The wonders of the universe, what science says of God.

Front matter

Copyright^ .

COPHHGHT DEPOSIT

THE WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE,

Contents

A "CRANK IN THE NATIONAL OBSERVATORY."

An infidel's state of mind — he believes only what he sees. Instruments used in an observatory. How unreasonable infidels are. The opinions of a lady, of a professor of chemistry, of a lawyer, the writer's words to the scientists. The plans of this work Pages 15

Chapter I.— The Foundations Of The Universe

The Milky Way, a wheel of light round the heavens, its distance from us. Time light takes coming from its suns. The millions of suns composing it. Sir John Herschel on the Milky Way. What the learned say. The shape of the great ring, which incloses all creation. The extent of the universe. The constellations and nebulae within the Milky Way. The universe bounded, not infinite in extent, shaped like two wheels of stars inclosing three concentric star-globes, with earth and solar system in the middle. Matter, made as fine dust, by weight condensed into globes of fire. Suns now in process of formation. A glance at the heavens through a great telescope. All suns in motion following laws of higher mathematics. A wonderful double drift of suns — two Milky Ways uniting. Proofs of creation. The universe will go on forever Pages 24-48

Chapter Ii.— The Millions Of Suns, And The Dis- Tances Separating Them

The five hundred millions of suns — Why were so many made ? Influence of star-light and heat on living organisms. What is a million ? The enormous distances of the suns. How these distances were measured. Light traveling 186,000 miles a second takes from 400 years 3 months to 1,800 years to reach us. 61 of the Swan constellation the nearest star. Light takes 45 years to come from the north star. A Centauri, Sirius, Rigel, B. Aurigae, etc. A journey beyond the limits of the universe into everlasting darkness, etc. Pages 49-65

Chapter Iii.— Single, Double, Clustered, Chang- Ing And Colored Suns

Nearly all stars are double, triple or clusters revolving round each other. How suns break up into other suns. Suns of different shapes. Why made that way ? Size of the suns, their brightness. How suns are catalogued. The numbers in each catalogue. Some estimate 1,000 million suns. Suns moving in streams. How the suns were made of scattered dusts and gases. Suns of varied colors caused by different heat. How suns grow. Suns with changing light. Some blaze out suddenly, then disappear. Causes of these changes. Suns with dark companions like planets. The materials composing the suns. Extraordinary changing suns. A new sun. Algol, Castor, V. Pupis, Mira, etc. Their size, materials and companions. Suns in different stages of development. White, yellow, orange, red, dark-red and dark suns. Sirian, Solar, Fluted and dim suns. Suns now being built up of materials falling into them. Helium, hydrogen, iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium, nickel, barium, etc., in the suns. Suns formed of condensing nebulae. Suns with different degrees of heat. Birth and death of suns. Colored suns like jewels of the Almighty Pages 54^90

Chapter Iv.— Falling Stars, Comets, And Nebula Building Suns And Worlds

No up or down in the sky. Falling stars or meteorites. What if a great one struck earth. How meteorites keep up heat and light of suns. Metals composing falling stars. How orbs are torn asunder. Comets, their laws and movements. What they are composed of. If a comet struck the earth. Nebulae, their number and where found. Their forms. How they make suns before our eyes. The most famous nebulae. Astounding cataclysms. The metals composing nebulae. Why they shine, etc., etc., Pages 91-110.

Chapter V.— The Way Our Earth, Sun And The Planets Were Made

Preparations for making the sun and planets. How creation took place. Origin of natural forces in weight. Poets on creation. Babylonian Tablets. Proofs of God. Where God made matter. Heat a mode of motion. Mathematical proofs of God's design in making the planets. Lost in figures. The gases, mists, and metallic clouds at creation. The origin of movement. The Solar System in the beginning. How weight and movement form planets and suns. How Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, the Asteroids, Mars, Earth, Yenus and Mercury with their moons were made. Titius' law of distances of planets from the sun. Matter alone without a Guide would not form the planets, etc. , etc Pages 111-132.

CHAPTER YI. —ARCTURUS, ROUND WHICH OUR SUN AND EARTH REYOLYE.

All suns in motion. The Solar System going round Arcturus. Its velocity. Size of Arcturus. Its position amid the constellations. Spectrum and metals composing Arcturus. Path of Solar System round Arcturus. Great winters and summers. In 25,000 years we will swing round Arcturus. A year of 104,- 000 years. The cause of the Glacial periods and ice-caps. A spring of 18,000 years. Will tremendous heat burn up our world ? Pages 133-143.

