Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-09-06
mr. Ererett,. Grafton.

We regret that we have not space Tor the
whole of the Hon. Edward Eyerett's Grafton
at the Inauguration of the DUDLEY Observa-
tory at Albany, N. Y. Prepared as we were
for splendid exhibition of picturesque word
painting, we were taken by surprise at the evil
dence, with which the Address is full, of the
extent and minuteness of his scientific acquire
ments. The dry details of his subject are en-
bellished by the genial touches of the scholar,
and occasionally tighten up by electric flashes
of genuine eloquence. We have only room
for few extracts
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE PRINCIPAL AsTRoNoM-
IOAL INSTRUMENTS.
1st. The instruments by which the heavens
are inspected, with view to discover the ex-
istence of those celestial bodies which are not
visible to the naked eye, (beyond all compari-
son more numerous than those which are,)
and the magnitude, shapes and other sensible
qualities, both of those which are aud those
which are not thus visible to the unaided sight.
The instruments of this class are designated
by the general name of telescope, and are of
two kinds-the rejecting telescope, which de-
rives its magnifying power from system of
convex lenses, and the rejecting telescope,
which receives the image of the heavenly
body upon concave mirror
Cd. The second class of instruments consists
of those which are designed principally to
measure the singular distances of the heavenly
bodies from each other, and their time of pass
ing the meridian. The transit instrument, the
meridian circle, the mural circle, the heliome
ter, and the sextaut belong to this class. The
brilliant discoveries of astronomy are for the
most part made with the first class of instru-
struments; its practical results wrought out by
the second.
Sd. The third class contains the clock, with
It's subsidiary apparatus for measuring the time
and making its subdivisions, with the greatest
possible accuracy-indispeDsabl auxiliary of
all the instruments, by which the positions and
motions of the heavenly bodies are observed,
and measured, and recorded.
The telescope may be likened to a wondrous
Cyclopesn eye, endued with superhumsn pow
err, by which the astronomer extends the reach
of his vision to the fErther heavens, and sur
veys gaaxes and universes compared with
which the solar system is but an atom floating
in the cir. The transit may be compared to
the measuring rod which he lays from planet
to planet, and from star to star, to ascertain
and mark off the heavenly spaces, and transfer
them to his note book; the clock is that mar
velOus apI aratus by which he equalizes and
divides into nicely measured parts portion of
that unconceived ibfnity of duration, without
beginning and without end, in which all exis1
tence floats as on shoreless and bottomless
sea.
THE HEAVENLY MEASURE OF TINE.
But for the kindreds and tribes and tongues
of men-each upon their own meridian-from
the Arctic pole TO the equator, from the equa-
tor to the ADtartic pole, the eternal sun strikes
twelve at noon, and the glorious consultations.
far up in the everlasting belfrys of the skies,
chime twelve at midnght-twelve for the pale
student over his Pickering lamp-twelve amid
the flaming glories Of Orion's belt, if he cross
es the meridian at that fatal hour-tweve by
the weary couch of laDguishing humanity,
twelve in the star paved courts of the empy-
rean; twelve for the heaving tides of the
ocean; twelve for the weary arm of labor;
twelve for TIE toiling brain; twelve for the
watching, waking, broken heart; twelve for
the meteor which blazes for moment and ex-
pires; twelve for tie comet whose period is
measured by centuries; twelve for every sub.
stantial, for every imaginary thing which ex
lists in the sense, the intellect or the fancy, and
which the speech or thought of man, at the
given meridian, refers to the lapse of time.
IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATE ASTRONOMICAL oBsERvA.
TIONs AT SEA.
4 That no farther Improvement is desirable in the
means and methods of ascertaning the ships place
at see, no one, think will from experience be disc
posed to assert. The last time crossed the Attain
tic, | walked the quarter deck with the officer in
| charge of the noble vessel. one occasion, wheI
| we were driving along before leading breeze, anC
! under head of steam, beneath starless sky al
| midnight, at the rate certainly of ten or eleven
| miles an hour There is something sublime, bu
approaching the terrible in such a scene-the ray
| less goom-the midnight chiIl-the awful swell o.
| the deep-the dismal moan OF the wind through
! the riggiDg-the all but volcanic fires within the
hold OF the ship; scarce know al occasion in ord
nary life in which a rejecting mind feels more
keenly its hopeless dependence irrational force;
| beyond its own control. | asked my companion
| how nearly he could determine his ships place al
| sea under favorable circumstances. theoretically
he answered, think within a mile; practically anG
! usually, within three or four. My next question
was, how near do you think We may be to Cape
! Race, that dangerous headand which pushes its
iron bound, unlighted bastions from the shores o
Newfoundland far into the Atlantic, first land tall tC
the homeward bound American vessel. We must
said he by our last observations and reckoning b,
| within three or four miles of Cape Race. A com
| parison of these two remarks, under the ciTcum
! stances in which We were placed at the moment
brought my mind to the conclusion that it is greatly
| to be wished that the means should be discovered
of finding the ships place more accurately, or tina
navgators would give Cape Race little wider birth
! But do not remember that one OF the steam pack
cts between England and America was ever lost Oh
that formidable point.
GALILEo's SPY GLASS.
That was the house, "where," says Milton, ian
other of those Of whom the world was not worthy,
II found and visited the famous Calico, grown oil
"A prisoner to the Inqusition, for thinking Al
astronomy otherwise than a the Dominican All,
Franciscan licensers thought" prose Works vol
/ Great heavans what alt ha