Professor Percival Lowell '76 gave an illustrated lecture on "Astronomy Today" in the Living Room of the Union last evening at 8 o'clock.

Before showing the stereopticon views Professor Lowell gave an introduction in which he criticised methods of instruction in the sciences. Progress in science is necessarily a generation ahead of the text-book knowledge of its day, for the minds that conceived it must first have grown up to make possible its begetting. To impart such to the generation that follows is to up it as speedily as possible in the way of making its step forward.

Following this, the speaker showed some slides of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The markings of Mercury and Venus are peculiar and very different from those on Mars. The markings on Mars are known as canals which meet in small spots called oases. These Canals are not filled with water, but are merely fertilized sections like the valley of the Nile.