APPENDIX D CV 



Mr. Lumsden also made reference to a communication from Mr. G. 

 W. Ritche}7, optician at the Yerlves' Observatory, on the subject of 

 constructing large telescopes, chiefly for photographic work. Mr. Rit- 

 chey looked forward to the construction in the near future of a large 

 reflecting telescope ten or twelve feet in aperture. Such an instrument, 

 of fifty or sixty feet focal length, could, he contended, now be success- 

 fully made, " without the slightest danger of failure," which, in a fine 

 climate, would give results immeasurably beyond any attainable at 

 present, adding that " in many kinds of work the two-foot reflector 

 (of the Yerkes Observatory) usually surpasses the forty-inch refractor/' 

 This being so, he asked, " What would a ten or twelve foot do ?" 



At the meeting of January 15th, J. A. Brashear, F.R.A.S., Chan- 

 cellor and Professor of Astronomy in the University of Western Penn- 

 sylvania and Honorary Fellow of the Society, delivered a lecture on 

 " The making of a Great Telescope." From the standpoint of a practical 

 optician, Dr. Brashear explained the various methods of " figuring " 

 and mounting the modern telescope and the difficulties to be encoun- 

 tered and overcome in the work. 



Professor DeLury, of Toronto University, imder the auspices of 

 the Society gave a series of popular lectures in the University buildings 

 on " The Cosmos as understood by the Ancients," " The development 

 of the Copernican theory," "' The Newtonian advance to Physical As- 

 tronomy," " Special consideration of the Solar System," '' La Place's' 

 Nebula.r Hypothesis and Stellar Evolution." These lectures were 

 uniformly well attended by the public and evidently appreciated by 

 all who heard them. 



At the meeting of February the 2oth Mr. J. E. Maybee presented 

 sketches of regions of the moon s surface made by him at the telescope 

 on February 19th, including Aristarchus, Herodotus and Scliroeter's 

 valley. Attention was called to the observations of Gruithensen and 

 Dr. Kline, who both claim that the region surrounded by the valley 

 or rill is strongly green in tint. 



Rev. Robt. Atkinson contributed a paper on '^'the Planets," illus- 

 trating his remarks with lantern slides, and drawing attention to the 

 features of particuhir interest from an observational standpoint. 



March 25th, Mr. A. F. Miller contributed a paper on " The 

 Spectroscope in Astronomical Research." A description of the various 

 methods of reaserch in this line was given. The investigation of sun 

 spots, facula, and the corona were touched upon, and the value of the 

 spectroscope in determining stellar motion in the line of sight, and for 

 detecting certain binary-stars, a class of bodies which, but for the 

 spectroscope, would probably have never become known. 



