New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-03-23
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
MANUAL OF ASTRONOMY.

a ABORT HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY. BY y, Ar.
thur Berry. NJ A. rA ssS,s.nao M 40 Charles
ecribner's Sons
Nv a..,en or through the force or circuh-
...rcs, not originally foreseen, this book is
.ur,ons counterpart OF Miss Clerke's dehsh'i"'
~,,,,torv OF Astronomy" which Is devoted pr'"-
~,ns,v 70 the work Of the nineteenth ceh'ui''
ana summarizes IN chapter all tha' "e"' w
fore Mr. Berry. in way tha' is a." wv "
proportion 10 the rest OF his DOOR anu nc
s.ems sadly unappreciative OF the acme e'''e""
Of the last hundred years. dismisses the ee"'"'
NOW drawing to a close with very nasty anu
unsatisfactory survey. and devotes hinsei pii"-
cinally 10 earlier periods. 1t Is another hotao'e
-aature Of his work that while he names f1a'h-
ness Newcomb. Langley. Bond flcAS'lre,
Young. Hale Burnham. Barnard Asaph ma"
and See he does 30 in what appears ike
studiously inadequate way and altogether
nores Peters. Rutherford. the 'Drapers' iouo
Keeler and other Americans VINO nave 00"
.-,,r,.s largely 10 our stock OF Astronomical
knowledge This would not appear 80 remark
.h,e-in view OF the pressure under which ne
obviously labored-if II were not for the rather
,ynore ample recognition accorded TO Huesins'
Iockver and their English contemporaries
What will seem to many readers another Dlem
.sh 70 Mr.. Berry's work Is his departure from
accented modes OF spelling several names He
insist, that Copernicus should have two ps
IN n: he saws "Galilei' and not Calico LION
ardo" not Leonardo da Vinci.' and so on
Much greater Justification should be aHoroed
ahan he ia able TO plead for confusing modern
readers in this fashion.
Although the anclents had no such ins'ru-
uents for observation as have been aVahaoN
since the time OF Calico. they were watchiu'
students Of celestial phenomena and ingenious
theorists II they enormously assumed that the
earth was stationary. and that all or the hea'
>snly bodies revolved around IT, at least they
lsnt careful records OF eclpses and the seasons
al which the various fixed stars rose. ana noted
other facts OF which the modern astronomer Is
.~lad 70 have information. The GREEKS were
.cever mathematicians. too, and formulated
snumber Of laws relating to the movements OF
txhe sun moon and planets. Hipparchus MT
,unon IN. procession Of the equinoxes; and even
,poor Ptolemy. who was responsible Tor s9s-
,..no Of IDEAS which has now been proven sadly
nalse at least conceived that the earth was d
.sphere. Substantial Roadway was made when'
~ IN. s,x,eenth century Copernicus and his dis
h,nIe. Tycho Brahe. Calico and Kepler, estao-
s,sh.d the theory that the earth revolved on IT'S
/. vie and that II and TIE other planets moved
cr s,nrox,natelv circular orbits about the sun
A~onern,cus seems TO have believed that the hxed
svtars were not very far outside the solar system
nut Kepler who had first reached 1slrly dc
urate estimate Of the distance OF the earth from
tshe sun concluded that the stars were very
tvnuch more distant He also gave us important
!iawa In regard 70 the movements OF planets IN
telliptical orbits.
Newton. with his applications OF the laws OF
,rravitat,on 10 astronomy opened up new era
In that science. Laplace. who Is perhaps oe''e'
known 10 the laity as the author OF the "neou-
tar hypothesis" also rendered good service by
his mathematical development Of celestial me-
hchanics" F1amsteed. who belongs TO the last
half Of the seventeenth century; Haley VINO
Tapped over into the eighteenth. and bradley
rand the Hersches. who belonged exclusively 10
sthe latter period, constituted great school or
Apbserving astronomers Flamsteed not only oD-
tseryed but he reduced" his data HALEY was
sthe frst TO predict successfully thc return or
comet; Bradley worked out the problem OF the
alteration Of light from the stars as II passed
,.hroueh the earth's atmosphere and detected
Yhe mutation Of the earth and then came the
t1Ierschels with their huge telescopes and COM
fprehensivs study Of the stars and nebul@.
Mr.. Berry has introduced several photographs
epf the moon the solar surface stars, star spec
,tra and comet two portraits OF od-time
astronomers. including a striking picture OF
kGalileo; drawings Of few instruments and OBJ
seervatories. and numerous diagrams.