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248 in this country the record may he made hundreds of miles distant.

It is possible, with all this precision, that the observer may err. He is only making a report of a picture painted on his retina, and we can have no absolute assurance that his report of that picture is perfectly accurate. Indeed, it is found that this is a most important source of error. It is found that each observer has his own individual obliquity of judgment; and this must be determined before absolute reliance can be placed on his observations. But might we not dispense with the observer altogether? Could we not, when we order a telescope, also order an eye to look through the telescope? Having the eye to examine after the observation, we would not be dependent on the errors of judgment at the moment of observation. It would be a great ease to the astronomer himself, as there is no task so comfortless as that of observing in a transit-room. The scientific martyr has to shiver the live-long night on his couch. A cascade of bitterly cold air, often far below the freezing point, is constantly pouring down upon his head, and, unfortunately, the most precious nights for observation are the most bitterly cold. If a sea-coal fire were permitted, it would be some consolation; but such a thing cannot be dreamed of. Even the heat of the observer's body, cold as it is, endangers the delicate adjustments of the instrument when there is too close a proximity and anything like a blazing