374 DORPAT AND POULKOVA. 



The ministet did not fail to inform the Emperor that the Academy of Sciences had for 

 some ji-aTy' occupied itsf-lf with the project of a new observatory, and that he had only 

 awaited the cumpli^tion of th<' plans and drawinofs iu order to lay them before his Majesty. 

 Tht-u til'" Emperor ordt^red that thi- project should be presented to him as soon as it should 

 have beeu matured. Finally, his Majesty condescended to direct his attention to the choice 

 of th'' location for the institution to be erected. The minister having mentioned the site to 

 the north <if the city and offered as a gift to the Academy, the Emperor condescended to 

 express himself in the following terms : 



" How? The Academy thinks to place the new observatory quite near the city on the 

 nortli side, and upon a sandy and mar>hy soil ? That is hardly advisable. I would suggest 

 unt'iher position. It is upon ihe heights of Poulkova that the observatory should be placed." 

 Then his Majesty condescended to address to me the following words : 

 " Sir Astronomer, you perhaps think it strange that the Emperor should wish to correct 

 the Academy in a scieutitic matter. But do you know Poulkova, and what do you think of 

 the site .' " 



My reply was that in 1828, passing for the first time by Poulkova in the company of the 

 Baron von Wrangell, I had been so struck with its position that I had, as if prophetically, 

 exclaimed : " There upon the hill of Poulkova it is that we shall one day behold the observa- 

 tory of St. Petersburg." 



Sacli is Struve's graphic account of his first interview with the Einjjeror 

 Jsichohis. How rarely does histor}' offer to us a brighter picture than this in 

 which the frank and enthusiastic savant reveals to the willing monarch the path 

 to honorable glory. 



The astronomer returned to Dorpat to find that the endounnent of his observ- 

 atory had been largely increased, and that he was in a position to undertake still 

 greater labors. 



It was in October, 1833, that the Emperor Nicholas saw fit to give his definite 

 orders concerning a new observatory. The long matured plans of Piolessor 

 Parrot and the Academy were thereupon presented ; these being accepted, their 

 execution, at an estimated expense of 200,000 silver roubles, was ordered. A 

 committee, consisting of Messrs. Wisnieff"ski, Fuss, PaiTot, and Struve, was 

 appointed by the minister of public instruction (Ouvaroff") to study and execute 

 the plans approved of by the Emperor on the recommendation of the Academy. 

 It was as well an impulse of duty towards his science as of gratitude to his 

 benefactor, that led Struve to express to the minister his opinion " that the plan 

 proposed by the Academy and given into the hands of tliis committee would fail 

 to realize the high anticipations of their august sovereign." The committee 

 were ordered to revise their work ; new plans were matured ; the details of the 

 mutual relations of the prospective astronomers of the institution were discussed 

 with the Emperor in person ; Admiral Greig, the founder of the observatory at 

 Kicolairsk, was made president of the connnission, and in March, 1S34, the 

 ground was occupied for the erection of the new observatory. In the following 

 month Struve, on behalf of the committee, was presented again to the Emperor, 

 and a second time his personal representations resulted to the advantage of tho 

 interests of astronomy. After explaining the motives that had led the com- 

 mittee to prepare plans for a far more costly observatory than had been before 

 contemplated, these latter received the imperial sanction, and Struve was ordered 

 to superintend in person the construction of the necessary instruments. 



In the following summer a fifth journey into Germany was made on business, 

 which was specially congenial to Struve. After months of study and discussion 

 on the details of the new instruments, Ertel of Munich and Repsold of Ham- 

 burg were intrusted with their construction, and they have since proved them- 

 selves well worthy of their places in the Central Observatory. The corner-stone 

 of the building was laid with due formality on tho 3d of Jul}', (June 25, O. S.,) 

 1835, and the entire structure progressed slowly but steadily towards completion. 

 In 1838, on his sixth journey, Struve revisited Hamburg and Munich, examined 

 his new instruments, now nearly completed, and, after making minor improve- 

 ments, finally approved them as satisfactory. He had four years previously been 

 directed by the Erapeixn- to superintend the construction and equipment of the 



