Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-01-09
BLUNDERS IN FICTION
ASTRONOMICAL BULLS THAT LIVE IN
PROSE AND POETRY.
Hall Gaines Wonderful Night, Dick
ems Stationary Star, Rider HaG-
CARDS Wonderful Eclipse and Cole
ridges Impossible Crescent.


1t is curious to note in how many in
stances strange astronomical errors ap-
pear in works of fiction quite unneces-
sary to the requirements of the story
and resulting apparently from sheer
lack of observation. AS a modern
example of such gratuitous blunder-
ing take a piece Of description from
Mr.. Hall Gaines "Scapegoat:" ut was
q wonderful night The moon, which
was in its first quarter, was still low
in the east, but the stars were thick
overhead" A wonderful night, in
deed! And strange that such 2 lover
of nature as Mr.. Hall Caine should
not have reflected that when the moon
in it's first quarter is low in the east
it is broad daylight, with the sun high
IN the heavens!
Nevertheless on this point he erred
in good company. The young moon
has proved q stumbling block to many
q writer who has attempted to intro
duce it as a picturesque adjunct to his
description of evening.
In Dickens Our Mutual Friend"
Eugene Wrayburn, in his walk along
the river bank, finds it has just risen
when ''the stars were beginning to
shine in the sky, from which the tones
of red and yellow were flickering."
Dickens, in truth, was Sublimely SUI
periOr to astronomical niceties, espe-
cially when they in any way inter-
fered with the artistic effect of his
stories. In his "ChiId's Dream of a
Star" the point turns upon one special
star, larger and more beautiful than
the rest" which always came out
every night in one particular place and
at one particular time, thereby behav-
ing as no star has ever cOnceivably
been known to do. This is undOubted-
Iy taking a liberty with the solar sys-
tenn, but it is small indeed compared
with the license sometimes claimed by
authors DESTROYS of calling in the aid
of astronomy to assist their plots, but
ed with their subject or count it no
sin to twist and convert facts to suit
their requirements.
A very famous and noteworthy in
stance of this is afforded in Rider Hag-
CARDS liking SolOmOn's Mines" where
the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse
is employed with most happy and dra-
matte effect as far as the story is con-
cerned, but with a perfect disregard
of astronomical details which in it's
audacity is almost startling. Here,
again, as in so many other cases, the
difficulty of the young moon comes
in, and the sun has scarcely set be-
fore the fine crescent rises in the
east. Within a wonderfully short space
moon is full, and only a day later the
total eclipse of the sun takes place,
despite the astronomical fact that it
is at mo moon" Tor, more accurately
speaking, the last few seconds of the
old moon and the first few seconds Of
the new that total solar eclipse alone
is possible.
But perhaps the most interesting
feature of this altogether remarkable
eclipse is that the total darkness lasts
for nearly an hour. Alas, under the
rarest and most favorable conditions,
seven minutes alone is the utmost limit
Of time during which the suns face is
totally ObScured, and the observer I'M
der ordinary circumstances counts him
self lucky If he is rewarded for a jour
ney of some thousands of miles by an
uninterrupted view of the corona for
three minutes, two or even less.
Some years ago one of the magazines
contained q story called 'The Portent,"
the motif of which was a certain
strange seeming in the heavens which,
whenever it appeared, BODIED i'll to a
particular family. This prophetic sign
was none other than the appearance
of the crescent moon with a star be-
tween the two horns. Nor was this a
particularly novel idea, for it will be
remembered that in Coleridge's can
cient Mariner" that veracious seaman
relates how at one period of his adj
ventures there rose
above the eastern bar
The horned moon with one bright star
Within the neither tip.
In a purely miraculous and fanciful
creation like this famous poem it
would be ridiculous to cavil at such
a detail, though in the case Of the
story it might we'll be questioned how
the star could manage to appear in
such a position. We may perhaps re-
fer to the line in THE Burial of Sir
John Moore" where the great soldier
is represented as being inferred 'by
the struggling moOnbeam's misty
light" whereas, as a matter of fact.
the moon was but a day old at the
time of the battle Of Coruna and there
fore invisible. This seems like hyper
criticism, especially in a poem that
lays no claim to astronomical accuracy.
The case is different when an author
deliberately makes a statement which
be intends shall be believed. In en-
nocents Abroad" Mark Twain draws
special notice to the point that on the
voyage across the Atlantic they OBJ
served the full moon located just in
the same spot in the heavens at the
same hour every night. He accounts
for this by the motion of the ship,
which gained enough every day to
keep up with the moon, but he SEEM
ingly forgot that, though for this rea-
son the position of the moon might not
greatly alter, her phase certainly
would, so that it could not have been
after night.-London Standard.
In No Lack.