A Cheap Observatory. 



243 



length of nine feet, fixed in an iron tube, and mounted on a 

 fine mahogany stand by the late Charles Tulley. 



The observatory is erected on the summit of a sand rock, 

 about sixty feet above the surrounding surface, and within 

 eighty yards of the Great Western Railway. The weight 

 of the rock is fortunately sufficient to absorb all tremors from 

 the passing trains, from which when below there was a con- 

 stant annoyance, tremors being often perceptible after the 

 train had passed out of hearing. 



The aspect of the observatory is nearly all that could be 

 desired, being completely open except in the extreme north, 

 and even there a view of all objects 8 deg. below the pole can be 

 obtained. The exterior of the building with the front shutter 

 taken down is represented by the following sketch. 



It consists in the first place of a circular bricked building 

 carried up exactly five feet high, with a low entrance door-way 

 sufficiently wide to admit the telescope stand. And as economy 

 in the materials and every part of the erection required to be 

 strictly observed, the bricks of which the building is composed 

 were old ones that had done duty for several years before, on 

 the same spot, in the shape of a summer arbour. They were 

 pulled down, cleaned, and reset, and being for the most part 



vol. v. — no. iv. s 



