The San Francisco call., 1897-02-28

S here assembled in one of the
@C European cities a number of
learned (O. men before whom a certain
practical man sought to obtain recorni-
ton. The assem- blage of important sages
were hotly asserting the impossibility of
standing an egg upon its end. at can't
be done, you know" they vehemently
exclaimed. But the practical man. whom
the world now honors, stood the egg on
end, nevertheless. 1t is a story familiar
to every schoolboy. 1 am reminded of it
Just now by an effusion which appeared
IN last Tuesdays Examiner from an
astronomical critic signing himself A. II.
Babcock, and who 1 take it, is an anna
teur very much like the majority of anna
teurs In that lie knows q Iittle-but not
al. This gentleman appears to have his
re?ose threatened by the contemplation
OF the great and terrible wrong that am
perpetrating upon an unsuspecting and
GuIeless people by setting them to thing
ing for themselves.
The distinguished astronom cal amateur
critic says that the discovery of a second
satellite TO the earth land which had the
pleasure 10 chronicle through the pages OF
last Sundays CALL) is flake" and he
m squotes so-called Law OF Kepier' in
support OF his cry. There are critics and
critics. To intelligently criticize, we must
understand the subject we aim to speak
kpon and bring to the support of our
argument established opinions. To ac
cOmplish this latter we must read a great
deal and remem Der what we read. Kepler
was one OF the bright lights of astronomy
Dlany years ago. Considering his means
of acquiring knowledge he did some very
sremarkab.e work. But Kepler did not
. discover the plan OF the universe. He fell
d little short of acquiring equal knowledge
with the Creator. There have been nu-
merous Keplers. His Third Law" is not
quoted by my friend the amateur as
. tronomer, but reads as follows: THE
: square OF the time of the revolution OF
. each planet is proportional to the cube of
its mean distance from the SUM-"
-. Kepler' based his conclusions upon his
observations OF the planet Mars. and
W hile he did stumble upon the recognition
OF phenomena which appear TO be general.
: yeti as matter OF fact his law is ut
. terly incapable of exact application in any
ease. Professor Simon Newcomb, the rep
s.utaDle astronomer OF the United States
Naval Observatory. is the author of sew
+: .erai works on astronomy, which are the
:: recognized textbooks in our schools and
,. colleges: Professor Newcomb saws: 1T
is true that the places of the planets were
=. not found to agree with observation; and
had hepler at his command observations
as.accurate as those OF the present dav he
" would have foEnd that his laws could not
be made to perfectly represent the motion
OF the planets" popular Astron only,
-.NewcOmb, 1889. PIP. 7I73) 1t is seen,
therefore, that my astronomical
friend is only an amateur, for his letter
- shows that he readnot at.all, or else read
:; care3esSty. In fact. il would further seem
that9he reads but little, Tor In the Issue of
the EXAMINER for Monday, the day pre-
=. teiing his pang OF pain. is lengthy arti-
) &c upon the point OF difference between
'Dr:'' Emmens, who Is a distinguished
:: mathematician and scientist, and Pro-
lessor young, "a well-knowh astronomer
. IN which DR. Emmens refutes the orthodox
Ciairn. that the moon rotates on its axis,
and politely asks Professor Young to dis
. cusssthe matter; with the usual result that
the orthodox astronomer declines the COL
. troversy and hides behind his hat.
This statement that the moon revolves
or its axis is one OF the heavenly phe-
. ..nomena that IS the most difficult to dem
..1Dstrate.
Errly astronomers saw that most of the
heayenly bodies rotated upon their axes,
and so it was assumed that the moon
could not be an exception. Having
stated the proposition the next thing was
to proSe it, and that has been tempted
2. by Professor Young (speaking for all
orthodox astronomers) who says: THE
moon -Torates On its axis once q month. in
precisely the same time as that occupied