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375
The Book of the Damned
·
Charles Fort
249
Prof.
Watson
and
Prof.
Swift
published
their
observations.
Then
the
disregard
that
we
cannot
think
of
in
terms
of
ordinary,
sane
exclusions.
The
text-book
systematists
begin
by
telling
us
that
the
trouble
with
these
observations
is
that
they
disagree
widely:
there
is
considerable
respectfulness,
especially
for
Prof.
Swift,
but
we
are
told
that
by
coincidence
these
two
astronomers,
hundreds
of
miles
apart,
were
illuded:
their
observations
were
so
different--
Prof.
Swift
(Nature,
Sept.
19,
1878):
That
his
own
observation
was
"in
close
approximation
to
that
given
by
Prof.
Watson."
In
the
Observatory,
2-161,
Swift
says
that
his
observations
and
Watson's
were
"confirmatory
of
each
other."
The
faithful
try
again:
That
Watson
and
Swift
mistook
stars
for
other
bodies.
In
the
Observatory,
2-193,
Prof.
Watson
says
that
he
had
previously
committed
to
memory
all
stars
near
the
sun,
down
to
the
seventh
magnitude--
And
he's
damned
anyway.
How
such
exclusions
work
out
is
shown
by
Lockyer
(Nature,
Aug.
20,
1878).
He
says:
"There
is
little
doubt
that
an
Intra-Mercurial
planet
has
been
discovered
by
Prof.
Watson."
That
was
before
excommunication
was
pronounced.
He
says:
"If
it
will
fit
one
of
Leverrier's
orbits"--
It
didn't
fit.
In
Nature,
21-301,
Prof.
Swift
says:
"I
have
never
made
a
more
valid
observation,
nor
one
more
free
from
doubt."
He's
damned
anyway.
We
shall
have
some
data
that
will
not
live
up
to
most
rigorous
requirements,
but,
if
anyone
would
like
to
read
how
carefully
and
minutely
these
two
sets
of
observations
were
made,
see
Prof.
Swift's
detailed
description
in
the
Am.
Jour.
Sci.,
116-313;
and
the
technicalities
of
Prof.
Watson's
observations
in
Monthly
Notices,
38-525.
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