Nature . the present brief account may be prefaced by astatement regarding the construction of the telescope. In 1900, after Prof. Ritchey had succeeded Prof. Wads-worth as superintendent of instrument construction at theVi 1 kes Observatory, a ceelostat with mirror of 15 inches(38 cm.) aperture was made, from Prof. Ritcheys designs,for the total solar eclipse of that year. This gave suchsatisfactory results that the plan of constructing a largeceelostat was again taken up. Unfortunately, however, nofunds were available for this purpose. In 1901, during avisit to the observatory of Prof. Cross
Nature . the present brief account may be prefaced by astatement regarding the construction of the telescope. In 1900, after Prof. Ritchey had succeeded Prof. Wads-worth as superintendent of instrument construction at theVi 1 kes Observatory, a ceelostat with mirror of 15 inches(38 cm.) aperture was made, from Prof. Ritcheys designs,for the total solar eclipse of that year. This gave suchsatisfactory results that the plan of constructing a largeceelostat was again taken up. Unfortunately, however, nofunds were available for this purpose. In 1901, during avisit to the observatory of Prof. Cross, chairman of theRumford committee, I showed him the details of theinstrument, as worked out by Prof. Ritchey. The designcalled li a ceelostat of 30 inches (76 cm.) aperture, withsecond plane mirror of 24 inches (61 cm.) aperture, thelatter mounted so as to slide north-east and south-west onrails lying east of the ceelostat. The concave mirror, towhich the light was reflected from the second plane The Snow Telescope when tory. had a local length of 61 feet, and a second concave mirror,of 165 feet (50-3 m.) focal length, was also to be used. At the kind suggestion of Prof. Cross, a grant of 500dollars was made by the Rumford committee in aid of aninvestigation to be undertaken with this telescope. Sub-sequently, through the kindness of Prof. Pickering, chair-man of the Draper committee, two other grants, of 500dollars each, became available. With these funds, helpedout by small amounts obtained from other sources, thework was begun. A gift of 10,000 dollars from Miss Helen Snow, ofChicago, in memory of her father, the late George , provided sufficient funds to complete the telescopeand to instal it in a suitable house. The ceelostat wasmounted on a brick pier, at a height of 15 feet (4-57 m.)above the ground. In Prof. Ritcheys design of theprevious instrument the rays were reflected in a north-easterly direction from the ceelostat mirror to a secondplane mirror, w
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