74 



photography of Halley's comet, statistical studies 

 of solar prominences, sun-spots, and flocculi, etc. 

 (See "Published Papers of the Observatory," page 

 92.) Enough has been said, however, to give an 

 idea of the character of the Observatory's work and 

 the nature of the instruments employed. In addi- 

 tion to the four telescopes already mentioned, a 

 6-inch refractor and a lo-inch photographic tele- 

 scope of the portrait-lens type are soon to be 

 provided. 



THE WORK OF INTERPRETATION. 



The interpretation of the varied phenomena re- 

 corded on astronomical photographs is the most 

 important phase of the Observatory's work. At 

 first thought it might seem that a good photograph 

 of a celestial object would represent the chief aim 

 of the astronomer. In fact, however, it is only a 

 first step, since the information it contains does 

 not often he on the surface. It is the task of the 

 investigator, not merely to take photographs, but 

 to interpret them. To return to a former simile, 

 he is in the position of Young and Champollion 

 when attempting to read the hieroglyphic inscrip- 

 tion of the Rosetta Stone, or, more often, in that of 

 present-day archeologists when facing the seem- 

 ingly impossible task of deciphering the unknown 

 characters of the Minoan civilization in Crete. If, 

 as in the latter case, the duplicate inscription in a 

 known tongue is lacking, much searching and 

 many failures may precede the discovery of the 

 hidden meaning of the document. 



