August 3, 1882] 



NA TURE 



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outfit of astronomical observatories. Since Tycho Brahe - 

 built his great establishment at Uraniburg, astronomical 

 research has been associated in the public mind with lofty 

 observatories and great telescopes. Whenever a monarch 

 has desired to associate his name with science, he has de- 

 signed an observatory proportional to the magnitude of 

 his ambition, fitted it out with instruments on a corre- 

 sponding scale, and then rested in serene satisfaction. 

 If we measure greatness by cubic yards, then Peter the 

 Great and " Le Grand Monarque " were the founders of 

 two of the greatest observatories ever built. That of St. 

 Petersburg was completed in 1725, the year of Peter's 

 death, and was an edifice of two hundred and twenty-five 

 feet front, with central towers one hundred and forty feet 

 high. It had three tiers of galleries on the outside for 

 observation, and was supplied with nearly every instru- 

 ment known to the astronomers of the time, without refer- 

 ence to the practicability of finding observers to use them. 

 It was nearly destroyed by fire in 1747, but was partially 

 rebuilt, and now forms part of the building occupied by 

 the Imperial Academy of Sciences. The Paris Observa- 

 tory, built half a century earlier, still stands, its massive 

 walls and arched ceilings reminding one rather of a fortress 

 than of an astronomical institution. 



Notwithstanding the magnificence of these structures, 

 they have had little essential connection with the progress 

 of astronomy. It is true that the work done at both 

 establishments takes a prominent place in the history of 

 science, but most of it could have been done equally well 

 under wooden sheds erected for the protection of the 

 instruments from the weather. In recent times, the St. 

 Petersburg Observatory has been found so unsuitable for 

 its purpose that no observation of real value can be made, 

 and its existence has been nearly forgotten. The great 

 building at Paris, though associated with a series of 

 astronomical researches second to none in the world, has 

 really served scarcely any other purpose than those of a 

 physical laboratory, store-house, and offices. The more 

 important observations have always been made in the 

 surrounding garden, or in inexpensive wings or other 

 structures erected for the purpose. 



With these establishments it will be instructive to com- 

 pare the Greenwich Observatory. The latter has never 

 won the title of great. It was originally established on 

 the most modest scale, for the special purpose of making 

 such observations as would conduce to the determination 

 of the longitude at sea. Although it has now entered 

 upon its third century, no attempt has ever been made to 

 reconstruct it on a grand scale. Whenever any part of it 

 was found insufficient for its purpose, new rooms were 

 built for the special object in view, and thus it has been 

 growing from the beginning by a process as natural and 

 simple as that of the growth of a tree. Even now, the 

 money value of its structure is less than that of several 

 other public observatories, although it eclipses them all in 

 the results of its work. Haeckel lays it down as a general 

 law of research that the amount of original investigation 

 actually prosecuted by a scientific institution is inversely 

 proportional to its magnitude. Although this may be re- 

 garded as a humorous exaggeration, it teaches what the 

 history of science shows to be a valuable lesson. 



A glance at the number and work of the astronomical 

 observatories of the present time will show how great a 

 waste of means has been suffered in their erection and 

 management. The last volume of the American Ephe- 

 meris contains a list of nearly 150 observatories, sup- 

 posed to be, or to have recently been, in a state of " astro- 

 nomical activity." The number omitted because they 

 have lain inactive it is impossible to estimate ; but it is 

 not unlikely that, in this country at least, they are as 

 numerous as those retained. It is safe to say that nearly 

 everything of considerable value which has been done by 

 all these establishments could have been better done by 

 two or three well-organised observatories in each of the 



principal civilised countries. Indeed, if we leave out of 

 account local benefits, such as the distribution of time, the 

 instruction of students, and the entertainment of the 

 public, it will be found that nearly all the astronomical 

 researches of really permanent value have been made at 

 a very small number of these institutions. The most 

 useful branck of astronomy has hitherto been that which, 

 treating of the positions and motions of the heavenly 

 bodies, is practically applied to the determination of geo- 

 graphical positions on land and at sea. The Greenwich 

 Observatory has, during the past century, been so far the 

 largest contributor in this direction as to give rise to the 

 remark that, if this branch of astronomy were entirely 

 lost, it could be reconstructed from the Greenwich obser- 

 vations alone. During the past twenty years the four 

 observatories at Greenwich, Pulkowa, Paris, and Wash- 

 ington have been so far the largest contributors to what 

 we may call geometrical astronomy that, in this particular 

 direction, the work of the hundred others, in the northern 

 hemisphere at least, can be regarded only as subsidiary. 



This remark, it will be understood, applies only to that 

 special branch of astronomy which treats of the positions 

 and motions of the heavenly bodies. The other great 

 branch of the science treats of the aspect and physical 

 constitution of these bodies. It dates from the invention 

 of the telescope, because, without this instrument and its 

 accessories, no detailed study of the heavenly bodies is 

 possible. The field open to the telescope has, during the 

 last twenty years, been immensely widened by the intro- 

 duction of the spectroscope, the ultimate results of which 

 it is scarcely possible to appreciate. Photography has re- 

 cently been introduced as an accessory to both instru- 

 ment's ; but this is not so much an independent instrument 

 of research as a means of recording the results of the 

 spectroscope and telescope. To this branch of the sci- 

 ence a great number of observatories, public and private, 

 have duly contributed, but, as we shall presently see, the 

 ratio of results to means is far less than it would have 

 been had their work all been done on a well-organised 

 system. 



Nearly all great public observatories have hitherto 

 been constructed for the purpose of pursuing the first 

 branch of the science— that which concerns itself, so to 

 speak, with the geometry of the heavens. This was 

 naturally the practice before the spectroscope opened up 

 so new and rich a field. Even now there is one sound 

 reason for adhering to this practice,— namely, that physical 

 investigations, however made, must be the work of indi- 

 viduals rather than of establishments. There is no need 

 of a great and expensive institution for the prosecution of 

 spectroscopic observations. The man of genius with im- 

 perfect instruments will outdo the man of routine in the 

 greatest building, with the most perfect appliances that 

 wealth can supply. The combination of qualities which 

 insures success in such endeavours is so rare that it is 

 never safe to count upon securing it. Hence, even now, 

 a great observatory for the prosecution of physical research 

 whould be a somewhat hazardous experiment, unless the 

 work it was to do were well mapped out beforehand. 



Considering the great mass of observatories devoted to 

 geometrical astronomy, the first thing to strike the pro- 

 fessional student of their work is their want of means for 

 a really useful and long-continued activity ; and this not- 

 withstanding that their instrumental equipment may be 

 all that could be required. The reason is that their foun- 

 ders have not sufficiently taken into account the fact that 

 the support of astronomers and the publication of obser- 

 vations is necessary to the usefulness of such an establish- 

 ment, and requires a much larger endowment than the 

 mere outfit of the building. Let us take, for instance, 

 that omnipresent and most useful instrument, the meridian 

 circle. Four or five of these instruments, of moderate 

 size, located in good climates, properly manned, under 

 skilful superintendence, working in co-operation with each 



