CHAPTER XII.

ASTRONOMERS AND STUDENTS IN HUMBLE LIFE:

A NEW CHAPTER IN THE 'PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES.'

"I first learnt to read when the masons were at work in your house. I

approached them one day, and observed that the architect used a rule

and compass, and that he made calculations. I inquired what might be

the meaning and use of these things, and I was informed that there was

a science called Arithmetic. I purchased a book of arithmetic, and I

learned it. I was told there was another science called Geometry; I

bought the necessary books, and I learned Geometry. By reading, I

found there were good books in these two sciences in Latin; I bought a

dictionary, and I learned Latin. I understood, also, that there were

good books of the same kind in French; I bought a dictionary, and I

learned French. It seems to me that one does not need to know anything

more than the twenty-four letters to learn everything else that one

wishes."--Edmund Stone to the Duke of Argyll. ('Pursuit of Knowledge

under Difficulties.')

"The British Census proper reckons twenty-seven and a half million in

the home countries. What makes this census important is the quality of

the units that compose it. They are free forcible men, in a country

where life is safe, and has reached the greatest value. They give the

bias to the current age; and that not by chance or by mass, but by

their character, and by the number of individuals among them of

personal ability."--Emerson: English Traits.

From Belfast to the Highlands of Scotland is an easy route by steamers

and railways. While at Birnam, near Dunkeld, I was reminded of some

remarkable characters in the neighbourhood. After the publication of

the 'Scotch Naturalist' and 'Robert Dick,' I received numerous letters

informing me of many self-taught botanists and students of nature,

quite as interesting as the subjects of my memoirs. Among others,

there was John Duncan, the botanist weaver of Aberdeen, whose

interesting life has since been done justice to by Mr. Jolly; and John

Sim of Perth, first a shepherd boy, then a soldier, and towards the

close of his life a poet and a botanist, whose life, I was told, was

"as interesting as a romance."

There was also Alexander Croall, Custodian of the Smith Institute at

Stirling, an admirable naturalist and botanist. He was originally a

hard-working parish schoolmaster, near Montrose. During his holiday

wanderings he collected plants for his extensive herbarium. His

accomplishments having come under the notice of the late Sir William

Hooker, he was selected by that gentleman to prepare sets of the Plants

of Braemar for the Queen and Prince Albert, which he did to their

entire satisfaction. He gave up his school-mastership for an ill-paid

but more congenial occupation, that of Librarian to the Derby Museum

and Herbarium. Some years ago, he was appointed to his present position

of Custodian to the Smith Institute--perhaps the best provincial museum

and art gallery in Scotland.

I could not, however, enter into the history of these remarkable

persons; though I understand there is a probability of Mr. Croall

giving his scientific recollections to the world. He has already

brought out a beautiful work, in four volumes, 'British Seaweeds,

Nature-printed;' and anything connected with his biography will be

looked forward to with interest.

Among the other persons brought to my notice, years ago, were

Astronomers in humble life. For instance, I received a letter from

John Grierson, keeper of the Girdleness Lighthouse, near Aberdeen,

mentioning one of these persons as "an extraordinary character."

"William Ballingall," he said, "is a weaver in the town of Lower Largo,

Fifeshire; and from his early days he has made astronomy the subject of

passionate study. I used to spend my school vacation at Largo, and

have frequently heard him expound upon his favourite subject. I

believe that very high opinions have been expressed by scientific

gentlemen regarding Ballingall's attainments. They were no doubt

surprised that an individual with but a very limited amount of

education, and whose hours of labour were from five in the morning

until ten or eleven at night, should be able to acquire so much

knowledge on so profound a subject. Had he possessed a fair amount of

education, and an assortment of scientific instruments and books, the

world would have heard more about him. Should you ever find yourself,"

my correspondent concludes, "in his neighbourhood, and have a few hours

to spare, you would have no reason to regret the time spent in his

company." I could not, however, arrange to pay the proposed visit to

Largo; but I found that I could, without inconvenience, visit another

astronomer in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld.

In January 1879 I received a letter from Sheriff Barclay, of Perth, to

the following effect: "Knowing the deep interest you take in genius

and merit in humble ranks, I beg to state to you an extraordinary case.

John Robertson is a railway porter at Coupar Angus station. From early

youth he has made the heavens his study. Night after night he looks

above, and from his small earnings he has provided himself with a

telescope which cost him about 30L. He sends notices of his

observations to the scientific journals, under the modest initials of

'J.R.' He is a great favourite with the public; and it is said that he

has made some observations in celestial phenomena not before noticed.

It does occur to me that he should have a wider field for his favourite

study. In connection with an observatory, his services would be

invaluable."

Nearly five years had elapsed since the receipt of this letter, and I

had done nothing to put myself in communication with the Coupar Angus

astronomer. Strange to say, his existence was again recalled to my

notice by Professor Grainger Stewart, of Edinburgh. He said that if I

was in the neighbourhood I ought to call upon him, and that he would

receive me kindly. His duty, he said, was to act as porter at the

station, and to shout the name of the place as the trains passed. I

wrote to John Robertson accordingly, and received a reply stating that

he would be glad to see me, and inclosing a photograph, in which I

recognised a good, honest, sensible face, with his person inclosed in

the usual station porter's garb, "C.R. 1446."

I started from Dunkeld, and reached Coupar Angus in due time. As I

approached the station, I heard the porter calling out, "Coupar Angus!

change here for Blairgowrie!"[1] It was the voice of John Robertson.

I descended from the train, and addressed him at once: after the

photograph there could be no mistaking him. An arrangement for a

meeting was made, and he called upon me in the evening. I invited him

to such hospitality as the inn afforded; but he would have nothing. "I

am much obliged to you," he said; "but it always does me harm." I knew

at once what the "it" meant. Then he invited me to his house in

Causewayend Street. I found his cottage clean and comfortable,

presided over by an evidently clever wife. He took me into his

sitting-room, where I inspected his drawings of the sun-spots, made in

colour on a large scale. In all his statements he was perfectly modest

and unpretending. The following is his story, so far as I can

recollect, in his own words:--

"Yes; I certainly take a great interest in astronomy, but I have done

nothing in it worthy of notice. I am scarcely worthy to be called a

day labourer in the science. I am very well known hereabouts,

especially to the travelling public; but I must say that they think a

great deal more of me than I deserve.

"What made me first devote my attention to the subject of astronomy?

Well, if I can trace it to one thing more than another, it was to some

evening lectures delivered by the late Dr. Dick, of Broughty Ferry, to

the men employed at the Craigs' Bleachfield Works, near Montrose, where

I then worked, about the year 1848. Dr. Dick was an excellent

lecturer, and I listened to him with attention. His instructions were

fully impressed upon our minds by Mr. Cooper, the teacher of the

evening school, which I attended. After giving the young lads employed

at the works their lessons in arithmetic, he would come out with us

into the night--and it was generally late when we separated--and show

us the principal constellations, and the planets above the horizon. It

was a wonderful sight; yet we were told that these hundreds upon

hundreds of stars, as far as the eye could see, were but a mere vestige

of the creation amidst which we lived. I got to know the names of some

of the constellations the Greater Bear, with 'the pointers' which

pointed to the Pole Star, Orion with his belt, the Twins, the Pleiades,

and other prominent objects in the heavens. It was a source of

constant wonder and surprise.

"When I left the Bleachfield Works, I went to Inverury, to the North of

Scotland Railway, which was then in course of formation; and for many

years, being immersed in work, I thought comparatively little of

astronomy. It remained, however, a pleasant memory. It was only after

coming to this neighbourhood in 1854, when the railway to Blairgowrie

was under construction, that I began to read up a little, during my

leisure hours, on the subject of astronomy. I got married the year

after, since which time I have lived in this house.

"I became a member of a reading-room club, and read all the works of

Dr. Dick that the library contained: his 'Treatise on the Solar

System,' his 'Practical Astronomer,' and other works. There were also

some very good popular works to which I was indebted for amusement as

well as instruction: Chambers's 'Information for the People,'

Cassell's 'Popular Educator,' and a very interesting series of articles

in the 'Leisure Hour,' by Edwin Dunkin of the Royal Observatory,

Greenwich. These last papers were accompanied by maps of the chief

constellations, so that I had a renewed opportunity of becoming a

little better acquainted with the geography of the heavens.

"I began to have a wish for a telescope, by means of which I might be

able to see a little more than with my naked eyes. But I found that I

could not get anything of much use, short of 20L. I could not for a

long time feel justified in spending so much money for my own personal

enjoyment. My children were then young and dependent upon me. They

required to attend school--for education is a thing that parents must

not neglect, with a view to the future. However, about the year 1875,

my attention was called to a cheap instrument advertised by

Solomon--what he called his '5L. telescope.' I purchased one, and it

tantalised me; for the power of the instrument was such as to teach me

nothing of the surface of the planets. After using it for about two

years, I sold it to a student, and then found that I had accumulated

enough savings to enable me to buy my present instrument. Will you

come into the next room and look at it?"

I went accordingly into the adjoining room, and looked at the new

telescope. It was taken from its case, put upon its tripod, and looked

in beautiful condition. It is a refractor, made by Cooke and Sons of

York. The object glass is three inches; the focal length forty-three

inches; and the telescope, when drawn out, with the pancratic eyepiece

attached, is about four feet. It was made after Mr. Robertson's

directions, and is a sort of combination of instruments.

"Even that instrument," he proceeded, "good as it is for the money,

tantalises me yet. A look through a fixed equatorial, such as every

large observatory is furnished with is a glorious view. I shall never

forget the sight that I got when at Dunecht Observatory, to which I was

invited through the kindness of Dr. Copeland, the Earl of Crawford and

Balcarres' principal astronomer.

"You ask me what I have done in astronomical research? I am sorry to

say I have been able to do little except to gratify my own curiosity;

and even then, as I say, I have been much tantalised. I have watched

the spots on the sun from day to day through obscured glasses, since

the year 1878, and made many drawings of them. Mr. Rand Capron, the

astronomer, of Guildown, Guildford, desired to see these drawings, and

after expressing his satisfaction with them, he sent them to Mr.

