HE astronomical observatories of the world, about one hundred in number, are divided into three classes. The first class includes government institutions proper, like those of Washington, Greenwich, Paris and Pulcova, near St. Petersburg. Many-indeed, most of these are on a very large scale; have very many instruments of the first class, especially meridian instruments, and employ the services of a numerous staff of astronomers. The second class is of observatories, like our own, attached to universities, or governed by boards of trustees, similarly constituted. These institutions are both scientific and educational, and have in fact, as a class, taken the lead in advancing the technical part of astronomy, in training observers, and preparing men to undertake the duties of astronomers in the richer and more extensive, but generally less progressive, establishments under government patronage. The rule is, without exception, that no observatory which is not at the same time an astronomical university — which does not teach both the principles of higher mathematics and the general outlines of astronomy itself, together with the special modes of using instruments—

will be permanently celebrated by anything more than a mere accumulation of facts, and these, too, generally illworked up.

For instance, the whole present system of observing astronomy grows out of the work done since 1814 by Bessel and Struve, at the two universities of Koenigsberg, in Prussia, and Dorpat, in the German province of Russia. The most celebrated astronomers now living -Airy, Argelander, the younger Struve, Hansen, Le Verrier-have studied in the school or after the methods of the two great men mentioned above; while in a similar manner the higher mathematics of astronomy is largely due to the celebrated Gauss, formerly connected with the university-observatory of Goettingen, in Hanover.

In our own country, the two colleges, Harvard and Yale, have trained up the majority of our astronomers; and in the West the University of Michigan called some years ago from Germany the distinguished astronomer Bruennow, who is now waking into a new life the old observatory of Trinity College in Dublin, but who has left with us pupils not unworthy of their teacher's fame. Of the third class of observatories, those be

longing to private individuals, little need be said here. They have very often accomplished brilliant work, but always sooner or later pass either into the hands of trustees, and thus become of essentially the same class as our own institution, or else their instruments are dispersed and their buildings dismantled, when the property passes into the hands of heirs who care little for astronomy. Sir William Herschel and the late Earl of Rosse were fortunate in having sons who have inherited their fathers' taste for astronomy, and who have followed in their fathers' steps; but there are other private observatories no longer heard of.

Any university in this country which is to really be worthy of the name should have an observatory attached to it; for the very idea of a university requires that none of the sciences should be neglected or taught merely theoretically; and the science of astronomy has an exceedingly wide bearing. No first-class mathematician should be without something of an observatory training; and the very introduction of the higher mathematics into this country has been through the interest awakened in astronomical subjects. Mathematics, without its applications, is a noble science indeed, but seems foreign to the genius of the American people; and the highest and best of its applications, the one that requires the most of it and the deepest parts, is to astronomy. Newton and his contemporaries desired to solve the great astronomical problem of the solar system. One result was the differential calculus, which every good engineer employs now-a-days, at least in the more difficult questions. And so with the gradual improvements which have been introduced from time to time into mathematical science; they have generally come through astronomy; and from these elevated applications the problems of the universe have

gradually come down.

It is very fit that the growing Unive sity of Chicago should have connect with it an observatory of the first clas The metropolis of the Northwest, grea and growing greater every day, is most excellent center for the diffusio of ideas, as well as of agricultural pr ducts and manufactures; and the pec liar genius of the people of Chicag combining the most active eleme from many nations, is extremely favor ble to the success of all well-judge attempts at higher culture.

Among the leaders of Chicago cu ture stands, quite prominent, the di tinguished citizen, whose portrait is th frontispiece of this number, and hi name is closely connected with th whole history of the Dearborn Observa tory. It was decided, in 1862, that a Observatory should be attached to th University. It was found that a tele scope by Fitz, of rather moderat dimensions, could be procured, an Mr. SCAMMON determined to build the tower for its reception, whose esti mated cost then was less than ter thousand dollars. But shortly Prof A. H. Mixer was sent to consult with Bruennow, then at Ann Arbor, and i was found that the great object-glass by Clark, the greatest refractor then exist ing, and with which the companion of Sirius had just been discovered, was for sale; and that other instruments, espe cially a first class meridian circle, were needed to complete the equipment of the Observatory. The Hon. Thomas Hoyne, also a distinguished trustee o the University, was sent to Cambridge. to negotiate for the purchase of the ob ject-glass. He succeeded in this, by his energy and perseverance, in spite of considerable obstacles, as the Observatory of Harvard College wished to pur chase the glass, and a subscription for that purpose had been set on foot; and the citizens of Chicago came forward and subscribed liberally for the glass and its equatorial mounting. The in

creased size of the instrument made the tower for its reception necessarily of larger size, and more costly; an additional increase in cost to nearly $30,000 was caused by the rise in the cost of materials and labor, and by unexpected difficulties in the working of the dome machinery. All this was paid by Mr. SCAMMON, and in addition he has continually supplied means for the carrying on of the Observatory, and advanced money necesssary for other apparatus.

