THE V--^ '/CAN OBSERX'ATORY OF TO-DAY 



Bv W. ALl'Ki:i) PARK. 



--.LTHOUGH It w::: ::.. antil comparatively recent 

 years that the ztv-.^n Observatory entered upon 

 that active ph;:.-e its existence uhich recognises 

 in it the well-' \vn and well-equipped Spccola 

 Vaticana of *'' csent day, it is. in realitw one of 

 the most ■-' Ae European institutions dedicated 

 to the s 'c- jf the heavenly science ; for its early 

 h i s t o r dates from a 

 peril'.: v, hich precedes the 

 four.aation of our own 

 na^onal observator\' at 

 ' reenwich b\- nearh' a 

 century, w bile it can claim 

 intimate connection with 

 one of the most epoch- 

 making events in the 

 annals of Astrondiiu. 

 The significant appear- 

 ance on its official seal 

 of the Ram's Head, s\ni- 

 bolical of the sun's posi- 

 tion at the vernal equino.x. 

 still serves to com- 

 memorate this event — 

 the reform of the calendar, 

 under Gregory XIII— 

 \\hicb may, indeed, hv 

 said to ba\e called the 

 observatory, as such, into 

 being, as it was the 

 famous meridian line, 

 drawn by Ignazio Danti 

 about 1580, to demon- 

 strate to the Pope that 

 the sun no longer 

 entered the sign Aries 

 on the orthodox date of 

 March 21st, assigned to it 

 by the Council of Nicaea 

 in .\.D. 3i5. that repre- 

 sented the nucleus around 

 which astronomical in- 



Tin 



l-"lGlkl. 

 Astrographic 



struments of all kinds soon collected to funn 

 the embr\-o of the present \'atican Observatory. 

 A reform of the calendar had been proposed and 

 discussed as early as 1414. but as the accumulated 

 error in Gregory's time amounted to more than 

 ten days, a circumstance which seriously affected 

 the date of Easter, the long-desired amendment, 

 projected by the Neapolitan astronomer, Lilio, 

 and more fully demonstrated by the Jesuit Clavius, 

 was established by Gregory in 15S2. who, by this 

 means, conferred a lasting e'chit on his pontificate. 

 As is well known, this reform, enforced 

 pain of excommunication " 

 Catholic workl. met with the greatest opposition in 



under 

 throughout the Roman 



those countries which did not recognise the papal 

 supremac}", and it was not adopted b\- Germany 

 until after the energetic representations of Leibnitz 

 and others in 1700, nor bv Great Britain until more 

 than half a century later, when its establishment by 

 Act of Parliament causedthemembersof thecalendar- 

 reforming government to be mobbed in the streets of 



London by the populace, 

 w ho. imagining the\- were 

 being defrauded of their 

 natural rights, noisily 

 demanded the restitution 

 ot the eleven da^•s, which, 

 l>\ that time, had to be 

 suppressed in order to 

 Sit chronological matters 

 on an accurate footing. 



Danti's meridian line 

 was contained in that 

 loft\' portion (d the 

 X'atican Palace known 

 as the Tone del Venfi, 

 and this " fiirris asfronnii 

 speciilatrix." as it was 

 referred to in the inscrip- 

 tions, remained for over 

 two centuries the onl}- 

 astronomical, as it was 

 until recenth' the princi- 

 pal meteorological, station 

 of the \'atican. The 

 output of work, however, 

 was at first but small 

 and intermittent, and 

 long periods of " repose " 

 alternated with sporadic 

 outbursts of activity, a 

 notable manifestation of 

 the latter quality occurr- 

 ing towards the end of 

 the eighteenth century, 

 when Gilii, by unremitt- 

 ing ihligeiicc ill obser\atioii. succeeded in restoring 

 some measure of prestige to the venerable institution, 

 which, it is interesting to find, had already acquired, 

 in addition to other notable instruments of 

 the period, a Dollond achromatic telescope from 

 England. Meteorological, howexer rather than 

 astninomical work now absorbed the energies 

 of the obser\ator\ . for it had been found that 

 the proximitx' of the great dome of St. Peter's 

 undul}- circumscribed its southern \-iew. thus 

 rendering the site less favourable for astronomical 

 observations than that occupied by the obser\atory 

 of the Collegio Romano, which had then but recently 

 {i.e.. in 17^7) been founded Iw Calandrelli. and 



Refractor. 



56 



