The sun., 1910-01-09
GALILEO'S LITTLE SPYGLASS
AMHERST RECOGNIZES WHAT 1T
ms DONE IN 800 YEARS.

Trrcente enart Of the FIRST Time an ''Optick
Tube" Vas Turned skyward Made DC.
rasIon Of an Instructive Talk by Prof.
Da,id Todd to HIS sSNty students,
AMHERST. Mass. Jan. Sat Amherst
College last evening there was II not
~ceIehratiun at any rate a recognition Of
the tercentenary OF Galileo's first astro-
nomcal discovery after his invention Of the
refracting telescope. -the first discovery
With the first telescope ever pointed sky
ward" as Prof David Todd put It to his
sixty students in astronomy In welcoming
,hem back to work after their holiday
.hardships.' as he merrily remarked.
IT is just 800 years ago tonight" said
Prof Todd, that Calico turned his bit
Of an 'optick tube'-hardly more powerful
than a ships telescope-on Jupiter and
made the first discovery known to as
tronomy. that Jupiter had four moons
Carclng about IL.
AS in the twinlxling OF an eye the whole
aspect Of the universe was modified by
this pointing OF the telescope toward the
stars.
"A little later Calico saw that Venus
goes through all the phases that our
moon goes through. and so that Venus
too must travel round the sun. To be
sure, Simon Marius OF Anspach found the
Jovian moons day later than Galileo
did and also learned the phases of Mer-
curry, and there was a sort OF Cook and
peary controversy between them for
years after"
IN this point OF Prof Todd's ami
versary talk some inqusitive students
went to the books and found that German
encyclopaedia authorities credit simon
Marius with the discovery of Jupiter 3
four moons in December. 1909. though
with the telescope invented by Galileo,
sut it did not faze Prof. Todd. who has
modern English land therefore impartial
as between the German and the Italian)
authorities behind him giving the dis
covery OF the four moons to Galiieo in
January. lGlO.
Prof. Todd characterized Galileo's dis
coveries regarding Jupiter and Venus as
prime discoveries that established for
ever the Copernican system Of the uni
verse. about which there had been all
manner Of doubt.
Before Galileo and his glass" said he,
no planets size could be- measured
our moon was the only satellite known
roughly located ON the dome OF the sky
Spots on the sun were not even dreamed
of. Johann Fabricius published his spot
observations before Calico published his;
still. Calico was the first to prove that
they really belonged to the sun"
r -'Spots on the sum- Perish the thought:
from the very nature of things this Is a
rank impossibilityP exclaimed Christopher
Scheiner. German Jesuit But Galileo's
truthful observations and his geometric
Iaterpretstion Of them prevailed. and
when Scheiner died Calico. granting
that his opponent had vanished upward
instead OF down, said gayly; hope he
eaw them on his way to heaven.
Then Gaiileo. gSInned his wee glass
on the moon and measured the height
, discoveries in the Stdersas NuReins-
even the mystery Of the planet Saturn.
whose strange rings he failed TO unriddle.
About the middle OF the seventeenth
century Picard and Auzout show cd how
to attach the new engine Of vision tO
tircle, and so precision unthough of was
added TO all the astronomical disclosures
Of that day.
"Tycho Brahe's boasted measures of
precision were far outdone. and the oul-
mination in instrument building EXISTS
to-day in the perfect work of the Rep
solids Of Hamburg their meridian circles
and heliometers accurate enough to
measure baseball at Chicago as seen
from New York.
The great Newton tried his hand at
Galileo's form of spyglass and gave it
mp. All lenses are like prisms and give
all the colors they do, and he thought
;aat no perfect telescope was possible
with a glass lens, 50 he tried to make a
reflector. to give a colorless image. Sir
saac's first little reflector. the pioneer
Of the giants Of our day. was hardly larger
raan the working microscopes in our
laboratories.
In the eighteenth century Moor Hall
and Dolland proved that a nearly colorlese
image could be made by using flint and
crown glass. and in the nineteenth Hast
hgs Of Yale further perfected the combi-
nation.
Newton anticipated the greatest foe
that astronomers must cope with to-day
and have not yet vanquished-th earth's .
atmosphere. trembling and quivering,
always ON the move with mingling currents
Of warm and cold air so that IL Is like look
ing through running water. He said:
From the tops OF the highest mountains
where these obstacles do not exist.
1 The indications OF modern meterolog-
Ca studies ARE that Newton's prediction
viii prove true. l suggest Chimborazo In
Ecuador, where Nature has built a tele-
scope pier four miles high In a unique
Position on our planet where all the bodies
ol he ornament are visible.
Our telescopes are already perfect
products Of the opticians art. Makers
n.imerica, Germany. England and France
Ere producing huge glasses that have
mot yet had a chance to show what they
are really capable Of doing. The obstacle
ot an unstable. shimmering atmosphere
prevents many great astronomers from
accepting the canals OF Mars as a reality
~ vision.
Clark. the greatest builder OF tele-
scopes. wrote a remarkable union OF
Nct ana prophecy many years ago, In
see the gimmer OF new lights that wait
tor their Interpretation. and the great
telescopes Of the future must be their
interpreters"