ON A PHYSICAL OBSERVATORY. 143 



vertical direction ; the radiation of heat from clouds and different ter- 

 restrial surfaces; tlie variation of its intensity In ascending above and 

 penetrating- below the surface of the earth, &c. In short, the field is 

 almost boundless, and every year reveals new facts in terrestrial and 

 celestial physics, v»iiich never fail to furnish new points for investigation 

 to those who are qualified by education and endowed by nature for 

 their proper appreciation. 



The conductor of an observatory, such as I have mentioned, to be 

 successful, must have peculiar characteristics. He must possess a 

 minute knowledge of all the latest discoveries in i)hysics, a keen eye to 

 detect new appearances, imagination to suggest h^-pothetical causes, 

 logical power to deduce consequences from these to be tested by obser- 

 vation or experiment, and ingenuity to devise apparatus for verifying 

 or disproving his deductions. When such a man is found he should be 

 consecrated to science and fully furnished with all t!io implements 

 necessary for the prosecution of his researches, those of physics as well 

 as of astronomy, and himself and family placed beyond all anxietj'as to 

 the supply of their necessary wants. It may not be amiss to combine 

 with his studies and duties, in the waj^ of research, a small amount of 

 lecturing — -just enough by sympathetic communication with admirinj*- 

 pupils to fan, as it were, his enthusiasm, and to impart a portion of it to 

 others. Ho should also have at his command a skillful workman, who, 

 under his direction, could construct the temporary apparatus which are 

 constantly required in original research. It is also important that he 

 be associated with the faculty of a well-endowed college or university, 

 to which he will become an important acquisition both in regard to the 

 reputation which he will give to the institution, and the efi'ect he will 

 have on the other members of the faculty in the way of stimulating- 

 them to higher efforts. In such an association he can call for the coop- 

 eration of the i)rofessors, and especially that of the physicist, the 

 chemist, and the mathematician. 



One of the most important points, perhaps, to vrliich I should call 

 your attention is that of the building to be erected, since, from the ten- 

 dency to error in this line, more injury has resulted to public institu- 

 tions in this country than from any other cause. It should be recollected 

 that "money is power;" that every dollar possesses a definite amount of 

 potential cn(>rgy, as it were, which can always command intellectual or 

 l>hysical labor. But money as a powxr is unlike all other kinds of power, 

 in that it is, by judicious investment, capable of yielding a constant 

 supply of energy, in the way of interest, without- diminishing the origi- 

 nal amount, it is, therefore, in the highest degree injudicious in the 

 founding of an establishment to exhaust the source of its power by 

 architectural displays not absolutely required, and which may forever 

 involve a continual expense from the remaining funds to kee]) them in 

 repair. As a general rule, the buildings of educational or scientific in- 

 stitutions should be gradually evolved from the experieisce and wants 



