146 



MEMORIAL OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



[1S53. 



There are other reasons why, at the present time, this colony 

 should cordially accept the office to which it is called. In such 

 an establishment as a national observatory, are the elempnts of 

 the truest claims to national respect. Shall the British colonies 

 acquiesce in the sentiment so often lurking in the minds of those 

 with whom they have to deal in public or private relations ; that 

 a colony is by necessity a place of rude abundance indeed, and 

 a liberty which trenches upon license, but where the refinements 

 of life, the pleasui-es of the intellect, and the pursuits which lead 

 to other distinction than that of wealth, can never be naturalized ? 

 To be respected abroad, we must respect oureelves, and seize with 

 no timid or reluctant hand each occasion, as it arises, for display- 

 ing an enlarged and enlightened public feeling. We fancy that 

 were the claims of the colonies to a perfect equality of social 

 position with imperial Britain once cordially admitted, we should 

 have much less of unaginary political grievances ; but to attain 

 this, we have to prove a right by measures which the consent of 

 the civDized world receives as true indices of the advancement of 

 a community. The observatory at Toronto may be obscure or 

 distinguished, — a vigorous mainspring to a thousand scientific 

 impulses, — or a mere machine for tracing a tame routine : this 

 must depend upon its system and upon its head, aud especially 

 upon the measure of public liberality dealt to it. But what 

 we contend for is, Canada deserves to have an observatory ; 

 can maintain, and can appreciate one. Its success, which time 

 alone can test, and which no knowledge or ability at its head can 

 render palpable to every one ft-om the first, must be gained by 

 degrees ; nor will any delay in the production of scientific results 

 of importance detract from the credit which wiU be justly due 

 to the Canadian public for the formation and maintenance of 



such an establishment. 



No. 1. 

 From, Dr. Lloyd, President of the Rotjal Irish Academy^ to 

 the Earl of Basse, P. R. S. 

 Teinitt College, Dublin, Nov. 13th, 1850. 

 Dear Lord Rosse, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of 

 your Lordship's letter, in which you do me the honour to ask 

 my opinion on the question of the continuance of the Magnetical 

 Observatory at Toronto. 



I have long thought that the present state of some of the 

 sciences connected with terresb'ial physics demanded a continuous 

 system of observation; aud thei'efore the establishment of 

 perrnanent observatories for their effective advancement: and I 

 believe that I could easily cite, in support of this opinion, the 

 authority of Humboldt, Herschel, Kupffer, and others. 



I ventured to urge this view at the Magnetical Conference 

 held at Cambridge a few years ago, under the auspices of the 

 British Association ; and I believe it was in the hope of carrying 

 it out in this particular instance that it was resolved to recommend 

 to Her Majesty's Government to continue the obsen'atory at 

 Toronto for a limited time, in the hope that before the close of 

 the period arrangements might be made with some of the 

 colonial institutions to take it up. 



I am not aware what steps have been taken to cany out this 

 object, or whether they have been taken and failed. Should the 

 latter be the case, the question is of course altered ; but, even in 

 that case, I would venture to suggest the importance of the tem- 

 porary continuance of the observatory on its present footing for 

 some time longer, if it were only to carry out to its completion 

 the trial of the self-registering of magnetical and met€orological 



instruments, by photographical processes, which has been insti- 

 tuted there on so large a scale. 



The two methods which have been proposed for that purpose 

 (and of which the importance has been recognized by Her 

 Majesty's Government, by the bestowal of liberal pecuniaiy 

 rewards), are both in operation at Toronto, and under the direc- 

 tion of Captain Lefroy, an officer who is able to give them the 

 fullest trial, as well as to improve and perfect them, so that an 

 experiment of great importance to physical science would proba- 

 bly be interrupted and lead to no conclusion if the observatory 

 were now to be discontinued. 



For these and other reasons I believe that it is desirable that 

 an application should be made to Her Majesty's Government, 

 requesting them to direct the continuance of the Magnetical 

 Observatory at Toronto for some time longer, in case that none 

 of the local institutions ai-e in a condition to undertake its 

 management. 



I remain, dear Lord Rosse, yours very faithfully. 

 The Earl of Rosse, &c. H. LLOYD. 



No. 2. 

 From Sir John Herschel, Bart., to the Earl of Rosse, P.R.S. 

 32, Harlet Street, Dec. 28th, 1850. 



My Dear Lord Rosse, — I entirely agi-ee in the view taken 

 by Dr. Lloyd, relative to the Toronto Observatory. It has 

 become, from the fine series of observations already made there, 

 a local centre of reference for the magnetic and meteorological 

 observations of the whole of Canada and Northern America, 

 of the gTeatest importance. If continued, whether under the 

 Canadian Government alone, or aided by the Home Government, 

 it would become the national obser\"ator3', the centre of diffusion 

 of astronomical and of all exact scientific enquiry, and the zero 

 point of a future trigonometrical survey. 



If only temporarily continued, the working out of the recently 

 adopted methods of photogTapLie registry would form a very 

 valuable contribution to the progress of those new methods which 

 promise to supereede all othei-s, both in point of exactness and 

 economy ; and I think it would be very desirable, if so continued, 

 that some attempt should be made, pendente, to influence the 

 colonial authorities definitively to take it up. Perhaps this might 

 be done, on condition of another three years' continuance ; I mean 

 that it might be granted, provided a pledge could be obtained 

 from the colonial authorities that it should afterwards be a 

 colonial establishment. 



I remain, my dear Lord, yours very truly, 



" J. F. W. HERSCHEL. 



No. 3. 



From the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to the 



Earl of Rosse, P.R.S. 



Cambridge, U. S^ Nov. 25th, 1850. 



My Lord, — The undersigned, a committee of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, have been directed to address 

 your Lordship on the subject of continuing the meteorological 

 and magnetical observations at Toronto, in Upper Canada. 



The Academy has been led more particularly to take this step 

 in consequence of the organization of a uniform system of 

 meteorological observations in the United States, under the 

 auspices of the Smithsonian Institution. Thirty-seven stations 

 have been established in the State of New York, aud twelve in 

 the State of Massachusetts, under the superintendence of one of 

 the committee (Professor Guyot) and are now in successful ope- 

 ration. It is unnecessary to say that this arrangement furnishes 

 very important means of comparison with the observations made 



