Omaha daily bee., 1912-02-04
HOW FLAMARIAN STARTED
Great Astronomer Tells Of First
Meeting with lie verrier.
WORK HARD SAID MASTER
Man Destined to Great Things,
Thrilled by Encournxement
Given by Examiner, Flew
Home TO Tell News.
nv CAMILLE FLAMMARIoN.


rier"
The courtyard seemed enormously large
to me and the corridor quite endless In
its grandeur Below these somber arches.
full Of dignity. stood. thinking of all
the great men and events they had seen
pass. / reached the first floor and asked
for Monsieur lie direc;eur."
/ doubt If ever in all my life have
felt SO much impressed as when entered
the study OF NJ. lie verrier. From my
boyhood / had seen the name of this
IIlustrious astronomer Inscribed on the
map OF the sky. for the planet which he
discovered I'm 1876 had borne his name In
all works Of astronomy until 1t was
finally named Neptune. This great
scientist. this genius who had discovered
a star with the point OF his pen. without
any instrument, by the mere strength Of
his calculations, and who with a stroke
OF his pen AMI enlarged the boundaries
of tho known universe from 2.sooooo.ooo
TO 4,4Oo.eOo0oO OF kilometers, was
to me kind OF saint. and inhab;tant OF
heaven itself hardly dared look at him.
but still / noticed that he was tall. pale
and fair. dressed in white with slippers
OF tan leather. Born in ISL. he was al
that time n years old, but he did not
look II. lie was seated at his desk,
bathed in flood OF light. for the sky
was cloudless. chatting with gentleman
who was telling HIM that famous
scientist. the illustrious Leon Foucault.
was threatened with insanity. He made
me sit down. and when his visitor had
left he said: II was expecting you; sew
eral Of my friends have mentioned your
name. How far are you In your studiesl
You have taste for astronomy. l am
told. What have you done so fart"
Astonished the Master.
II have written book on cosmoxony.
lie directeur." replied timidly.
what do you say" he cried, "a book
on cosmogony?"
Yes. monsieur 10 directeur. the forma-
ton Of the planets. the physical history
OF the world from the remotest' age until
the birth Of the human race. the fossils,
the revolutions Of tho globe and the
scientific explanation OF Genesis"
"Diablel LAplace and cuvierl That 10
saying . good deal. | must say. How old
are your
sixteen years"
do you know any algebra and geom-
etryr'
Yes. monsieur lie directeur."
And trigonomefryf''
Mot yet"
II know you are hard worker"
The president Of the observatory tapped
q bell. An office attendant entered.
ASK NJ. Puiseux TO come IN here
. A moment later q tall. bewhiskered.
ruddy-cheeked man with close-cropped
hair entered. lie reminded me very
much Of q jack-in-the-box. which used
70 scare me greatly during my early
childhood.
m. Puiseux. this IL the young man OF
whom / spoke yesterday. Take him with
you and examine him."
Nervous, hut Made Good.
I saIuted, very awkwardiy / am afraid.
and went out with the gentleman with
the whlskers. who's hirsute features acted
on me like the head OF Meduse.
He began to examine me In mathematics
quits Unexpectedly, and as was not pre-
pared for II. made a rather poor show
ing. My questioner, however. was exceed
ingiy kind and lenIent. and assisted and
encouraged me far more than he ortiz
cised me. When be asked me to define .
l gave him the Greek ety.
mology Of the word "dia." through
and ~metron, measure" which made a
great impression on him. We often
talked OF this afterwards. last at the OBJ
servatory at Nice, where was when he
died IN iss3 NJ. Victor Puiseux was an
excellent man, one of the most illustrious
Of the mathematician Of the institute.
now worthlly represented In science by
his son. the astronomer, Pierre Pulseux.
When half an hour later. he conducted
me hack to the presidents study, he said
a few words TO N. lie verrier. who smiled
and said to me; You will start here on
Monday. Au revoir; work hard"
The senator-president Of the observa-
tory Of Paris had thus made me pass
through an examination. and N. Victor
Puiseux. professor at the sorboune. had
acted as my examiner with great kind
ness. Monday. June .. began my work
at the observatory as q pupil In astron-
omy.
When left the observatory felt as II
l had wings; flew rather than ran home
to tell my parents the great news.
Avenue fOhser1Rtotre and the Jsrdin
de Luxembourg seemed to me a paradise.
a celestial country Of which had been
made a citizen and / knew that I had
started on the path ! had always hoped
to walk. / made no calculations, felt no
ambition, but felt that destiny had put
me IN my proper place. and / was SUI
premely happy. With hardly any effort
on my part. the course Of events had
carried me to the goal had ionged for.
Had ChiIdlike Devotion.
I entered the observatory with q feel
ing as II II were great temple. a holy
sanctuary, with all the child-like devo-
ton OF a neophyte; no shadow Of sksp-
ticism had ever clouded my brow. / was
sure that / would never starve. that
would always be able to dress deeeHtly,
that / would be able to earn an honor
able living. that I might perhaps even
be able to assist my parents II they
should ever need II. and beyond this
cared nothing for money. To live In the
midst Of science. to learn. study. search
and discover. to look at the splendors Of
the sky. TO ny through the infinite spare
OF the universe. 70 visit other worlds
with the aid Of the instruments invented
by human genius-these were the mar
yelous prospects that revealed them.
selves to my mind. And this meant ab-
solufe happiness TO me.