Mars Baumgardt Lectures

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Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain.

Past President of the Southern California Academy of Sciences.

Chairman of the Astronomical Section of the Southern California Academy of Sciences.

Director of the Clark Observatory for 21 years.


MARS BAUMGARDT
LECTURES
ADDRESS
REDPATH
KIMBALL BUILDING
CHICAGO



EXPLORING THE MOON

Landscape on another world as seen from above.  A remarkable view of the surface of the moon as observed and photographed with the world's largest telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory.  Tremendous craters, mighty mountain ranges and vast desert areas are shown here.  The scale is very close to 100 miles to the inch.




EXPLORING THE MOON
THIS lecture tells the story of the moon from Galileo's time up to present day explorations with the world's greatest telescopes.

By the magic of photography we are brought within twenty-five miles of the surface of the moon.  From here the astronomer-artist takes up the work.  With a knowledge of geology and the action of light on the moon, he has given the world a series of strange and interesting pictures.  The illustrations used in this lecture are a revelation to all astronomers.




THE PLANET MARS
A Possible Abode of Life

THE PLANET MARS as seen by astronomer R. J. Trumpler at the Lick Observatory, when the planet came nearer than it had been, or will be, for a century.  The oval spot on the top is the polar cap.  The so-called canals are plainly seen and probably owe their existence to natural, though unknown causes.


THIS lecture covers the studies of Mars from the earliest scientific observations to the present time.  It is illustrated with pictures of drawings and actual photographs from the world's greatest telescopes.  The astronomer-artist has made some interesting studies of what science indicates are the probable conditions on this little world.  The lecture considers the possibility of life upon its surface and what the latest conclusions of science are on this subject.


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AN EVENING WITH THE STARS

GREAT STAR CLUSTER IN HERCULES.  Light speeding with a velocity of about 11,000,000 miles a minute requires 36,000 years to reach the earth.  We behold this mighty star swarm as it was long bejore the dawn of recorded history.  Each tiny point of light is in reality a gigantic sun, yet if our sun were among this host it would be invisible even with the world's largest telescope.


AN EVENING WITH THE STARS is Mr. Baumgardt's best known lecture.  It has been given more than a thousand times.  Ever new, always revised and kept down to date, abreast with the latest achievements in exploration of the universe, and illustrated with astounding results of modern celestial photography, the lecture is withal presented in language so simple that even a child can understand.  Repeated visits to the leading astronomical observatories have resulted in an unrivaled collection of celestial views.  The Moon is brought within fifty miles of the earth.  Suns and worlds are weighed in the balance; giant stars exceeding our sun in volume thirty million times; star clusters that are situated on the verge of the creation; remote, yet distinct, cosmic units that stagger the imagination; fantastic spiral galaxies—all combine into a transcendent exhibition of the infinite universe, in the midst of which stands forth the eternity of matter, the undiminished perpetuity of force, and, dominating all, the supremacy of law throughout all nature.




THE FRONTIERS OF THE UNIVERSE

THE GREAT WHIRLPOOL GALAXY in the Constellation of The Hunting Dogs, just below the handle of the Dipper.  The photograph was taken at the Mount Wilson Observatory.  It is a great Island Universe rotating once in 225 million years.  Situated far in the depths of space, the study of this remarkable object has given us a new conception of the vastness of the universe.


THIS lecture is a remarkable presentation of recent celestial photography, secured with the greatest telescopes in the world; so simply told that even a child can follow and understand.




EGYPT AND THE DAWN OF CIVILIZATION
Including a Visit to Tut-Ankh-Amen's Tomb

Children play today in the stupendous ruins of what was once The Temple of Luxor; while close by from the minaret the muezzin is calling the faithful to prayer where forty centuries ago the people of Thebes prayed to Amen Ra. Mut and their son Khonsu.


