The Uses of Astronomy | Page 6

true practical to spring into immortal life?
Remarks were also uttered by Prof. CHESTER DEWEY, President ANDERSON, and Rev. Dr. COX.
And thus ended the Inauguration of the State Geological Hall.
We turn to the Observatory, in regular order of succession.

INAUGURATION OF DUDLEY OBSERVATORY.
The Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory took place under the same tent which was appropriated to the dedication of the Geological Hall, and on the day following that event. An immense audience was assembled, drawn by the announcement of Mr. EVERETT'S Oration.
At a little past three o'clock the procession of savans arrived from the Assembly Chamber, escorted by the Burgesses Corps. Directly in front of the speaker's stand sat Mrs. DUDLEY, the venerable lady to whose munificence the world is indebted for this Observatory. She was dressed in an antique, olive-colored silk, with a figure of a lighter color, a heavy, red broché shawl, and her bonnet, cap, &c., after the strictest style of the old school. Her presence added a new point of interest.
Prayer having been uttered by Rev. Dr. SPRAGUE, of Albany, THOMAS W. OLCOTT, Esq., introduced to the audience Ex-Governor WASHINGTON HUNT, who spoke briefly in honor of the memory of CHARLES E. DUDLEY, whose widow has founded and in part endowed this Observatory with a liberality so remarkable.
Remarks were offered by Dr. B. A. GOULD and Prof. A. D. BACHE, and Judge HARRIS read the following letter from Mrs. DUDLEY, announcing another munificent donation in aid of the new Observatory--$50,000, in addition to the $25,000 which had been already expended in the construction of the building. The letter was received with shouts of applause, Prof. AGASSIZ rising and leading the vast assemblage in three vehement cheers in honor of Mrs. DUDLEY!
ALBANY, Thursday, Aug. 14, 1856.
_To the Trustees of the Dudley Observatory:_
GENTLEMEN,--I scarcely need refer in a letter to you to the modest beginning and gradual growth of the institution over which you preside, and of which you are the responsible guardians. But we have arrived at a period in its history when its inauguration gives to it and to you some degree of prominence, and which must stamp our past efforts with weakness and inconsideration, or exalt those of the future to the measure of liberality necessary to certain success.
You have a building erected and instruments engaged of unrivaled excellence; and it now remains to carry out the suggestion of the Astronomer Royal of England in giving permanency to the establishment. The very distinguished Professors BACHE, PIERCE, and GOULD, state in a letter, which I have been permitted to see, that to expand this institution to the wants of American science and the honors of a national character, will require an investment which will yield annually not less than $10,000; and these gentlemen say, in the letter referred to,--
"If the greatness of your giving can rise to this occasion, as it has to all our previous suggestions, with such unflinching magnanimity, we promise you our earnest and hearty co?peration, and stake our reputation that the scientific success shall fill up the measure of your hopes and anticipations."
For the attainment of an object so rich in scientific reward and national glory, guaranteed by men with reputations as exalted and enduring as the skies upon which they are written, contributions should be general, and not confined to an individual or a place.
For myself, I offer, as my part of the required endowment, the sum of $50,000 in addition to the advances which I have already made; and, trusting that the name which you have given to the Observatory may not be regarded as an undeserved compliment, and that it will not diminish the public regard by giving to the institution a seemingly individual character,
I remain, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, BLANDINA DUDLEY.
Judge HARRIS then introduced the Orator of the occasion, Hon. EDWARD EVERETT, whose speech is given verbatim in these pages.
THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY.
During the Sessions of the American Association, the new Astronomical Instruments of Dudley Observatory were described in detail by Dr. B. A. GOULD, who is the Astronomer in charge. We condense his statements:--
The Meridian Circle and Transit instrument were ordered from Pistor & Martins, the celebrated manufacturers of Berlin, by whom the new instrument at Ann Arbor was made. A number of improvements have been introduced in the Albany instruments, not perhaps all absolutely new, but an eclectic combination of late adaptations with new improvements. Dr. Gould made a distinction of modern astronomical instruments into two classes, the English and the German. The English is the massive type; the German, light and airy. The English instrument is the instrument of the engineer; the German, the instrument of the artist. In ordering the instruments for the Albany Observatory, the Doctor preferred the German type and discarded the heavier English. He instanced, as a specimen of