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FLAMSTEED, THE FIRST ASTRONOMER ROYAL.
(From the portrait in the 'Historia Cœlestis.')
THE
ROYAL OBSERVATORY
GREENWICH
A GLANCE AT ITS HISTORY
AND WORK
BY
E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S.
WITH MANY PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
OLD PRINTS AND ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
56 Paternoster Row, and 65 St. Paul's Churchyard
1900
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE
I was present on one occasion at a popular lecturedelivered in Greenwich, when the lecturer referredto the way in which so many English people travelto the ends of the earth in order to see interestingor wonderful places, and yet entirely neglect placesof at least equal importance in their own land.'Ten minutes' walk from this hall,' he said, 'isGreenwich Observatory, the most famous observatoryin the world. Most of you see it every day ofyour lives, and yet I dare say that not one in ahundred of you has ever been inside.'
Whether the lecturer was justified in the generalscope of his stricture or not, the particular instancehe selected was certainly unfortunate. It was notthe fault of the majority of his audience that theyhad not entered Greenwich Observatory, since theregulations by which it is governed forbade themdoing so. These rules are none too stringent, forthe efficiency of the institution would certainly sufferif it were made a 'show' place, like a picture[6]gallery or museum. The work carried on thereinis too continuous and important to allow of interruptionby daily streams of sightseers.