Norwich bulletin., 1920-05-11
NEW WORKERS FROM NORWICH RECALL
 HOME TOWN IN ANNUAL BANQUET

The annual dinner of the Norwich So- 1 ciety of New York was held Friday even- | ing, May 7th, at the New York Athletic | club. 59th street and Sixth avenue The | society was enabled to hold their annual dinner this year at the N. Y. A. C. ! through the courtesy of Howard c. Russ Charles F. Moves and Fred B. Lewis l member of the athletic club. There l were 50 present.
 The society had the use of one of the l club banquet rooms on the seventh floor, | and the tables were prettily decorated with flowers.
 After President Edward c. Ely had made few remarks the society held their business meeting and. elected the following officers for the ensuing year; President, Edward c. Ely; vice president, Albert s. Bard; treasurer Howard c. Russ secretary, Arthur P. McWilliams executive committee, George S. Hyde, Charles F. Moves; Gilbert D. Lamb, Wm. Osgood Morgan, Wm. McNamara, F. Le- roy Stearns.
 The society now has a membership of about S0 and the membership commit tee reported that they expected to have at least 100 members before the end of the year.
 Frank l.. Potter who was chairman of the dinner committee spoke about making : drive for new members and said he hoped that any member or anyone kniw- ing of a former Norwich man who was now living in New York or this vicinity would send his name and address to Secretary McWilliams or to any of the Norwich society members, as in this way a good many Norwich boys would be giv- en an opportunity of joining the society. Howard c. Russ who was acting as toastmaster then introduced William Reeves, formerly of Norwich. MT. Reeves was a guest of his son Edwin A. Reeves. He resides in New Haven and was on his way to England for few months stay as the Reeves Vacuum Cleaner Co. have g London office. MT Reeves spoke about his Norwich recollections when he resided in Norwich 30 years ago and his talk was very interesting. The next speaker was ". Tyler Olcott | ,f Norwich. MT Olcotts subject was Astronomical Activity. He has made this study for the past ten years. and in that time he visited all of the U. s. ob- ! servaiotn stations and has met many of the distinguished astronomers. He is secretary of the national society and has written several books on the subject He said in part That Norwich was a place ,hat endears itself to each of us. and we were all proud of the Rose of New England
 MT. Olcott said he had always had a keen interest in astronomy and had de- rived much pleasure from it and was pleased to tell others what it has to offer l in the way of employment and intellect ual profit astronomy is such wonder ful and comprehensive subject that it is impossible to discuss any particular phase of it without going into technical l ities. The genius Calico and Herschel l blaZed the trail for future astronomers So | hat the astronomers Of today are con- | stantly working for new discoveries. 1 Prof. Books of Geneva. \. Y. is perhaps | he best known professional astronomer. | He has discovered 27 comets, which is l within one of the greatest. number dis covered by any one man. a Frenchman. l There are d great many specialists in | astronomy. for instance our computers men that work solely iIl the mathematical field. There are computers in each of the great obserVatories. but the largest num- Der in the world are in the office of the National Almanac at Washington. This National Almanac is q wonderful book of 1 over roo pages without one line of read ing matter some the explanations of the | tables. nothing but ligares, and cornpli- cated results. In this volume we can find | when to look for the sun moon and planets every minute of every day in the year. It gives the time in exact seconds of every eclipse of the year the same source of every known satellite, also ev- cry plant, name of every star occuted by the moon All the invaluable data requi-
 site to accurate navigation, and yet practically no one in the ordinary walks of life knows anything about this won !. derful Washington publication.
 Another valuable piece of work at the naval observator is Time time corrected . to the hundredth part of second is ob- tained by the observation of the stars 1, with the transit circle, and each day
 3O.O 900 clocks in the U. & are automatic [ all set by signal flash from the observ- i atory
 When a comet is discovered only threc : observatories are necessary to tel ) whether this great body rushing through
 space with unimaginable speed is ap. preaching or receding from us, also how
 fast in miles per second it is moving whether it will ever visit our system
 again, and, if so, at what time
 The r. s. obsarvatories are the largest
 and best equipped in the world. Oui
 largest is at Fiagstaff, Arizona The dis
 coveries of Dr. Lowell at Flagstaff have
 caused wide world attention especially
 about the habituality of other worlds
 Time and new methods will undoubtedly
 enable us to clear up this tantalizing 5nys
 tery pr Mars. Owing to the dense at
 mosphere and their proximity to the SUI
 little can be done in this respect to Ner
 cury and Venus, Uranus and Neptune ar,
 too distant. On Saturn there is little to b,
 noted. Jupiter is being closely observed
 The study of the sun is of nracticl
 importance. as it is hte nearest star A
 Mt Wilson observatory. Pasadena, Cal
 which is 5000 feet high. the sun i
 photopragphed every clear day and the,
 have a record of 90 consecutive clea
 days when the sun was photographed
 This observatory is equipped with tn
 best Spectoscopic instruments in tn
 world. The largest telescope in tn i world is there and the reflector is 10
 inches in diameter.
 The dome which houses this glass
 100 feet in diameter, and the top weigh
 800 tons. The moving parts of the tele