STARLIGHT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 6 (Supplement)

STARLIGHT

(By B, W, Collins)

‘ fit is an eclipse that causes H. f' BMer Btßaid in “King Solomon’s to commit some interesting 2 A Party of whites is being by savages. They escape '■ J iathe nick of time, however, owing ■ (Bike occurrence of a total eclipse son. during which they «teo*hle along in total darkness for T&t* than an hour. This is truly " a Remarkable eclipse, for the longest - ' snawn to astronomers has its total %■■■■ttffihe over in a little more than “ mm minutes, nod even then it is “ mm tw dark, in the evening. of 4 - fp moB day the party was helped ” light the full moon. This I|J* another sterling phenomenon, •IP« eclipse of the sun occur fwy at new moon, when this body P directly between the earth and juo. and has its dark; side turned yrofe us- Pull moon occurs a H’rJSWSht later. But in shades any•MmM may happen. But when asISPMSptefii pointed out the mistakes ''■■ hi 9% Haggard he had them cor- • Mseed in later editions of the book. Aiwthwr story started in this way: Tt was midnight, and the new moon miS jLttt rising in the east.” It - wbbM indeed, be interesting to see «m» happen. Actually we usually -me fee new moon setting in the yte just after sunset, and it does mnrmkain above the horizon until mpglrt. It rises in the east in the WBr morningJwi Gffle Stratton Porter in “The mwyeßter** malms the moon do some t ™UB things. For instance, on •Bft evening the moon is just above tops in the west- Ibis is fp possible; but later in the night ** «•* risen clear of the trees and

AUTHORS’ BLUNDERS—II.

is hooding the countryside with light. This would mean that the moon Was going backwards—rising in the west, instead of in the east In another place in the same book the moon is said to make a bridge of light every night across a certain lake. This might happen for two or three nights running, but certainly not indefinitely. Dickens made the same mistake of ignoring the changes in position of the heavenly bodies, when he wrote of a single star shining night after night above the church tower. Similarly, one story-writer had the hero fall into a deep pit, and remain there unrescued for some time. His one ray of hope was a single bright star which remained directly overhead all day—a very curious star indeed. In General Lew Wallace’s book "Prince of India,” an astrologer (one who tells, fortunes from - the positions of the stars) was on a housetop at midnight observing, among other planets, Venus, In India, however, Venus is always below the horizon long before midnight, and never,rises until within an hour or two of dawn. Many other examples might be given of mistakes made even by famous authors. Writers are not always infsdlible, even when they describe the commonest things. One exception, however, is Lord Tennyson, who, it is said, never made a mistake in matters of science. This is because he himself was quite a good scientist, and also before wrltI.ing any astronomical passage it is said that he always consulted his friend the Astronomer Boyal.