Christie, Astronomer Royal, Greenwich. Although photographs of the

solar surface were preferred, Mr. Capron thought that my sketches might

supply gaps in the partially cloudy days, as well as details which

might not appear on the photographic plates. I received a very kind

letter from Mr. Christie, in which he said that it would be very

difficult to make the results obtained from drawings, however accurate,

at all comparable with those derived from photographs; especially as

regards the accurate size of the spots as compared with the diameter of

the sun. And no doubt he is right.

"What, do I suppose, is the cause of these spots in the sun? Well, that

is a very difficult question to answer. Changes are constantly going

on at the sun's surface, or, I may rather say, in the sun's interior,

and making themselves apparent at the surface. Sometimes they go on

with enormous activity; at other times they are more quiet. They recur

alternately in periods of seven or eight weeks, while these again are

also subject to a period of about eleven years--that is, the short

recurring outbursts go on for some years, when they attain a maximum,

from which they go on decreasing. I may say that we are now (August

1883) at, or very near, a maximum epoch. There is no doubt that this

period has an intimate connection with our auroral displays; but I

don't think that the influence sun-spots have on light or heat is

perceptible. Whatever influence they possess would be felt alike on

the whole terrestrial globe. We have wet, dry, cold, and warm years,

but they are never general. The kind of season which prevails in one

country is often quite reversed in another perhaps in the adjacent one.

Not so with our auroral displays. They are universal on both sides of

the globe; and from pole to pole the magnetic needle trembles during

their continuance. Some authorities are of opinion that these

eleven-year cycles are subject to a larger cycle, but sun-spot

observations have not existed long enough to determine this point. For

myself, I have a great difficulty in forming an opinion. I have very

little doubt that the spots are depressions on the surface of the sun.

This is more apparent when the spot is on the limb. I have often seen

the edge very rugged and uneven when groups of large spots were about

to come round on the east side. I have communicated some of my

observations to 'The Observatory,' the monthly review of astronomy,

edited by Mr. Christie, now Astronomer Royal,[2] as well as to The

Scotsmam, and some of our local papers.[3]

"I have also taken up the observation of variable stars in a limited

portion of the heavens. That, and 'hunting for comets' is about all

the real astronomical work that an amateur can do nowadays in our

climate, with a three-inch telescope. I am greatly indebted to the

Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, who regularly sends me circulars of all

astronomical discoveries, both in this and foreign countries. I will

give an instance of the usefulness of these circulars. On the morning

of the 4th of October, 1880, a comet was discovered by Hartwig, of

Strasburg, in the constellation of Corona. He telegraphed it to

Dunecht Observatory, fifteen miles from Aberdeen. The circulars

announcing the discovery were printed and despatched by post to various

astronomers. My circular reached me by 7 P.M., and, the night being

favourable, I directed my telescope upon the part of the heavens

indicated, and found the comet almost at once--that is, within fifteen

hours of the date of its discovery at Strasburg.

"In April, 1878, a large meteor was observed in broad daylight, passing

from south to north, and falling it was supposed, about twenty miles

south of Ballater. Mr. A. S. Herschel, Professor of Physics in the

College of Science, 'Newcastle-on-Tyne, published a letter in The

Scotsmam, intimating his desire to be informed of the particulars of

the meteor's flight by those who had seen it. As I was one of those who

had observed the splendid meteor flash northwards almost under the face

of the bright sun (at 10.25 A.M.), I sent the Professor a full account

of what I had seen, for which he professed his strong obligations.

This led to a very pleasant correspondence with Professor Herschel.

After this, I devoted considerable attention to meteors, and sent many

contributions to 'The Observatory' on the subject.[4]

"You ask me what are the hours at which I make my observations? I am

due at the railway station at six in the morning, and I leave at six in

the evening; but I have two hours during the day for meals and rest.

Sometimes I get a glance at the heavens in the winter mornings when the

sky is clear, hunting for comets. My observations on the sun are

usually made twice a day during my meal hours, or in the early morning

or late at evening in summer, while the sun is visible. Yes, you are

right; I try and make the best use of my time. It is much too short

for all that I propose to do. My evenings are my own. When the

heavens are clear, I watch them; when obscured, there are my books and

letters.

"Dr. Alexander Brown, of Arbroath, is one of my correspondents. I have

sent him my drawings of the rings of Saturn, of Jupiter's belt and

satellites. Dr. Ralph Copeland, of Dunecht, is also a very good friend

and adviser. Occasionally, too, I send accounts of solar disturbances,

comet a within sight, eclipses, and occultations, to the Scotsman, the

Dundee Evening Telegraph and Evening News, or to the Blairgowrie

Advertiser. Besides, I am the local observer of meteorology, and

communicate regularly with Mr. Symons. These things entirely fill up

my time.

"Do I intend always to remain a railway porter? Oh, yes; I am very

comfortable! The company are very kind to me, and I hope I serve them

faithfully. It is true Sheriff Barclay has, without my knowledge,

recommended me to several well-known astronomers as an observer. But

at my time of life changes are not to be desired. I am quite satisfied

to go on as I am doing. My young people are growing up, and are

willing to work for themselves. But come, sir," he concluded, "come

into the garden, and look at the moon through my telescope."

We went into the garden accordingly, but a cloud was over the moon, and

we could not see it. At the top of the garden was the self-registering

barometer, the pitcher to measure the rainfall, and the other apparatus

necessary to enable the "Diagram of barometer, thermometer, rain, and

wind" to be conducted, so far as Coupar Angus is concerned. This Mr.

Robertson has done for four years past. As the hour was late, and as I

knew that my entertainer must be up by six next morning, I took my

leave.

A man's character often exhibits itself in his amusements. One must

have a high respect for the character of John Robertson, who looks at

the manner in which he spends his spare time. His astronomical work is

altogether a labour of love. It is his hobby; and the working man may

have his hobby as well as the rich. In his case he is never less idle

than when idle. Some may think that he is casting his bread upon the

waters, and that he may find it after many days. But it is not with

this object that he carries on his leisure-hour pursuits. Some have

tried--sheriff Barclay among others[5]--to obtain appointments for him

in connection with astronomical observation; others to secure

advancement for him in his own line. But he is a man who is satisfied

with his lot--one of the rarest things on earth. Perhaps it is by

looking so much up to the heavens that he has been enabled to obtain

his portion of contentment.

Next morning I found him busy at the station, making arrangements for

the departure of the passenger train for Perth, and evidently upon the

best of terms with everybody. And here I leave John Robertson, the

contented Coupar Angus astronomer.

Some years ago I received from my friend Mr. Nasmyth a letter of

introduction to the late Mr. Cooke of York, while the latter was still

living. I did not present it at the time; but I now proposed to visit,

on my return homewards, the establishment which he had founded at York

for the manufacture of telescopes and other optical instruments.

Indeed, what a man may do for himself as well as for science, cannot be

better illustrated than by the life of this remarkable man.

Mr. Nasmyth says that he had an account from Cooke himself of his small

beginnings. He was originally a shoemaker in a small country village.

Many a man has risen to distinction from a shoemaker's seat. Bulwer,

in his 'What will He do with It?' has discussed the difference between

shoemakers and tailors. "The one is thrown upon his own resources, the

other works in the company of his fellows: the one thinks, the other

communicates. Cooke was a man of natural ability, and he made the best

use of his powers. Opportunity, sooner or later, comes to nearly all

who work and wait, and are duly persevering. Shoemaking was not found

very productive; and Cooke, being fairly educated as well as

self-educated, opened a village school. He succeeded tolerably well.

He taught himself geometry and mathematics, and daily application made

him more perfect in his studies. In course of time an extraordinary

ambition took possession of him: no less than the construction of a

reflecting telescope of six inches diameter. The idea would not let

him rest until he had accomplished his purpose. He cast and polished

the speculum with great labour; but just as he was about to finish it,

the casting broke! What was to be done? About one-fifth had broken

away, but still there remained a large piece, which he proceeded to

grind down to a proper diameter. His perseverance was rewarded by the

possession of a 3 1/2 inch speculum, which by his rare skill he worked

into a reflecting telescope of very good quality.

He was, however, so much annoyed by the treacherously brittle nature of

the speculum metal that he abandoned its use, and betook himself to

glass. He found that before he could make a good achromatic telescope

it was necessary that he should calculate his curves from data

depending upon the nature of the glass. He accordingly proceeded to

study the optical laws of refraction, in which his knowledge of

geometry and mathematics greatly helped him. And in course of time, by

his rare and exquisite manipulative skill, he succeeded in constructing

a four-inch refractor, or achromatic telescope, of admirable defining

power.

The excellence of his first works became noised abroad. Astronomical

observers took an interest in him; and friends began to gather round

him, amongst others the late Professor Phillips and the Rev. Vernon

Harcourt, Dean of York. Cooke received an order for a telescope like

his own; then he received other orders. At last he gave up teaching,

and took to telescope making. He advanced step by step; and like a

practical, thoughtful man, he invented special tools and machinery for

the purpose of grinding and polishing his glasses. He opened a shop in

York, and established himself as a professed maker of telescopes. He

added to this the business of a general optician, his wife attending to

the sale in the shop, while he himself attended to the workshop.

Such was the excellence of his work that the demand for his telescopes

largely increased. They were not only better manufactured, but greatly

cheaper than those which had before been in common use. Three of the

London makers had before possessed a monopoly of the business; but now

the trade was thrown open by the enterprise of Cooke of York. He

proceeded to erect a complete factory--the Buckingham Street works.

His brother took charge of the grinding and polishing of the lenses,

while his sons attended to the mechanism of the workshop; but Cooke

himself was the master spirit of the whole concern. Everything that he

did was good and accurate. His clocks were about the best that could

be made. He carried out his clock-making business with the same zeal

that he devoted to the perfection of his achromatic telescopes. His

work was always first-rate. There was no scamping about it.

Everything that he did was thoroughly good and honest. His 4 1/4-inch

equatorials are perfect gems; and his admirable achromatics, many of

them of the largest class, are known all over the world. Altogether,

Thomas Cooke was a remarkable instance of the power of Self-Help.

Such was the story of his Life, as communicated by Mr. Nasmyth. I was

afterwards enabled, through the kind assistance of his widow, Mrs.

Cooke, whom I saw at Saltburn, in Yorkshire, to add a few particulars

to his biography.

