STEPHEN ALEXANDER. 507 



three-and-a-half-inch telescope by Fraunhofer, — an instrument which 

 as long as he lived was his pride and his delight. It was almost 

 amusing (and a little pathetic) to hear the old gentleman say one 

 evening, after a magnificent view of Saturn with the twenty-three-inch 

 telescope of the Halsted Observatory, " Yes, there is more light, 

 but the little Fraunhofer holds its own amazingly well." At the time 

 of its purchase, however, if I am not mistaken, ''tlie little Fraunhofer" 

 had no superior in the country except tlie five-inch Dolloiid telescope 

 presented to Yale College about four years previously. I have never 

 seen any account of Professor Alexander's observations of tliis eclipse, 

 and am not sure that they were ever published. 



In 18 GO, he was the astronomical chief of the large party sent 

 out by government to observe the eclipse of that year in Labrador. 

 The expedition was entirely successful, and its valuable results can be 

 found in the Coast Survey Report for 18G0. 



In 1809, again, he was the chairman of the committee appointed by 

 the National Academy of Sciences to organize the observation of the 

 solar eclipse of August 7th, and himself took part in the observations 

 at Ottumwa, Iowa. The writer's first experience in astronomical 

 expeditions came with this eclipse, and it would be most ungrateful 

 to leave unrecorded here the kindly courtesy with which our friend 

 responded to my application for a place on one of the parties, and 

 the helpful wisdom with which he assigned my work. 



In 1838, 1854, 1865, and 1875, he observed the annular eclipses of 

 those years, and, if his health had allowed, he would have gone to 

 Denver with the Princeton party to observe the total eclipse of 1878. 

 Several other partial eclipses and transits of Mercury, and a large 

 number of star-occultations, were observed by him from time to time ; 

 and in December, 1882, he terminated the astronomical labor of more 

 than fifty years by observing with great care and interest the transit 

 of Venus. 



But Professor Alexander's special forte was hardly that of an 

 observer. As has been said, he had neither the instruments nor the 

 opportunities for regular and consecutive observations of any kind ; 

 nor had he probably the mechanical taste and skill, or the physical 

 strength and endurance, necessary to distinguished success in that sort 

 of work. He was, however, very anxious to obtain the means for 

 a careful study of the Nebulos, for which, of course, a great telescope 

 is indispensable. Accordingly he spared no efforts to obtain such an 

 instrument, with a corresponding observatory. The undertaking was 

 a difficult one, but before he retired from his professorship he saw 