CHAPTER YIL— THE SUN, AND HIS TREMENDOUS FORCES.

Influences of the sun. Why he was worshiped, How we measure heavenly bodies. The exact distance of the sun. Size and mass of sun. The heat and light he gives. Why so much carbon on surface of the sun. Tremendous forces on the sun. Rays of electricity. Yast eruptions on sun. How his light and heat are kept up. The 80 different metals in the sun. The photosphere, chromosphere, corona and zodiacal light. Perturbations. A vast ocean of fire. Photographs of sun surface. Influence of sun on atmosphere. Causes of spots on sun.

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Their variations in regular periods. Causes of hot, dry and wet seasons Pages 144-163.

CHAPTER VIII.— kARS, VENUS, JUPITER, SATURN, URANUS AND NEPTUNE.

Has Mars inhabitants ? The polar ice -caps. The great difficulties of observing Mars. The desert surface of Mars. Red, brown, orange, green and colored rocks. Discovery of canals and spots. Why no organisms could live on Mars. Names of regions. Mars' surface dead deserts. The mystery of the canals. They appear and disappear with waters of melting ice-caps. The difficulties of living in high rare atmosphere. "What a man could do on Mars. Venus, morning and evening star. Her atmosphere, light and rotation. Difficulties of observing Venus. Mercury has no air or water. Turns one face to the sun. Jupiter has no inhabitants. Metals composing it. Saturn's distance from sun. His seasons. Is red hot. Its atmosphere of metallic vapors. Its wonderful rings and what they are made of. His ten moons. Discovery of Uranus Pages 164-81.

CHAPTER IX.— THE MOON, AND WHAT WE SEE ON HER SURFACE.

The moon in poetry. Origin of her worship. Excitement when first seen through telescope. Diameter, surface, weight, mass and distance of moon. How moon was jerked out of the Pacific Ocean. Light white rocks of moon. Her density, center of gravity. Birth of our satellite — marks of this great cataclysm. How American continent slid over. Origin of heat of earth and moon. How her surface was formed. Liquid geysers of fire. A dead, cold, waterless, airless planet. Her surface seen through a great telescope. Two theories of cause of formations. Why she does not fall down. Centripetal and centrifugal forces balance. Names of regions on moon. The mountains, plains and their names. Doerfel, Curtius, Casatus, Newton, Apennines, Caucasus, Alps, Aristillus. A lady's face on the moon. What caused the bright streaks ? The craters. Copernicus, how formed. Tycho you see with naked eye. Nothing lives on

moon. Eclipses. Work moon does on earth, etc

Section Iii.— The Wonders Of The Earth. Chapter X.— Are The Stars Inhabited ?

"Wild theories about life on the stars. Only a yellow sun can sustain life. No life can be in the Milky Way. Only after it begins to cool can a sun sustain life. Few yellow suns but all are double. Our sun alone can sustain life. What a man would weigh on different orbs. Earth's inclination of poles causes the seasons. Man alone stands heat and cold. Rest and sleep. Five conditions required for life only found here. Bad effects of ' ' drink. " Extremes of heat and cold which kill. Mass of earth just right

for life. Earth unique among the orbs for life, etc

CHAPTER XI.— THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SCIENCE OF THE STARS.

How astronomy began in Babylonia. Nimrod. Why they built the Tower of Babel. Origin of name of Babylon. Pillars of Hercules. The first observatories. The Pyramids opposite Cairo. Pyramid of Cheops. Temples as telescopes. Ancient Egyptians and Peruvians as astronomers. Astronomy among the Greeks. Druids *as astronomers. Remarkable astronomical ruins in the British Isles. The theory of crystal spheres upset by Father Copernicus' system. His birth and education. Canon of the cathedral. His trials. Persecuted by his bishop. His book — dedicated to the Pope. Birth of Galileo. His studies and inventions. He mixed science and religion. Condemned only for contempt of court — not for science. Science and religion, two sources of truth. Invention of the telescope. His death. Birth and life of Kepler. His famous laws. Tycho Brahe born. His life, Sir Isaac Newton. His discovery of gravitation. His discoveries of nature's secrets. His deep religious sentiments, etc Pages 223-247.

CHAPTER XII.— WHAT IS MATTER MADE OF ? TWO OLD THEORIES.

