Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-02

through the kindness of Joseph Henry
was appointed one of the computers of the
Nautical Almanac. and thus began the real
work of my life"
How a Poor school Teacher Got Fa-
NOUS Friends.
How did you become acquainted with
Prof. Henry?' 1 asked.
cit was through mathematical calcu-
lation. 1t was, 1 think. some algebraic
problem. 1t was new, and thought 1t
might be worth publication. I sent 1t to
him, and asked him to tell me If he
thought 1t worth publishing. He submitted
it to one of his friends, who was a mathe-
matician. and this man said that while 1t
was original, 1T was hardly of value for
publication. Prof. Henry wrote me kind
letter regarding 1t. When I next went to
Washington 1 called upon him, and later
on he secured me the appointment. The
Nautical Almanac was then published at
Cambridge, and while at work there l was
able to attend the Lawrence Scientific
School, and for the first time had access to
the best books upon scientific subjects.
Later on / was appointed professor in the
navy, the office of the almanac was moved
here, ard 1 was assigned to duty In the
naval observatory at Washington
Methods of Work.
During the talk 1 asked Prof Newcomb
to tell me something of his habits of work.
He replied: Il don't know that have any
peculiar methods of working. 1 have sew
eral rules; one is go to bed early and stay
there as long as 1 can, another is to eat
well ard to take plenty of time to 1t, and
a third rule is to get in as much time for
amusement as l can. What l have left
after this I use for my work.
This statement of Prof. Newcomb as to
amusement, however, should be taken with
a grain of salt, for what may be amuse-
RI I'M he ha rd n
other men. For instance. not long ago he
referred to astronomy as his profession and
political economy as his relaxation.
AS rule, however, Prof. Newcomb is
very careful of his habits. He goes to bed
regularly. and when his hour for retiring
comes he excuses himself no matter who
may be calling upon him. For years his
nights were spent at the observatory, and
he has had to adopt the most rigid rules to
preserve his health.
Something About Telescopes.
Professor Newcomb probably knows as
earth. 1t was he who superintended the
construction and mounting of the great
telescope OF our naval observatory in 1873
THIS telescope had a diameter of 26 inches,
and it was for some years the largest tel
escope of the world. Later on the Russian
government wanted a telescope. Arrange
ments were pending toward the making a
contract for its construction in Europe.
VIXEN the Russian commissioners sent to
the United States to get the advice of
Prof Newcomb. He replied that the best
telescope maker living was in the United
States, and the result was that the COM
mlSsioners came here, and Mr.. Newcomb
introduced them to Alvan Clark. He SUI
pervised the contract and the making of
the great telescope which they then order
ed. For his services in this work the car
sent Professor Newcomb a magnificent
jasper vase on a pedestal of black marble.
IL, d.
Newcomb's home, and he seems more proud
of 1t than of his monument in the adjoin-
ing library, consisting of volumes upon
volumes of books and tables of which he
is the author.
1t was Professor Newcomb who superin-
tended the mounting of the Lick telescope,
ard he WILL am told, make an address at
the coming celebration Of the putting up
or the Yerkes telescope during the present
month. =.
Original Work In Astronomy.
"Is there much original work now being
done in astronomy
Yes. indeed Good work is being done
all over the world. There are more good
astronomers now than ever before One of
the great troubles 1 found in making my
computations for the Nautical Almanac
years ago was that l had to do all the
work myself. Now there are many men
who can make such computations. In my
recent work 1 have been helped by my as
sistants at the observatory. Indeed they
should have part of the credit for much
that / have DONE"
DO you think that we will ever know
much more than we now do about the
stars?' asked.
Yes, We are learning more right along"
rs there any good reason to think that
the stars are inhabted?"
THAT is question:" was the reply.
There is no proof that some of them may
not be- There some of the planets
such as Mars, which we are led to believe
have all the conditions which would make
life upon them possible. Whether there are
beings upon them we do not know, and IL
there are we do not know if such beings
are like ourselves"
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
1t matters little what it is that you want
whether situation or q servant-a
HYvant,' ad In The Star will he