Chapter 15
Since they had committed the error so sharply criticized by J. B. K. Lowenthal—their first mishap, soon followed by the humiliating refusal of the International Conference to admit their claim—the two Whaston astronomers had looked on life somewhat sourly. It was hard for them, who had tasted of the sweets of fame, to be forgotten, relegated to the ranks of ordinary citizens. In conversations with their few remaining adherents, they inveighed violently against the blindness of the mob, and defended their cause with manifold arguments.
If they had made a mistake, was it just to reproach them with it? Had not their critic, J. B. K. Lowenthal himself, been mistaken also, and had he not been finally obliged to own his inability to explain what was taking place? What other conclusi