Matter and form, or extension and energy. Luminous ether discribed by Greeks and Schoolmen. The foundations of matter. Physical and living forces. How metals act. The atomic

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theory, abandoned by Greeks, revived by Lavoisier. Theory of atoms described. Origin of natural forces. Universal gravitation and its laws. Nature founded on mathematics. Discovery of radio-active metals. How radium acts. How Edison showed bones in writer's hand. Conduct of radium's three gases. Discovery of polonium, etc Pages 248-255.

CHAPTER XIII.— THE PHYSICAL FORCES— WEIGHT, HEAT, LIGHT, ELECTRICITY, ETC.

Nature founded on mathematics. Weight keeps things together. The beginnings of chemistry. How materials unite and dissolve according to weight. What air, ozone and water are composed of. Chemical proportions. Weight and volumes of gases. Dalton's laws. How materials range themselves uniting. Did little materials pass through universities ? Wonders of crystals. How precious gems are made. Laws of crystallization. What is light? Length of waves of light. Laws of light. Why light passes through some bodies and not through others. Light, heat, and electricity are waves of ether from 100 to 789 trillions of beats a second. What causes colors. Eternal choirs singing silent songs of glory. The seven primary colors and what causes them. The retina of the eye. Why lenses magnify. Why man's attention was called to the rainbow after the flood. The wonders of the spectroscope. How we find out the materials in sun and stars. The origin of electricity. Its development. Velocity and wonders. How time is sent out at noon all over the country. Eastern, Central, Mountain and Western time, etc Pages 256-276.

CHAPTER XIV.— HOW THE PHYSICAL FORCES PREPARED OUR WORLD FOR LIVING ORGANISMS.

How the orbs got their three movements. The universe like a mighty clock. Why the world was prepared for life. Size and shape of our world. Its density. Awful upheavals on her surface. Size of the great oceans. Cause of earthquakes. Why earth is flattened at the poles. Why oceans cover three-quarters of earth surface. Amount of water on earth surface. Influence of water on climate, Why more water than land. Suffering from want of water. The vast floods which formed the soils. The atmosphere. Its influence on climate. Properties of air. If there were no continents or mountains.

Where the gases forming air and water were made. If continents were in other places. Gulf Stream. Elevations change climate. The Adirondack mountains. The three great ice-caps. "Why winters are getting warmer, summer cooler. Remains of life on mountains. Remains of extinct plants and beasts. '* Day " in the Bible. The seven days of Genesis great epochs of time. Meaning of "evening and morning." Light before the sun was made. The beginnings of geology. The geological epochs and their remains. Man made after the world was prepared for him. The three great plains of earth's surface. What is a desert ? Desert lakes dried up. Beauties of the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, Colorado and Columbia. Dr. Hayes in the Arctic regions. Plants and animals of geological times, etc., etc Pages 277-308.

Section Iv.— The Wonders Of Life. Chapter Xv.— Nature's Beautiful Balances

Why earth's axis inclines 23£ degrees. What would happen if it were otherwise — life would be impossible. If days were a year long, or 50 or 100 hours long. If more or less air or water. If earth had more or less matter life would cease. What keeps light, heat and electricity from pushing earth into space ? The utility of deserts. What makes California so even tempered and fertile. Meaning of some of its names. Causes of whirlwinds, cyclones, etc. A greater or less heat would end life. How the climate is balanced. Interior heat of earth. How water rises into the air. Gases in air, food of plants and animals. Atmosphere just right for life. How tunnels are dug under water. How clothes keep us warm. Life confined to band round earth. Winds, their causes. Dust particles gather rain-drops. Why floods washed the earth. Why more rain falls on mountains. Influence of forests on rainfall and climate. Why rivers grow larger. Why winds blow from West. How a thunder-storm is formed, etc Pages 309-332

CHAPTER XVI.— WHAT IS LIFE? THE WONDERS OF LIVING ORGANISMS.

Life is movement from within. Origin of life. A study of life. Life a created principle with power of acting. How organisms differ from minerals. Chemical composition of plants and animals. Cell life, Powers of plants. How gunpowder is made. The wonders of protoplasm. How living structures are built. Products of plants. The minerals in organisms. The proteids. Souls whole and complete in every part of organisms. Mistakes of scientists. Now plants get nitrogen. Ammonia formed in air. Nature's balances. How plants grow, etc Pages 333-351

CHAPTER XVII.— THE INSTINCTS OF PLANTS.