It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the awe and fear with which the ancients looked upon the enchanted valley of the Nile, the land of mysteries and marvels, shut out from the rest of the world by a system of rigorous exclusion.  Adventurous pirates reported that in their stealthy visits they had seen great pyramids covering acres of ground; colossi sitting on granite thrones, portrait statues of kings approaching nature with remarkable ease and fidelity, pharaohs who ruled in the dawn of the world; gigantic monolithic obelisks, carved from single blocks of stone and covered with mysterious inscriptions in characters unknown; avenues of sphinxes miles long leading to prodigious pillared temples.  Even today Egypt retains much of its mystery and fascination.  We reflect with astonishment upon the fact that the masonry of the Great Pyramid, almost six thousand years old, has never been surpassed.  It has stood the test of time while the heavens have changed, the Pole Star itself being a stranger today.  Among the thirty dynasties of kings who ruled Ancient Egypt there stand for the names of many mighty pharaohs, Menes, Khufu, Chephren, Usertsen, Thotmes III, Memnon, Rameses II, Necho.  Best known today, though least known but a few years ago, is Tut-Ankh-Amen, whose tomb, recently discovered by Howard Carter, with its amazing wealth of funerary furniture, thrones, chariots, caskets, golden beds, coronation chair, a veritable Arabian Night treasure house of ancient art, has proved to be the most sensational discovery in the history of Egyptology.




THE MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS OF SWITZERLAND

THE MATTERHORN—Incomparable and Peerless


SWITZERLAND, notwithstanding its smallness, owing to its geographical position, is one of the most important countries in Europe.  It occupies the very center of what must be looked upon as the true Europe.  Within it rise the most important ranges of the Alps and some of the most considerable rivers of Central Europe.  Swiss lakes and glaciers irrigate and fertilize many of the surrounding plains.  To the Swiss Alps the plains of Lombardy, the valley of the Rhine, and Southern Germany are indebted for their prosperity.  It is the Playground of Europe, the common meeting place of those whose hearts beat with emotion when contemplating the superb spectacles offered by nature.  The

LAKE LEMAN—Rousseau, Voltaire. Gibbon. and De Statel,-Leman!  these names are worthy of thy shores.
The very name of Switzerland conjures in our minds the idea of incomparable landscapes and awe-inspiring mountains.  To these mountains the Swiss people are largely indebted for national independence and their remarkable political institutions.  Mountains, lakes, and tortuous valleys have done as much as stout hearts and strong arms to place Switzerland in the front rank of free nations.




NORWAY AND THE ARCTIC
Majestic Land of the Midnight Sun

North under the Midnight Sun


NORWAY is unique.  A broken coast line of fourteen thousand miles and a fringe of 150,000 is-lands give rise to some of the most sublime scenery on earth; the bluest of blue fjords and shimmering lakes; towering fjelds and deep hidden valleys; babbling streams, rushing rivers and majestic waterfalls; proud, colossal rocks and smooth-polished glaciers.  Over all these wonderful combinations of land and water hovers the mysterious influence of the midnight sun.  Norway is, indeed, the music of Beethoven.  Who so has once come under its spell can never after shake it off.

The lecture is intended to give a thorough understanding of Norway and the Norwegians; the dramas of Ibsen and the poetry of Bjornson; the music of Grieg, Kjerulf and Sinding; the influence of environment upon a people who have lived in isolation for fifteen hundred years.


The Western Fjords of Norway; Earth's most sublime scenery


The lecture is illustrated in color with 125 carefully selected views of such unrivaled beauty, that everywhere it is admitted to be one of the most artistic and remarkable on the American platform.




VENICE, THE CITY OF DREAMS
Rise and Fall of the Venetian Republic

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HARDLY could a more effective illustration be found of the paramount influence of geographical position than that afforded by Venice.  Little did it occur to those refugees from the conquering hordes of Attila in 452, when they drove their first piles on the mud-banks of the Adriatic, that they were laying foundations for a republic, destined to endure more than twelve hundred years.  Her insular position, through the skill of her engineers, made Venice practically unassailable.  From insignificance she rose to hold the proud dominion of the seas and had at one time 3,200 vessels, netting their owners forty per cent.  Her agents were stationed in every important city in Europe.  Expressed in modern value her exports amounted to $400,000,000 a year.  Yet, after all, she was but a city, with never more than 200,000 inhabitants; a city, nevertheless, the most beautiful in the world, for centuries the center of European civilization, whose ambassadors abroad rivaled those of kingdoms and empires; a city which marked the limits of Barbarrossa's ambitions, played a most important role in the Crusades and almost rivaled Florence in the impetus she gave to the Renaissance.

