XVIU 



eight both in summer and winter, and remained there teaching for five and 

 even seven hours, regardless of his failing health, vv^hich was unable to sus- 

 tain so severe a trial. 



Under his care the school attained an unexpected prosperity. It pro- 

 duced the most distinguished sailors of the German merchant navy, and 

 the teachers of almost all the Schools of Navigation on the coast of the 

 North Sea have been his pupils. The number of students, which at the 

 time of his appointment to the school was only 60, amounted to 250 in 

 1857. He possessed in an unusual degree the art of teaching. By the 

 clearness of his methods, and a singular patience and mildness which encou- 

 raged the self-respect of his pupils and gained their confidence, and espe- 

 cially by his power of adapting his teaching to the comprehension of each 

 individual, he succeeded in preparing the most uncultivated sailor for the 

 examination in navigation often in a surprisingly short time, so as to enable 

 him to pass it with credit. 



His 'Handbook of Navigation,' which appeared in 1843, and has gone 

 through three large editions, is used as a text- book in most of the Schools 

 of Navigation on the shores of the North Sea, in Austria, and in Russia. 



He devoted himself with equal or even still greater energy to his duties 

 in the Observatory. The principal instruments consisted of an equatorially 

 mounted refractor of 5-feet focal length by Fraunhofer, and a meridian 

 circle constructed by the brothers Repsold, which was mounted in 1836. 

 The observations made with the refractor are published in Schumacher's 

 * Astronomische Nachrichten,' and in the Monthly Notices of the Astro- 

 nomical Society. With the meridian circle he undertook the determination 

 of the places of all the fixed stars visible through its telescope, — a work of 

 many years' duration, the results of which he published in the years 

 1843-59 under the title of a Catalogue of 12,000 fixed stars, but in reality 

 containing upwards of 15,000. 



In speaking of the observations made with the refractor, at the Anniver- 

 sary Meeting of the Astronomical Society in 1854, when the medal of the 

 Society was awarded to M. Riimker, the Astronomer Royal, President of 

 the Society, expressed himself in the following terms : — 



For a very long time M. Riimker has been known as furnishing extra- 

 meridional observations of comets and newly discovered planets, possessing 

 the highest degree of accuracy, and extending to times when the objects 

 which he could successfully observe were lost to other astronomers fur- 

 nished apparently with much more powerful means. I have myself visited 

 the observatory and inspected the instruments which have been devoted to 

 these observations, and I have inquired. How is it that with instruments 

 so insignificant you have been able to see so much more than others could 

 see who are so much better equipped ? The answer was very simple. 

 Energy, care, patience, — in these, I believe, is contained the whole secret. 

 M. Riimker perhaps possesses in perfection the sensibility of eye and the 

 acutenessof ear which are required for the most delicate observations; but 



