382 DORPAT AND POULKOVA 



wliose brown woodwork and cream-colored stucco resting upon liglit sandstone 

 foundations, contrast as beautifully with January's snows as with the fresh 

 green of June. One should visit the Peter's stone and the quiet grave-yard, and 

 linger in this beautiful park before entering the observatory. Under the noble 

 elms the village peasants spend many a summer holiday ; here travellers stop to 

 rest and lunch, and enjoy the view, and of a pleasant afternoon the observator}- 

 families may be seen dining and chatting over cotFee or tea — all enjoying the 

 luxury of that open air life that Europeans, and especially the Germans, indulge 

 in so heartily. 



Struve's appreciation of the beautiful is seen not only at every step of our 

 walk throu2fh the grounds and in the exterior of the buildings, but as pleasantly 

 impresses one on entering within. Whether we consider the director's cosy 

 study or the elegant proportions of the airy observing rooms; whether we visit 

 the magnificent library or the unique portrait gallery of the central rotunda ; 

 or study the details of the iustnmients, or the methods of using them, every- 

 where is appropriate symmetry, harmony and beauty. But leavbig for the present 

 the material structure, every detail of which is so minutely recorded in Stmve's 

 *' Description de I'Obsen^atoire," let us first consider that which is of prime 

 importance to the interests of science. 



The inner organization of any institution should depend not only upon the 

 nature of the material, but equally upon the conditions and natm'e of the work 

 to be ])erformed. The variet}^ of the demands made upon the Royal Observatory 

 at Greenwich, and the imperative call for daily and annual results, as well as the 

 singleness of the object kept in view, have necessitated a simplified daily routine, 

 and a regulated organization of all the working forces ; so that the director 

 holds in his hand a control over the minutest detail of operations; only thus could 

 all demands bo met with unfailing regularity. At Paris, but only to a slight 

 extent at Washington, a similar course has l)een imposed. The value of the 

 regular annual publication of reduced observations is seen, not only in the useful- 

 ness of these lai-ger observatories, l>ut also in tliat of smaller ones, such as those 

 at Berlin, Konigsberg, Brussels, Dorpat,' Oxford, Edinburg, Mailras, &c., and 

 the arrangement by which Poulkova could have published annual volumes of 

 results, would perhaps have been effected by Struve, had not his small force 

 and the diversion of their labors into various channels hindered the execution of 

 this portion of the duties of the institution, until it became apparent that the 

 observations could only be properly published when the distinct work to which 

 they belonged should be completed, and when the diverse parts of each could 

 be framed into an individual consistent whole. 



Thus there came to be impressed more and more deeply upon the observatory a 

 prominent trait in Struve's own character, who working always with energies con- 

 centrated upon the matter in hand, preferred, if possible, to bring each special work 

 to a si)eedy conclusion, that it might be given to the world, an-anged as a syste- 

 matic treatise or investigation. "A definite aim Imng presented, its attainment 

 should mark the proper time for pul)lication." This principle is not entirely 

 inconsistent with the custom of annually publishing the various successive por- 

 tions of the work in hand ; indeed, even the publication of unreduced observa- 

 tions is valuable, both as making them accessible, and as an evidence of life and 

 activity. But loving, as Struve did, general and comprehensive views, and 

 believing that the advance of astronomy was marked by investigations and 

 memoirs, and not by observations alone, being measured by generations of men, 

 and not by single years, this publication of annual fragments seemed only a 

 deceitful appearance of progress and advancing knowledge; the preliminary 

 results to be expected from his new instruments, even if 'desired as being in their 

 crudeness better than the most of those accessible to astronomers, ought to be 

 withheld until, after severe investigation, they could be presented to the world as 

 the best results the instruments could vield. This train of thought and the 