The discovery of America and the circumnavigation of Africa sounded the death-knell to all this greatness and imperishable fame.


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The lecture is illustrated with 122 remarkable lantern views, executed in water-color, which give not only a faithful portrayal of the Venice of today, the dream city, but also of Venice at the height of her glory, in the days of Enrico Dandola, Foscari and Falieri.




THE ROMANCE OF MAN
An Illustrated Epitome of the History of Civilization

They are thine, O Queen, since Allah has so decreed it.  Boabdil, last Moorish King of Granada, delivering the keys to the Alhambra to Queen Isabella.


THERE is an aristocracy among men, which no system of religion, morals or politics can ignore without bringing disastrous consequences upon itself.  It is the aristocracy of the intellect.

Whoever has carefully and critically surveyed the intellectual progress of man, his transformation from a savage running naked in the woods into a rational, reasoning human being, must have observed that, from the dawn of the civilization in Ancient Egypt down to the wonderful achievements of modern times, the advance has not been made in a secular manner, but rather in accordance with the rhythmic law of periodicity.  There have been brilliant epochs, times when the human mind has crystallized, followed by periods of inactivity and even retrogression.  The theme offers boundless material for an interesting lecture.

The lecture is beautifully illustrated with 130 carefully selected views, the assembling of which involved repeated visits to European collections; particularly the British Museum.  The lecture is an intellectual treat.


England's contribution to the advancement of civilization in the Nineteenth Century is well illustrated in this remarkable canvas from the National Portrait Gallery in London.  The painting was executed in 1809 and in it we find, among others, the portraits of Cartwright, inventor of the power-loom; Cavendish Dalton, Davy and Young, the physicists; Dolland and Herschel, the astronomers; Jenner, who gave vaccination to the world, and Watt, inventor of the steam engine.





ILLUSTRATED LECTURES READY FOR PRESENTATION

Exploring the Moon
Exploring the Sun
The A, B, C of the Solar System
The Planet Mars
An Evening with the Stars
The Latest from the Heavens
The Frontiers of the Universe
Comets and Meteors
A Trip to Mount Wilson and Its Great Observatory
The Great Meteorite Crater of Arizona
Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Scientific Guesses About the Future
Glorious Mountains of California
California—A Land of Mighty Contrasts
Southern California of the Gay Eighties and Nineties
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River
Western National Parks
England
London—The World's Metropolis
Shakespeare and Shakespeare's England
Ireland and the Irish
Scotland in Song and Story
Paris—The Historic City
Napoleon—Conqueror and Captive
Joan of Arc—In the Footsteps of the Maid of France
Norway and the Arctic
Sweden and the Swedes
Russia—Old and New
The Castles and Legends of the Rhine
Berlin

Holland
Vienna—In the Footsteps of Beethoven
The Mountains and Valleys of Switzerland
The Italian Lakes and the Plains of Lombardy
Venice—The City-Republic
Florence in the Days of the Medici
Rome—The Eternal City
Sicily—The Garden of the Hesperides
Naples and Its Glorious Shores
Pompeii—The City of the Dead
The Vatican and Its Art Treasures
Athens and the Golden Age of Pericles
Constantinople and the Isles of Greece
Jerusalem and the Hills of Judea
Spain and the Alhambra
Egypt and the Dawn of Civilization
The Romance of Human Progress
The Conquest of Man's Horizon
The Intellectual Development of Man
George Washington
The Hidden Glories of Light
The Marvels of the Eye
Evolution



WHAT CONSTITUTES A LECTURE?
The true spirit of interpreting knowledge is possessed by those who have a passion for diffusing, for making prevail the best knowledge and ideas of their times; who labor to divest knowledge of all that is difficult and exclusive, who make it efficient outside the clique of the learned, yet still have it remain the best knowledge and thought of the times, and, therefore, a true source of light and inspiration.

—Matthew Arnold.



ALL LECTURES ARE ILLUSTRATED
Note on Lantern Views.  The remarkable slides in the lectures, with their unrivaled coloring, should not be confounded with ordinary colored lantern slides.  They bear direct upon the subject and are seldom introduced for effect.

Lantern and Operator for illustrated lectures to be supplied locally, at no expense to the lecturer.  Any lantern will do except the slide attachment of a moving picture machine.  The amperage is too high and cracks the slides.