Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-25
sTARoAzTNo AND TIMETABLES
What the Every. Day world Owes 10
the Astronomers and Their Palms.
taking Calculations
rrHE death Of no noted an astronomer as

UtutH OI W HOttu bu httFouVfiNf 30
J. Sir Norman .tockyer, who has just
passed away, causes genuine regret only to
those who knew him or to those who delve
into the science to which he devoted his
long and active life.
Few branches Of knowledge seem so re-
mpte from the plain, every day citizen; no
other class of scientist, perhaps. is popularity
regarded as so far removed from the actual.
tiles of ordinary human life. In most
peoples minds, the astronomer is sub
limated, hermit like being set apart from
his fellow men and with his great thoughts
forever fixed firmly upon the unfathomable
mysteries Of )e farthest armament, and
never descending to such mundane things as
affect the lives of most OF us.
Yet II is our astronomers who make II
possible for us to run our railroad trains as
we run them 1t Is astronomers and nstrono-
mcrs only who permit the passage Of the
giant fleet winged liners that bridge our
seven seas, 1t is astronomers who viii be
the court OF last resort in the final settle
ment Of the many boundary questions that
will result from the wars IN Errope and 1t Is
upon the work of astronomers that the whole
course Of our modern rushing business life
leans.
IF THE astronomers of the world should 90
on strike tomorrow. three quarters of
the worlds income would be destroyed a
year from now. And yet there II no class
of men who get such a small ratio Of this
income compared to the painstaking work
they do and none who get so little thanks
from the people whom they serve.
The entire fabric of our modern life Ia
based upon correct time. The sun In his
daily course across the heavens was good
enough as a timckeeper for the primitive
savages but today We almost split seconds In
.y.A.-
portant affairs.
The srndia may do. to tell you your
dinner time, but the sun Is a most erratic
keeper Of hours and no clock can follow his
vagarics. When he is at his highest point
in the heavens, primitive man calls it noon.
But civilized man. marking his time resu-
larly by clocks finds that the sun 'e some.
times early. sometimes late. at clock noon
and that this variation from clock time
ranges up and down throughout the year.
sometimes being as much as fourteen and a
half minutes slow by the clock and sometimes
as much as nearly sixteen and a half
minutes fast
Imagine a railroad system trying to ar
range It's timetable on such n basis as that.
And imagine trying to keep the clocks Of the
world regulated to such variations.
Tho savage does not know Of this vari-
alton. 1t means nothing TO him. He has
IN Bnt trains mus, cntcr and Icevs srsat
st,tiona horo yr;tbir a r,i,"to tbn,. n,ust
roach o,h.r stot;ons an a Jo6,;ta LA &c
time "snecioIiv n iunct,on mbere ntbor
trains must be met, and 20 some one has
had to devise some definite way Of keeping
absolute time and letting the world know
just how its clocks stand.
"
a oihoNohHno nave studied the sun 10
"A long and so carefully that they can pre-
dict for any date in the future. just exactly
how early or how late he Will be at clock
time when ne reaches that point hah way
between rising and setting. And, by their
studies OF the stars with their relation to
the sun and earth, they have devised an
elaborate system by which they can tell
aosouteiy exact time ana SO tney nave come
make II possible for us to pick up time
tapie ana ,ook at our "atch ana 70 Know
whe,ner " 'ille 10 Mss our wi!e hurr.ea zee
sooo -oy, jam oh OUT NUS ahu Iush W .n'
sta'ioh " Se' the morning 'r"'n i'r 'o"h'
A r the Naval Observatory at Washington
n there Is a telescope mounted in a Ger.
tain way and known as a transit instru-
ment That telescope is really the standard
clock Of the United States and for all Of
the waters adjoining our shores.
The works Of the clock are the mighty
forces that move the universe: the hands
a.o Tho eno,mons and unbelievsbIy distant
80 thot we csii stars The stars In their
S,;Iy courses have none ~ the vayories
~ ,ur own sun. In the ilimitable circles
- ,,h;oh thor swing tbev march maiesticaliv
on. regular In their progress, almost un :.
dcyiatiny in the tiny span of time covered
by the life OF generation of men.
7. i Inv IN. s,ars--or ratbcr he a mint
- AZ IVY w s.ars ,nr .aiisd ~. Varn., ';npon p,n'
snV's AM, .a' ss,roromsr Lao,s his t;n,a IT,
onu. mn !. ~" s,dorssI t,nna As ,ron usad =. ooII
ta'is :. ~ ,ssu ~ s,,, ro.nhnd tSa ti.saat
II hoon .,,.u. g.. ,ho a. .,.e n.s"eS. .ss
% pu,n. .oiis a, s;daua., noon 49, tho ho
That no;nt IA shown by the transit irstru- :
ment.
CIDEREAL noon comes earlier each day
- nv about four minutes of our clock time
| So IN. astronomer has his sidercaI cJoct
regulated to tell sidercal noon and bc can.
~ b;s tnon,iod,. ~ tho y,oa ries of ,ha GO