Most amateurs know the rather romantic story of Clyde Tombaugh, the Kansas farmer's son who from one of the earliest editions of ATM, made a telescope, then went to Flagstaff, Arizona, and applied for a place at the Lowell Observatory. Something about his enthusiasm must have impressed the Director, for Tombaugh was given a job examining plates in the search for the undiscovered planet which Lowell had predicted years previously, and it wasn't more than a few weeks before he discovered the image of what turned out to be the planet Pluto. Tombaugh thereafter spent part of his time at Lowell and the remainder in college, and is now at Lowell hunting for more planets. While he is now a professional astronomer, the professionals can't entirely have him! At least, we amateurs will keep one hand on his coat-tail. (Incidentally, three former amateur telescope makers are now working as professional opticians: Daniel E. McGuire, ATM, page 380, slit test, who has been with Fecker some months, Lew Lojas, patron saint of the New York telescope makers, who has been with Mogey for some time, and Kieffer of Pittsburgh, now employed in the finishing room of Bausch and Lomb, making flats and prisms. Here is a part of a letter from Tombaugh.

"The views l have had through my solar telescope the past few months have been marvelous. Since we are in the midst of an extra rich sunspot maximum, a brief description of my instrument may interest some of the amateur telescope makers.

"I made a 12-inch mirror having a focal length of 148-l/2'', and left it uncoated for use as a solar telescope. A 1-1/8" right-angled prism was used for a diagonal, but was mounted in a reverse position-that is, the diagonal face was slanted toward the concave mirror and eyepiece. This allows some 93 percent of the light reaching the diagonal to be transmitted out through the other faces in directions away from the eyepiece. Thus, from the two glass reflections, the light from the sun is reduced to about 1/300 of that falling on the concave mirror. I carefully selected a good pair of neutral-tint drivers' glasses, the darkest I could obtain, from a dime store. The lenses were removed and mounted just in front of the eyepiece (toward the diagonal). Each one probably transmits about 20 percent of the light-- perhaps less, as they are quite dark. Therefore, the two together transmit only 1/25th of the incident light. Hence altogether, the solar light is cut down about 7500 times. Anyway, with the mirror diaphragmed down to 6", and using a magnifying power of 200 diameters, the solar image, or surface of the sun, appears only about a third as bright as a bright cumulus cloud to the naked eye.

"From experience with daytime seeing, I have found that apertures larger than 6" are not practical. Also the steadiest seeing occurs between 8 and 9:30 A.M. I observe the sun about one day in two or three, on the average, picking the better days. On about half of the days the seeing is too unsteady to see the 'rice-grain' structure of the sun's surface. About one morning out of 15 or 20 the definition is really fine- 6 on a scale of 0-10. At those times the structure of sun-spots, facullae, and rice-grain background is seen to be intricately delicate and marvelous to behold. On several occasions I have seen white, narrow bridges, filaments and tongues which were less than 'one second of arc in width, in the umbra of some of the big spots-resembling in appearance the famous drawing of a sunspot by Prof. Langley.

"The long focal length and the 6" diaphragm make my solar telescope an f/25. The long focal ratio and small angle permitted me to place the prism diagonal to the axis just enough to clear the 6" beam of light, and next to the eyepiece. I habitually use a power of 200 diameters, and when the seeing is good the details of sunspot structure are very sharp and well defined.

"The heating of the mirror when exposed to the sun evidently does not affect the figure seriously, as I have obtained very fine definition during a period of 20 minutes continuous exposure to the sun. Possibly the 3" outside zone of the mirror which is shielded by the diaphragm serves to hold the figure from distortion. The 12" mirror was made from polished plate glass, and is only 1-1/8" thick. I suppose an 8" mirror, uncoated, diaphragmed down to 5", and having a focal length of 75" or 100", would be a practical combination. Unless the cone of reflected light is very slender, I would not then advise setting the diagonal prism off the principal axis.

"I hope that some of the amateur telescope makers will be interested enough to make a solar telescope, as the optical set-up is simply a Newtonian with the mirror unsilvered, a right angled prism placed in a reverse position, and some dark glasses in front of the eyepiece. However, an unsilvered flat for diagonal will not do, as it would give an offset, overlapping image from the back surface.

"The photograph was taken from outside of the dome-looking through the door. I was standing on a 6' movable platform, and looking into the eyepiece of the chroluminized mirror at Venus that before noon. The telescope tube is 13-1/2' long. The dome is one that formerly housed a 9" telescope used in the search for Planet X some 20 years ago. ''

Another letter from Tombaugh, written later, reads:

"Recently l saw a large group of huge, irregular-shaped umbras with nearly a continuous background of penumbra, and these passed off the sun in about two days. Bright 'tongues' and 'bridges,' of coarse and very delicate proportions, were seen in great profusion, There was also a very large spot attended by a host of minute ones following the great group by about 8 minutes of arc. 200X used."

LAST month this department was stowed to the scuppers with hard-to-read brain stuff about the Special-purpose RFT, so we compensate this month by unloading a collection of levity that has been accumulating for the past year or two.

Some months ago we published a sketch by Russell W. Porter, showing the precautions that are being taken at Pasadena to prevent those connected with the work on the 200" mirror from bringing in grit on there shoes. Their shoes have to be discarded at the doors and special indoor footwear substituted, just as American tourists (if any go there now) have to do before entering Japanese sacred temples. At that time we said to Mr. Porter that, when the actual polishing on the 200" disk was begun, we supposed there would be a microscopic examination of everything down to the grit in the workers, whiskers, and suggested a cartoon depicting the grand clean-up to come. It takes only a suggestion to start Porter making a drawing, and the result is on page 122-the final search for about two lost, lonely, little sub-microscopic particles of potentially trouble-making grit.

