NATURE 



497 



THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1872 



A PHYSICAL OBSERVATORY 

 T the last meeting of the Astronomical Society, a 



A' 



paper was read by Lieut.-Colonel Strange on " The 

 Insufficiency of existing National Observatories." The 

 title is perhaps suggestive of an attack on Greenwich, but 

 this idea the paper at once dispels, the Royal Observa- 

 tory, and the administration of its eminent director, being 

 spoken of throughout in terms of the strongest approval, 

 in which all astronomers must join. 



The aim of the writer was to show that, though Green- 

 wich provides most efficiently and amply for the elder 

 Astronomy, it is now time for us to consider whether her 

 younger sister should not also be permanently provided 

 for. When Greenwich was founded the Physics of Astro- 

 nomy, which now attract so much attention, had no exis- 

 tence. This department of science is entirely of modern 

 growth ; but it has already attained such wide proportions 

 and so deep a significance that it cannot any longer with 

 propriety be left to the chance cultivation of individual 

 zeal. In putting forward these ideas. Colonel Strange has 

 only given expression to what has been for some time in 

 the thoughts of every one interested in astronomy and its 

 correlated sciences. He is right in pointing out to the 

 Astronomical Society that in this direction its influence 

 can and ought now to be exerted. And he gives two very 

 cogent reasons why this should be done at once. First, 

 that the system of photoheliography, which has for some 

 years been carried on at Kew by the zeal of individuals, 

 and partly maintained by private means, has now been 

 brought to a close. Second, that the Royal Commission 

 on Science being now at work on the question of the ad- 

 vancement of science, the present opportunity is very 

 favourable for bringing this matter forcibly before Govern- 

 ment through that body — an opportunity which will pro- 

 bably not recur in a generation. 



The discussion on the paper, as might be expected, 

 was prolonged and animated. The Astronomer Royal, 

 who spoke several times, was doubtful whether the ob- 

 ject for which such an observatory was sought to be 

 founded was sufficiently "secular" to ensure success; 

 but on its being urged with great force and truth by 

 Mr. De La Rue and Captain Toynbee — both connected 

 officially with the Meteorological Office — that the study 

 of the sun, as had been insisted on by Colonel Strange 

 in his paper, must greatly aid meteorological research, 

 Mr. Airy candidly admitted that if that pretension can 

 be made good, there will exist a claim on behalf of 

 Meteorology for the establishment of a Physical Ob- 

 servatory, similar to, and as " secular " as, that on 

 behalf of Navigation on which Greenwich was founded. 



It is certainly a httle disheartening to find a great 

 leader in science insisting so much on direct utilitarianism 

 as the sole basis of national science, and withholding his 

 testimony to the enormous moral and intellectual benefits 

 of philosophical research, and even omitting all considera- 

 tion of the indirect material results which have invariably 

 followed vigorous and systematic study of natural phe- 

 nomena of whatever kind. The average Englishman is 

 prone enough to hug what in his untaught stupidity he 



VOL. V. 



calls " practical ideas," and will not be improved by 

 being told by one of the first of living philosophers 

 that such ideas are the standard by which he should 

 measure every proposal for advancement. But it is im- 

 possible to suppose that these are the ideas which the 

 Astronomer Royal will on mature reflection apply to the 

 question before us, when deliberately presented to him 

 with a view to action. 



It is to be hoped, indeed, that the late discussion will 

 be followed by action. Our Royal Astronomical Society 

 should be the acknowledged head of modern astronomical 

 activity. It has higher functions to perform than those 

 on which its energies have been rather too exclusively 

 exercised — the reading, discussing, and publishing of 

 detached dissertations. It should from time to time take 

 stock of the territory it occupies, in order to see what 

 encroachments need fencing off and what expansions 

 are required. And, above all, it should constitute itself 

 more than it does the guide and encouraging counsellor 

 of the Government in matters which it must understand 

 better than they. We hope to sec it awake to its moral 

 obligations in regard to the most important matter which 

 has been so opportunely submitted to it. We do not 

 hesitate to say that if by its interposition a well-equipped 

 Observatory for Physical purposes should be established, 

 this will be the greatest service it will have ever conferred 

 on Astronomy, and not on Astronomy only, but on a vast 

 sphere of scientific inquiry, not obviously, but still indis- 

 putably, connected therewith. 



In Meteorology such an observatory would ultimately, 

 if not immediately, create a revolution. Instead of the 

 dreary columns of thermometer readings piled upon us 

 by well-meaning but aimless industry, we shall see men of 

 thought labouring to refer to the great source of all energy, 

 the great maintainer of all harmony, the great exciter of 

 all variation — to the sun itself — those phenomena, at 

 present the most difficult in the universe to interpret, 

 which hitherto it has been assumed that any one with 5/. 

 to spend on " a complete set of meteorological instru- 

 ments " can help to elucidate. 



Should the want now spoken of be made apparent to 

 those who can supply it, there will be several important 

 preliminary questions to deal with, such as (i) What 

 should be the scope of such an observatory ? (2) Should 

 it be engrafted on Greenwich, or be independent ? 

 (3) Should Meteorology and Magnetism be engrafted on 

 it and severed from existing connections ? (4) Should 

 a system of sun observations — the primary, though, of 

 course, not the sole object of such an observatory — be ex- 

 tended to India and other British possessions, so as to 

 ensure that continuity of facts on which Messrs. De La 

 Rue, Balfour Stewart, and Loewy have laid so much 

 stress in their striking memoirs on Solar Physics recently 

 communicated to the Royal Society .? 



LANKESTER'S PHYSIOLOGY 

 Practical Pltysiology ; hcin^a Scliool Manual of Health, 

 £~v. By Edwin Lankester, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. Fifth 

 Edition. Pp. 152. (London: Hard wicke, 1872.) 



THE new title adopted by Dr. Lankester for this little 

 work is somewhat misleading. It has nothing to 

 do with Practical or Experimental Physiology, the sub- 



D D 



