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The Earl of Rosse's Telescopes, and their Revelations in 

 the Sidereal Heavens. By the Rev. Dr Scokesby, 

 F.R.S.L. & E., Member of the Wernerian Society, and 

 Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, &c 

 Communicated by the Author. 



In a second lecture on these interesting subjects, recently 

 delivered at Torquay, much and important consideration was 

 given to the inquiry, — What has the gigantic telescope done \ 



The lecturer having himself had the privilege of observing 

 on different visits, and for considerable periods, with both the 

 instruments, was enabled to speak, he hoped, in a satisfactory 

 manner to this inquiry. His opportunities of observing, he 

 said, notwithstanding interruptions from clouds and dis- 

 turbed atmosphere, had been somewhat numerous, and, not 

 unfrequently, highly instructive and delightful. Of these ob- 

 servations he had made records of nearly 60, on the moon, 

 planets, double stars, clusters, and nebulae. He had been per- 

 mitted also to have free access to, and examination of, all the 

 observatory records and drawings, so that he was enabled on 

 the best grounds, he believed, to say, that there has been no 

 disappointment in the performance of the instruments ; and 

 that the great instrument, in its peculiar qualities of supe- 

 riority, possesses a marvellous power in collecting light and 

 penetrating into regions of previously untouched space. In 

 what may be called the domestic regions of our planet — the 

 objects in the solar system — all that other instruments may 

 reveal is within its grasp or more, though by the, prodigious 

 flood of light from the brighter planets, the eye is dazzled 

 unless a large portion is shut out. 



But in its application to the distant heavens and explora- 

 tion of the nebulous systems there, its peculiar powers have, 

 with a steady atmosphere, their highest developments and 

 noblest triumphs. In this department — that to which the 

 instrument has been particularly directed — every known ob- 

 ject it touches, when the air is favourable, is, as a general 

 fact, exhibited under some new aspect. It pierces into the 



VOL. LIV. NO. CVI1. — JANUARY 1853. II 



