“I entered,” says he, “a well-lighted apartment, the walls of which were covered with charts, engravings, photographic portraits of the moon, and Donati’s famous comet of 1858. Mr. [now Sir George] Airy, the Astronomer Royal, is a man who has grown grey in the study of the stars; his energetic features indicate the incessant activity of the strong intellect which for more than a quarter of a century has upheld the reputation of Greenwich Observatory. On his writing-table were heaped a quantity of papers covered with calculations, and a maze of letters as to a thousand matters of business. A large iron cupboard contains all the precious documents which will, no doubt, one day serve to trace out the scientific history of the nineteenth century. Here, for instance, are preserved the letters and authentic documents which are destined to modify certain received opinions as to the discovery of the planet Neptune. In this cupboard may also be found the records of bygone errors and chimerical ideas, which one wonders to find reappearing in this enlightened age.
“It is difficult to believe that many amongst the English still confound astronomy with judicial astrology; but Mr. Airy preserves a very curious collection—letters that he has received from all classes of persons, asking what his terms are for drawing a horoscope. Sometimes it is a young man wishing to know ‘who will be his wife;’ at others it is a lady, on the eve of embarking in the great business of life, who desires to consult the stars. Postage-stamps are occasionally sent with these missives, and he or she who consults the oracle promises to make known, if necessary, the true day and hour of their birth. The fact is, that a great many people can scarcely understand how the astronomers can contemplate the vault of heaven by day and night without endeavouring to trace out the secret of human destiny. Some years back a young lady dressed in good taste applied at the door of the Observatory; she felt interested in one of her near relations, a sailor in the Pacific Ocean, from whom no news had been received for several years. After she had had a few minutes’ conversation with one of the assistants, she went away bathed in tears, because the stars were not able to tell her if the object of her affections were still alive.”
On the ground that Greenwich Park now occupies there once stood an ancient tower, built about the year 1440, by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, and uncle to King Henry VI. In the time of Elizabeth it was called Mirefleur. In 1642 the name of Greenwich Castle was [pg 279]given to it. Sir James Moore and Sir Christopher Wren pointed out the site of this fortress to Charles II. as the best place for the construction of an observatory. The old feudal tower was therefore pulled down, and over its remains was raised an edifice dedicated to the contemplation of the stars.
“The building was scarcely finished ere Flamsteed was installed in it, with the title of Astronomer Royal, and an emolument of £100 a year. He presided over the new establishment for more than half a century, and spent more than £2,000 of his own money. His works will always be looked upon in England as the starting point of modern astronomy. He may be deemed the founder of Greenwich observatory. His successors were Halley, Bradley, Nathaniel Bliss, and Dr. Nevil Maskelyn, the author of four volumes, of which it is said by Delampre, ‘that if, in consequence of some great revolution every record of science had been lost, with the exception of this collection, in it would be found materials quite sufficient for building up again the science of modern astronomy.’ Maskelyn was followed by John Pond, who died in 1835; his place is now supplied by Mr. Airy.
“The Astronomer Royal is nominated by the First Lord of the Treasury, and performs his functions under the warrant of the great seal of state; his salary is fixed at £800 per annum. One of his principal duties is to preserve for Greenwich observatory that character which the founder himself wished to impress upon it. The Astronomer Royal is therefore bound by the express terms of his commission, ‘to devote himself with the greatest care to correcting the tables of the celestial movements, and to determine the positions of the fixed stars, in order to furnish the long-desired means of discovering the longitude at sea, and of thus bringing to perfection the art of navigation.’ It is also necessary that he should reside in the observatory, and devote all his time to the duties of his office, never absenting himself for any long period without having previously obtained the sanction of the Lords of the Admiralty.
“Consulted as he is by various branches of the Government, he is able to render assistance to the public service by his advice and information, well assured that he himself can never be affected by any of the changes in official power, or by any of the results of political conflict. His residence has a garden attached to it, which is parted off from the grounds of the park, and well planted with fruit-trees. He has under his control eight assistants, and ordinarily six computers.
“It is curious to see these computers in their two offices, one situated on the ground floor near the study of the Astronomer Royal, and the other isolated in one of the quietest parts of the observatory, all sedately occupied in reckoning up, from morning to night, dull columns of figures.
“Before describing what Greenwich observatory is, it would be better perhaps to state first what it is not. It relinquishes to other inquirers the task of discovering spots in the sun and mountains in the moon. The observations of the assistants are not directed either to the figures of the planets or to the extraordinary movements of the double stars, revolving one round the other in the depths of the firmament, or the mysteries of the nebulæ. What a firmness of character, what a truly English strength of will have these observers shown, in voluntarily drawing a veil over some of the most splendid wonders of the heavens! At the time of John Pond, a telescope twenty feet in length had been erected in the establishment at great expense, [pg 280]but as it was a strong attraction to visitors, he caused the instrument to be dismantled. About the year 1847 Mr. Lerebours offered to Greenwich observatory the largest refracting telescope which had ever been constructed. The temptation was certainly a great one; it would have been flattering to the self-esteem of the institution to have possessed a wonder of this sort, unique as it was in the world. Mr. Airy need only to have said the word, and the Lords of the Admiralty would assuredly have made the purchase. But the Astronomer, on the contrary, held the present aloof with a determined hand. What was it that he feared? The perfidious influence of such a siren, which, by concentrating attention on the beauties of the heavens, would perhaps have turned away the attention of the assistants from their daily task, and have compromised the success of the Observatory.
“An observation of the sun takes place at least once a week at mid-day, in the transit circle room, and a large portion of the staff of the establishment take a part in it; but it is at night that one can form the best idea of the mode in which the transit of the heavenly bodies over the meridian is duly verified.
“The first observations made with the new transit circle date from 1851, and, from that time to the present they have never been discontinued. The assistant who is appointed, aided by this instrument to watch the state of the heavens, is on guard for twenty-four hours, i.e., from three in the morning until three a.m. the next day. Except under extraordinary circumstances, the same duties are never assigned to an assistant two days running. Having already worked some hours after sunset, he goes home to take his evening meal, and when he returns into the transit circle room it is quite night. The shutters, which, during the day shut in a part of the ceiling, are now unclosed, and by means of this aperture the whole sky seems thrown open to the room.