April, 1892. 



OUR COLUMNS. 



71 



By Thos. Gwyx Elger, F.R.A.S. 

 chapter i. 



who had dipped more or less deeply into the popular astronomical works which 

 are included in the scientific division of the Library, and whose interest had, 

 moreover, been further excited by attending the " University Extension " course, 

 querulously remarked to the writer the other day, — " It is all very well to attend lectures 

 and to read these books, but without a big telescope and a well-equipped observatory one can- 

 not now-a-days follow up the most elementary branch of the subject." This is so prevalent a 

 notion and withal so erroneous as regards more than one of the many ramifications of 

 observational astronomy, that it may be worth while to attempt to dispel it in Our 

 Columns by drawing attention to the fact that it is well within the power of anyone 

 gifted with ordinary intelligence and normal eyesight, Avho cares enough about the matter 

 to provide himself, or herself, with a good-sized opera-glass and a star atlas, to do good 

 original work with these aids alone. Those would-be observers, ' but for the night air,' 

 may be reminded that the " watchers of the skies" appear as a rule to suffer less from 

 colds than the generality of mortals, and are phenomenally long-lived, — a circumstance 

 which is not to be so easily explained away by the " siu'vival of the fittest " hj^pothesis, as 

 might be supposed. 



But one can imagine some despondent, but otherwise willing individual, exclaiming, 

 — " The starry sky to me is merely a dark canopy studded with innumerable points of 

 light of different degrees of brilliancy. I scarcely know where to look for any particular 

 star or constellation. The Pole star, for example, is to me a mere figure of speech, — 

 ' Black Pomp,' in Lowell's humorous verse, was not more easily open to deception than I 

 am on this subject, and my ignorance as to the position of the equator, and the ecliptic 

 may be regarded as sublime." Courage, good friend ! the knowledge you desire, if you 

 really are in earnest in seeking for it, may easily be attained with the assistance of almost 

 any of the books relating to sidereal astronomy on our shelves. Devote a short time on a 

 few cloudless nights to watching " the stately march of the constellations." With the aid 

 of the maps you will be able to identify some of the brightest stars visible, and after a 

 little trouble and perseverance you will discover the less brilliant Pole star (here, in 

 Bedford, some 52 degrees above the northern horizon) which marks, very nearly, the 

 direction of that imaginary axis round which the visible universe revolves. When you 

 have once learned to recognise a few of these fiducial points of light and noted their 

 configurations and alignments, you will soon become sufficiently familiar with the face of 

 the sky and the names of the principal asterisms for the purpose of following out the 

 branches of research about to be indicated. One is tempted to ask in connection with this 

 subject, — Why has " the use of the globes," which a century ago formed so important 

 an item in the curriculum of establishments founded on the irreproachable model of 

 Miss Pinkerton's Academy at Chiswick Mall, dropped out of the programme of schools for 

 young ladies, along with " the underrating use of the back-board," " the acquirement of a 

 dignified deportment and carriage " and other subjects which vexed the souls of our great- 

 grandmothers in their youth ? There was good old Ferguson, too, at that remote epoch, 

 with his " easy introduction to Astronomy for young gentlemen and ladies " in the form of 

 dialogues, maintained by superlatively-intelligent " Neanders " and equally phenomenal 