"My husband," she said, "was the son of a working shoemaker at

Pocklington, in the East Riding. He was born in 1807. His father's

circumstances were so straitened that he was not able to do much for

him; but he sent him to the National school, where he received some

education. He remained there for about two years, and then he was put

to his father's trade. But he greatly disliked shoemaking, and longed

to get away from it. He liked the sun, the sky, and the open air. He

was eager to be a sailor, and, having heard of the voyages of Captain

Cook, he wished to go to sea. He spent his spare hours in learning

navigation, that he might be a good seaman. But when he was ready to

set out for Hull, the entreaties and tears of his mother prevailed on

him to give up the project; and then he had to consider what he should

do to maintain himself at home.

"He proceeded with his self-education, and with such small aids as he

could procure, he gathered together a good deal of knowledge. He

thought that he might be able to teach others. Everybody liked him, for

his diligence, his application, and his good sense. At the age of

seventeen he was employed to teach the sons of the neighbouring

farmers. He succeeded so well that in the following year he opened a

village school at Beilby. He went on educating himself, and learnt a

little of everything. He next removed his school to Kirpenbeck, near

Stamford Bridge; and it was there," proceeded Mrs. Cooke, "that I got

to know him, for I was one of his pupils."

"He first learned mathematics by buying an old volume at a bookstall,

with a spare shilling. That was before he began to teach. He also got

odd sheets, and read other books about geometry and mathematics, before

he could buy them; for he had very little to spare. He studied and

learnt as much as he could.

He was very anxious to get an insight into knowledge. He studied

optics before he had any teaching. Then he tried to turn his knowledge

to account. While at Kirpenbeck he made his first object-glass out of

a thick tumbler bottom. He ground the glass cleverly by hand; then he

got a piece of tin and soldered it together, and mounted the

object-glass in it so as to form a telescope.

"He next got a situation at the Rev. Mr. Shapkley's school in

Micklegate, York, where he taught mathematics. He also taught in

ladies' schools in the city, and did what he could to make a little

income. Our intimacy had increased, and we had arranged to get

married. He was twenty-four, and I was nineteen, when we were happily

united. I was then his pupil for life.

"Professor Phillips saw his first telescope, with the object-glass made

out of the thick tumbler bottom, and he was so much pleased with it

that my husband made it over to him. But he also got an order for

another, from Mr. Gray, solicitor, more by way of encouragement than

because Mr. Gray wanted it, for he was a most kind man. The

object-glass was of four-inch aperture, and when mounted the defining

power was found excellent. My husband was so successful with his

telescopes that he went on from smaller to greater, and at length he

began to think of devoting himself to optics altogether. His knowledge

of mathematics had led him on, and friends were always ready to

encourage him in his pursuits.

"During this time he had continued his teaching at the school in the

day-time; and he also taught on his own account the sons of gentlemen

in the evening: amongst others the sons of Dr. Wake and Dr. Belcomb,

both medical men. He was only making about 100L. a year, and his

family was increasing. It was necessary to be very economical, and I

was careful of everything. At length my uncle Milner agreed to advance

about 100L. as a loan. A shop was taken in Stonegate in 1836, and

provided with optical instruments. I attended to the shop, while my

husband worked in the back premises. To bring in a little ready money,

I also took in lodgers.

"My husband now devoted himself entirely to telescope making and

optics. But he took in other work. His pumps were considered

excellent; and he furnished all those used at the pump-room, Harrogate.

His clocks, telescope-driving[6] and others, were of the best. He

commenced turret-clock making in 1852, and made many improvements in

them. We had by that time removed to Coney Street; and in 1855 the

Buckingham Works were established, where a large number of first-rate

workmen were employed. A place was also taken in Southampton Street,

London, in 1868, for the sale of the instruments manufactured at York."

Thus far Mrs. Cooke. It may be added that Thomas Cooke revived the art

of making refracting telescopes in England. Since the discovery by

Dollond, in 1758, of the relation between the refractive and dispersive

powers of different kinds of glass, and the invention by that

distinguished optician of the achromatic telescope, the manufacture of

that instrument had been confined to England, where the best flint

glass was made. But through the short-sighted policy of the

Government, an exorbitant duty was placed upon the manufacture of flint

glass, and the English trade was almost entirely stamped out. We had

accordingly to look to foreign countries for the further improvement of

the achromatic telescope, which Dollond had so much advanced.

A humble mechanic of Brenetz, in the Canton of Neufchatel, Switzerland,

named Guinaud, having directed his attention to the manufacture of

flint glass towards the close of last century, at length succeeded,

after persevering efforts, in producing masses of that substance

perfectly free from stain, and therefore adapted for the construction

of the object-glasses of telescopes.

Frauenhofer, the Bavarian optician, having just begun business, heard

of the wonderful success of Guinaud, and induced the Swiss mechanic to

leave Brenetz and enter into partnership with him at Munich in 1805.

The result was perfectly successful; and the new firm turned out some

of the largest object-glasses which had until then been made. With one

of these instruments, having an aperture of 9.9 inches, Struve, the

Russian astronomer, made some of his greatest discoveries. Frauenhofer

was succeeded by Merz and Mahler, who carried out his views, and turned

out the famous refractors of Pulkowa Observatory in Russia, and of

Harvard University in the United States. These last two telescopes

contained object-glasses of fifteen inches aperture.

The pernicious impost upon flint glass having at length been removed by

the English Government, an opportunity was afforded to our native

opticians to recover the supremacy which they had so long lost. It is

to Thomas Cooke, more than to any other person, that we owe the

recovery of this manufacture. Mr. Lockyer, writing in 1878, says: "The

two largest and most perfectly mounted refractors on the German form at

present in existence are those at Gateshead and Washington, U.S. The

former belongs to Mr. Newall, a gentleman who, connected with those who

were among the first to recognise the genius of our great English

optician, Cooke, did not hesitate to risk thousands of pounds in one

great experiment, the success of which will have a most important

bearing upon the astronomy of the future."[7]

The progress which Mr. Cooke made in his enterprise was slow but

steady. Shortly after he began business as an optician, he became

dissatisfied with the method of hand-polishing, and made arrangements

to polish the object-glasses by machinery worked by steam power. By

this means he secured perfect accuracy of figure. He was also able to

turn out a large quantity of glasses, so as to furnish astronomers in

all parts of the world with telescopes of admirable defining power, at

a comparatively moderate price. In all his works he endeavoured to

introduce simplicity. He left his mark on nearly every astronomical

instrument. He found the equatorial comparatively clumsy; he left it

nearly perfect. His beautiful "dividing machine," for marking

divisions on the circles, four feet in diameter and altogether

self-acting--which divides to five minutes and reads off to five

seconds is not the least of his triumphs.

The following are some of his more important achromatic telescopes. In

1850, when he had been fourteen years in business, he furnished his

earliest patron, Professor Phillips, with an equatorial telescope of 6

1/4 inches aperture. His second (of 6 1/8) was supplied two years

later, to James Wigglesworth of Wakefield. William Gray, Solicitor, of

York, one of his earliest friends, bought a 6 1/2-inch telescope in

1853. In the following year, Professor Pritchard of Oxford was supplied

with a 6 1/2-inch. The other important instruments were as follows: in

1854, Dr. Fisher, Liverpool, 6 inches; in 1855, H. L. Patterson,

Gateshead, 7 1/4 inches; in 1858, J. G. Barclay, Layton, Essex, 7 1/4

inches; in 1857, Isaac Fletcher, Cockermouth, 9 1/4 inches; in 1858,

Sir W. Keith Murray, Ochtertyre, Crieff, 9 inches; in 1859, Captain

Jacob, 9 inches; in 1860, James Nasmyth, Penshurst, 8 inches; in 1861,

another telescope to J. G. Barclay, 10 inches; in 1864, the Rev. W. R.

Dawes, Haddenham, Berks, 8 inches; and in 1867, Edward Crossley,

Bermerside, Halifax, 9 3/8 inches.

In 1855 Mr. Cooke obtained a silver medal at the first Paris Exhibition

for a six-inch equatorial telescope.[8] This was the highest prize

awarded. A few years later he was invited to Osborne by the late

Prince Albert, to discuss with his Royal Highness the particulars of an

equatorial mounting with a clock movement, for which he subsequently

received the order. On its completion he superintended the erection of

the telescope, and had the honour of directing it to several of the

celestial objects for the Queen and the Princess Alice, and answered

their many interesting questions as to the stars and planets within

sight.

Mr. Cooke was put to his mettle towards the close of his life. A

contest had long prevailed among telescope makers as to who should turn

out the largest refracting instrument. The two telescopes of fifteen

inches aperture, prepared by Merz and Mahler, of Munich, were the

largest then in existence. Their size was thought quite extraordinary.

But in 1846, Mr. Alvan Clark, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, U.S.,

spent his leisure hour's in constructing small telescopes.[9] He was

not an optician, nor a mathematician, but a portrait painter. He

possessed, however, enough knowledge of optics and of mechanics, to

enable him to make and judge a telescope. He spent some ten years in

grinding lenses, and was at length enabled to produce objectives equal

in quality to any ever made.

In 1853, the Rev. W. E. Dawes--one of Mr. Cooke's customers--purchased

an object-glass from Mr. Clark. It was so satisfactory that he ordered

several others, and finally an entire telescope. The American artist

then began to be appreciated in his own country. In 1860 he received

an order for a refractor of eighteen inches aperture, three inches

greater than the largest which had up to that time been made. This

telescope was intended for the Observatory of Mississippi; but the

Civil War prevented its being removed to the South; and the telescope

was sold to the Astronomical Society of Chicago and mounted in the

Observatory of that city.

And now comes in the rivalry of Mr. Cooke of York, or rather of his

patron, Mr. Newall of Gateshead. At the Great Exhibition of London, in

1862, two large circular blocks of glass, about two inches thick and

twenty-six inches in diameter, were shown by the manufacturers, Messrs.

Chance of Birmingham. These discs were found to be of perfect quality,

and suitable for object-glasses of the best kind. At the close of the

Exhibition, they were purchased by Mr. Newall, and transferred to the

workshops of Messrs. Cooke and Sons at York. To grind and polish and

mount these discs was found a work of great labour and difficulty. Mr.

Lockyer says, "such an achievement marks an epoch in telescopic

astronomy, and the skill of Mr. Cooke and the munificence of Mr. Newall

will long be remembered."

