!28 



NATURE 



[August 3, 1882 



other, would do everything necessary for the department 

 of research to which they are applicable, and a great deal 

 more than is to be expected from all the meridian circles 

 of the world, under the conditions in which they are 

 actually placed. They could, within the first five years, 

 make several independent determinations of the funda- 

 mental data of astronomy, including the positions and 

 motions of several hundred of the brighter fixed stars. 

 In five years more they could extend their activity so as 

 to fix the position of every star in the heavens visible to 

 the naked eye ; and, during the ten years following, could 

 prepare such a catalogue of telescopic stars as there is no 

 prospect of our seeing during the next half-century. 



There are probably not less than twenty meridian circles 

 in this country alone, most of them antiquated, it is true, 

 yet, so far as average size and cost are concerned, amply 

 sufficient for the work in question. How many there may 

 be in other countries it is impossible to estimate, but 

 probably fifty or upward, and the number is everywhere 

 constantly increasing. Should we seek out what they are 

 doing, we should probably find half of them rusting in 

 idleness upon their pivots. With others some industrious 

 professor or student would be found making, unaided, a 

 series of observations to be left among the records of the 

 establishment, or immured in the pages of the Astrono- 

 mische Nachrichten, with small chance in either case of 

 ever being used. We may be sure that the solitary ob- 

 server will soon find something else to do, and leave the 

 instrument once more in idleness. Others we should find 

 employed in the occasional instruction of students, a 

 costly instrument being used where a rough and cheap 

 one, which the student could take to pieces and investi- 

 gate at pleasure, would answer a far better purpose. Yet 

 others w-e should find used in distributing time to the 

 neighbouring cities or states, or regulating chronometers 

 for the shipping of a port. I dare not guess how many 

 we should find engaged in work really requiring an 

 instrument of the finest class, and gaining results which 

 are to contribute to the astronomy of the future, but in 

 our own country there would hardly be more than three. 



The general cause of this state of things lies upon the 

 surface. It is as true in astronomy as in any other 

 department of human affairs that the best results can be 

 attained only by a careful adaptation of means to ends. 

 Failures have arisen, not from the intervention of any- 

 active opposing agency, but because observatories have 

 been founded without a clear conception of the object to 

 be attained, and therefore without the best adaptation of 

 means to ends. To b.iild an observatory before knowing 

 what it is going to do is much like designing a machine- 

 shop and putting in a large collection of improved tools 

 and machinery before concluding what the shop is to 

 make, and what are the conditions of the market open to 

 its products. Some hints on the considerations which 

 should come into play in the erection of any new observa- 

 tory may not be out of place, as pointing out the remedy 

 for the evils we have described. 



Heretofore the practice has usually been first to decide 

 upon the observatory, and to plan the building ; next to 

 provide instruments ; and lastly, to select an astronomer, 

 and with his advice, to decide what direction the activi- 

 ties of the establishment should take. This order of pro- 

 ceeding should be reversed. The first thing to be done 

 is to decide what the observatory shall be built to do. 

 The future astronomer would, of course, have a control- 

 ling voice in this decision, and should, therefore, be 

 selected in advance. One thing which it is especially 

 important to decide is to which of the two great divisions 

 of astronomical research attention shall principally be 

 directed. If the prosecution of geometrical astronomy 

 is kept in view, the conditions of advance in that depart- 

 ment of the science must be kept in mind. The public is 

 too apt to associate astronomy with looking through a 

 telescope. That some of the greatest astronomers of 



modern times, such as Kepler, Newton, Hansen, Laplacj 

 and Leverrier scarcely ever looked through a telescope .is 

 astronomers, is not generally understood. For two thcu- 

 sand years astronomy has furnished the great geometers 

 of the world with many of their profoundest problems, 

 and thus has advanced hand in hand with mathematics. 

 It borrows its fundamental data from observation, but the 

 elaboration and development of its results taxes the 

 powers of the mathematical investigator. The work of 

 making the necessary observations is so much easier than 

 that of developing the mathematical theories to which 

 they give rise, that the latter is comparatively neglected 

 alongside the former. It is lamentable to see what a 

 collection of unused observations are found in the pages 

 of scientific periodicals, to say nothing of those which 

 have remained unpubli shed in the records of observatories. 

 Under these circumstances it is not worth while to found 

 any more observatories for the prosecution of geometrical 

 astronomy, except under special conditions. Among these 

 conditions we may enumerate the following : — 



1. The institution should have such an endowment as 

 to secure the continuous services of two or three observers, 

 and to publish at least the results of their observations in 

 a condensed form. 



2. The instruments should be of the finest class, but not 

 necessarily of large size. This is not a difficult condition 

 to fulfil, since such instruments are not very costly. One 

 reason for observing it is that it is only within the last few 

 years that the highest perfection has been attained in the 

 construction of instruments of measurement. 



If these two conditions can be really fulfilled, it is very 

 desirable to add a few more to the great number of 

 meridian circles now in existence, fur the simple reason 

 that it is easy to exceed them in perfection. It is, how- 

 ever, to be remarked that a good climate is a scientific 

 pre-requisite for the success of an observatory of any 

 kind. The value of observations is 'decidedly lessened 

 by the breaks in their continuity due to the intervention 

 of clouds. It is therefore extremely desirable that, so 

 far as possible, new observatories should hereafter be 

 erected under sunny skies. 



If an observatory is to be devoted to physical research, 

 a more modest outfit, both in the way of endowment and 

 of instrumental means, may be sufficient to serve an ex- 

 cellent purpose. Instead of being a great co-operative 

 wck, requiring the continuous labour of several persons, 

 physical research may be divided up into sections almost 

 as small as we please, each of which may be worked by 

 an individual astronomer with any instrument suited to 

 the purpose in view. To the success of such an observa- 

 tory a clear sky is even more necessary than to one 

 engaged in measurement. Whether a great telescope 

 will be necessary, will depend principally upon what is to 

 be done. The consideration which is really of the first 

 importance is the astronomer. The man who is really 

 wanted will do more with the most inexpensive instru- 

 ments than another one with the most costly ones. As 

 already remarked, physical research is mainly the work 

 of the individual, and what we want is to secure the 

 services of the ablest man and then supply him with 

 such means of research as are necessary to the problems 

 he has in view. New questions are arising so frequently, 

 and the field of physical research is now so wide, that it 

 is impossible to lay down any general rules for a physical 

 observatory, except that means should be furnished for 

 supplying the investigator with any instrument be may 

 want. 



A third class of observatories are those intended for 

 instruction in astronomy. The requirements in this direc- 

 tion are so different from those necessary to research that 

 it is impossible to combine the highest efficiency in both 

 directions with the use of the same instruments. The 

 number of observatories especially designed for pure 

 instruction are very few in number. The instruments 



