Most of the early
telescopic work was done with instruments which would now be
considered as inferior to modern instruments, in quality as well as in
size. You are doubtless familiar with much of the amateur work, in
this country and elsewhere, done with comparatively small apertures.
_The most important condition is to have the refractor_, whatever its
size may be, _of the highest optical perfection_, and then the rest
will depend on the zeal and industry of the observer." The italics are
mine.
Incidentally, it may be mentioned that much most interesting work may
be done even with an opera glass, as a few minutes' systematic
observation on any fine night will prove. Newcomb and Holden assure us
that "if Hipparchus had had even such an optical instrument, mankind
need not have waited two thousand years to know the nature of the
Milky Way, nor would it have required a Galilei to discover the phases
of Venus or the spots on the sun." To amplify the thought, if that
mighty geometer and observer and some of his contemporaries had
possessed but the "common telescope," is it not probable that in the
science of astronomy the world would have been to-day two thousand
years in advance of its present position?
* * * * *
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES AT CADIZ.
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