How creatures rise one above another. Life directed by instincts. Plants built in pipes. Plants live longest. The giant trees of California. How plants generate. The generating germs of plants and beasts. Each plant a book. Wisdom of plants. The most valuable plant. How sap circulates and plants grow. How plants scatter their seeds. Why burs stick to your clothes. How beasts plant seeds. How seeds fly. The fungus family. Cause of eczema. How seeds of golden-rod, milkweed, cat-tail, sycamore, anemone, maple, elder, ash spread their seeds. The evergreen seeds. Bear-grass, compass, ragweed seeds. Tumble weed, cherries, etc. Seeds sailing as boats. How plants get to islands. Water-lilies. How prolific are plants. Plants which throw their seeds. Crane's-bill. Flowers keep their seeds till time to sow them. How some animals scatter seeds, etc., etc Pages 352-366.

CHAPTER XVIIL— THE INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS.

Each animal a living machine. Mechanics of face, of block and pulley, steam engine, safety valves, ball and socket joints, force pump in beast and man. The heart and blood circulation. How Adam's apple controls the blood. The wonderful valve in throat. The six levels in the head. The spine. How we learned to build tunnels under water. The first paper makers. Animals know better than men some things. The wisdom of the goose. Why birds go South in fall. Some tame beasts. Why males and females. Why people marry. Why man and woman differ. Two remarkable organs in each cause the change. Why God made Eve from Adam's rib. An image of marriage among animals. Why the young are loved. Wisdom of beasts, etc., etc Pages 267-377.

CONTENTTS. 11

CHAPTER XIX.— LOOKING THROUGH A WINDOW DOWN IN OCEAN DEEPS.

What is the ocean ? The Sanctuary of the sea. What an aquarium shows. Studies of fish-life. The glass-bottomed boat on the Pacific. The wonders of the kelpian forest. A wonderful blending of colors. Fish life of the Pacific. The wonders of fish life in colors and forms. Most precious gems surpassed in beauty. The bottom of the ocean. The works of a Great Artist. Looking down 40 ft. Schools of wonderful creatures. What we saw 60 ft. deep. Fish with electric lights. Down 162 ft. Dangers of marine divers. Down below sunlight. A wrecked ship 326 deep with horrid drowned men. Creatures have lamps to light the darkness. Brought to surface they burst, etc., etc Pages 378-390.

Section V.— The Wonders Of Human Life

CHAPTER XX.— THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION. WHAT ARE ITS FOUNDATIONS ?

What evolution teaches. Its origin. Its half educated founders. How it leads to infidelity and the denial of God. The continual changes of scientific theories. Why evolution spread. Ancient peculiar ideas of origin of life. The founders of evolution. Absolutely no proof of evolution in past or present. Remains of past epochs offer no evidence, Cell structure shows its falseness. Man's body and powers against it. Four chasms nature cannot bridge. The great divisions of animals. The species of insects. Instincts of plants and animals against it. The struggle for existence would lead to lower beasts. How organs would develop according to the theory. Remains of primitive man show he was the same as now. " Stone," "copper," " iron" and civilized ages. Sons of Japhet and Ham. If true we are eating our relatives. A poem on evolution, etc Pages 391-414

CHAPTER XXI.— HOW A HUMAN BODY IS MADE, A WONDROUS WORK.

The twelve powers of the human soul. Man made to take the place of fallen angels. Traditions of man's creation. Marks of a wonderful scientist in the human body. Man knows not how he grows. How cells range themselves. Wonders of cells. Why boys and girls are born. Science proves the spotless conception of the Virgin. The human egg. The male element and how it gives life to the egg. How life begins and develops. The whole man made of egg-membranes. Epiblast, hypoblast, mesoblast and holoblast. How materials are placed where wanted. How the child is surrounded so as not to be injured. Amnion, Placenta. How child gets nourishment. Studies of beings before birth. Allantois, Chorion, Backbone, Brain, Limbs, Muscles, Bones. Mother's blood does not flow through child. Beginnings of blood circulation. How bones begin. Development of spine. Brain growth. How nerves begin. Beginnings of eyes and ears. How head grows. Two sets of nerves. Growth rapid at first. Formation of great nerves of spine. How the skin forms. In a medical college, etc Pages 415-437

CHAPTER XXII.— THE MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE HUMAN BODY.

