in Jamestown, New York. J. N. Fradenburgh, 

 historian of the Erie Conference, begins his sketch of 

 Peate's life with the phrase, "Who has not heard of 

 John Peate?"* 



In 1859 Peate journeyed to Europe, visiting Eng- 

 land and Ireland, and making a walking tour of 

 western Europe and the Middle East. His biog- 

 rapher Fradenburgh hints that his interest in as- 

 tronomy was aroused on this trip. In any event, 

 upon his return home, he took up the study of 

 the science. His fellow minister, R. N. Stubbs re- 

 ported that "his library reveals that difficult and ab- 

 struse works became his delight." At some point in 

 the perusal of these "abstruse works," Peate decided 

 to concentrate on that basic tool, the telescope. It 

 is possible that he first made a telescope, as many 

 amateurs do, to advance himself in the study of 

 astronomy, and only after completing it realized that 

 his primary interest lay in the instruments rather than 

 in the theoretical science. His natural aptitude for 

 craftsmanship probably exerted a strong influence in 

 this decision. 



His first instrument was a 3-inch refractor which 

 he made and mounted for his own use. This was 

 about 1870. He next made either a 6-inch refractor 

 or a 6-inch reflector, or perhaps both. One of these, 

 if there were two, was mounted by Peate for use at 

 Chautauqua and Jamestown, New York, and then 

 used in his own observatory at Greenville. After his 

 death it was taken to Salina, Kansas, by W. F. Hoyt, 

 for a small observatory there. ^ 



Thereafter Peate made reflectors exclusively. It 

 is possible that he was influenced by the treatise on 

 the making of silvered glass reflectors, by Dr. Henry 

 Draper, published by the Smithsonian Institution 

 in 1865, a work which led to a great improvement 

 in the construction of reflectors in this country.*^ 



Attempts to trace Peate's mirrors have been 

 singularly inconclusive. A 7-inch reflector sent to 

 India was still in use in 1903.^ A 12-inch reflector 

 made for "Harriman University, Tennessee," was 

 evidently mounted, but no record even of the ob- 

 servatory has been found at the present time [1936].' 



^ Fradenburgh, op. cit. (footnote 2), p. 204. 



s Preston, p. 130, n. 10; p. 131, n. 19; p. 148. 



8 "On the Construction of a Silvered Glass Telescope, Fif- 

 teen and a Half Inches in Aperture, and its Use in Celestial 

 Photography," Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. 14, 

 art. 3, iv + 55 pp., 1865 (reprinted in vol. 34 as art. 2, 1904). 



'Preston, p. 148. From an article in the Greenville, Pa., 

 Record Argus, December 17, 1903. 



A 15-inch mirror in a reflector located at Allegheny 

 College in 1935 was probably made by Peate, 

 although the College records do not show its origin, 

 nor do they mention a 30.5-inch mirror which Peate 

 was making for Allegheny College in 1891, according 

 to an article in The Scientific American.^ Definitely 

 Peate's was a 22-inch reflector found in about 1935, 

 still in its packing case, at Thiel College, Greensville, 

 Pennsylvania.'" 



Altogether, 10 lenses and mirrors (sometimes also 

 described as "lenses") have been traced. As many 

 as 20 were ascribed to him by some sources at the 

 time of his death. Of these only his magnum opus, 

 the 62-inch mirror now in the Smithsonian Institution, 

 can now be found. Most of them seem never to 

 have been used, but this is not necessarily an indi- 

 cation of defects in the instruments. As our con- 

 sideration of the 62-inch mirror will show, Peate 

 was a competent maker. Nor is it a consequence of 

 his being an amateur. Many of the large telescopes 

 in the world in the mid-nineties had lenses and 

 mirrors made by two other Americans, John Brashear 

 and Alvin Clark, who, like Peate, entered telescope 

 making as amateurs." But they had the fortune 

 to become associated with well known professional 

 astronomers. Peate may have erred in presenting 

 his reflectors to institutions unable to finance their 

 installation. Perhaps his error was in presenting 

 rather than selling them. 



We come now to Dr. Peate's greatest mirror, the 

 62-inch reflector. In September 1893 the annual 

 meeting of the Erie Conference was held at Dubois, 

 Pennsylvania. This was to be Dr. Peate's last meet- 

 ing as an active minister. In 1894 he would become 

 a supernumerary, a position of semiretirement, after 

 which he would retire. In order to honor the old 

 ininister and to mark the opening of a new Method- 

 ist university, American University, at Washington, 

 D.C., it was decided to commission Peate to make a 

 telescope mirror for the school. This was to be no 

 ordinary reflector but the largest in the world. 



While the facts surrounding this commission and 

 its accomplishinent are astounding in themselves it 

 has inspired an even more remarkable legend, which, 

 although rather unjust to the ability and good sense 



* Preston, p. 148. In 1960 it was further learned that an 

 "American Temperance" college or university once existed 

 at Harriman. 



9 Scientific American, October 24, 1891, vol. 65, p. 260. 



'« Communication from Thiel College, Preston, p. 131, n. 17 



^^ Popular Astronomy, July 1898, vol. 6, p. 310. 



172 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



