ter his name. This would indicate
that he had views and tastes which, in some points, were very different
from my own. But such differences mark no dividing line in the
brotherhood of astronomy. My testimony would count for nothing were I
called as witness for the prosecution in a case against the order to
which my friend belonged. The record would be very short: Deponent
saith that he has at various times known sundry members of the said
order; and that they were lovers of sound learning, devoted to the
discovery and propagation of knowledge; and further deponent saith not.

If it be true that an undevout astronomer is mad, then was Father Hell
the sanest of men. In his diary we find entries like these:
"Benedicente Deo, I observed the Sun on the meridian to-day.... Deo
quoque benedicente, I to-day got corresponding altitudes of the Sun's
upper limb." How he maintained the simplicity of his faith in the true
spirit of the modern investigator is shown by his proceedings during a
momentous voyage along the coast of Norway, of which I shall presently
speak. He and his party were passengers on a Norwegian vessel. For
twelve consecutive days they had been driven about by adverse storms,
threatened with shipwreck on stony cliffs, and finally compelled to
take refuge in a little bay, with another ship bound in the same
direction, there to wait for better weather.

Father Hell was philosopher enough to know that unusual events do not
happen without cause. Perhaps he would have undergone a week of storm
without its occurring to him to investigate the cause of such a bad
spell of weather. But when he found the second week approaching its end
and yet no sign of the sun appearing or the wind abating, he was
satisfied that something must be wrong. So he went to work in the
spirit of the modern physician who, when there is a sudden outbreak of
typhoid fever, looks at the wells and examines their water with the
microscope to find the microbes that must be lurking somewhere. He
looked about, and made careful inquiries to find what wickedness
captain and crew had been guilty of to bring such a punishment. Success
soon rewarded his efforts. The King of Denmark had issued a regulation
that no fish or oil should be sold along the coast except by the
regular dealers in those articles. And the vessel had on board
contraband fish and blubber, to be disposed of in violation of this law.

The astronomer took immediate and energetic measures