"Herr Struve received us courteously, and an assistant was called to
show us the instruments. All observatories are much alike; therefore I
will not describe this, except in its peculiarities. One of these was
the presence of small, light, portable rooms, i.e., baseless boxes,
which rolled over the instruments to protect them; two sides were of
wood, and two sides of green silk curtains, which could, of course, be
turned aside when the boxes, or little rooms, were rolled over the
apparatus. Being covered in this way, the heavy shutters can be left
open for weeks at a time.
"Everything was on a large scale--the rooms were immense.
"The director has three assistants who are called 'elder astronomers,'
and two who are called 'adjunct astronomers.' Each of these has a
servant devoted to him. I asked one of the elder astronomers if he had
rooms in the observatory, and he answered, 'Yes, my rooms are 94 ft. by
50.'
"They seem to be amused at the size of their lodgings, for Mr. Struve,
when he told me of his apartments, gave me at once the dimensions,--200
ft. by 100 ft.
"The room in which we dined with the family of Herr Struve was immense.
I spoke of it, and he said, 'We cannot open our windows in the
winter,--the winters are so severe,--and so we must have good air
without it.' Their drawing-room was also very large; the chairs
(innumerable, it seemed to me) stood stiffly around the walls of the
room.
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