368 Dr. Draper's Telescope. 



we think we are not wrong in affirming that a want of literary- 

 culture is on the whole noticeable and regrettable. It is mani- 

 fested in the little that our artists seem to learn from our poets 

 and our historians, in the poor view they so often take of life 

 and its realities, and in the tendency evinced in so many land- 

 scapes to avoid rather than to seek a comprehension of the 

 varied effects which nature produces and exhibits, and to take 

 refuge in a mannerism as soon as any particular mode of treat- 

 ment has been discovered that conduces to immediate gain. 

 The artist ought to be one of the highest of the people's 

 teachers. When more artists take their true position, an 

 analysis of the subjects of a thousand pictures will give a very 

 different result. 



DR. DRAPER'S TELESCOPE. 



BY THE KEV. T. W. WEBB, A.M., E.K.A.S. 



It is gratifying to observe that, amidst all the calamities 

 and distresses and confusion of a most unhappy civil war, the 

 studies of peace have not been wholly lost to sight. A re- 

 markable instance of this is afforded by the recent appearance, 

 among the publications of the American Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, of a very interesting and valuable memoir, " On the 

 Construction of a Silvered Glass Telescope, 15-i inches in 

 aperture, and its use in celestial photography, by Henry 

 Draper, M.D., Professor of Natural Science in the University 

 of New York.-" A copy of this, through the courtesy of the 

 author, being now in my hands, I have thought that some 

 account of its contents might prove interesting, especially at a 

 time when silvered glass specula are attracting some attention 

 in England, and (unless we are much mistaken) are likely 

 to be more generally known and valued as most important 

 aids to the progress of observation. 



The opening sentence of this memoir requires, however, 

 we venture to think, a little qualification. " The construction 

 of a reflecting telescope capable of showing every celestial 

 object now known," Dr. Draper tells us, "is not a very diffi- 

 cult task." We should have no hesitation in expunging the 

 negative here, unless it were permitted to add, " when study, 

 and labour, and ingenuity, and perseverance have been brought 

 to bear upon it, equal to those displayed by Dr. Draper." 

 His subsequent remark is of more universal application. " The 

 cost of materials is but trifling compared with the result 



