New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-08-24
ANOTHER GREAT TELESCOPE.

The "opening exiibIt" of the fortv-lnch l"fN''
telescope at Chicago this week Is an occurrence
of no little general interest To both the lay anu
the scientific mind astronomy il ia@c'ni',i7
study The stupcndous magnitudes with winch
il deals and the brilliant beauty OF its phenoheha
attract while they bcwildcr. 1t Offers. moreover
n field Of inestimablc richness for research ana
far tl,o enlargement OF human knowledge. but
This j. "a field who's, cultivation depends, more
than any other upon the implements used III
vcution is vain; speculation is futile; calculation
waits Oh data Actual Obsrrvat. Oh through power
full Instruments alone can give results ana promise
further results and progress in ASTRONOMERS
knowledge must be measured by the progress maze
in the manufacture of ASTRONOMICAL 1hSUune'i''
How much further progress will be- made. or can
be made in this direction, he would be rash WIZ
should attempt 10 say. No such limit yet appears
as has been reached, for example" IN MICROSCOPIC
and, with the requisite and skill IN casting
aud grinding glasses there seems no goOd r''asoh
why telescopes should not be made by far eNc'eIih@
in size and power the greatest of those now pro-
ccted.
II is one thing. however to plan huge tele-
scope, and even make its tube ana cAhlolt III W
admiring mutitudes; but it is another ana a iar
different thing 10 make tho lenses ana pun the
machine to Use The Lick telescope ls sihai''i
than the lcrl:cs, yet what a task it was 10 MAKE
its pondcrous objective! Disc after disc OF crown
glass was cast, at great expense and labor, only
70 he rejected. Some got broken. some contained
DAVIS. so,na were spoiled in cooling. some were
ruined in annealing. After more than 'hir'S
ott.mnts. success was attained Then it was the
task of more than a year to grind ana pola" ''t
disc, and the care bestowed on the packing ana
Of; sucli - OF nOlu
or diamonds ever received This was an objective
tl,irty-siN inches in diameter That of the lerkes
telescope is forty inches, and Dropoftonately more
difficult 10 make
Wien this great instrument is finished. 1T VIII
be. in size. without rival and though the ell
cheney of telescopes does not increase III equal
ratio with their size. it ought TO excel all o'uers
in po.yer IT,; nearest competitor in size - the
Lick telescope, with its thirty-siX men disc
Russia boasts one Of thirty inches. Lheiahu
largest, in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich
measures twenty-eight inches, the same a. Dr
Diapers largest. and that at Yale. lhe great
telescope at Washington has Il lens OF twenty
six inches and that at Princeton OF twenty
three. Their, other much larger tubes. put
they are Icilectors, not refractors-ah ch'HeiN
different type. Mr.. Commons. at Eallng England
has a superb thirty-six inch reflector. There Is
one Of forty-echt inches at Melbourne. IN"
famous Icrschel reflector also measures forty
eight inches, while Lord Roses mighty tube
noast., spectrum no less than scvcnty-two inches
in diameter How the Ycrkes forty-inch refr1ctor
will compare with these NAV in part be rcckoned
from the fact that. after careful consideration,
the builders Of tho Lick telescope preferred the
THIRTY. six inch TciractOr 10 "A proposed seventy
two inch reflector a possible rival to the lerkes
Telescope and the only yet heard Of is I'll" great
reflector which VI. Dclonclc proposes TO build for
the Paris Exposition Of 1900. and which is TO have
a spectrum a hundred and eighteen inches in diam
ctcr. and a tube a hundred and thiry-two feet
long But until il IL constructed. the mighty in
s,rumcnt on exhibition at Chicago will be