“Yes, uncle, but it seems so queer. The refractor is a tube made so that you can look through it, but the reflector will be, if you are right, so that you can’t look through it, because instead of being at the end, the hole will be in the side. Is that correct?”
“Quite right, and you are quite wrong, Tom, for you do not understand the first simple truth in connection with a telescope.”
“I suppose not, uncle,” replied the lad, with a sigh. “I am very stupid.”
“No, you are not, sir, only about as ignorant as most people are about glasses. I have explained the matter to you, but you have not taken it in.”
“I suppose not, uncle,” said Tom, wrinkling his brow.
“Then understand it now, once for all. It is very simple if you will try and grasp it. Now look here: what do you do with an ordinary telescope or opera-glass, single or double? Hold it up to your eyes, do you not?”
“Yes, uncle.”
“And then?”
“Look through it at something distant, and it seems to draw it near.”
“You do what?”