392 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



true votaries of Urania will then be driven to seek sanctuary in some 

 less accessible and less inviting spot. Indeed, the present needs of 

 science are by no means met by an elevation above the sea of four 

 thousand and odd feet, even under the most translucent sky in the 

 world. Already observing stations are recommended at four times 

 that altitude, and the ambition of the new species of climbing astrono- 

 mer seems unlikely to be satisfied until he can no longer find wherewith 

 to fill his lungs (for even an astronomer must breathe), or whereon to 

 plant his instruments. 



This ambition is no casual caprice. It has grown out of the grow- 

 ing exigencies of celestial observation. 



From the time that Lord Rosse's great reflector was pointed to the 

 sky in February, 1845, it began to be distinctly felt that instrumental 

 power had outrun its opportunities. To the sounding of further depths 

 of space it came to be understood that Atlantic mists and tremulous 

 light formed an obstacle far more serious than any mere optical or 

 mechanical difficulties. The late Mr. Lassell was the first to act on 

 this new idea. Toward the close of 1852 he transported his beautiful 

 24-inch Newtonian to Malta, and, in 1859-'60, constructed, for service 

 there, one of four times its light-capacity. Yet the chief results of 

 several years' continuous observation under rarely favorable conditions 

 were, in his own words, " rather negative than positive." * He dis- 

 pelled the " ghosts " of four Uranian moons which had, by glimpses, 

 haunted the usually unerring vision of the elder Herschel, and showed 

 that our acquaintance with the satellite families of Saturn, Uranus, 

 and Neptune must, for the present at any rate, be regarded as com- 

 plete ; but the discoveries by which his name is chiefly remembered 

 were made in the murky air of Lancashire. 



The celebrated expedition to the Peak of Teneriffe, carried out in 

 the summer of 1856 by the present Astronomer Royal for Scotland, 

 was an experiment made with the express object of ascertaining " how 

 much astronomical observation can be benefited by eliminating the 

 lower third or fourth part of the atmosphere." f So striking were the 

 advantages of which it seemed to hold out the promise, that we count 

 with surprise the many years suffered to elapse before any adequate 

 attempt was made to realize them.| Professor Piazzi Smyth made his 

 principal station at Guajara, 8,903 feet above the sea, close to the rim 

 of the ancient crater from which the actual peak rises to a further 

 height of more than 3,000 feet. There he found that his equatorial 

 (five feet in focal length) showed stars fainter hj four magnitude^ 

 than at Edinburgh. On the Calton Hill the companion of Alpha 

 Lyrse (eleventh magnitude) could never, under any circumstances, be 



* " Monthly Notices," Royal Astronomical Society, vol. xiv, p. 133, 1854. 

 f " Philosophical Transactions," vol. cxlviii, p. 465. 



X Captain Jacob unfortunately died August 16, 1862, when about to assume the direc- 

 tion of a hill observatory at Poonah. 



