AN INTERNATIONAL SOUTHERN TELESCOPE. 



By EDWARD C. PICKERING. 

 {Read April i8, igo6.) 



It is difficult to find a department in the arts or sciences which 

 was not studied by that eminent and practical man, Benjamin Frank- 

 lin. As his interests were mainly in the practical side of life, it is 

 surprising that one of the least practical subjects, the study of the 

 appearance of the heavenly bodies, should have attracted him. Yet 

 we find that he was probably the first to bring a reflecting telescope 

 to this country. It illustrates the widespread and keen desire of 

 man to probe more and more deeply the sidereal universe. It is also 

 remarkable that the reflector, after falling into disuse for many 

 years, should now appear to be the form of telescope best adapted 

 to this end. The object of the present paper is to propose a prac- 

 tical plan by which a telescope of the largest size should be so con- 

 structed and used as to lead to results of the greatest astronomical 

 value. 



So careful a study has been made of astronomy, during the last 

 half century, that it is not easy to secure a real advance. We must 

 learn from the success attained in industrial enterprises, and spare 

 no pains to secure the best possible conditions in every respect, how- 

 ever trivial. The best location, the best form, the cost, the method 

 of administration, and the discussion of the results will be consid- 

 ered in turn. It is in the last of these that the greatest advance may 

 be expected. An attempt will be made to show how these results 

 can be discussed, not by an individual or single institution, but by 

 the astronomers of the world, and how numerous departments of 

 astronomy may thus be advanced to a higher plane. 



Location. 

 If we take a map of the world and mark upon it the principal 

 observatories, we shall find that nearly all of them are in locations 

 especially unsuited to good astronomical work. Almost all are near 



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