The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-04-16

so miles of us, but We could not see
cattle, buildings, or ravine, however,
in a 50-aere field on a mountainside so
miles away with the naked eye. A field
of that size at that distance is reduced
to point, If the magnifying power OF
the telescope is increased over 5000
diameters the impurities of the air and
alteration of light distort the image
and surrender its usefulness.
The telescope, too, further than reveal
ing binary, alternating and periodic
stars, is of little practical value to the
astronomer concerning fixed stars, for
however powerfully it magnifies, a star
still remains but a point OF light.
Spectre analysis determines the pres
ence of Ma, Fe., Nj, and all of the
elements on the earth in the fixed stars,
and shows they are in a furious mean
descence, throwing out light and heat,
and perhaps maintaining life on a ret
niue of planets revolving about them
the same as our sun does Besides their
composition, whether gaseous or molten,
the degree of heat; with the aid of pho
Biography can determine distance, size
and motion. Rigel, for instance, in the
constellation of Orion, was reported by
an astronomer in Holland last December
to be larger than the orbit of Neptune,
our farthest planet, or in other words,
the whole of the space occupied by the
solar system. 1t is 5000 times hotter
than our sun, but iss5,000 light years
from us, further than that is receding
from us at terrific speed--so there is
no danger of sunburn from that star
anyway.
just how much the ancients knew
about astronomy cannot be determined.
The Chinese have made continuous rec
ords of comets, falling stars, eclipses of
the sun and moon for over 1000 years.
They have an observatory with couple
of holes drilled through a block of gran
lite with copper eye.piece, which was
for the purpose of viewing Thuban when
it was the pole star Now the earth is
like a spinning top, webbing so that its
axis is continually changing its direc-
ton. Astronomers have charted the d.
rection Of the earth's polar axis back
into the past, just as well as they can
and have into the future, and find that
Thuban was the pole star 1000 B. C.
Polaris is about degree from true
north and swings in daily circles about
it. You know that the magnetic north
pole is situated down in Greenland per
haps dozen degrees from the true axis
of the earth, or north pole. Both are
continually changing, and the magnetic
needle never points to the true north
pole unless it is situated on the meridian
running through both at the same time.
Civil engineers of each locality are
obliged to make their separate correc
tions in finding the true north, which
they do by taking the mean distance
between the magnetic pole and the even
ing and morning elimination of the
north star.
The Chaldeans also have interesting
astronomical records of very early
date, but the Egyptians showed unmis-
taxable evidence Of astronomical inter-
est and research Of high order. This
makes the destruction of the Alexan
drian library by Caesar and the fanatic
Christians the more lsmentable 1t CON
tanned more volumes or rolls than the
British museum 100 years ago Their
university course in astronomy was Civ
en- equal rank with medicine, ministry,
the arts and sculpture. The distin.
guished men in Rome and Athens met
here in annual educational congresses.
While the Egyptians, the most enlight-
ened people of the world, were Belgian
ICED and led into captivity, and their
cities ruthlessly destroyed, fragments
recovered from the destroyed temples of
Luxor, Karnac and Philae bear testi-
mony of their defying the heavens and
worshipping the sun. At Abou Simbel,
thousand miles up the Nile, six mono
liths of Rameses, towering go feet in
sitting posture at the portals of the
temple tunneled out of the mountain Of
solid rock, seem TO have defied the spoil
ers and have preserved to us exceedingly
valuable records, Towering high above
their heads the facade of the temple in.
stead of having stained-glass windows,
is covered with hieroglyphics. The ris-
ing sun shines through the audience
room lighting the altar beyond but for
few minutes each morning, bringing
out without torch the freseoed ceilings
and walls, 60 feet long by 20 feet high.
They are entirely engraved in relief and
indelibly stained in required shades to
accentuate the glories of Egyptian arms,
Astronomical tables, forms of worship
and chronicles of their gods.
Statuary, unsurpassed in design or
workmanship in any age, are recovered
from the ruins of these temples, whose
pink of lip. and cheek, brown or blue of
the iris, and black of the pupil have
withstood the foundations of the Nile
thousands of years in perfect shade. The
staining of stone is one of the lost arts
The great pyramid of Cheops, one of the
seven wonders of the world, the most
wonderful and the only one remaining
presents proof of remarkable early
Egyptian research and astronomical at
tainment This huge structure, covering
ID acres, towering 4S5 feet, was not for
the repository of sarcophagus and mum
my of a Ptolemy, but an observatory
for the study of the heavens. Thuban
was its Orientation point and its con-
struction was in keeping with the four
cardinal points to an exactness unat-
tanned in any building since the begin
ming of the Christian era.
Piazza Smith, after years of computa-
ton writes that the construction of this
great pyramid in all probability took
place when Thubsn, in the constellation
of the Dragon, was the pole star, 2l00
years B, c.
The passage, four feet high and three
feet wide, from its entrance 80 feet from
the ground near the center of the north
side, continues at an inclination of 20
degrees downward, almost steep enough
for stairs, for over 300 feet, to the sub
terranean chamber directly under the
center Of the pyramid, Its direction due
south at this angle represented the
earth's axis and Thuban could be seen