Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-03-20
STARS AT CLOSE RANGE.
Something about An Austrian's Alleged
Great Invention.
From the N. Y. Herald.)

Great Invention.
From the N. Y. Herald.)
The Herald recently published an ac-
count by DIR. Elmer Gates of his new
apparatus which promised to revolu-
tionize the methods Of astronomical OBJ
servation by making 1t possible to Sc
cure far greater magnification of the
heavenly bodies than heretofore. Now
comes Herr Johann Mayer, royal and
imperial first lieutenant in the Sixty
third regiment of Austro-H Hungarian in
fantry, and stationed in Bistrite, who
claims that he has invented an appa-
ratus through which results can be OBJ
tained far surprising even those prom
ised by Dr. Gates method. Lieutenant
Mayer writes to the Herald, as
the greatest newspaper in the world"
a description Of his apparatus, accom-
panied by drawings made by himself
Professor Gates proposed to accom-
plish this object by what he calls tel
emicroSope, combination of telescope,
microscope and photography, the pic
tured results of which he sums up in
the one word, acknowledgements. DR..
Gates realized that 1t was not so diff
cult a matter to secure enormous mag
nifications but that the trouble was to
get enough light and definition. And he
proposed to overcome this difficulty by
his method. Herr Mayer has also taken
this difficulty into account and to over
come it, while securing the requisite
magnificdtion, he proposes an ingenious
apparatus.
An idea of what Herr Mayer claims
for his apparatus may be formed by con-
sidering that while Professor Gates ex-
poets to be able to bring the moon to
within from twenty to fifty miles Of the
earth, Herr er-Lieutenant Mayer as
serts that he can bring 1t within pistol
shot For he claims that his apparatus
will so magnify objects that we can see
details of the moon as clearly as if that
heavenly body were no further than
only three hundred feet from the earth.
He claims that his proposed telescope,
while extremely simple in construction
and based upon obvious principles of
optics, will possess a thousand fold the
power Of the greatest lens in the world,
namely, that of the Yerkes telescope.
When he tells us that this telescope of
his will bring the moon to within three
hundred feet of the earth he seems to
open up to us new world. What won
ders will 1t not be possible to then dis
cover upon our planetary neighbors-
upon Mars, with its remarkable canals,
Venus, Jupiter. with it's many moons,
and Saturn with its marvellous rings?
Herr Mayer seems to consider that the
limit of possibility in the construction
of lenses has been reached in the Lick
and Yerkes telescopes, the lenses Of
which are respectively thirty-six and
forty inches in diameter. But even
were it possible to greatly increase the
size of lenses even could lens of thir-
ty feet diameter be manufactured
there would be a drawback to it's use
which would prove fatal to the further
development of the lens system of as
Economical observation For the great
er the lens in diameter, the thicker it
must be at the centre, and the thicker
it is the more light it absorbs. There
fore, while human ingenuity might be
able to construct lens of far greater
diameter than any hitherto manufac-
tured, nature or science, whichever you
may call it, steps in and says to man,
80 far shalt thou go and no further"
Against this system Of lens enlarge
ment Herr Mayer places a telescope in
which a parabolic mirror of huge pro-
portions and a microscope with enor-
nous enlarging power are the most
prominent features He calls attention
to the fact that a mirrors power of
rejecting is entirely independent of its
size and that YOU can enlarge mirror
without mourning the fatal objection
that 1t will absorb light. 1t is only nee
erly constructed, in this case be exactly
parabolic. AS Herr Mayer says, it
would be a simple matter with the ad-
vanced mechanical skill of today to con-
struct a parabolic mirror Of one hundred
and fifty feet diameter.
OF course such q mirror could not be
made Of one piece, but would consist of
a number of scientifically constructed
segments properly united. In fact Herr
Tow f1,a iY1,c hot e.
colossal mirror than this could be con
structed by his method But taking one
of so yards diameter, that would pro-
duce such a strong miniature picture of
the object upon which the telescope is
trained and the light effects would be
so perfect mo light being absorbed by
the apparatus that it would be possible
to magnify this picture millions of
times.
Briefly summed up, Herr Mayors tele-
scope consists of huge parabolic mir
ror in whose focus he suspends a small
convex parabolic mirror which throws
the rays received by the large mirror
upon the lens of the microscope con-
nected with the apparatus. This com
bination Of the large and small mirror
is shown in the drawing. The original
feature which Herr Mayer claims fol
his apparatus is, of course, the use OF
the enormous parabolic mirror and the
small convex one, as well as his ability
to dispense entirely with the usual tele.
scopic tube.
In manufacturing his apparatus Herr
Mayer will first construct a parabolio
steel frame movable around a fixed
point. The various segments of the mir.
ror, concerning which he gives exact
measurements, and also instructions ir
regard to their exact composition, will
bear a surface of silvered glass, which
he prefers to the metal mirrors so much
used heretofore. In addition to enormous
| power he claims for his telescope sim.
plicity of construction and great ability
to resist climatic influences.
Herr Mayer also describes which he
calls his giant microscope, sister in
strument to his telescope. There is great
resemblance in the construction, of the
two, except that in the microscope he
employs a spherical instead of para.
bolic mirror. He claims that the magni-
| flying power of his microscope will sur.
pass by thousand fold the most power
| full one at present in use; and believes
that with such microscope chemists
and physicians can investigate natural
bodies down to their minutest atomic
structure. This microscope would seem
therefore, to bring us to the threshold