ent day
delivered an oration on "The Perpetuity of the Heroic Element." But
whatever the origin of the interest, unquestioned ability supported it.
From the position of reporter and correspondent with the New York
_Tribune_ he rose to the post of copy editor on the staff of the _Sun_.
Finally he became night editor, a position which he held for a full
decade.

During this period we can see the old interest in science gradually
assert itself. At first it took the form of anonymous articles, mainly
on matters astronomical. These usually appeared on the editorial page
and, partly because they were then a novelty, partly because of a quirk
of fate--editor-in-chief Charles Dana frequently had them set up in bold
type, believing their logic was a fine counter-irritant for heated
political campaigns of the day--the attention of subscribers was focused
on them more sharply than usual. In fact, readers over the entire
country were soon conjecturing about the identity of "the _Sun's_
astronomer." Very few knew that it was Garrett Serviss, who successfully
cloaked his identity for years.

Success in written popularizing of science led him to attempt its
duplication on the lecture platform. There his triumphs were such as to
lead him to resign as night editor of the _Sun_ in 1892 and make
astronomy his life work. Until 1894 he was occupied with "The Urania
Lectures." These were sponsored by Andrew Carnegie, and dealt with
geology, astronomy, archeology and similar scientific topics. With them
Serviss successfully toured the country, and it was only because of the
great difficulty in transporting the elaborate staging equipment they
required that they were eventually discontinued. He continued to give
popular lectures, however, and one of his few biographers has credited
his greatness on the rostrum to "a pleasant voice, a charming
personality, and a genuine enthusiasm for his subject."

One cannot doubt this enthusiasm; it shines forth unmistakably from all
his writings. Probably, too, it played the major part in enabling him to
reach a wider reading public than any other astronomer before or after
him. For he never abandoned the pen. Up until his death, which occurred
on May 25, 1929, he wrote continually, syndicated newspaper columns,
magazine articles, books on astronomy, fiction.

His first book, _Astronomy with an Opera Glass_, appeared in 1888. He
was responsible for several other scientific titles (the reader is
referre