104 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



put trust in him or in the Presidents of our Astro- 

 nomical and Royal Societies, or whether, lastly, the 

 sufficient cause was not brought before the Govern- 

 ment with proper earnestness. Let the explanation be 

 what it may, the fact remains England lias been 

 exhibited to all the nations as turning her back on 

 science, and English men of science have been dis- 

 credited before the world as unworthy of England's 

 confidence. 



But now news comes that the Government of the 

 United States has not only found means of transport 

 for two American parties, but has made the handsome 

 grant of 6,000, to furnish suitable appliances for ob- 

 serving the eclipse. The American men of science 

 have reached England. They recognize the pitiable 

 condition to which our astronomers have been reduced 

 by the Government, and they invite our sixty-eight 

 volunteers to sail with them. A letter has been sent 

 to these volunteers, inviting them, in the name of the 

 American expeditionary parties, to accept this much- 

 needed assistance. The offer is most generous ; it is 

 most inviting ; it is one which no astronomer is justi- 

 fied in declining on account of sentimental considera- 

 tions. But it certainly is a new and a painful position 

 for an English man of science to be placed in, thus to 

 find scientific alms offered him as a reparation for the 

 insult he has, in effect, received from his own Govern- 

 ment. 