NEXT item was drawn by Maxfield Parrish, Jr., 3140 Holmes Ave., Minneapolis, Minn., who regularly reads this column, even if he hasn't yet admitted making anything more telescopically tangible than awful caricatures of himself. Parrish probably inherited his ability with the pen from his famous father.

COMES next a cartoon, not of himself but of his older brother, a TN, drawn by Harvey L. Hinshaw, aged 11 years, 935 N. Oakland Ave., Pasadena, Calif.-a future Maxfield Parrish, it would seem, also one with a proper understanding of the typical Telescope Nut.

AND now for three poets. First poet. R. W. Porter who has evidently been reading roadside rhymes advertising Burma Shave:

Siam de man

Who t'inks he can

Make 'scopes from

Readin' ol' Sciam.

And another:

From Waukesha, or

From Saskatoon

To Far Siam, or

To Alabam

You'll find 'em readin'

The Nuts a readin'

Ol' Sciam

Here's one that comes nearer home:

She threw up her hands

And let out a "Damn!"

"You've ruined my kitchen.

A curse on Sciam."

WAY down on the Gulf Coast, at Biloxi (pronounced Bluxy), Miss., lives the Fred ("Amos") Ferson who wrote the chapter on molding and casting telescope parts, ATMA, page 349. Ferson is a personable redhead who knows the common working negro of the Deep South and the twists of his language from way back. The following is his "Soliloquy of Cotton-Pickin' Sam." Perhaps the northern reader will find it more difficult to follow Ferson's rendition than the more familiar but less accurate sort used by us northern writers; the same is true of Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus stories. The late S. H. Sheib of Richmond used to assert that most northern writers evidently obtain their idea of negro dialect from other northern writers, as it not accurate. For example-and the same example appears in the second line of Ferson's verses-the word "till." Writers often render this as "twell," but with the Deep South negro of the cotton-field type it is plain "to." Similarly, ''they" is not "dey" but "dee."

Ah is sho worri'd de boss-man's los his mine. '

He polishin glass to hit git slicken shine

Den he say he gwine gib hit er figgah

Ez purty ez a gal-mebbe mo biggah

En see de stahs, en see em double.

Hit sho ez meant er heap er trouble

To see dem stahs.

De cellah am red-an so am us.

Dat rouge am spead in bright red dus

To de omelet look ez red ez blood,

En mo lak dish yer Alabama mud.

En de wash watah show de same red, too.

Boss, whyn't yo use somepin blue

To see dem stahs'?

He talk er laps er rosin en terps.

Hit sticky ez one er dese yaller cur purps.

He talk er tools en read de book,

En stiddy and stare wid a vacant look.

Hit allus too hot, too wet, er too cold.

He keep dat up, he nevah git 'nuff old

To see dem stahs.

Mah fun doan costes no starin' ter see

De gals, er mah banjo on mah knee.

Hit jes raise up in de great big bubbles.

Ob cose de gals kin be de troubles,

(En de hoe er misery in dat long cotton).

But mah situashun ain't so rotten-

Why look at stahs?

Ah nevah thunk ah'd lib ter see

De boss-man stang wid sech a bee Er dat he'd stop cussin us niggahs

Fer laps en tools en crazy figgahs. Ah sho hopes he be hissef soon

En red er de eetch fer planets en moon,

En ter see dem stahs.

THIRD poet, Leo Cotton, is also an artist. He is a member of the Turned-edge Brotherhood of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, and is with the Art Department of the Los Angeles Examiner. The sketches are his.

Pyrex, elbow-grease and smear

A run-around-you have a sphere.

If center deepens, you must hedge- Shorter strokes will work the edge.

Another way that edge to drop,

Is using tool a while on top.

When pencil marks and depth agree

You switch to number two, sez we.

Number eighty's now a pest,

Clean up well and scrape your vest.

Go round and round, nor call it quits

Till scratches leave, and ditto pits.

One third stroke should be the rule. Watch zonal contacts, juggle tool.

Half below and half on top,

Middle's up when edges drop.

Remember that a finer grade

Erases what a coarser made.

Round and round, an endless tread

Work foot and arm, and so-called head.

After number seven switch

To polishing by pitch.

Pour it; facet; press and wax.

Time 'twill take and patience tax.

Then the treadmill, round and round, Rouge will polish where 'twas ground.

Scan anon with 'Foco' test,

To spot out where your mirror is messed.

Strive to get that doughnut look

Don't ask me how- go buy a book.

The 'bible' of the scopers-them

What's in the know calls ATM.

And when 'tis finished, friend and brother,

You'll soon be making you another.

And if it turns out not so good,

Join the Turned-edge Brotherhood.

AN embargo on doggerel, rhymes, verse- yea, even poems-is hereby declared for the year 1938, and longer unless there is evidence that the readers have fully recovered from the above fits of frivolity. Even now your scribe fully expects his hide will be nailed to the barn door by some of the readers, not those of this department but of the magazine in general. Once an old "Sciam" reader did this because, horror horribilis, he saw, right in Scientific American, "a cartoon!" Hence, to non-telescope-making readers we explain:

This amateur telescope-making hobby is scientific but it is also human; dive in and enjoy some of the sport yourselves.

The Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS) is a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to helping people enrich their lives by following their passion to take part in scientific adventures of all kinds.