"Mr. Lassell looks in at the side of his reflecting telescopes by means
of a diagonal eye-piece; when the instrument is pointed at objects of
high altitude he hangs a ladder upon the dome and mounts; the ladder
moves around with the dome. Mr. Lassell works only for his own
amusement, and has been to Malta,--carrying his larger telescope with
him,--for the sake of clearer skies. Neither Mr. Lassell nor Mr. Hartnup
[Footnote: Of the Liverpool Observatory.] makes regular observations.
"The Misses Lassell, four in number, seem to be very accomplished. They
take photographs of each other which are beautiful, make their own
picture-frames, and work in the same workshop with their father. One of
them told me that she made observations on my comet, supposing it to
belong to Mr. Dawes, who was a friend of hers.
"They keep an album of the autographs of their scientific visitors, and
among them I saw those of Professor Young, of Dartmouth, and of
Professor Loomis.
"August 4. I have just returned from a visit to the Liverpool
Observatory, under the direction of Mr. Hartnup. It is situated on
Waterloo dock, and the pier of the observatory rests upon the sandstone
of that region, The telescope is an equatorial; like many good
instruments in our country, it is almost unused.
"Mr. Hartnup's observatory is for nautical purposes. I found him a very
gentlemanly person, and very willing to show me anything of interest
about the observatory; but they make no regular series of astronomical
observations, other than those required for the commerce of Liverpool.
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