274 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



De la Rue. The contract for the work was signed on the 19th of January ; 

 the progress has been rapid, and I have great pleasure in informing you 

 that, according to all appearance, the instrument will be ready for trial in 

 the spring of 1867. All the large parts of it are ready for mounting, and 

 the rest considerably advanced. The lattice-tube, the appearance of which 

 is known to many of us from the photographs, is put together. It is made 

 of ribs of steel to combine lightness and strength ; they are rolled taper to 

 effect this in the highest degree. The equilibrated systems of levers which 

 support the great speculum, with their boxes, are of the same material and 

 are also completed. Three specula have been cast on a plan differing from 

 that of Lord Rosse only by such modifications as were made necessary by 

 their having central apertures. The first speculum came out sound from 

 the annealing furnace, but had two blemishes on its surface which would 

 have required a month to grind out, and Mr. Grubb broke it up without 

 hesitation, though not many years ago such a disk would have been almost 

 inestimable. The second cast has been successfully ground, and its surface 

 is faultless. The third, a duplicate speculum, was cast on the 24th of 

 October. The grinding has been performed by the polishing machine and 

 steam-engine which belong to the telescope, and will accompany it to 

 Melbourne. The trial-piers on which the instrument is to be set up for 

 the examination of the Superintending Committee, are ready. 



At the request of the Board of Visitors of the Melbourne Observatory, 

 and at the recommendation of the aforenamed Superintending Committee, 

 I have appointed as Observer with this telescope Mr. Albert Le Sueur, a 

 Graduate at Cambridge and a Wrangler in 1863. He is at present trainiog 

 himself in sidereal astronomy at the Cambridge Observatory under the 

 guidance of Professor Adams, and will be present at the polishing of the 

 specula. Mr. De la Rue has kindly promised to instruct him in the 

 practice of celestial photography ; so that there is reason to hope that this 

 magnificent instrument will be used with fall intelligence and zeal, and 

 amply repay the munificent spirit that has guided the Legislature of this 

 energetic and prosperous colony. 



The large appropriation made by the Colony of Victoria for the con- 

 struction of this telescope and for its accompanying spectroscope, and for 

 a suitable provision for its effective employment at Melbourne, have not 

 been the only manifestation in the present year of the enlightened spirit 

 which animates and guides the Legislature of that colony. A sum has 

 been remitted and received in this country for the purchase of a com- 

 plete equipment of self-recording magnetical instruments on the model of 

 those at the Kew Observatory, to be located in the Government Reserve 

 adjacent to the Melbourne Astronomical Observatory, and to be employed 

 under the superintendence of its director, Mr. Ellery. The instruments 

 have been made and verified under the immediate care of the Director of 

 the Kew Observatory, and have been despatched to their destination. The 



