Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
R. S. NEWALL’S TELESCOPE.
STARGAZING:
PAST AND PRESENT.
PREFACE.
In the year 1870 I gave a course of eight Lectureson Instrumental Astronomy at the Royal Institution.The Lectures were taken down by a shorthandwriter, my intention being to publish them immediately.In this, however, I was prevented by othercalls upon my time.
In 1875 my friend Mr. Seabroke generouslyoffered to take the burden of preparing the notesfor the press off my shoulders; I avail myselfof this opportunity of expressing my very greatobligations to him for his valuable services in thisparticular as well as for important help in thefinal revision of the proofs.
On looking over the so completed MSS., however,I saw that the eight hours at my disposal had notpermitted me to touch upon many points of interestwhich could hardly be omitted from the book.Besides this, the progress made in the variousinstrumental methods in the interval, and theresults obtained by them, had been very remarkable.I felt, therefore, that the object I had in view,namely, to further the cause of physical astronomy,viby creating and fostering, so far as in me lay, ageneral interest in it, and by showing how all departmentsof physical inquiry were gradually beingutilized by the astronomer, would only be halfattained unless the account were more complete. Ihave, therefore, endeavoured to fill up the gaps,and have referred briefly to the new instrumentsand methods.
The autotype of the twenty-five inch refractor isthe gift of my friend Mr. Newall, and I take thisopportunity of expressing my obligation to him, asalso to Messrs. Cooke, Grubb and Browning forseveral of the woodcuts with which the chapters onthe Equatorial are illustrated; and to Mr. H. Dent-Gardnerfor some of those illustrating Clock andChronometer Escapements, and for revising myaccount of them.
Nor can I omit to thank Mr. Cooper for thepains he has taken with the woodcuts, especiallythose copied from Tycho Brahe’s description ofhis Observatory, and Messrs. Clay for the carefulmanner in which they have pri