A power of soul for each cell. Man made of 13 elementary minerals. How they are arranged in the body. Size of man if these materials were let loose. Ropes, pullies, pipes, levers, etc. Wonderful ingenuity in body. The levers of the bodies of men and beasts. Muscles, how built Mechanical construction of bones. How the blood circulates. The heart. How great arteries bring blood to all parts. Corpuscles of blood. How blood comes back to heart through veins. Capillaries. The science of flowing fluids in organisms, would have taught the ancients. Heart a force-pump. Valves in pipes of body. How arteries are made. The veins. The lymphatic system. The sewer system in a man. The teeth and how made of tissues, dentine, bony covering and enamel. Windpipe. Stomach of four coats. How it digests. The gastric juices and organs making them. How food is digested. The small intestine in man and animals. Pylorus, Duodenum, Jejunum and Ilium. How small intestine is formed. The villi which suck up nourishment. The lacteals. Gases, fluids and solids a man wants each day. How the body is kept warm, and how often renewed, etc Pages 438-457

CHAPTER XXIII.— THE FIVE SENSES— TOUCH, TASTE, SMELL, HEARING, SEEING.

Man and beast have five senses. Soul's windows through which we see forms or appearances of things. What are material substances ? Senses cannot see spirits or substances. Soul powers animate senses. Touch. Where most and least developed. Taste on the tongue. Its organs of taste. Smell in nose. Its development. Nasal cavities. How we smell. Acute smell of some beasts. The ear of animals. Human ears. Outer ear of man. Two drums in each ear . Outer drum. Its chain of little bones — hammer, anvil and stirrup bring vibrations to inner drum. How ear begins in child. Inner drum, three canals, labyrinth and cochlea. Wonders of the cochlea. A piano of 1,000 strings in each ear. How we hear musical tones. Works of wonderful Musician in ear. How eye begins to form in child. Eye a surpassing optical instrument. Eyeball, its muscles and structure — filled with two crystal fluids. How beasts' eyes are made. How eyes are colored. Iris. Crystalline lens — its formation. Why people become far and near-sighted. How hard to make a lens. Eye lined with black. Both telescope and microscope. Eye is most perfect instrument. How we see. The wonderful retina, and its ten layers. Retinas of different animals. Eye a photographic instrument. Chemical changes in eye. How we see through image in eye. All optical sciences used in eye, etc Pages 458-484.

CHAPTER XXIV.— WHAT IS THE HUMAN SOUL? WHAT IS REASON?

How few well educated. Students with little learning. Infidelity spreading over the world. We think and have free will. How a child begins to learn in school. Why no beast can learn to read. The mind and how it works. How you read. Mind and free will form reason. What is truth ? Object of mind all truths. Senses live in the single, mind in the universal. Mind uses no material organ. What are universal truths, and what single or particular truths. First object of the mind universal truth, second object particular, or single truth. How we reason. Aristotle's syllogisms. How conscience works, directing us. Association of ideas. Our motives. Why mind and will can never die. Man is free to do good or bad. What is the free will.

The good, or joy and happiness the object of will. We are not free seeking to reach truth and happiness. Man made to be a temple in whom God dwells. Signs of a fall in all man's faculties. Man not totally depraved, but wounded in his nature. How man gets to heaven, which is union with God. How a sinner sends himself to hell. What is hell ? The mystery of Three in One. Why God's Son made the first man. Why Eve was made from Adam's side. The first family imaged the Trinity. How God is Three Persons in one Divine Species or Race. What is a person and what a race, or species. Why God must be a Person. Only One God. A simple explanation of how God is Three in One. Beauty, Truth and Goodness in God. How the Father generates the Son. Fatherhood in creatures and in God. The internal Life of God. How God thinks and brings forth his eternal Idea. How Father and Son bring forth the Holy Spirit. Difference between man's and God's ways of thinking. Man's many thoughts, and God's one Thought. The mental Word of God. The Word in God's mind must be a Person equal to the Father. The eternal life of the Godhead. Fertility and fecundity must be in God as well as in creatures. Mutual Love of Father and of Son must be a Person — the Holy Spirit. What is love? The eternal Family of Heaven. How the Holy Spirit must be a Person equal to the other two Persons. Why God does not think with mind, or wish with will as powers, but with his own eternal Godhead in the ever present. The cycle of measureless internal life and ac* tivity of God. Why God could be only Three Persons, etc. etc Pages 486-521,

A "CRANK" IN THE NATIONAL OBSERVATORY.

The trolley stopped at a gate on the right leading into the grounds of the National Observatory on Georgetown Heights, near Washington, D. C. Going down the walk a fine-looking, well-dressed, intelligent appearing man caught up. After a pleasant greeting the writer said:

" Yes, I am going to visit the Observatory. The Government made a nice walk leading down through this shady valley and up the hill opposite to the buildings."

