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III. Description of the Great Melbourne Telescope. 
By T. R. Robinson, D.D., F.B.S., &c., and Thomas Grubb, Esrp, F.B.S., &c. 
deceived June 11, — Read June 11, 1868. 
In 1862 the authorities of the Colony of Victoria formed the design of adding to the 
Observatory, which they were then establishing at Melbourne, a powerful telescope 
which should be applied in reviewing the Nebulae of the Southern Hemisphere. They 
applied through the Duke of Newcastle, then Foreign Secretary, to the President and 
Council of the Royal Society, for encouragement in this undertaking, and advice as to 
the best means of carrying it into execution. The subject was not new to that Body. 
They had been, conjointly with the British Association, engaged, though ineffectually, 
for several years in trying to induce the British Government to adopt a similar plan*. 
With this object they had appointed a Committee, including several of the brightest 
names of British Science f, to examine the subject thoroughly and recommend the 
plan which they considered most desirable to be adopted. Subsequent to their report, 
Mr. Lassell had actually constructed a 4-feet Newtonian, which he was using most 
successfully at Malta, M. L. Foucault, whose recent death all lament, had invented the 
silvered glass speculum which bears his name, and Mr. Warren De La Rue had changed 
Celestial Photography from a toy into a potent instrument of astronomical research. 
These new facts required new discussion, which was carefully made, but resulted in 
adopting the former report with little change. 
In consequence the legislature of Victoria, acting on the recommendation of our Pre- 
sident and Council, voted in 1865 the requisite sum ; and Mr. Grubb undertook the con- 
struction of this gigantic equatorial, under the direction of a Committee consisting of 
the late Lord Rosse, Mr. Warren De La Rue, and myself. After Lord Rosse’s death, 
his son, the present Earl, was nominated to succeed him by the President. The instru- 
ment has been very successfully completed; and we hope that a detailed account of its 
construction will be acceptable, both from the interest which belongs to the accomplish- 
ment of a great undertaking, and because, though the late Lord Rosse and Mr. Lassell 
have published their methods of making large specula, the subject is by no means ex- 
hausted, and anything which lessens the difficulties which still beset it, and makes the 
* For some account of this see Reports of British Association, 1850, p. xvii ; 1851, p. xxiv ; 1853, p. xxv ; 
and the printed correspondence of the Committee. 
f It consisted of Lord Rosse and General Sabixe, Presidents of the Royal Society and British Association, 
Lord Wrotteseey, Sir D. Brewster, Sir J. IIerschee, Sir J. Lubbock, the Dean of Ely (Peacock), Messrs. Adams, 
Airy, E. J . Cooper, Lasseie, Nasmyth, Phielips, and myself. It is sad to think how many of these we have 
lost. 
MDCCCLXIX. 
S 
