Percival Lowell — an afterglow. Wrexie Louise Leonard
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silent witness to his originality, as his discoveries in this field were various and his nomenclature unique. From the trees on the heights he characteristically jumped to the flora on the table-land below as he himself beautifully expresses on the opposite page. He found a new Ash-tree in a canon in Arizona which will bear his name.[1]
In all parts of the world, nature touched him alike from the Peaks of Arizona to the Woods of Fontainebleau and the plum-trees of Korea.
In prose writing he excelled. In poetry he at times was touched with the Divine fire. The following is a sparkling gem of that which even great poets might be proud to say "this is mine own." It is poetry of a high order. It follows the established rules of rhythm and rhyme and attains its object in the loveliest and simplest measures. It will serve to show one of the varied moods that went to make up the mentality and spiritual essence of Dr. Lowell.
"In Fontainebleau, whence now the light of day
Is shut by oaks, vast glaciers once held sway,
In undisputed ice their lateral moraines
With grasping fingers stretched to clutch the plains.
Gone all are now, their very memory sleeps
Save for the vigil one poor mourner keeps,
The falling teardrop of the 'rock that weeps.'"
VIII
It will readily be understood that the question of site is of fundamental importance to an astronomer who wishes to solve the mysteries of the heavens. Dr. Lowell spared neither time nor money to meet this need, and he travelled far and wide in search of what he termed: "the best procurable air." In Japan; in the Maritime-Alps, Algeria, Mexico, California and Arizona, he diligently searched. Finally he found a plateau at Flagstaff, Arizona, at an altitude of about 7000 ft., which he discovered to be the best for his purpose. In this rarefied atmosphere his superb 24-inch refractor proved to be, according to the Hartmann test, the greatest space-penetrating telescope in existence. Under such favoring conditions he and his staff could observe and photograph stars fainter than any ever before brought into mortal ken.
Always with marvellous accuracy did he transcribe the wonders that he saw. As if by magic they appeared on paper from his pencil and brush, replicas of the planets themselves;—he was an artist as well as an artisan.
His big telescope was worked day and night; and while he often made important discoveries by daylight observation, sentimentally as well as astronomically he was fonder of those gained at night. He liked to recall the fitting words of his friend and colleague M. Camille Flammarion:
"Sweet hours of evening do not flee away! We love this universal calm which surrounds Nature before it sleeps. We love this unchangeable peace which descends from the rising stars! The starry sky which lights up the Earth which falls asleep, these are the spectacles which draw us away from a world of clamorous passions—pleasures of the soul which we enjoy in peace."
THE TELESCOPE HERE WORKED DAY AND NIGHT
IX
Dr. Lowell himself has said, "How little the momentary living counts with the actual life"; but this was a paradox, for with him every moment counted. He was indefatigable. To those associated with him in his work he appeared never to withdraw from mathematics and astronomy—yet he found time for everything. His daily motto was "not the possible but the impossible." That he could indulge in and accomplish what he did in so short a life, comparatively, is astounding. In suggesting that anything should be done, even a trivial matter, he always added "at once!" Procrastination and he were strangers. When he bethought himself to publish an essay or a bulletin it was "no sooner said than done." His assistants were swept along in their various works on the crest of the wave of his enthusiasm. He was buoyant with strength, ambition, love, sincerity, nobleness of purpose, in fact, all that is highest in life. He was a dynamic force, yet gentle as a child. Indeed, his strongest characteristic was kindness of heart. Ever on the alert was he for deeds of kindness and for unapplauded service to his fellow man.
Instinctively the world associates him with the planet Mars. All the world loves the man of ideas who has the courage of his convictions. After continuous research, he was thoroughly convinced that life exists on Mars; and he has left, for us, a full record of his reasons for so thinking. It is not essential that one should agree with him, or have his point of view in order to enjoy his utterances. All that he himself would have asked of his readers was an acknowledgment, actual or virtual, of his honesty of purpose. He went so far as to say in his final lecture tour through the Northwest:—"That Mars is inhabited we have absolute proof."
His successors in this sublime investigation assuredly will be guided by the same love of scientific truth that animated him. He has left in store all the material resources with which to build an enduring monument. Filled by the warmth of his fire; thrilled by his achievements, with eye single towards the discovery of "the light that shifts, the glare that drifts"—which is truth itself—we rest content in the thought that those who follow in his field will keep clear, widen and extend the scientific trail in which he was the master-pioneer.
QUOTATIONS
1 ↑ See "Rhodora"; February, 1917. Page 23.
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