When finished, the object-glass had an aperture of nearly twenty-five

inches, and was of much greater power than the eighteen-inch Chicago

instrument. The length of the tube was about thirty-two feet. The

cast-iron pillar supporting the whole was nineteen feet in height from

the ground, and the weight of the whole instrument was about six tons.

In preparing this telescope, nearly everything, from its extraordinary

size, had to be specially arranged.[10] The great anxiety involved in

these arrangements, and the constant study and application told heavily

upon Mr. Cooke, and though the instrument wanted only a few touches to

make it complete, his health broke down, and he died on the 19th of

October, 1868, at the comparatively early age of sixty-two.

Mr. Cooke's death was felt, in a measure, to be a national loss. His

science and skill had restored to England the prominent position she

had held in the time of Dollond; and, had he lived, even more might

have been expected from him. We believe that the Gold Medal and

Fellowship of the Royal Society were waiting for him; but, as one of

his friends said to his widow, "neither worth nor talent avails when

the great ordeal is presented to us." In a letter from Professor

Pritchard, he said: "Your husband has left his mark upon his age. No

optician of modern times has gained a higher reputation; and I for one

do not hesitate to call his loss national; for he cannot be replaced at

present by any one else in his own peculiar line. I shall carry the

recollection of the affectionate esteem in which I held Thomas Cooke

with me to my grave. Alas! that he should be cut off just at the

moment when he was about to reap the rewards due to his unrivalled

excellence. I have said that F.R.S. and medals were to be his. But he

is, we fondly trust, in a better and higher state than that of earthly

distinction. Best assured, your husband's name must ever be associated

with the really great men of his day. Those who knew him will ever

cherish his memory."

Mr. Cooke left behind him the great works which he founded in

Buckingham Street, York. They still give employment to a large number

of skilled and intelligent artizans. There I found many important

works in progress,--the manufacture of theodolites, of prismatic

compasses (for surveying), of Bolton's range finder, and of telescopes

above all. In the factory yard was the commencement of the Observatory

for Greenwich, to contain the late Mr. Lassell's splendid two feet

Newtonian reflecting telescope, which has been presented to the nation.

Mr. Cooke's spirit still haunts the works, which are carried on with

the skill, the vigour, and the perseverance, transmitted by him to his

sons.

While at York, I was informed by Mr. Wigglesworth, the partner of

Messrs. Cooke, of an energetic young astronomer at Bainbridge, in the

mountain-district of Yorkshire, who had not only been able to make a

telescope of his own, but was an excellent photographer. He was not yet

thirty years of age, but had encountered and conquered many

difficulties. This is a sort of character which is more often to be

met with in remote country places than in thickly-peopled cities. In

the country a man is more of an individual; in a city he is only one of

a multitude. The country boy has to rely upon himself, and has to work

in comparative solitude, while the city boy is distracted by

excitements. Life in the country is full of practical teachings;

whereas life in the city may be degraded by frivolities and pleasures,

which are too often the foes of work. Hence we have usually to go to

out-of-the-way corners of the country for our hardest brain-workers.

Contact with the earth is a great restorer of power; and it is to the

country folks that we must ever look for the recuperative power of the

nation as regards health, vigour, and manliness.

Bainbridge is a remote country village, situated among the high lands

or Fells on the north-western border of Yorkshire. The mountains there

send out great projecting buttresses into the dales; and the waters

rush down from the hills, and form waterfalls or Forces, which Turner

has done so much to illustrate. The river Bain runs into the Yore at

Bainbridge, which is supposed to be the site of an old Roman station.

Over the door of the Grammar School is a mermaid, said to have been

found in a camp on the top of Addleborough, a remarkable limestone hill

which rises to the south-east of Bainbridge. It is in this

grammar-school that we find the subject of this little autobiography.

He must be allowed to tell the story of his life--which he describes as

'Work: Good, Bad, and Indifferent--in his own words:

"I was born on November 20th, 1853. In my childhood I suffered from

ill-health. My parents let me play about in the open air, and did not

put me to school until I had turned my sixth year. One day, playing in

the shoemaker's shop, William Farrel asked me if I knew my letters. I

answered 'No.' He then took down a primer from a shelf, and began to

teach me the alphabet, at the same time amusing me by likening the

letters to familiar objects in his shop. I soon learned to read, and

in about six weeks I surprised my father by reading from an easy book

which the shoemaker had given me.

"My father then took me into the school, of which he was master, and my

education may be said fairly to have begun. My progress, however, was

very slow partly owing to ill-health, but more, I must acknowledge, to

carelessness and inattention. In fact, during the first four years I

was at school, I learnt very little of anything, with the exception of

reciting verses, which I seemed to learn without any mental effort. My

memory became very retentive. I found that by attentively reading half

a page of print, or more, from any of the school-books, I could repeat

the whole of it without missing a word. I can scarcely explain how I

did it; but I think it was by paying strict attention to the words as

words, and forming a mental picture of the paragraphs as they were

grouped in the book. Certain, I am, that their sense never made much

impression on me, for, when questioned by the teacher, I was always

sent to the bottom of the class, though apparently I had learned my

exercise to perfection.

"When I was twelve years old, I made the acquaintance of a very

ingenious boy, who came to our school. Samuel Bridge was a born

mechanic. Though only a year older than myself, such was his ability

in the use of tools, that he could construct a model of any machine

that he saw. He awakened in me a love of mechanical construction, and

together we made models of colliery winding-frames, iron-rolling mills,

trip-hammers, and water-wheels. Some of them were not mere toys, but

constructed to scale, and were really good working models. This love

of mechanical construction has never left me, and I shall always

remember with affection Samuel Bridge, who first taught me to use the

hammer and file. The last I heard of him was in 1875, when he passed

his examination as a schoolmaster, in honours, and was at the head of

his list.

"During the next two years, when between twelve and fourteen, I made

comparatively slow progress at school. I remember having to write out

the fourth commandment from memory. The teacher counted twenty-three

mistakes in ten lines of my writing. It will be seen from this, that,

as regards learning, I continued heedless and backward. About this

time, my father, who was a good violinist, took me under his tuition.

He made me practice on the violin about an hour and a half a day. I

continued this for a long time. But the result was failure. I hated

the violin, and would never play unless compelled to do so. I suppose

the secret was that I had no 'ear.'

"It was different with subjects more to my mind. Looking over my

father's books one day, I came upon Gregory's 'Handbook of Inorganic

Chemistry,' and began reading it. I was fascinated with the book, and

studied it morning, noon, and night--in fact, every time when I could

snatch a few minutes. I really believe that at one time I could have

repeated the whole of the book from memory. Now I found the value of

arithmetic, and set to work in earnest on proportion, vulgar and

decimal fractions, and, in fact, everything in school work that I could

turn to account in the science of chemistry. The result of this sudden

application was that I was seized with an illness. For some months I

had incessant headache; my hair became dried up, then turned grey, and

finally came off. Weighing myself shortly after my recovery, at the

age of fifteen, I found that I just balanced fifty-six pounds. I took

up mensuration, then astronomy, working at them slowly, but giving the

bulk of my spare time to chemistry.

"In the year 1869, when I was sixteen years old, I came across Cuthbert

Bede's book, entitled 'Photographic Pleasures.' It is an amusing book,

giving an account of the rise and progress of photography, and at the

same time having a good-natured laugh at it. I read the book

carefully, and took up photography as an amusement, using some

apparatus which belonged to my father, who had at one time dabbled in

the art. I was soon able to take fair photographs. I then decided to

try photography as a business. I was apprenticed to a photographer,

and spent four years with him--one year at Northallerton, and three at

Darlington. When my employer removed to Darlington, I joined the

School of Art there.

"Having read an account of the experiments of M. E. Becquerel, a French

savant, on photographing in the colours of nature, my curiosity was

awakened. I carefully repeated his experiments, and convinced myself

that he was correct. I continued my experiments in heliochromy for a

period of about two years, during which time I made many photographs in

colours, and discovered a method of developing the coloured image,

which enabled me to shorten the exposure to one-fortieth of the

previously-required time. During these experiments, I came upon some

curious results, which, I think, might puzzle our scientific men to

account for. For instance, I proved the existence of black light, or

rays of such a nature as to turn the rose-coloured surface of the

sensitive-plate black--that is, rays reflected from the black paint of

drapery, produced black in the picture, and not the effect of darkness.

I was, like Becquerel, unable to fix the coloured image without

destroying the colours; though the plates would keep a long while in

the dark, and could be examined in a subdued, though not in a strong

light. The coloured image was faint, but the colours came out with

great truth and delicacy.

"I began to attend the School of Art at Darlington on the 6th of March,

1872. I found, on attempting to draw, that I had naturally a correct

eye and hand; and I made such progress, that when the students'

drawings were examined, previously to sending them up to South

Kensington, all my work was approved. I was then set to draw from the

cast in chalk, although I had only been at the school for a month. I

tried for all the four subjects at the May examination, and was

fortunate enough to pass three of them, and obtained as a prize

Packett's 'Sciography.' I worked hard during the next year, and sent up

seventeen works; for one of these, the 'Venus de Milo,' I gained a

studentship.

"I then commenced the study of human anatomy, and began water-colour

painting, reading all the works upon art on which I could lay my hand.

At the May examination of 1873, I completed my second-grade

certificate, and at the end of the year of my studentship, I accepted

the office of teacher in the School of Art. This art-training created

in me a sort of disgust for photography, as I saw that the science of

photography had really very little genuine art in it, and was more

allied to a mechanical pursuit than to an artistic one. Now, when I

look back on my past ideas, I clearly see that a great deal of this

disgust was due to my ignorance and self-conceit.

"In 1874, I commenced painting in tempora, and then in oil, copying the

pictures lent to the school from the South Kensington Art Library. I

worked also from still life, and began sketching from nature in oil and

water-colours, sometimes selling my work to help me to buy materials

for art-work and scientific experiments. I was, however, able to do

very little in the following year, as I was at home suffering from

sciatica. For nine months I could not stand erect, but had to hobble

about with a stick. This illness caused me to give up my teachership.

"Early in 1876 I returned to Darlington. I went on with my art studies

and the science of chemistry; though I went no further in heliochromy.

