The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-02-21

that he has found the cause of these mystic
rlous perturbations of the earth in an invis-
IDLE satellite. Many of our most brilliant
minds shrink from adverse criticism with
repugnance that in other natures would
be considered morbid. 1t is due to this that
the gentleman withhoids for the present
his individuality, but has nevertheless
communicated TO those of his friends
whose educational attainments fit them
to pass intelligent judgment the facts of
his startling discovery. There is really
nothing strange in this. The world is al
ways ready to pass Judgment upon mat
ters it does not understand. The question
OF intra Mercurial planets has long been a
fiercely debated one, and has engendered
EN- bittermenIs between scholars and
scientists which have estranged minds
that otherwise would have worked in per-
feet harmony. During the total eclipse OF
July 90, 1873, James c. Watson, professor
OF astronomy at the universities OF Michi-
gan and Wisconsin, discovered two plan
cts situated within the orbit OF Mercury
and close to the sun. At the same time
Professor Lewis Swift of Rochester, n. Y,
independently of Professor Watson, also
saw and claimed the discovery of these
two new planets. But because other as
tronomers ere not favored with sight of
t e bodies the discoveries of Watson and
Swift were pooh-poohed into contumely.
The records OF astronomy show that
well-sustained claims have been made on
nineteen occasions since 1861 that intra-
Mercurial pl anets were observed. So it is
not TO be wondered at that a sensitive
mind should shrink from a possibility OF
ridicule. Human nature invades nature.
The discovery of the invisible satellite of
the earth is the result OF purely mathe-
NAUTICAL investigation, and it is as capable
OF demonstration as is !he presence OF any
one OF the known heavenly bodies. The
planet NEPTUNE is invisible to the naked
eye. Yet its presence vas detected by pre-
cisely similar means as were employed by
the California mathematician in his d lis
covery of the earth's second moon. As
tronomers had noticed that the giant
planet Uranus, then The outermost known
mem Der of the solar system, exhibited per-
tur bations which could not be accounted
for by the presence OF any known body. A
young matthew atician, afterward destined
to be famous, reasoned that there must be
another planet 10 account for the vagaries
in Uranus movements. He figured. and
on Septemb Der 10, 1916, he sent word to DR..
Gale of Berlin, who possessed fine tele-
scope, to look at a certain spot in the
heavens. DR.. Gale did SO on the 18th
and there saw the new planet now called
! Neptune. The circumstance is always re-
marked as the greatest trium phi of mathe-
NAUTICAL astronomy.
The lately discovered second moon OF
the earth has an orbit which is extraneous
to that of the earth's, and the satellite re-
wolves around the sun at the same rate OF
| speed as the earth, always keeping on the
side OF the earth opposite to that of the
| sun. 1t is therefore always within the
cone of deep shadow formed by the earth,
and as it does not receive any portion of
| the direct light OF the sun it is conse-
quently invisible to US, just as is the visi-
bic noon when it is eclipsed in the earth 8
shadow. The exact size or diameter of the
invisible m DON cannot now be definitely
stated, inasmuch rs it's peculiar situation
renders it always obscured from optical
measurement. Its mass has, however,
been calculated by computing the effect it
produces in swaying the earth and the
visible moon, and is placed at about one
|
0o0. 900. 600, 900 tons. Surprising its dem
sity to be equal to that OF our visible
moon, which is three and half times
that of water. it would be somewhere
about fifteen hundred miles in diameter
It's axial revolution is yet unknown.
The remarkable position maintained by
the newly discovered satellite is not with
out parallel, nor, in fact, is such condition
strange. In contem plating the phenome-
non OF the stellar universe we must be
content to accept what is presented to our
cognizance without criticism. Human
ideas of orthodoxy have no weight in the
arrangement Of the heavenly bodies. The
two m oons OF Uranus revolve around that
planet ON north TO south, and the axis
of Uranus. instead of being perpendicular
! to the elliptic is parallel with it. The