"The observatory stands in Greenwich Park, the prettiest park I have yet
seen; being a group of small hills. They point out oaks said to belong
to Elizabeth's time--noble oaks of any time. The observatory is one
hundred and fifty feet above the sea level. The view from it is, of
course, beautiful. On the north the river, the little Thames, big with
its fleet, is winding around the Isle of Dogs; on the left London,
always overhung with a cloud of smoke, through which St. Paul's and the
Houses of Parliament peep.
"Mr. Airy was exceedingly kind to me, and seemed to take great interest
in showing me around. He appeared to be much gratified by my interest in
the history of the observatory. He is naturally a despot, and his
position increases this tendency. Sitting in his chair, the zero-point
of longitude for the world, he commands not only the little knot of
observers and computers around him, but when he says to London, 'It is
one o'clock,' London adopts that time, and her ships start for their
voyages around the globe, and continue to count their time from that
moment, wherever the English flag is borne.
"It is singular what a quiet motive-power Science is, the breath of a
nation's progress.
"Mr. Airy is not favorable to the multiplication of observatories. He
predicted the failure of that at Albany. He says that he would gladly
destroy one-half of the meridian instruments of the world, by way of
reform.
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