Evening star., 1942-11-11

per q n q Ia .
s'''' Milky Way with
Henry McLensrs. out outside help
would be wise to steer clear OF those
round little houses populated by
men who call Mars by it's first nag1e.
know when the Dog Star Is hungry
and can tell whether Saturn s,n1
a good humor or not.
I speak with the voice OF expe-
rience.
A few nights ago I was a visitor
at the Cunningham Observatory OF
Tulane University where DR.. ~.
Adair Lyon keeps check on the sos
ings-on out in space and where
the famed Pickering telescope pokes
it's snout toward the sky like a l4t
inch cannon. sTa
BY the time I escaped from thf
Cunningham Observatory I woulld1.
have sold my I. @. to the lowest
bidder, and taken even money tiiat
I couldn't pass the intelligence test
given underprivileged civet cats, and
I wasn't sure that I wasn't blind,
because only occasionally when looat-
ing through the telescope did see
anything that one can't see by pols"
ing his head up chimney. was
reminded of James Thurber's hard
ships when studying biology at Ohio
State (see his book, MY Life and
Hard Times"). All he ever saw
through a microscope, Mr.. Thur
ber relates, was his own eye. He
kept drawing that until he came
very close to driving his instructors
crazy. or.
X X * X 1r1r
DR.. Lyon, the soul Of patience
and one of the most charming men
I have ever met, had an awful time
getting me to see Saturn. He would
aim the telescope and I'd look.
Nothing. He'd realm it. Id look
again. Still nothing. On about the
5Oth aiming let out triumphant
cry. I had seen something. -"
Describe It," DR.. Lyon said. T4
I did. -oF
1T has red and green lights"
I said. The lights are on either
end and in between the lights 1t
Is sort Of silver color"
Really" DR.. Lyon exclaimed. III
you're telling the truth, and you
have really seen what you describe,
you have seen something no man
has ever seen before. You have
made startling discovery. Let ME
have a look"
was excited now. AS the
astronomer turned his knowing eyes
to the heavens I had visions of the
headlines: :.
Amateur Astronomer Discovers
New Planet" j.:
world of Science Halls Planetary
Discovery by Unknown Astronomer"
New Planet Named Morris
Planet, in Honor of DISCOVERIES
Banking Connections"
X
Then my dreams were shattereds
DR.. Lyon pointed out that what I
had seen was a 21-passenger airs
liner that passed over Tulane each
night on its way to Jackson, Miss.
and Dallas. and even as he spoke
the roar of its motors could be
heard in the distance, and the glow
of its running lights was visible to
the naked eye. ''s
I did get one thing out of the
trip to the observatory, however. a r
proved to my own satisfaction thae
there is neither a man nor a woman
in the moon. All my life people
have tried to show me a man or q
woman in the moon, and all my Life
have been unable to see either.
There were times when felt that I
must be abnormal; every one else
saw the profile up there, so why
couldn't I? I can recall thousand
incidents like this: 80
"But you must be able to see It.
Right over there at the right is his
nose. Now follow the nose down
and you'll see his chin and that
little bit of white stuff on the left
is the back of the mans head. Its
as clear as day. You must see 1t.
He has long hair and is sort Of look.
ing up 17e
Well, I took the Pickering teie.
scope and took a long look at tf1s
moon. Even I could see the moon
There's no man on 1t. No woman;
either. won't say they weren't
there at some time, but they're m
the Army or the WAGES now. .st
Something else I got out Of look
ing at the heavens with DR.. Lyon.
too. A realization of the pettiness
OF the creature that calls himself
man, and spends his time trying to
prove 1t. The Northern Cross, the
Pleiades. Arcturus, saturn-non4
OF them seemed upset over what wal
going on down here below. Maybe Il
would be q good idea to equip the
mighty leaders OF the world with
telescopes and have them study the
heavens every once In q while. d
might even knock the conceit out
OF a New Deal bureaucrat. y