has received from some of his smaller critics
(whose vehemence is usually in inverse proportion to their knowledge of
his work and writings) Professor Lowell has had an experience similar to
that of many other observers who have done good work.

"If an observer be blessed with the happy combination of good eyesight,
a good instrument, and favourable atmospheric conditions, and publishes
writings and drawings showing that he has seen something which has not
previously been observed, he at once becomes a target for captious
critics who seem to be under the impression that all astronomical
knowledge begins and ends with themselves, and that anything they cannot
see does not exist. It matters not that the observer attacked may have
given months to particular observations where his critics have only
spent a few hours: he is told that his drawings are incorrect and do not
represent the planet; that they may be works of art, but do not
represent facts; that he possesses a very vivid imagination, and so on.
This procedure may be persisted in until at last the victim either turns
and rends his critics or ceases to publish his drawings or records, to
the great loss of many others who take an intelligent interest in his
work.

"Professor Lowell's telescope is over 32 feet in focal length, and has
an object glass of excellent quality 24 inches in diameter, the work of
the celebrated Alvan Clark. Thus, whilst not one of the giants, it is
not exactly what would be termed a small instrument, and few indeed of
the critics have anything approaching it in capacity, while none enjoys
the advantage of such ideal conditions in the situation of his
observatory.

"I was therefore much amused in reading an effusion by one critic who,
in discussing the question of the canal lines, remarked that he could
not accept 'these one-man discoveries,' oblivious of the fact that they
are the discoveries of many observers. He then very naively gives the
illuminating information that his astronomical experience is confined to
the 'observation' of the _moon_ for about six months, by the aid of a
1-1/4-_inch hand-telescope_! Surely, when confronted with a critic of
such vast experience and so wonderfully equipped, Professor Lowell must
retire discomfited from the field!"

At the conclusion of my remarks both John and M'Allister expressed their
thanks, saying that "Now they were informed as to the points on which
our scientists were not agreed, they would