" You are mistaken, sir, no one built this walk. It came by evolution, or by chance. There is no such thing as cause and effect. I never believe what I don't see. Did I ever see my liver? Well, no. But I suppose I have one, as all men have."

At first I supposed he was joking, but soon found he was very much in earnest, and, supposing he was a harmless lunatic, I humored him and we talked as we went up the hill. On the hill were quite a number of buildings devoted to the sciences relative to astronomy.

u They have a large number of buildings and the Government spent a lot of money here. This institution is famed throughout the world. I wonder who was the architect and what they cost.

" There was no architect. These buildings just got their materials together by chance."

At our left on the hill towered a large domed building inclosing the great 26-inch equatorial telescope. Finding the attendant we went in, and just under the dome was the great tube, upheld by a pier coming up from the rock far beneath, so as to be free from any vibrations. The room was about 75 feet in diameter, the dome resting on iron wheels running on tracks, so the whole dome could be turned to point the telescope to any part of the heavens, through a shutter running down from the top to the spring of the arc. The shutters could be closed or opened at will. As the great telescope is pointed to a star high in the heavens or low down near the horizon, the floor can be raised or lowered by hydraulic pressure, a system of water-pipes serving for that purpose. Every science, art and mechanical contrivance known to man had been used in making this instrument. An iron staircase led up to the great instrument, and the writer went up and examined the details. A description of the instrument, the greatest in the world when built, would take up too much space.

" It is very fine," said the writer. " The Government spared no cost in its construction. Who built it? I suppose the greatest cost was in the making, grinding and polishing the 26-inch objective glass? "

" You are mistaken," said the man, " it was never made. This whole instrument came by accident. All parts of this delicate machinery just happened to arrange themselves together, and then got up on to that stone pier."

The attendant looked at him in astonishment, while the writer winked at him.

" Who is he ? a friend of yours ? T$o ? You only met him on the sidewalk coming in the grounds ! I suppose he is only a harmless lunatic. It is better to humor him, for if we oppose him he might become dangerous."

We went into another building where a smaller instrument was placed exactly north and south in the longitude of Washington. Looking through this great telescope you see 12 silvery lines straight up and down with another in the center crossing at right angles. Observing a star, you let it run along the central bright line from east to west. As it strikes a line up and down, you press an electric button, and the electricity marks the exact time the star passes that line. Doing this when the star passes <9 lines, you add up the figures

1(5 and this divided by 9 gives the exact time when the star passes the meridian of Washington. The bright lines are fine spider webs, and to put them in the field of the telescope is quite an art. You first get a little stick of wood which is just heavy enough to break the webs, then split it in halves and use one half to stretch the webs.

The machinery to move the telescope is elaborate and delicate, over which the observer, lying on a movable couch, has full control, who with a touch sets the apparatus and great tube in motion.

A visitor remarked, " What science and mechanical art were required to construct such an instrument ! Who made it ? "

" T$o one made it," said the man, " it came by chance. It was always here. Nothing was ever made by any one. Things were always as they are now. There are no such things as cause and effect. Instruments as well as stars, sun, and planets were always."

Smiles went round. We went into a neighboring building where the time of the passage of the stars is recorded by the electric current. A sheet of paper, ruled into 60 spaces, is rolled round a cylinder, which turns in 1 minute, having a governor like a little flywheel. A steel wire, bent like a fishhook, rises when the cylinder turns too fast, and its point strikes the spokes of the rapidly turning governing wheel, so as to retard its velocity, thus making the cylinder with the ruled paper make a revolution in exactly 60 seconds.

As the astronomer presses the electric button the moment a star crosses a spider web in the telescope, an armature raises a pen filled with ink pressing on the paper, and that makes a V between the lines on the paper. The spaces on the paper being nearly 1 inch apart with divisions of seconds, the time of the passage is given to minute divisions of seconds. We talked about the ingenuity of the man who invented this method of recording the time of the passage of the stars, when the stranger remarked :

" I tell you this machine was never invented. All you people are mistaken. It just happened to come that way."

We went into smaller buildings where the stars are photographed, and this man held to his theory that the photographic instruments were not made. We examined the clocks, and were especially interested in the main Time Clock, of which they have two. One is down about 15 feet below the surface of the earth, and is seldom visited lest the heat of the body might change the rate, even while standing beside it, for a few minutes. The other is in the office of the superintendent.