian explora-
ton was continued at Flagstaff under
exceptionally favorable conditions.
The snow cap at the planets south
p0le was observed as il grew larger
and larger, then remained at a certain
denseness. then melted away again,
and the darkening of the planet was
noted as the shadows crept from the
north pole southwark.
!. fife Lowell observers believe that
.thI width of the Martian canals
~ ut 200 miles). their regularity and
the: Undoubted scarcity of moisture in
t4e>atmosphere of the planet are suffi-