I pushed forward with anatomy. I sent about fifteen works to South

Kensington, and gained as my third-grade prize in list A the

'Dictionary of Terms used in Art' by Thomas Fairholt, which I found a

very useful work. Towards the end of the year, my father, whose health

was declining, sent for me home to assist him in the school. I now

commenced the study of Algebra and Euclid in good earnest, but found it

tough work. My father, though a fair mathematician, was unable to give

me any instruction; for he had been seized with paralysis, from which

he never recovered. Before he died, he recommended me to try for a

schoolmaster's certificate; and I promised him that I would. I

obtained a situation as master of a small village school, not under

Government inspection; and I studied during the year, and obtained a

second class certificate at the Durham Diocesan College at Christmas,

1877. Early in the following year, the school was placed under

Government inspection, and became a little more remunerative.

"I now went on with chemical analysis, making my own apparatus.

Requiring an intense heat on a small scale, I invented a furnace that

burnt petroleum oil. It was blown by compressed air. After many

failures, I eventually succeeded in bringing it to such perfection that

in 7 1/2 minutes it would bring four ounces of steel into a perfectly

liquefied state. I next commenced the study of electricity and

magnetism; and then acoustics, light, and heat. I constructed all my

apparatus myself, and acquired the art of glass-blowing, in order to

make my own chemical apparatus, and thus save expense.

"I then went on with Algebra and Euclid, and took up plane

trigonometry; but I devoted most of my time to electricity and

magnetism. I constructed various scientific apparatus--a syren,

telephones, microphones, an Edison's megaphone, as well as an

electrometer, and a machine for covering electric wire with cotton or

silk. A friend having lent me a work on artificial memory, I began to

study it; but the work led me into nothing but confusion, and I soon

found that if I did not give it up, I should be left with no memory at

all. I still went an sketching from Nature, not so much as a study,

but as a means of recruiting my health, which was far from being good.

At the beginning of 1881 I obtained my present situation as assistant

master at the Yorebridge Grammar School, of which the Rev. W.

Balderston, M.A., is principal.

"Soon after I became settled here, I spent some of my leisure time in

reading Emerson's 'Optics,' a work I bought at an old bookstall. I was

not very successful with it, owing to my deficient mathematical

knowledge. On the May Science Examinations of 1881 taking place at

Newcastle-on-Tyne, applied for permission to sit, and obtained four

tickets for the following subjects:--Mathematics, Electricity and

Magnetism, Acoustics, Light and Heat, and Physiography. During the

preceding month I had read up the first three subjects, but, being

pressed for time, I gave up the idea of taking physiography. However,

on the last night of the examinations, I had some conversation with one

of the students as to the subjects required for physiography. He said,

'You want a little knowledge of everything in a scientific way, and

nothing much of anything.' I determined to try, for 'nothing much of

anything' suited me exactly. I rose early next morning, and as soon as

the shops were open I went and bought a book on the subject, 'Outlines

of Physiography,' by W. Lawson, F.R.G.S. I read it all day, and at

night sat for the examination. The results of my examinations were,

failure in mathematics, but second class advanced grade certificates in

all the others. I do not attach any credit to passing in physiography,

but merely relate the circumstance as curiously showing what can be

done by a good 'cram.'

"The failure in mathematics caused me to take the subject 'by the

horns,' to see what I could do with it. I began by going over

quadratic equations, and I gradually solved the whole of those given in

Todhunter's larger 'Algebra.' Then I re-read the progressions,

permutations, combinations; the binomial theorem, with indices and

surds; the logarithmic theorem and series, converging and diverging. I

got Todhunter's larger 'Plane Trigonometry,' and read it, with the

theorems contained in it; then his 'Spherical Trigonometry;' his

'Analytical Geometry, of Two Dimensions,' and 'Conics.' I next obtained

De Morgan's 'Differential and Integral Calculus,' then Woolhouse's, and

lastly, Todhunter's. I found this department of mathematics difficult

and perplexing to the last degree; but I mastered it sufficiently to

turn it to some account. This last mathematical course represents

eighteen months of hard work, and I often sat up the whole night

through. One result of the application was a permanent injury to my

sight.

"Wanting some object on which to apply my newly-acquired mathematical

knowledge, I determined to construct an astronomical telescope. I got

Airy's 'Geometrical Optics,' and read it through. Then I searched

through all my English Mechanic (a scientific paper that I take), and

prepared for my work by reading all the literature on the subject that

I could obtain. I bought two discs of glass, of 6 1/2 inches diameter,

and began to grind them to a spherical curve 12 feet radius. I got

them hollowed out, but failed in fining them through lack of skill.

This occurred six times in succession; but at the seventh time the

polish came up beautifully, with scarcely a scratch upon the surface.

Stopping my work one night, and it being starlight, I thought I would

try the mirror on a star. I had a wooden frame ready for the purpose,

which the carpenter had made for me. Judge of my surprise and delight

when I found that the star disc enlarged nearly in the same manner from

each side of the focal point, thus making it extremely probable that I

had accidentally hit on a near approach to the parabola in the curve of

my mirror. And such proved to be the case. I have the mirror still,

and its performance is very good indeed.

"I went no further with this mirror, for fear or spoiling it. It is

very slightly grey in the centre, but not sufficiently so as to

materially injure its performance. I mounted it in a wooden tube,

placed it on a wooden stand, and used it for a time thus mounted; but

getting disgusted with the tremor and inconvenience I had to put up

with, I resolved to construct for it an iron equatorial stand. I made

my patterns, got them cast, turned and fitted them myself, grinding all

the working parts together with emery and oil, and fitted a

tangent-screw motion to drive the instrument in right ascension. Now I

found the instrument a pleasure to use; and I determined to add to it

divided circles, and to accurately adjust it to the meridian. I made

my circles of well-seasoned mahogany, with slips of paper on their

edges, dividing them with my drawing instruments, and varnishing them

to keep out the wet. I shall never forget that sunny afternoon upon

which I computed the hour-angle for Jupiter, and set the instrument so

that by calculation Jupiter should pass through the field of the

instrument at 1h. 25m. 15s. With my watch in my hand, and my eye to

the eye-piece, I waited for the orb. When his glorious face appeared,

almost in a direct line for the centre of the field, I could not

contain my joy, but shouted out as loudly as I could,--greatly to the

astonishment of old George Johnson, the miller, who happened to be in

the field where I had planted my stand!

"Now, though I had obtained what I wanted--a fairly good

instrument,--still I was not quite satisfied; as I had produced it by a

fortunate chance, and not by skill alone. I therefore set to work

again on the other disc of glass, to try if I could finish it in such a

way as to excel the first one. After nearly a year's work I found that

I could only succeed in equalling it. But then, during this time, I had

removed the working of mirrors from mere chance to a fair amount of

certainty. By bringing my mathematical knowledge to bear on the

subject, I had devised a method of testing and measuring my work which,

I am happy to say, has been fairly successful, and has enabled me to

produce the spherical, elliptic, parabolic, or hyperbolic curve in my

mirrors, with almost unvarying success. The study of the practical

working of specula and lenses has also absorbed a good deal of my spare

time during the last two years, and the work involved has been scarcely

less difficult. Altogether, I consider this last year (1882-3) to mark

the busiest period of my life.

"It will be observed that I have only given an account of those

branches of study in which I have put to practical test the deductions

from theoretical reasoning. I am at present engaged on the theory of

the achromatic object-glass, with regard to spherical chromatism--a

subject upon which, I believe, nearly all our text-books are silent,

but one nevertheless of vital importance to the optician. I can only

proceed very slowly with it, on account of having to grind and figure

lenses for every step of the theory, to keep myself in the right track;

as mere theorizing is apt to lead one very much astray, unless it be

checked by constant experiment. For this particular subject, lenses

must be ground firstly to spherical, and then to curves of conic

sections, so as to eliminate spherical aberration from each lens; so

that it will be observed that this subject is not without its

difficulties.

"About a month ago (September, 1883), I determined to put to the test

the statement of some of our theorists, that the surface of a rotating

fluid is either a parabola or a hyperbola. I found by experiment that

it is neither, but an approximation to the tractrix (a modification of

the catenary), if anything definite; as indeed one, on thinking over

the matter, might feel certain it would be--the tractrix being the

curve of least friction.

"In astronomy, I have really done very little beyond mere algebraical

working of the fundamental theorems, and a little casual observation of

the telescope. So far, I must own, I have taken more pleasure in the

theory and construction of the telescope, than in its use."

Such is Samuel Lancaster's history of the growth and development of his

mind. I do not think there is anything more interesting in the

'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties.' His life has been a gallant

endeavour to win further knowledge, though too much at the expense of a

constitution originally delicate. He pursues science with patience and

determination, and wooes truth with the ardour of a lover. Eulogy of

his character would here be unnecessary; but, if he takes due care of

his health, we shall hear more of him.[11]

More astronomers in humble life! There seems to to be no end of them.

There must be a great fascination in looking up to the heavens, and

seeing those wondrous worlds careering in the far-off infinite. Let me

look back to the names I have introduced in this chapter of

autobiography. First, there was my worthy porter friend at Coupar

Angus station, enjoying himself with his three-inch object-glass. Then

there was the shoemaker and teacher, and eventually the first-rate

maker of achromatic instruments. Look also at the persons whom he

supplied with his best telescopes. Among them we find princes,

baronets, clergymen, professors, doctors, solicitors, manufacturers,

and inventors. Then we come to the portrait painter, who acquired the

highest supremacy in the art of telescope making; then to Mr. Lassell,

the retired brewer, whose daughters presented his instrument to the

nation; and, lastly, to the extraordinary young schoolmaster of

Bainbridge, in Yorkshire. And now before I conclude this last chapter,

I have to relate perhaps the most extraordinary story of all--that of

another astronomer in humble life, in the person of a slate counter at

Port Penrhyn, Bangor, North Wales.

While at Birnam, I received a letter from my old friend the Rev.

