SYDENHAM'S ASTRONOMER.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13713, 21 April 1910, Page 8

SYDENHAM'S ASTRONOMER.

AN ENTHUSIASTIC AMATEUR

i Astronomy is a fascinating science, ! but the number of ita devotees in the citie3 of the Dominion is not large. Everybody takes a more, or less perfunctory inter&st in the starry vault, but few point the inquisitive telescope at it. The amateur astronomer, the successor of the- ancient astrologer, is popularly regarded with some curiosity as one who dabbles in an occult science. His knowledge of the heavenly bodies and their ways gives him a distinctive place in the mind of the public; lie is labelled as a stargazer, and is left to pursue his hobby undisturbed, except tor occasional invitations to emerge from his retreat and mystify some club [or society with lectures on suns, stars, moons, and comets. The study of heavenly bodies may seem to accord ill with the humble I trade of bricklayer and chimney-sweep. In the course of his daily toil, tlie artisan has, of course, to ascend to I considerable altitudes to lay the brick or sweep the chimney, but one cannot imagine that this would stimulate interest in the coruscations of tho distant stars. But Mr F. Hitchings, senr., of Durham street, Sydenham, pursues tho useful and indispensable avocations mentioned, and is also an enthusiastic student of astronomy. He lis not merely a student, though he does not claim to be a savant. His records are accepted and printed in an English astronomical journal, side by side and piven equal prominence with those supplied by learned professors and doctor-!. A representative of "The Press" paid a visit to Mr Hitchings's homo yesterday, and spent a most interesting hour with him. The ►Sydenham astronomer led the way to the back of his house, and into a little box room, which ho introduced as "my study."' It was a place of cameras, photographic plates and materials, books, papers, and instruments. It seemed to be a place of chaos, but the owner demonstrated that it was one of order by tho deftness and confidence with which he sorted out anything that was wanted. A long line of lantern slides was produced, and Mr Hitchings falked familiarly of nebulae, corona, perihelions, and ether things whose names convey I'ttla to the uninitiated. The array of lantern slides was tho most interesting to the visitor. Mr Hitchings had taken photographs of comets from various publications, and converted them into lantern slides. They were of all sorts, .'iiiipcs, and sizes, these fiery visitants, and tho pictures were quaintly varied, from tli3 reproduction of the woodcut of the seventeenth . century to tho latest triumph of telescopic photography. Some or these comets Mr Hitchings remembered having seen, and another, dating back to 1811, had been seen by his mother, when she- was'a little girl. Tho reporter mentioned Halley's comet, and Mr Hitchings gave some information about it. "Some people expect to see a big light in the sky," he" said, "but it is an historical comet rather than a big one. It will trouble tho man in the street to find it if ho doesn't know where to look. He will bo behind the screen." And so he chatted on ? referring, occasionally, to very scientificlooking books, about which he remarked in an aside that ho always kept himself posted in the latest astronomical works. The crowning glory of tho equipment i«j the observatory. It is a fairly large circular, building, like an immense drum, surmounted by a revolving dome. The prominent feature of the interior equipment is, of course', a large" telescope, which is built on the equatorial principle adopted by the Lick and other observatories. It pointed through a gap in the'roof at the sun, and the visitor had the pleasure of taking a" closer look at his maje&ty Old Sol than ho had ■ previously enjoyed. - Attention was drawn to the brown. spots,. microscopically small, which appeared on tho reflection of the sun, and they were labelled as sun-snots. Mr Hitehings then produced a "spectroscope, one of the latest design, which he had* recently imported-, and a peop through at rovealed the: glorious'colouring of the spectrum. The photographing apparatns and other attachments were exhibited and their working explained. Mr Hitchings made many of the fittings himself, and though they are not models of burnished neatness they ful- . fil their purpose handsomely ana efficiently. "What induced you to take up the study of ■ astronomy " Sir Hitching was askod. Pie naively confessed that a desire to do what' no one else in the town : was doing had influenced him to some extent. "As.far as my capacity goes. I havo achieved all I waiit to do. My "records go to Father Cortie (England), whom wo call the Director of the Sun, and the record of the bricklayer and chimney-sweep appear in the journal with the work of professors and other learned astronomers. My first telescope cost mc; five shillings and six-pence,-.and after that I got another costing £5. In the meantime I bought a telescope from tlxe late Mr 'Banks, but I had sent specifications fa'ome,_ to four different houses, for a large instrument. I chose the most expensive one from the tenders I got, and paid £50 for the, lens. If I had known as much the a as I do now I would have paid £100 for the lens. I hare achieved everything I want as far as my education goes, and if a man has not education he can't go ahead. lam not an astronomer; I call myself a practical astronomer. There is no theory or reckonings about mc. I take the size of the sun and the- t>ize of the spots, and my records come out very evenly with those taken by men who are better equipped than I am. I lecture here occasionally, and always got a good hearing" ; Tho presence of several glass houses at the back of Mr Hitchings''s home testified that the observatory did not claim all his snore time. He pursues the gentle art of horticulture and.vine.growinc with the same enUrasiasm with which he scans the heavens, and, ap--parently, with some-pleasing amount of eueeess. Mr Hitchings intends to visit Tasmania shortly, to observe the approaching solar eclipse, and he should have some interesting remarks to make thereon when he returns with his observations.