A S I I. V I! K K 1) U L A S S T K I. K S C O 1' K 



41 



the >lit either opposite- to or ulx>ve c. A catch at/ prevents the shutter recoiling. 

 Tin- sensitive plate is put inside the box as usual in a plate-holder. "When a photo- 

 graph is taken, the spring shutter is drawn up so that the lower nick in the edge 

 of the quadrant is entered liy the ]>in < , nnd the inside of the oamera obscured. 

 The front slide of the plateholder is then removed in the usual manner, and the 

 solar image being brought into proper position by the aid of the telescope finder, 

 the trigger retaining i> touched, the .shutter tlies past e, and the sensitive plate may 

 then be remo\e<l to be developed. 



To avoid the very short exposure needed when a silvered mirror of 188 square 

 inches of surface is used, 1 ha\e taken many solar photographs with an unsilvered 

 mirror, which only reflects according to Bouguer '', per cent, of the light falling 

 upon it, and should permit an exposure :>"i times as long as the silvered mirror. 

 This is the first time that a plain glass mirror has been used for such a purpose, 

 although Sir John llerschel .suggested it for observation many years ago. But 

 eventually this application of the misihered mirror had to he abandoned. It has, 

 it is true, the advantage of reducing the light and heat, hut I found that the moment 

 the glass was exposed to the Sun, it commenced to change in figure, and alter in 

 focal length. This latter difficult), which sometimes amounts to half an inch, 

 renders it well nigh impossible to find the focal plane, and retain it while taking 

 out the ground glass, and putting in the sensitive plate. If tin- glass were supported 

 by a ring around the edge, and the back left more freely exposed to the air, the 

 difficulty would lx- lessened hut not avoided, for a glass"mirror can be raised to 120 

 I . on a hot day by putting it in the sunshine, though only resting on a few points. 

 Other means of reducing the light and heat, depending on the same principle, can 

 however be used. By replacing the silvered diagonal mirror with a black glass or 

 plain unsilvered surface, as suggested by Nasmyth, the trouble sensibly disappears. 



I have in this way secured not only macula? and their penumbra 1 , but also have 

 obtained faculo? almost invisible to observation. On some occasions, too, the precipi- 

 tate-like or minute flocculent appearance on the Sun's disk was perceptible. 



It seems, however, that the best means of acquiring fine results with solar photo- 

 graphy, would be to use the telescope as a Cassegranian, and produce an image so 

 much enlarged, that the exposure would not have to be conducted with such rapidity. 

 Magnifying the image by an eyepiece would in a general way have the same result, 

 but in that case the photographic advantages of the reflector would be lost, and it 

 would be no better than an achromatic. 



4. THE OBSERVATORY. 



This section is divided into a, The Building ; b, The Dome ; and c, The Observer's 



Chair. 



. 



a. The Building. 



The Observatory is on the top of a hill, 225 feet above low water mark, and is 

 in Latitude 40 59' 25" north, and Longitude 73 52' 25" west from Greenwich, 

 according to the determinations of the Coast Survey. It is near the village of 

 Hastings-upon-Hudson, and is about 20 miles north of the city of New York. The 



6 July. 1861. 