Charles Wicksteed, formerly of Leeds, calling my attention to this

case, and inclosing an extract from the letter of a young lady, one of

his correspondents at Bangor. In that letter she said: "What you write

of Mr. Christmas Evans reminds me very much of a visit I paid a few

evenings ago to an old man in Upper Bangor. He works on the Quay, but

has a very decided taste for astronomy, his leisure time being spent in

its study, with a great part of his earnings. I went there with some

friends to see an immense telescope, which he has made almost entirely

without aid, preparing the glasses as far as possible himself, and

sending them away merely to have their concavity changed. He showed us

all his treasures with the greatest delight, explaining in English, but

substituting Welsh when at a loss. He has scarcely ever been at

school, but has learnt English entirely from books. Among other things

he showed us were a Greek Testament and a Hebrew Bible, both of which

he can read. His largest telescope, which is several yards long, he

has named 'Jumbo,' and through it he told us he saw the snowcap on the

pole of Mars. He had another smaller telescope, made by himself, and

had a spectroscope in process of making. He is now quite old, but his

delight in his studies is still unbounded and unabated. It seems so sad

that he has had no right opportunity for developing his talent."

Mr. Wicksteed was very much interested in the case, and called my

attention to it, that I might add the story to my repertory of

self-helping men. While at York I received a communication from Miss

Grace Ellis, the young lady in question, informing me of the name of

the astronomer--John Jones, Albert Street, Upper Bangor--and intimating

that he would be glad to see me any evening after six. As railways

have had the effect of bringing places very close together in point of

time--making of Britain, as it were, one great town--and as the autumn

was brilliant, and the holiday season not at an end, I had no

difficulty in diverging from my journey, and taking Bangor on my way

homeward. Starting from York in the morning, and passing through Leeds,

Manchester, and Chester, I reached Bangor in the afternoon, and had my

first interview with Mr. Jones that very evening.

I found him, as Miss Grace Ellis had described, active, vigorous, and

intelligent; his stature short, his face well-formed, his eyes keen and

bright. I was first shown into his little parlour downstairs,

furnished with his books and some of his instruments; I was then taken

to his tiny room upstairs, where he had his big reflecting telescope,

by means of which he had seen, through the chamber window, the snowcap

of Mars. He is so fond of philology that I found he had no fewer than

twenty-six dictionaries, all bought out of his own earnings. "I am

fond of all knowledge," he said--"of Reuben, Dan, and Issachar; but I

have a favourite, a Benjamin, and that is Astronomy. I would sell all

of them into Egypt, but preserve my Benjamin." His story is briefly as

follows:--

"I was born at Bryngwyn Bach, Anglesey, in 1818, and I am sixty-five

years old. I got the little education I have, when a boy. Owen Owen,

who was a cousin of my mother's, kept a school at a chapel in the

village of Dwyrain, in Anglesey. It was said of Owen that he never had

more than a quarter of a year's schooling, so that he could not teach

me much. I went to his school at seven, and remained with him about a

year. Then he left; and some time afterwards I went for a short period

to an old preacher's school, at Brynsieneyn chapel. There I learnt but

little, the teacher being negligent. He allowed the children to play

together too much, and he punished them for slight offences, making

them obstinate and disheartened. But I remember his once saying to the

other children, that I ran through my little lesson 'like a coach.'

However, when I was about twelve years old, my father died, and in

losing him I lost almost all the little I had learnt during the short

periods I had been at school. Then I went to work for the farmers.

"In this state of ignorance I remained for years, until the time came

when on Sunday I used to saddle the old black mare for Cadwalladr

Williams, the Calvinist Methodist preacher, at Pen Ceint, Anglesey; and

after he had ridden away, I used to hide in his library during the

sermon, and there I learnt a little that I shall not soon forget. In

that way I had many a draught of knowledge, as it were, by stealth.

Having a strong taste for music, I was much attracted by choral

singing; and on Sundays and in the evenings I tried to copy out airs

from different books, and accustomed my hand a little to writing. This

tendency was, however, choked within me by too much work with the

cattle, and by other farm labour. In a word, I had but little fair

weather in my search for knowledge. One thing enticed me from another,

to the detriment of my plans; some fair Eve often standing with an

apple in hand, tempting me to taste of that.

"The old preacher's books at Pen Ceint were in Welsh. I had not yet

learned English, but tried to learn it by comparing one line in the

English New Testament with the same line in the Welsh. This was the

Hamiltonian method, and the way in which I learnt most languages. I

first got an idea of astronomy from reading 'The Solar System,' by Dr.

Dick, translated into Welsh by Eleazar Roberts of Liverpool. That book

I found on Sundays in the preacher's library; and many a sublime

thought it gave me. It was comparatively easy to understand.

"When I was about thirty I was taken very ill, and could no longer

work. I then went to Bangor to consult Dr. Humphrys. After I got

better I found work at the Port at 12s. a week. I was employed in

counting the slates, or loading the ships in the harbour from the

railway trucks. I lodged in Fwn Deg, near where Hugh Williams,

Gatehouse, then kept a navigation school for young sailors. I learnt

navigation, and soon made considerable progress. I also learnt a

little arithmetic. At first nearly all the young men were more

advanced than myself; but before I left matters were different, and the

Scripture words became verified--"the last shall be first." I remained

with Hugh Williams six months and a half. During that time I went

twice through the 'Tutor's Assistant,' and a month before I left I was

taught mensuration. That is all the education I received, and the

greater part of it was during my by-hours.

"I got to know English pretty well, though Welsh was the language of

those about me. From easy books I went to those more difficult. I was

helped in my pronunciation of English by comparing the words with the

phonetic alphabet, as published by Thomas Gee of Denbigh, in 1853.

With my spare earnings I bought books, especially when my wages began

to rise. Mr. Wyatt, the steward, was very kind, and raised my pay from

time to time at his pleasure. I suppose I was willing, correct, and

faithful. I improved my knowledge by reading books on astronomy. I

got, amongst others, 'The Mechanism of the Heavens,' by Denison

Olmstead, an American; a very understandable book. Learning English,

which was a foreign language to me, led me to learn other languages. I

took pleasure in finding out the roots or radixes of words, and from

time to time I added foreign dictionaries to my little library. But I

took most pleasure in astronomy.

"The perusal of Sir John Herschel's 'Outlines of Astronomy,' and of his

'Treatise on the Telescope,' set my mind on fire. I conceived the idea

of making a telescope of my own, for I could not buy one. While

reading the Mechanics' Magazine I observed the accounts of men who made

telescopes. Why should not I do the same? Of course it was a matter

of great difficulty to one who knew comparatively little of the use of

tools. But I had a willing mind and willing hands. So I set to work.

I think I made my first telescope about twenty years ago. It was

thirty-six inches long, and the tube was made of pasteboard. I got the

glasses from Liverpool for 4s. 6d. Captain Owens, of the ship Talacra,

bought them. He also bought for me, at a bookstall, the Greek Lexicon

and the Greek New Testament, for which he paid 7s. 6d. With my new

telescope I could see Jupiter's four satellites, the craters on the

moon, and some of the double stars. It was a wonderful pleasure to me.

"But I was not satisfied with the instrument. I wanted a bigger and a

more perfect one. I sold it and got new glasses from Solomon of

London, who was always ready to trust me. I think it was about the

year 1868 that I began to make a reflecting telescope. I got a rough

disc of glass, from St. Helens, of ten inches diameter. It took me

from nine to ten days to grind and polish it ready for parabolising and

silvering. I did this by hand labour with the aid of emery, but

without a lathe. I finally used rouge instead of emery in grinding

down the glass, until I could see my face in the mirror quite plain. I

then sent the 8 3/16 inch disc to Mr. George Calver, of Chelmsford, to

turn my spherical curve to a parabolic curve, and to silver the mirror,

for which I paid him 5L. I mounted this in my timber tube; the focus

was ten feet. When everything was complete I tried my instrument on

the sky, and found it to have good defining power. The diameter of the

other glass I have made is a little under six inches.

"You ask me if their performance satisfies me? Well; I have compared

my six-inch reflector with a 4 1/4 inch refractor, through my window,

with a power of 100 and 140. I can't say which was the best. But if

out on a clear night I think my reflector would take more power than

the refractor. However that may be, I saw the snowcap on the planet

Mars quite plain; and it is satisfactory to me so far. With respect to

the 8 3/16 inch glass, I am not quite satisfied with it yet; but I am

making improvements, and I believe it will reward my labour in the end."

Besides these instruments John Jones has an equatorial which is mounted

on a tripod stand, made by himself. It contains the right ascension,

declination, and azimuth index, all neatly carved upon slate. In his

spectroscope he makes his prisms out of the skylights used in vessels.

These he grinds down to suit his purpose. I have not been able to go

into the complete detail of the manner in which he effects the grinding

of his glasses. It is perhaps too technical to be illustrated in words,

which are full of focuses, parabolas, and convexities. But enough may

be gathered from the above account to give an idea of the wonderful

tenacity of this aged student, who counts his slates into the ships by

day, and devotes his evenings to the perfecting of his astronomical

instruments. But not only is he an astronomer and a philologist; he is

also a bard, and his poetry is much admired in the district. He writes

in Welsh, not in English, and signs himself "Ioan, of Bryngwyn Bach,"

the place where he was born. Indeed, he is still at a loss for words

when he speaks in English. He usually interlards his conversation with

passages in Welsh, which is his mother-tongue. A friend has, however,

done me the favour to translate two of John Jones's poems into English.

The first is 'The Telescope':--

"To Heaven it points, where rules the Sun

In golden gall'ries bright;

And the pale Moon in silver rays

Makes dalliance in the night.

"It sweeps with eagle glances

The sky, its myriad throng,

That myriad throng to marshal

And bring to us their song.

"Orb upon orb it follows

As oft they intertwine,

And worlds in vast processions

As if in battle line.

"It loves all things created,

To follow and to trace;

And never fears to penetrate

The dark abyss of space."

The next is to 'The Comet':--

"A maiden fair, with light of stars bedecked,

Starts out of space at Jove's command;

With visage wild, and long dishevelled hair,

Speeds she along her starry course;

The hosts of heaven regards she not,--

Fain would she scorn them all except her father Sol,

Whose mighty influence her headlong course doth all control."

The following translation may also be given: it shows that the bard is

not without a spice of wit. A fellow-workman teased him to write some

lines; when John Jones, in a seemingly innocent manner, put some

questions, and ascertained that he had once been a tailor. Accordingly

this epigram was written, and appeared in the local paper the week

after: "To a quondam Tailor, now a Slate-teller":--

"To thread and needle now good-bye,

With slates I aim at riches;

The scissors will I ne'er more ply,

Nor make, but order, breeches."[12]

The bi-lingual speech is the great educational difficulty of Wales. To

get an entrance into literature and science requires a knowledge of

English; or, if not of English, then of French or German. But the

Welsh language stands in the way. Few literary or scientific works are

translated into Welsh. Hence the great educational difficulty

continues, and is maintained from year to year by patriotism and

Eisteddfods.

