"Even that instrument," he proceeded, "good as it is for the
money, tantalises me yet. A look through a fixed equatorial,
such as every large observatory is furnished with is a glorious
view. I shall never forget the sight that I got when at Dunecht
Observatory, to which I was invited through the kindness of Dr.
Copeland, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres' principal
astronomer.
"You ask me what I have done in astronomical research? I am
sorry to say I have been able to do little except to gratify my
own curiosity; and even then, as I say, I have been much
tantalised. I have watched the spots on the sun from day to day
through obscured glasses, since the year 1878, and made many
drawings of them. Mr. Rand Capron, the astronomer, of Guildown,
Guildford, desired to see these drawings, and after expressing
his satisfaction with them, he sent them to Mr. Christie,
Astronomer Royal, Greenwich. Although photographs of the solar
surface were preferred, Mr. Capron thought that my sketches might
supply gaps in the partially cloudy days, as well as details
which might not appear on the photographic plates. I received a
very kind letter from Mr. Christie, in which he said that it
would be very difficult to make the results obtained from
drawings, however accurate, at all comparable with those derived
from photographs; especially as regards the accurate size of the
spots as compared with the diameter of the sun.
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