The principal building of the Observatory is the great Dearborn Tower, attached to the West side of the University. (The institution bears the family name of Mr. SCAMMON's first wife.) It is ninety-six feet high, and thirty feet in diameter; it is founded upon piles driven into the blue clay to a depth of nearly thirty feet. Similar piles sustain the central pier for the instrument, so that, though not founded on a rock, the whole structure possesses the necessary degree of firmness and solidity, though elevated to a considerable height.

In addition to this, a small but very neat building has been erected for the meridian circle, a first-class instrument, made by the Repsolds, of Hamburg, and bought with funds largely presented by Hon. W. S. Gurnee of New York City; funds which have become insufficient for the purpose only by the effects of the war in raising the cost of exchange, and in impelling our government to tax the instrument nearly a thousand dollars in gold as duties. The institution now possesses the main instruments necessary for a complete equipment on a grand scale. It still lacks some minor apparatus, especially a sidereal clock and a chronograph, also spectroscopic apparatus. It is under the control of the Chicago Astronomical Society, composed of the contributors, with a board of directors, comprising the principal contributors, and some other gentlemen selected from the general body on account of special qualifi

cations or interest in science. Of this board and of the society Mr. SCAMMON is president, and Hon. Thos. Hoyne, secretary. Its independence from the immediate control of the Board of Trustees of the University, while yet the two institutions work harmoniously together, appeared desirable from general considerations suggested by expe rience. There are several examples in Europe of such arrangements, which have in general so worked that the mutual relations of the bodies are harmonious, while the details can be arranged by each for itself.

What the work of the Observatory has been was, in part, hinted at previously; otherwise, the subject of sidereal astronomy, on a large scale, has been the principal one studied, and in this the nebulae are included. The beginning of any institution of the kind requires the training of assistants and young astronomers; the forming of definite plans of work, and their steady and regular execution; and in that manner, after a time, the effectiveness of the observatory can grow steadily from year to year.

A revision of the nebulae has been begun with the Great Equatorial, since it came in 1866, which has brought to light a good many new ones before unknown, together with interesting facts about the old ones, which have escaped the notice of former observers provided with less powerful telescopes, or with the more cumbrous great reflectors, which take so much time to direct to any point. With the same instrument over 3,000 stars in the Milky Way have been catalogued with great accuracy, and there can hardly be set a boundary to its usefulness in both these directions, if it is employed steadily and consistently.

The meridian circle, on the other hand, has also been steadily worked since its arrival in October last, and the preliminary observations necessary at

LOWERS, poetry, art and history I

tive compass of a patchwork quilt. Those uncompromising blocks have associations for me as sunny as Claude Lor. raine's own colors, and in their light I go back to my childhood. I hear the voice of winds that sing of shadowy dingles and intricate woodlands. I see the daisies and violets flecking the grass; the lilies dabbled with dew; the fush of the morning-my home and the faces that made it a dear home. I marvel at the attractions of a picture painted by such unskilled hands, but the sunlight drifts across a brown unmeaning stripe, and I see the silver locks and dim eyes of my grandmother, and remember this tiny portion of chintz was a reward to a sleepy little girl so tired of rocking the baby one winter night, a long time ago. O the legends and rhymes that repeat themselves as I look at the faded chintz, till a little grass-grown grave drifts between, and I remember the tearful eyes that have turned to the empty cradle, and then to the hillock that "represents an angel in the sky."

This old stripe of pink and white, we are credibly informed, is a piece of father's first dress! Who could readily call to mind the circumstance that fathers ever wore dresses? Was there ever a time when they possessed no just appreciation of the dignity of the dominant element in every well established household? Were they ever serenely unconscious of the governing power vested in them, and therefore

innocently subjected to the biblical into

Here is a corner that brings to mind the little girls' sewing class, and Aunt Dolly who looked into the past and told us of the better times when girls learned to bake and brew and knit their pillow cases to the brim with stockings before they were considered competent to take the coveted last stitch at their merry quilting parties.

Here is a piece of little Freddy's blue checked apron. We used to sit together on grandpa's lap and listen to stories of Valley Forge, of Bunker Hill and Washington. Years after, I read alone of other battles; grandpa was gone. Freddy was gone and carefully put away. Among my treasures is an old rusty sword, and beside it a soldier's blue cap, a girl's picture, and Freddy's last letters.

Here, on this block, is a specimen of Charley Brown's needle-work. The corners are not so evenly fitted as might be, but that name, quilted with those fine flourishes, amply atones for any little inaccuracies. Charley and I contracted one of those "Ever Yours" friendship, that for fervor, devotion and durability might be commended to older articles as it "run smooth" several days. We exchanged gifts at parting. He gave me a brass ring and a candy heart. I lost the little ring in the ashes one day, and, to console myself, ate the heart.

There is a bit of our pastor's "dressing gown". a donation from Aunt Prudence. I remember him welltall, slim man- a stern embodiment of