54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



and Dr. Minot at Harvard. Who can measure the scientifif' influence that 

 has gone out from these four men at Leland Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Chicago 

 and Harvard. The stamp of the method and spirit of Louis Agassiz is upon 

 every one of them and upon their followers. 



When the methods of Darwdn and Agassiz became throughly established 

 in the schools, the progress of scientific thought became rapid. Every line 

 of science felt the impress of this method of study. The response Avas quick 

 and certain. To show what progress has really been made it will be necessary 

 to consider some of the leading subjects. 



I. At>TRO\OMY. 



At the beginning of the century under consideration the greatest activity 

 was in Germany. There was not an observatory in the southern hemisphere, 

 neither were there any in the United States. Sir William Herschel was just 

 closing his remarkable career as an astronomer. He made for himself the 

 first large telescopes and Axith them searched the heavens so thoroughly and 

 with such keen vision that a new and clearer conception of tlie sleHar universe 

 was given to the world. Herschel with LaPlace laid such a foundation for 

 astronomical observation and research that the future study went forwrrd 

 with rapid strides. Uranus had been discovered in ITS! and the asteroids 

 were being discovered. Before very much more could l)c don.' il \v;is necessyry 

 to establish observatories, in order that greater accuracy might he se( urcd. 



In 1S21, the first one in the Soutliern llemisijjiere was established ul 

 I'arramatta in New South Wales. In 1S29 one was built at Cape ol" (lood 

 Hope, in ISfjS one at Cordova in Spain and the Harvard Observ.Aorv in 

 1881 at Arequipa in Peru for studying the spectra of the southern stars. H 

 seems that the American 01)servatories l)egan witii the Cincinnati ()bserv;:.t()ry 

 under Professor Mitchell about 1845. Since then numerous and wi 11 equipi)e(l 

 observatories have been established in the leading centers of Europe, such as 

 Potsdam, Kensington, Paris, Berlin and (Jreenwich, and in the United Slates 

 at Washington, the Lick, Yerkes, Mt. Wilson and Harvard. The United 

 States at i)resent holds about the position that Gernuiny did at the beginning 

 of the century. 



In 181() no refracting telescopes with the object glass larger than si.\ 

 inches had ever been made. Herschel had, however, made a reflecting tele- 

 scope with a mirror four feet in diameter as early as 1801. 



In 1824 Fraunhofer made an object glass 9.9 inches for tlie Dorpal ()!)- 

 servatory in Russia. This was regarded as a "giant." In IKHi, one fifteen 

 inches in diameter was made for the Pulkow'a Observatory in Russia and 

 about 1S43 one was supplied to Harvard College. In bSO"). Thomas (^ooke of 

 York, England, completed one twenty-five inches in diameter, then Alvan 

 Clarke of Cambridge, U. S. commenced one twenty-six inches in diameter for 

 llie Wasliington observatory, and in 1877 one tliirly-'^ix inches for the Lick 

 Ob.servalory and in 18'.»2 one forty inches for the Yerkes Ohserxalory. 