Possibly the difficulties to be encountered may occasionally evoke

unusual powers of study; but this can only occur in exceptional cases.

While at Bangor Mr. Cadwalladr Davies read to me the letter of a

student and professor, whose passion for knowledge is of an

extraordinary character. While examined before the Parliamentary

Committee appointed to inquire into the condition of intermediate and

higher education in Wales and Monmouthshire, Mr. Davies gave evidence

relating to this and other remarkable cases, of which the following is

an abstract, condensed by himself:--

"The night schools in the quarry districts have been doing a very great

work; and, if the Committee will allow me, I will read an extract from

a letter which I received from Mr. Bradley Jones, master of the Board

Schools at Llanarmon, near Mold, Flintshire, who some years ago kept a

very flourishing night school in the neighbourhood. He says: 'During

the whole of the time (fourteen years) that I was at Carneddi, I

carried on these schools, and I believe I have had more experience of

such institutions than any teacher in North Wales. For several years

about 120 scholars used to attend the Carneddi night school in the

winter months, four evenings a week. Nearly all were quarrymen, from

fourteen to twenty-one years of age, and engaged at work from 7 A.M. to

5.30 P.M. So intense was their desire for education that some of them

had to walk a distance of two or even three miles to school. These,

besides working hard all day, had to walk six miles in the one case and

nine in the other before school-time, in addition to the walk home

afterwards. Several of them used to attend all the year round, even

coming to me for lessons in summer before going to work, as well as in

the evening. Indeed, so anxious were some of them, that they would

often come for lessons as early as five o'clock in the morning. This

may appear almost incredible, but any of the managers of the Carneddi

School could corroborate the statement.'

"I have now in my mind's eye," continues Mr. Bradley, "several of these

young men, who, by dint of indefatigable labour and self-denial,

ultimately qualified themselves for posts in which a good education is

a sine qua non. Some of them are to-day quarry managers, professional

men, certificated teachers, and ministers of the Gospel. Five of them

are at the present time students at Bala College. One got a situation

in the Glasgow Post Office as letter-carrier. During his leisure hours

he attended the lectures at one of the medical schools of that city,

and in course of time gained his diploma. He is now practising as a

surgeon, and I understand with signal success. This gentleman worked

in the Penrhyn Quarry until he was twenty years old. I could give many

more instances of the resolute and self-denying spirit with which the

young quarrymen of Bethesda sought to educate themselves. The teachers

of the other schools in that neighbourhood could give similar examples,

for during the winter months there used to be no less than 300 evening

scholars under instruction in the different schools. The Bethesda

booksellers could tell a tale that would surprise our English friends.

I have been informed by one of them that he has sold to young quarrymen

an immense number of such works as Lord Macaulay's, Stuart Mill's, and

Professor Fawcett's; and it is no uncommon sight to find these and

similar works read and studied by the young quarrymen during the dinner

hour."

"I can give," proceeds Mr. Cadwalladr Davies, "one remarkable instance

to show the struggles which young Welshmen have to undertake in order

to get education. The boy in question, the son of 'poor but honest

parents,' left the small national school of his native village when he

was 12 1/2 years of age, and then followed his father's occupation of

shoemaking until he was 16 1/2 years of age. After working hard at his

trade for four years, he, his brother, and two fellow apprentices,

formed themselves into a sort of club to learn shorthand, the whole

matter being kept a profound secret. They had no teachers, and they

met at the gas-works, sitting opposite the retorts on a bench supported

at each end with bricks. They did not penetrate far into the mysteries

of Welsh shorthand; they soon abandoned the attempt, and induced the

village schoolmaster to open a night school.

"This, however, did not last long. The young Crispin was returning

late one night from Llanrwst in company with a lad of the same age, and

both having heard much of the blessings of education from a Scotch lady

who took a kindly interest in them, their ambition was inflamed, and

they entered into a solemn compact that they would thenceforward devote

themselves body and soul to the attainment of an academical degree.

Yet they were both poor. One was but a shoemaker's apprentice, while

the other was a pupil teacher earning but a miserable weekly pittance.

One could do the parts of speech; the other could not. One had

struggled with the pans asinorum; the other had never seen it. I may

mention that the young pupil teacher is now a curate in the Church of

England. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and a prizeman of

Clare College. But to return to the little shoemaker.

"After returning home from Llanrwst, he disburthened his heart to his

mother, and told her that shoemaking, which until now he had pursued

with extraordinary zest, could no longer interest him. His mother, who

was equal to the emergency, sent the boy to a teacher of the old

school, who had himself worked his way from the plough. After the

exercise of considerable diplomacy, an arrangement was arrived at

whereby the youth was to go to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and

Fridays, and make shoes during the remaining days of the week. This

suited him admirably. That very night he seized upon a geography, and

began to learn the counties of England and Wales. The fear of failure

never left him for two hours together, except when he slept. The plan

of work was faithfully kept; though by this time shoemaking had lost

its charms. He shortened his sleeping hours, and rose at any moment

that he awoke--at two, three, or four in the morning. He got his

brother, who had been plodding with him over shorthand, to study

horticulture, and fruit and vegetable culture; and that brother shortly

after took a high place in an examination held by the Royal

Horticultural Society. For a time, however, they worked together; and

often did their mother get up at four o'clock in the depth of winter,

light their fire, and return to bed after calling them up to the work

of self-culture. Even this did not satisfy their devouring ambition.

There was a bed in the workshop, and they obtained permission to sleep

there. Then they followed their own plans. The young gardener would

sit up till one or two in the morning, and wake his brother, who had

gone to bed as soon as he had given up work the night before.

Now he got up and studied through the small hours of the morning until

the time came when he had to transfer his industry to shoemaking, or go

to school on the appointed days after the distant eight o'clock had

come. His brother had got worn out. Early sleep seemed to be the best.

They then both went to bed about eight o'clock, and got the policeman

to call them up before retiring himself.

"So the struggle went on, until the faithful old schoolmaster thought

that his young pupil might try the examination at the Bangor Normal

College. He was now eighteen years of age; and it was eighteen months

since the time when he began to learn the counties of England and

Wales. He went to Bangor, rigged out in his brother's coat and

waistcoat, which were better than his own; and with his brother's watch

in his pocket to time himself in his examinations. He went through his

examination, but returned home thinking he had failed. Nevertheless,

he had in the meantime, on the strength of a certificate which he had

obtained six months before, in an examination held by the Society of

Arts and Sciences in Liverpool, applied for a situation as teacher in a

grammar-school at Ormskirk in Lancashire. He succeeded in his

application, and had been there for only eight days when he received a

letter from Mr. Rowlands, Principal of the Bangor Normal College,

informing him that he had passed at the head of the list, and was the

highest non-pupil teacher examined by the British and Foreign Society.

Having obtained permission from his master to leave, he packed his

clothes and his few books. He had not enough money to carry him home;

but, unasked, the master of the school gave him 10s. He arrived home

about three o'clock on a Sunday morning, after a walk of eleven miles

over a lonely road from the place where the train had stopped. He

reeled on the way, and found the country reeling too. He had been

sleeping eight nights in a damp bed. Six weeks of the Bangor Session

passed, and during that time he had been delirious, and was too weak to

sit up in bed. But the second time he crossed the threshold of his

home he made for Bangor and got back his "position," which was all

important to him, and he kept it all through.

"Having finished his course at Bangor he went to keep a school at

Brynaman; he endeavoured to study but could not. After two years he

gave up the school, and with 60L. saved he faced the world once more.

There was a scholarship of the value of 40L. a year, for three years,

attached to one of the Scotch Universities, to be competed for. He

knew the Latin Grammar, and had, with help, translated one of the books

of Caesar. Of Greek he knew nothing, save the letters and the first

declension of nouns; but in May he began to read in earnest at a

farmhouse. He worked every day from 6 A.M. to 12 P.M. with only an

hour's intermission. He studied the six Latin and two Greek books

prescribed; he did some Latin composition unaided; brushed up his

mathematics; and learnt something of the history of Greece and Rome.

In October, after five months of hard work, he underwent an examination

for the scholarship, and obtained it; beating his opponent by

twenty-eight marks in a thousand. He then went up to the Scotch

University and passed all the examinations for his ordinary M.A. degree

in two years and a half. On his first arrival at the University he

found that he could not sleep; but he wearily yet victoriously plodded

on; took a prize in Greek, then the first prize in philosophy, the

second prize in logic, the medal in English literature, and a few other

prizes.

"He had 40L. when he first arrived in Scotland; and he carried away

with him a similar sum to Germany, whither he went to study for honours

in philosophy. He returned home with little in his pocket, borrowing

money to go to Scotland, where he sat for honours and for the

scholarship. He got his first honours, and what was more important at

the time, money to go on with. He now lives on the scholarship which

he took at that time; is an assistant professor; and, in a fortnight,

will begin a course of lectures for ladies in connection with his

university. Writing to me a few days ago,[13] he says, 'My health,

broken down with my last struggle, is quite restored, and I live with

the hope of working on. Many have worked more constantly, but few have

worked more intensely. I found kindness on every hand always, but had

I failed in a single instance I should have met with entire bankruptcy.

The failure would have been ruinous.... I thank God for the struggle,

but would not like to see a dog try it again. There are droves of lads

in Wales that would creep up but they cannot. Poverty has too heavy a

hand for them.'"

The gentleman whose brief history is thus summarily given by Mr.

Davies, is now well known as a professor of philosophy; and, if his

health be spared, he will become still better known. He is the author

of several important works on 'Moral Philosophy,' published by a

leading London firm; and more works are announced from his pen. The

victorious struggle for knowledge which we have recounted might

possibly be equalled, but it could not possibly be surpassed. There

are, however, as Mr. Davies related to the Parliamentary Committee,

many instances of Welsh students--most of them originally

quarrymen--who keep themselves at school by means of the savings

effected from manual labour, "in frequent cases eked out and helped by

the kindness of friends and neighbours," who struggle up through many

difficulties, and eventually achieve success in the best sense of the

term. "One young man"--as the teacher of a grammar-school, within two

miles of Bangor, related to Mr. Davies--"who came to me from the quarry

some time ago, was a gold medallist at Edinburgh last winter;" and

contributions are readily made by the quarrymen to help forward any

young man who displays an earnest desire for knowledge in science and

literature.

