S74 
OBSERVATORY, 
Which may be thus tranflated : 
“ Tliis tow’r, which led to Pluto’s realms below, 
To heaven’s bright regions now the way doth Ihow.” 
At Palermo, an obfervatory has been conftrufted in the 
palace of the viceroy, under the direction of father Piazzi, 
who went to Paris in -1787 to ftudy aftronomy, and who 
afterwards vilited England, in order to confult the prin¬ 
cipal artifts on the conftruftion of inftruments. His firft: 
labours were directed to the formation of a catalogue of 
ftars ; and, as a foundation, he chofe Wollafton’s Cata¬ 
logue, and particularly, as his chief points of reference, 
Dr. Mafkelyne’s 36 Ears. The petitions of fome of the 
larger ftars he verified by nearly a hundred obfervations ; 
and in the profecution of this talk, in 1801, he difeovered 
a new planet, which he named Ceres, in honour of Sicily, 
as that ifland was, on account of its fertility, anciently 
confecrated to the goddefs Ceres. This difeovery was 
the more important, as it excited the curiofity and refearch 
of other aftronomers, by which three more planets have 
been fince difeovered. 
EngU/h Ohfervatories. —The Greenwich Obfervatory, or 
the Royal Obfervatory of England, was built and endowed 
by king Charles II. who, to ufe the words of Bailly, 
“ well knew how efiential aftronomy was to a maritime 
and commercial people like the Englift), who afpired to 
the empire of the feas.” This building was ere&ed on 
the feite of the ancient moated tower of duke Humphrey, 
uncle to Henry VI. and the firft ftone of it was laid Aug. 
10,1675, by Mr. P'lamfteed, who had been appointed aftro- 
nomer-royal. It is fituated on the higheft eminence of 
Greenw'ich park, about 160 feet above low-water mark. 
The foil here is particularly favourable for fuch an infti- 
tution, being of a flinty gravel, through which the rain 
foon pafles 5 and thus the atmofphere is generally dry, 
which contributes to the prefervation of the inftruments, 
as well as to the uniformity of refraCtion. 
This eftablilhment comprehends two principal build¬ 
ings, one of which is the obfervatory, and the other the 
dwelling-houfe of the aftronomer-royal. The obfervatory 
is an oblong edifice, running eaft and weft, and contain¬ 
ing four rooms or apartments on the ground-floor. The 
firft or moft eafterly room, has been lately ereCted for the 
reception and fitting-up of a very fine tranfit-circle, by 
Troughton, and a clock of great value by Hardy. The 
next apartment is the tranfit-room. It has a double Ho¬ 
ping roof, with Aiding fhutters, which are opened both 
north and fouth, with great eafe, by pulleys. Thetranfit- 
inftrument, which is eight feet long, and the axis three 
feet long, is fulpended on two ftone pillars. This inftru- 
ment is famous as having been ufed by Halley, Bradley, 
and Mafkelyne. It was originally made by Bird, and has 
been fucceflively improved by Dollond and Troughton. 
The aftronomical or tranfit clock, which is attached to a 
ftone pillar, was made by Graham, and has been rendered 
very accurate by Earnfhaw’. The third apartment is the 
afliltant-obferver’s library and place" for calculation 5 and 
the weftern apartment of the building is the quadrant- 
room. Here is ereCted a ftone pier, running north and 
fouth, to which are attached two mural quadrants, each 
of eight feet radius. That on theeaftern face, which ob- 
ferves the fouthern meridian, was made by Bird, and the 
other, which obferves the northern, by Graham. Suf- 
pended to the weftern wall is the famous zenith-feftor, 
with which Bradley made the obfervations at”Kew and 
Wanftead that led to the difeoveries of the aberration of 
light, and the nutation of the earth’s axis. South of the 
quadrant-room is a fmall wooden building, for making 
occafional obfervations in any direction, where only the 
ufe of a telefcope, and an accurate knowledge of the time, 
are required. It is furnifhed with Hiding Ihutters on the 
roof and fides, to view any point of the hemifphere, from 
the prime vertical down to the fouthern horizon. It con¬ 
tains fome excellent telefcopes, particularly a forty-inch 
achromatic, with a triple objeCt-glafs, and a five-feet 
achromatic, both by Dollond ; with a fix-feet refleCtor, 
by Dr. Herfchel. To the north of the obfervatory, and 
eaft of the houfe, are two fmall buildings, covered with 
hemifpherical Hiding domes, in each of which is an equa¬ 
torial feftor by Siflon, and a clock by Arnold. Thefe 
are chiefly ufed for obferving comets. 
