The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-03-29
FLAMMAR|0N IS TOO
BUSY To GROW OLD
JUST COMPLETED HIS SEVENTY
SECOND YEAR.

PARIS, March Nm Camille Flam-
marion, one of the most distinguished
| living astronomers and the founder of
the Societe Astronomique de France.
| has Just completed his seventy second
year Recently in an interview he said
| 1oeularly. II have not had time to grow
| old" And as a matter of fact with his
| chestnut hair. and beard, which show
| hardly a trace of white, he seems to
have aged very little since he took part
In the defense of Paris forty three
years ago.
| His home is a modest flat on the
| fifth floor of house overlooking the
Paris observatory, where he was en-
ployed as a young man. and here he
sits and works day after day, sur
rounded by an immense accumulation
Of books. for he is great reader.
Il come" said NJ. FIammarion, from
the little village of Montigny-le- Rio. In
the Department of the Haute- Marine,
1t is rather a singular fact that l was
| born on 26th of February, which was
also the birthday of Etienne Mont
golfer, Francois Arago and Victor HUI
go. men who represent the three sub
jects to which my life has been pas
sfonately devoted, namely: Aero
nautics. astronomy and poetry. My
family. both on my fathers and moth
eI Slue Hdu pGGH SIndti ipi
generations, but at the time of my
birth my father kept village store
at Montigny, where he sold goods of
pretty well every description. The
name Flammarion. which means. ety.
mologically, ono who sheds light, Is an
uncommon one and Is peculiar to tho
region in which ] was born. The re-
suit is that 1 have sometimes been COM
pltmented on having chosen SO appro
pirate a pseudonym.
TT has often seemed to me that my
birthplace had some influence on my
choice of n career, for l believe that
very few spots on earth present equal
ly noble and existiye Views. Situated
at an elevation of 435 meters, at the
extreme limit of the plateau of Ian
gres, Montigny, amid pure and invigo-
rating air, commands a splendid sight,
both of the Yosges and the Alps even
Mont Blae, 26I kilmometers off, being
often visible from there. Langres.
which Is close by, is, like Sheffield. ia
nous for It's cutlery, and it Is there
that I was pursuing my studies at the
seminary of Langres, I occupied the
very room In tho bishops palace ad-
joining the cathedral which the famous
author of the Encyclopedias had occu-
pied 12S years before.
Was Trained for Priesthood.
my mother always wanted me to
| go into the church, and l received the
| training necessary for the priesthood.
| My studies, however, soon led me in
another direction. From very early
age / had begun TO be interested IN the
world around me, and I wanted to know
all sorts of things. as, for instance. how
| the world was held up in space.
| 1T Is not at all uncommon to hear
| people ask: What is the use OF as
tronomy? One might as well ask what
: Is the use of music or painting or
physics Astronomy. indeed, is the sci
ence par excellence. and without 1t we
should be ignorant as the beasts Of
the field Besides. people will talk
astronomy, as Mr.. Jourdain talked
prose. without being aware of the fact.
II ask what is the date. that is an
| astronomical question. If I drink a
glass OF champagne. / drink glass of
bottled sunshine. In the same way.
the wheat we eat, the flowers we ad-
mire. the coal that warns us in winter
are sunshine stored up as electricity is
stored in accumulators
| Then there are the products of far
off lands. Not only do they owe their
| origin to the sun, but 1t Is the knowl-
| edge of astronomy that enables them
to be brought cheaply to our markets.
for 1t is by the observation of the
eclipses of Jupiter that navigation has
1
nation of the longitudes
| But to return to the story OF my
early days, l studied hard at school,
for never had any taste for childish
| amusements and the result was that I
advanced far beyond my fellows. At
the age OF fourteen l had finished the
studies necessary for the baccalaureat,
although 1t was not until I was sixteen
that I actually took that degree In
the meantime my father had come to
Paris. where he occupied very modest
position In a photographers business.
| We were very poor, but / managed to
enter as student at the Sorbonne. and
| l neglected no opportunity of frequent
ing night classes.
Salnt-Saens His Fellow Student.
"One of my fellow students was M.
Camille Saint Saens the famous COM
| poser. who, l am thankful to say. Is
still one of my intimate friends. Saint
| Saens, like myself. has always been
| deeply interested both in music and as
tronomy. He is a member OF the As
| Economical Society OF France. and he
has some original and interesting no.
| tons on astronomical subjects. but his
real life work, of course. his been in
another direction. AS for myself, l got
| a situation at first in an engraver's
office, where was terribly hard work.
ed, the worst of it being that the work
was altogether uncongenial to me.
~" However, did not despair, and I
continued to go to night class. In
this way ! worked fifteen or sixteen
hours a day. In those days we did not
mind work so much, perhaps. as do
the young people of the present time
However, I was ill-fed and ill-clad. and
my health for time broke down.
doctor was sent for. DR.. Fournie. well
known for his studies In the laryngo-
scope. In CHANGING over my papers he.
been for some time engaged 1t was
a Cosmogony, or description OF the uni
verse.
Having examined the manuscript,
he was evidently rather struck with