The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1902-01-01
BLUNDERS IN FICTION
ASST oNoMlCAL BULLS THAT LIVE IN
PROSE AND POETRY.

PROSE AND POETRY.
Hall Gaines Wonderful Night. Dick
ems Stationary Star, Rider UnG-
cards Wonderful Eclipse and Cole
ridges Impossible Crescent,
1t is curious to note In how many in
stances strange astronomical errors ND.
pear In works of fiction quite unneces.
sary to the requirements of the story
and resulting apparently from sheer
lack of observation. As Il modern
example of such gratuitous blunder-
ing take a piece of description from
Mr.. Hall Gaines "Scapegoat.' 1T was
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
deedl And strange that such lover
of nature as Mr.. Hall Calne should
not have reelected that when the moon
in its first quarter is low In the east
it is broad daylight. with the sun high
IN the heJI ems!
Nevertheless on this point he erred
in good company. The young moon
has proved a stumbling block to many
writer who has attempted to intro
duce 1t as picturesque adjunct to his
description OF evening.
In Dickens our Mutual Friend"
Eugene Wrayburn, In his walk along
the river bank, finds 1t has just risen
when the stars We're beginning TO
shine in the sky, from which the tones
of red and yellow were flickerng."
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 "Child's Dream of
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
nj one particular time, thereby behav-
ing as no star has ever conceivably
been known to do. This Is undoubted-
~ taking liberty with the solar sys-
TEN, 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
who are either insufliciently ncquaint-
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-
<. Eds king Solomon's Mines" where
the phenomenon of total solar eclipse
Is employed with most happy and dra-
matte effect as far rs the story Is con
eerned, but with perfect disregard
of astronomical details which in its
at acity is almost startling. Here
again, as In SO many other eases, The
difficulty Of the young moon comes
in, and the sun has scarcely set be
fore the Zine crescent" rises in til,
east. Within wonderfully short space
of time after this curious event til,
moon Is full and only day later tn
total eclipse of the sun takes place
DESPITE yhe astronomical fact that
is at no moon tor, more accuratel
speaking, the last few seconds of tb
old moon and the first few seconds o
the new that a total solar eclipse alon
is possible.
But perhaps the most interesting
feature OF this altogether remarkabl,
eclipse is that the total darkness last!
for nearly an hour. Alas, under the
rarest and most favorable conditions
seven minutes alone is the utmost limit
of time during which the SUMS face is
| totally obscured, and the observer un-
| der ordinary circumstances counts him
self lucky II he Is rewarded for Il 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 story called "The Portent,"
the motif Of which was certain
strange seeming In the heavens which,
whenever ii appeared, boded Ill to n
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 n
particularly novel idea, for It will be
remembered that in ColerIdge's "An-
cient Mariner that veraclous seaman
relates how Mt one period OF his adj
ventures there rose
above the eastern bar
The horned moon. with one bright star
Within the neither tip.
In purely miraculous and fanciful
creation like this famous poem 1t
would be ridiculous to cavil ut such
n detail, though In the case of the
efn fab 10 4,
the star could manage to appear in
such a position. We may perhaps re-
fer to the line In '"fhe Burial of Sir
John Moore" where the great soldier
is represented as being inferred "by
the struggling moonbeam's misty
light" whereas, as matter OF fact,
the moon was but u day old at the
time of the battle of Coruna and there
fore Invisible. This seems like hyper
criticism. especially In Il poem that
lays no claim to astronomical accuracy.
The case is different when an author
deliberately makes statement which
he intends shall be believed. In TN
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
the full moon which was visible night
after night.-London Standard.
In No Lack.
He-So your married life Is not hap
by? Well. you have my regrets.
She-Oh, | don't need them; I have