DORPAT AND POULKOVA. ' 373 



» 

 well as nortbem Geraiany, drawing to him tlie hearts and good wishes of all, 

 e.-peciallv his younger co-workers. Having seen the most renowned mechanists 

 and discussed with them the details of his new and long-hoped-for instruments, 

 be retiu-ned to the universit}' to await their arrival. Tlie Reichenbach Uni- 

 versal Insti-iunent was received in 1821, and in 1824 he began to use it in the 

 proposed geodesic operations, (in which Baron von Wrangell, of the Russian navy, 

 was his etlicient co-laborer.) This latter work was nearly completed in five years. 

 The results are found in the "Beschreibungder Breitengradmessung; Dorpat, 

 1831." The three-foot meridian circle, the mate of which was found at Konigs- 

 berg, w^as received at the observatory in 1822. Observations with it began in 

 October, the winter months being henceforth especially devoted to astronomical 

 labors. It was in this year also that officers of the army and navy began to be 

 sent to Dorpat to study practical astronomy under a man of such ability. In 

 November, 1824, the nine-inch refractor of Frauenhofer was received, and in 

 February was begun the review of the heavens, whose results were published 

 in 1827 in the "Catalogus novas generalis stellarum dupliciimiet multiplicium." 

 In this latter year it was that Professor Parrot was called from Dorpat to reside 

 at St. Petersburg as a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and almost 

 directly thereafter he was commissioned to prepare for the Academy the plans 

 for the new astronomical observatory, whose erection had long been before the 

 consideration of that body. 



The labors imposed on Dorpat during the years 1820-1830 only stirred the 

 unwearied saVant to greater undertakings, and as the work on the arc of the 

 meridian drew to a close, Struve,in 1830, presented to the Prince von Lieven, the 

 minister of public instruction, a memoir relative to the possibility of prolonging 

 this arc northwards through Finland. Simidtaneously with Struve, General Ten- 

 xier had been at work to the southward ; the junction of Tenner's and Struve's 

 work had been effected in 1828-1829, affording a meridian arc of 8° 2', which, 

 ^ by the proposed measurement of an arc of 5° 26' in Finland, could be united to 

 the work of the French astronomers in Lapland, thus completing an arc of \b^ . 

 The difficulties to be encountered in Finland promised to be' unusually great, 

 but the desirability of the work was properly represented, and the Emperor 

 Kicholas I granted at once the sum thought to be sufficient for its completion 

 within ten years. 



In the spring of this 3^ear, and in connection with the great undertaking just 

 mentioned, Struve made his fourth scientific journey, extending it to England, 

 and in December visited St. Petersburg, where he was, in January, 1831, hon- 

 ored by a personal interview with the Emperor — an interview fraught with the 

 hapi^iest consequences to the progress of astronomy in Russia. This was the 

 moment that had long been looked forward to by the director of the Dorpat 

 observatorj', who had doubtless foreseen the inevitable result that would in due 

 time flow from his labors, both as geodesist and astronomer, during the previous 

 fifteen years. Struve's admirable tact and the elocpience of his earnest sincerity 

 were ever equal to the demands of the occasion, and we cannot do better than quote 

 his own account of this interview, at which the minister of public instruction, 

 the Prince von Lieven, was the third person present : 



Having listeued lo my report upon the late scieatiiic journey, and after having graciously 

 granted an increased sum to tlio observatory of Dorpat, the Emperor condescended to put 

 to me the following questions : 



"What is your opinion of the observatory of St. Petersburg?" 



I did not hesitate to respond, in all frankness and iu accordance with the exact hath, 

 that the observatory of the Academy did not at all correspond to the present demands of 

 science, and that it partook of the nature of all the establishments of its kind placed in the 

 midst of large cities, as those of Vienna, of Berlin, »S:c., and even of Paris, Avhere the meridian 

 instruments ought to be removed from the colossal edifice constructed under the reign of 

 Louis XIV, and be placed in modest a[iartmcnts adjacent to the principal structure. 



Having listened to this reply, his Majcst}' addressed the minister of public instruction, 

 saying that he regarded the establishment of an observatory of the tirst rank near to tho 

 capital as an object of high utility and important to the scieutitic honor of Kussia. 