It is a remarkable fact that the quarrymen of Carnarvonshire have

voluntarily contributed large sums of money towards the establishment

of the University College in North Wales--the quarry districts in that

county having contributed to that fund, in the course of three years,

mostly in half-crown subscriptions, not less than 508L. 4s. 4d.--"a

fact," says Mr. Davies, "without its parallel in the history of the

education of any country;" the most striking feature being, that these

collections were made in support of an institution from which the

quarrymen could only very remotely derive any benefit.

While I was at Bangor, on the 24th of August, 1883, the news arrived

that the Committee of Selection had determined that Bangor should be

the site for the intended North Wales University College. The news

rapidly spread, and great rejoicings prevailed throughout the borough,

which had just been incorporated. The volunteer band played through

the streets; the church bells rang merry peals; and gay flags were

displayed from nearly every window. There never was such a triumphant

display before in the cause of University education.

As Mr. Cadwalladr Davies observed at the banquet, which took place on

the following day: "The establishment of the new institution will mark

the dawn of a new era in the history of the Welsh people. He looked to

it, not only as a means of imparting academical knowledge to the

students within its walls, but also as a means of raising the

intellectual and moral tone of the whole people. They were fond of

quoting the saying of a great English writer, that there was something

Grecian in the Celtic race, and that the Celtic was the refining

element in the British character; but such remarks, often accompanied

as they were with offensive comparisons from Eisteddfod platforms,

would in future be put to the test, for they would, with their new

educational machinery, be placed on a footing of perfect equality with

the Scotch and the Irish people."

And here must come to an end the character history of my autumn tour in

Ireland, Scotland, Yorkshire, and Wales. I had not the remotest

intention when setting out of collecting information and writing down

my recollections of the journey. But the persons I met, and the

information I received, were of no small interest--at least to myself;

and I trust that the reader will derive as much pleasure from perusing

my observations as I have had in collecting and writing them down. I

do think that the remarkable persons whose history and characters I

have endeavoured, however briefly, to sketch, will be found to afford

many valuable and important lessons of Self-Help; and to illustrate how

the moral and industrial foundations of a country may be built up and

established.

Footnotes for Chapter XII.

[1] A "poet," who dates from "New York, March 1883," has published

seven stanzas, entitled "Change here for Blairgowrie," from which we

take the following:--

"From early morn till late at e'en,

John's honest face is to be seen,

Bustling about the trains between,

Be 't sunshine or be 't showery;

And as each one stops at his door,

He greets it with the well-known roar

Of 'Change here for Blairgowrie.'

Even when the still and drowsy night

Has drawn the curtains of our sight,

John's watchful eyes become more bright,

And take another glow'r aye

Thro' yon blue dome of sparkling stars

Where Venus bright and ruddy Mars

Shine down upon Blairgowrie.

He kens each jinkin' comet's track,

And when it's likely to come back,

When they have tails, and when they lack--

In heaven the waggish power aye;

When Jupiter's belt buckle hings,

And the Pyx mark on Saturn's rings,

He sees from near Blairgowrie."

[2] The Observatory, No. 61, p. 146; and No. 68, p. 371.

[3] In an article on the subject in the Dundee Evening Telegraph, Mr.

Robertson observes: "If our finite minds were more capable of

comprehension, what a glorious view of the grandeur of the Deity would

be displayed to us in the contemplation of the centre and source of

light and heat to the solar system. The force requisite to pour such

continuous floods to the remotest parts of the system must ever baffle

the mind of man to grasp. But we are not to sit down in indolence: our

duty is to inquire into Nature's works, though we can never exhaust the

field. Our minds cannot imagine motion without some Power moving

through the medium of some subordinate agency, ever acting on the sun,

to send such floods of light and heat to our otherwise cold and dark

terrestrial ball; but it is the overwhelming magnitude of such power

that we are incapable of comprehending. The agency necessary to throw

out the floods of flame seen during the few moments of a total eclipse

of the sun, and the power requisite to burst open a cavity in its

surface, such as could entirely engulph our earth, will ever set all

the thinking capacity of man at nought."

[4] The Observatory, Nos. 34, 42, 45, 49, and 58.

[5] We regret to say that Sheriff Barclay died a few months ago,

greatly respected by all who knew him.

[6] Sir E. Denison Beckett, in his Rudimentary Treatise on clocks and

Watches and Bells, has given an instance or the telescope-driving

clock, invented by Mr. Cooke (p. 213).

[7] J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S.--Stargazing, Past and Present, p. 302.

[8] This excellent instrument is now in the possession of my

son-in-law, Dr. Hartree, of Leigh, near Tunbridge.

[9] An interesting account of Mr. Alvan Clark is given in Professor

Newcomb's 'Popular Astronomy,' p. 137.

[10] A photographic representation of this remarkable telescope is

given as the frontispiece to Mr. Lockyer's Stargazing, Past and

Present; and a full description of the instrument is given in the text

of the same work. This refracting telescope did not long remain the

largest. Mr. Alvan Clark was commissioned to erect a larger equatorial

for Washington Observatory; the object-glass (the rough disks of which

were also furnished by Messrs. Chance of Birmingham) exceeding in

aperture that of Mr. Cooke's by only one inch. This was finished and

mounted in November, 1873. Another instrument of similar size and

power was manufactured by Mr. Clark for the University of Virginia.

But these instruments did not long maintain their supremacy. In 1881,

Mr. Howard Grubb, of Dublin, manufactured a still larger instrument for

the Austrian Government--the object-glass being of twenty-seven inches

aperture. But Mr. Alvan Clark was not to be beaten. In 1882, he

supplied the Russian Government with the largest refracting telescope

in existence the object-glass being of thirty inches diameter. Even

this, however, is to be surpassed by the lens which Mr. Clark has in

hand for the Lick Observatory (California), which is to have a clear

aperture of three feet in diameter.

[11] Since the above passage was written and in type, I have seen (in

September 1884) the reflecting telescope referred to at pp. 357-8. It

was mounted on its cast-iron equatorial stand, and at work in the field

adjoining the village green at Bainbridge, Yorkshire. The mirror of

the telescope is 8 inches in diameter; its focal length, 5 feet; and

the tube in which it is mounted, about 6 feet long. The instrument

seemed to me to have an excellent defining power.

But Mr. Lancaster, like every eager astronomer, is anxious for further

improvements. He considers the achromatic telescope the king of

instruments, and is now engaged in testing convex optical surfaces,

with a view to achieving a telescope of that description. The chief

difficulty is the heavy charge for the circular blocks of flint glass

requisite for the work which he meditates. "That," he says, "is the

great difficulty with amateurs of my class." He has, however, already

contrived and constructed a machine for grinding and polishing the

lenses in an accurate convex form, and it works quite satisfactorily.

Mr. Lancaster makes his own tools. From the raw material, whether of

glass or steel, he produces the work required. As to tools, all that

he requires is a bar of steel and fire; his fertile brain and busy

hands do the rest. I looked into the little workshop behind his

sitting-room, and found it full of ingenious adaptations. The turning

lathe occupies a considerable part of it; but when he requires more

space, the village smith with his stithy, and the miller with his

water-power, are always ready to help him. His tools, though not

showy, are effective. His best lenses are made by himself: those

which he buys are not to be depended upon. The best flint glass is

obtained from Paris in blocks, which he divides, grinds, and polishes

to perfect form.

I was attracted by a newly made machine, placed on a table in the

sitting-room; and on inquiry found that its object was to grind and

polish lenses. Mr. Lancaster explained that the difficulty to be

overcome in a good machine, is to make the emery cut the surface

equally from centre to edge of the lens, so that the lens will neither

lengthen nor shorten the curve during its production. To quote his

words: "This really involves the problem of the 'three bodies,' or

disturbing forces so celebrated in dynamical mathematics, and it is

further complicated by another quantity, the 'coefficient of

attrition,' or work done by the grinding material, as well as the

mischief done by capillary attraction and nodal points of superimposed

curves in the path of the tool. These complications tend to cause

rings or waves of unequal wear in the surface of the glass, and ruin

the defining power of the lens, which depends upon the uniformity of

its curve. As the outcome of much practical experiment, combined with

mathematical research, I settled upon the ratio of speed between the

sheave of the lens-tool guide and the turn-table; between whose limits

the practical equalization of wear (or cut of the emery) might with the

greater facility be adjusted, by means of varying the stroke and

eccentricity of the tool. As the result of these considerations in the

construction of the machine, the surface of the glass 'comes up'

regularly all over the lens; and the polishing only takes a few

minutes' work--thus keeping the truth of surface gained by using a

rigid tool."

The machine in question consists of a revolving sheave or ring, with a

sliding strip across its diameter; the said strip having a slot and

clamping screw at one end, and a hole towards the other, through which

passes the axis of the tool used in forming the lens,--the slot in the

strip allowing the tool to give any stroke from 0 to 1.25 inch. The

lens is carried on a revolving turn-table, with an arrangement to allow

the axis of the lens to coincide with the axis of the table. The ratio

of speed between the sheave and turn-table is arranged by belt and

properly sized pulleys, and the whole can be driven either by hand or

by power. The sheave merely serves as a guide to the tool in its path,

and the lens may either be worked on the turn-table or upon a chuck

attached to the tool rod. The work upon the lens is thus to a great

extent independent of the error of the machine through shaking, or bad

fitting, or wear; and the only part of the machine which requires

really first-class work is the axis of the turn-table, which (in this

machine) is a conical bearing at top, with steel centre below,--the

bearing turned, hardened, and then ground up true, and run in

anti-friction metal. Other details might be given, but these are

probably enough for present purposes. We hope, at some future time,

for a special detail of Mr. Lancaster's interesting investigations,

from his own mind and pen.

[12] The translations are made by W. Cadwalladr Davies, Esq.

[13] This evidence was given by Mr. W. Cadwalladr Davies on the 28th

October, 1880.

End of Project Gutenberg's Men of Invention and Industry, by Samuel Smiles