New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-03-19
If sam Lectures.

Professor Glld prefaced his last lecture by statnG
that course Of lectures will be delivered in continual
ton III; lis own commencing next Wednesday, and
The subject Of the first will be :. Water.''
Tie previous lecture ran the history of astron-
ony for the last fifty years The whole course has
been delivered with an effort to treat astronomy as
science In scientific view the planet Saturn is as
wonderful as any it is the only one that has ring
If the sun had been 50 surrounded, the center OF
gravity Of the ring must eventually have met tesnn
and been destroyed. If the ring were gaseus the
result would have been chemical but yet destructive
Our own earth is probably surrounded by gaseas
ring. Thisfact has been inferred from
made by Mr.. Jones, Of the Japan expedition; alu
thes fact accounts for meteors. 5
The binary, or double stars, are stars sI'i.ea ~
nearly together that, like Epsilon they seeii = ~
one ony. These double stars are very anu
Orion has four Of fvea sext1pie. lley may "
physically connected, only appareh.y 3, y w
frnn, tl,ar positions. The theory o. pfopaptes as
carried otby streubers proves that ninety per cent
jare actually double but, actually, the motion OF
these oaies and the fact that they feyolve around
y common center of gravity, prove them to be single
The little star 81 sign has been weighed, by the
eenls Of Bessel and has helped to weigh planets, as
in a scale. 5 :8s @
The asteroids cannot be omitted, though they
cannot be described in single lecture they cannot,
either, be wholly oyerloo The asteroids fill
curious vacuum the heavens and have strange
interest. KepleT the great progenitor OF all re-
cent discoveries in astronomy. Without him Newton
and Laplace would have been unknown The idea of
kosrnos was beautifully perfected by him, and his
ideahas since been proved correct and explains many
other facts His work-the "Mysterium Kosmo-
graphicon carries the idea fully out. He was a
sincere seeker after truth, and when his theories
were by probable facts he was the
first to yield and abandon them. In September 1900,
six astronomers formed themselves into a. club, at
Lilenthal, to search for the missing planet Ceres.
Each had his portion Of the heavens given and finally
Piatri met it. Oilers re-discoyered it, and, Also a
small planet near by, which Gousse, by his theory of
probabilities, had demonstrated. Harding discovered
juno and others Vesta and Pallas but the discovery
ceased with Palas.. In1s46, thesearch was renewed
and thirtynine have been discovered-two since this
series Of lectures commenced Some account of the
nomenclature Of stars was given and when it was
proposed to name one Victoria, German astronomer
wrote an American, remarking how fearful would it
azbe to have one Of the stars called Zachaiiah!
~ Formerly, stars were described by some sign as
sickle, bird, etc. Now they are known by numbers,
as one, two, etc--.he figure being enclosed in a
circle. zs
This half century alluded TO- gave birth to Ameri-
/ can astronomy; for, Notwithstanding Frankln-qui
e4ipuit tulnae1 coelo-there was no general study
the science until then. If his time had been de-
voted to science, he might have been as famous in
astronomy as he was in politics. We have, however
our Bowditch, our Hubbard, and our Piece, and are
second only to Germany. The rainbow of hope is il
the heavens and it remains to be decided by the ct
zens Of the Republic what shall be done. There
have been wentythree observatores erected between
! 1873 and 1913 in our country. A magnificent build
ing has been erected in Albany for Astronomical pur
sposes; one has been given a transit instrumental
splendid teescopeAand it is being endowed, rapidly
in asInagnticent manner by private liberaty. It
will be opened in August, and the great astronon.
Of Europe have indicated their intention to be present
The various steamship lines have offered to convey
astronomers here and back free of expense, in order
to attend the opening ....-
If the science of astronomy can be preserved from
charlatanisn1, to which it is 50 LIABLE it will touch
heights not yet imagined. The first half of the nine
teenth century has been epitone of the whole his
tory of astronomy and has proved there is but one
4 universe governed by harmony and the will of TIN
great AN. There is one algebraic formula that III
cudes all the flowers and all the stars and all tn
planets. The object Of all astronomical science is
discover the will Of the Great Astronomer In wha
ever course our studies run, they all converge to on
great whole; and they who can read them are H
Interpreters. Everything that speaks to the sense
speaks to the soul. OF the great book that contain
f all truth we can with difficulty spell out here an
i there a letter.
8 ~ Attbe conclusion the lecturer was very Talml
i applauded by the audience.