ii6 RAMBLES AND REVERIES. 



constructed, which, if not already in its place, soon 

 will be ; but even this splendid instrument will 

 leave England behind America and Russia in the 

 matter of telescopes. There is a piece of mechanism 

 in this room by means of which the object-glass 

 of the telescope can be taken out, cleaned, and 

 restored to its cell, without being touched by a 

 finger. A triumph of mechanical skill, it almost 

 seemed to live. This equatorial is used by Mr. 

 Maunder for spectroscopic work, and the visitors 

 were gratified by seeing the solar spectrum through 

 the six-inch spectroscope. Faint and incomplete 

 though it was by reason of the obscurity of the 

 sky, yet what a beautiful vision it was, and how 

 the spectacle threw one's thoughts back through 

 the wonderful stages of the history of solar physics 

 to the time when Newton in his dark room first 

 stood entranced before the analysis of the sunbeams 

 which were thrown upon the screen by his rude 

 prism ! 



The equatorial is worked by a wonderful water 

 clock, whose curious S-shaped turbine, by the 

 action of the water, sets up mechanical movements 

 that keep the telescope upon the star, notwith- 

 standing its apparent motion. 



There were also chronometers in scores, thermo- 

 meters for the registration of maximum and 

 minimum heat and dew-point, barometers, glass 

 globes for measuring the quantity of sunshine, 

 which looked as if they had not had much to do 

 lately j photographic apparatus, chiefly for the 

 purpose of recording the history of the sun, for 



