New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-03-15

suct sr tihce. DR.. Goulc, who lH b-IcetO Oocr
heard from opiy ia an occasional letter, has
APPEALED al length, 10 the just Judgment OF BIS
countr, men in a pamphlet Of nearly four hundred
psees which Il is the latest go, itisIo % h)ped'
i, will BE- Is il Should the last upon the subject OF
that paint sai d..crs dtable controversy, which
has been forced upon him AID ais sssoc,tss OF the
Scientific Ccurci, and which has closed so sud
denly the portals Of that fair tempe of science
which were thrown open with 80 glorious
promise Of usefulness and honor. If there DO
any intelligent person, WHO have hitherto doubted
as 10 the merits Of that controversy, they must,
we think, be satisfied BY this calm, and disnhed,
aud detailed statement Of DR.. Gould, wherein not
srgle interpretation, prevarication, f,l'i-
fcation or allegation Of bis sdversanes On
the part of the Trustees, is permitted to
pass sVered, and every minutes. psrtcu-
lar Of bis relation TO thOse persons, and bis and
their relations 10 the Institution with which
they were both connected, Is carefully explained.
Our own estrnste of tie pamphlet is avowed in
the expressed conviction that nothing more need
be added or indeed can be, to this completed chap
ter Of the history of the Observatory. Its existence,
legally, ia. indeed, still vestel in the hands Of its
present Trustees; BIZ. morally so far as they are
concerned il may be presumed 10 have no exist
ence. The "Tabu.tng Engine, the correctness
of ysich, whatever lie might think Of its usefulness,
even Mr. Olcott never doubted, could arrive at 10
more certain result in figures than we are able
to reach through the events of the la't two years
Of the utter inc0mpstency and untrus.worthlness
Of these Trustees in the management Of
scientific institution. Those gentlemen may be
excellent a. bankers, or attorneys or tradesmen,
though in these oalllpgs fair dealing and honorable
col duct are supposed TO be desirable; but they are
60 evidently ignorant OF the ends of science and
Incompetent 10 understand the painful aud diisent
steps by which those ends ,re to be attained thatt
is clear no scientific good will ever be reached
through any efforts Of theirs, however well intended
We DO not SEE how the donors to that institu-
ton. if they have made themselves familiar with
tie eyerts Of its career thus far can come to any
other conclusion We cannot st oil understand
how the mere appointment Of new Director
Professor Mtchel--excelle as It may be, can re-
suscita.e an institution which has utterly broken
down under the imbecility AID Ignorance of It's
managers, unless those managers are also changed.
The radical difference between the late Director
and the Trustees was that they could not under
stand hi. aims and efforts to make it
purely scientific institution, nor would he
concert to second the selfish purposes which
would make of it something else. We
doubt if Professor Mitchell will succeed any better,
If be is determined to establish an Astronomical
Observatory in fact as we'll as in name, we do not
see how be is to avoid, in his turn, collision with
bis legal .uperIors, who evidently have no clearer
conception of what an Astronomical Observatory
is, than some of them had Of the uses Of astronom
ical clocks And if he acts with them, and con-
sen1 TO be merely the director Of gigantic sclen-
ti6c toy, then certainly there will be no other re-
suit than very expensive plsything. These
considerations, we presume, have already
suggested themselves 10 the minds Of the donors.
We can infer nothing ese from the letter Of Mrs.
Dudly to The Albany Atlas and Argus of Friday.
1t s not to be supposed that that estimable woman
will consent to recall her determination, avoSed
several months ago, Of withdrawing the foundation
fund of the Institution while it remains in the
hands Of the present Trustees nor is it Likely that
the other donors, whose reques. for reference of
the late difficulty was so CONTEMPORARY treated,
VIII con,ent to contribute funds to enterprise as
bankrupt in purse, without the Dudley foundation,
as It is in reputation. And without character or
money such An institution must necessarily be-
come Ike chip without sails, steamboat
without an engine, carriage without whee'-lt
can never 90. 1t viii be-to make more opposite
parslle--like Meridian Circle packed away ia
box-it can never unfold its glories."
What then shall be done with it The Trustees
viii, of course, do as they please with the Dudley
Observatory as legal entity; but that which gave
to it 8 moral existence, and scientific value is
not in their hands, and We doubt very much if it
ever will be. Bat il need not for that reason be
lost. How far donations, promised for certain
purposes to the Observatory, have been paid We do
lot know; but where they are sti unpaid, and will
continue TO be withheld, because Of the present
unhappy mansgement, there can be no improperly
il their seeking new destination In some
cases specific gifts may have been invested in Ger.
tain instruments over which the rights Of donors
may rot, under the circumstances, BE- disputed.
portion Of the instruments in the Observatory, We
know, are the property Of the Coast Surrey, placed
there upon certain conditions which have never
been fulfilled. Surprising, then, such donations
and such Instruments withdrawn from the Albany
Observatory, for the simple ssd excellent reason
that neither have been-so far as the Trustees arc
concerned, and doubt exists whether they ever
viii be-deyoted to their original purpose, the ques
10, s-;sa, wh.. shall be dor . with them Usppily