With refpeCt to the dwelling-houfe, the lower apart¬ 
ments are occupied by the aftronomer-royal, and over 
them is a large oCtagonal room, which contains a great 
variety of aftronomical inftruments, with a library,'con¬ 
fiding chiefly of fcientific and fcarce works. On the top 
of the houfe is an excellent camera-obfeura, which could 
not be better placed for the exhibition of interefting ob¬ 
jects. It is not unworthy of notice, that, early in Flam- 
fteed’s time, there was a well funk in the fouth-eaft corner 
of what is now the garden, behind the obfervatory, for 
the purpofe of feeing the ftars in the day-time, and ob¬ 
ferving the earth’s annual parallax. It was a hundred 
feet deep, with ftone ftairs down to the bottom : but it 
has been long arched over, as the improvements in the 
telefcope have rendered it unneceflary for aftronomical 
purpoles. 
The following are the names of the aftronomers who 
have officiated here in fucceffion, with the times of their 
fervices refpeCtively : Elamlteed, 4.3 years; Halley, 23 
years; Bradley, ao years ; Blifs, two years; and Malke- 
lyne, 4.6 years. Dr. Malkelyne has been fucceeded by 
John Pond, efq. F. R. S. who was appointed aftronomer- 
royal in February 1812. 
Dr. Herfchel’s Obfervatory at Slough, near Windforj 
though not a fixed one, will ever claim a diftinguifted 
place in the hiftory of aftronomical inftitutions. It dif¬ 
fers from all other obfervatories in plan and apparatus ; 
and it exceeds all others in the number of its difeoveries. 
For this important eftablilhment the world is indebted to 
the munificence of his prefent majefty, who has liberally 
patronized Dr. Herfchel. 
In deferibing this obfervatory, it fliould be premifed, 
that Dr. Herfchel’s labours derive a peculiar character and 
intereil from the circumftance, that his difeoveries are 
the refult of his jown inventions. For, to his profound 
knowledge of aftronomy he unites that of optics, both 
in theory and practice, by which he has been enabled to 
call and polifli mirrors for refleeting-telefcopes, greatly 
fuperior to any others, not only in magnifying-power, 
but in collecting, or, as it were, preferving light, by which 
vifion is wonderfully extended, and which he very exr 
preflively denominates “ the power of penetrating into 
Ipace.” The telefcopes, which are all made underhis di¬ 
rection, are of various lizes, from two feet in length up 
to forty feet, and the apparatus and machinery with which 
they are mounted are alio of his invention, and exhibit a 
very ingenious difplay of mechanifm. As his larger te¬ 
lefcopes could not be conveniently managed within the 
cover of a building, they are mounted in the open air, 
where they ftand pointing to the heavens in different di¬ 
rections, and make a moft magnificent and impreflive ap¬ 
pearance. Thus they are placed in what has been called 
the primitive obfervatory of man, “non fub teCto, fed fub 
coelo in puro dio.” 
His largeft telefcope, which La Lande lays he viewed 
with aftoniffiment, is 40 feet long and 5 in diameter. It 
contains a mirror of about a ton weight; and this great 
inftrument, with nearly an additional ton of cafes, &c. 
is managed by a very flight force. It is placed on a large 
circular frame, which turns on rollers, and the top isfuf- 
pended by ropes from very lofty ladder-work. Thus, by 
afyftemof wdieels, pinions, racks, and pulleys, the mo¬ 
tions, both horizontal and vertical, are given, and h'ence 
any celeltial objeCt is readily found and commodioully 
viewed. It was finiffied in 1787, and on the firft trial a 
new fatellite of Saturn was difeovered by it, and a fecond 
foon after. Two of his telefcopes of fmaller fize are fa¬ 
mous in the annals of difeovery. The firft is a two-feet 
Newtonian refleCtor, with which his filter, Mifs Carolina 
Herfchel. 
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