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Observatory of Mount Holyoke Seminary.
Longitude from Washington , 17 m 51.75 s B.
Latitude, 42° 15' 18.2" K ,
Authority for longitude: K. H. West, by telegraphic communicationwith Cambridge at the time of the transit of Venus. For lati-tude: C. A. Young, by zenith telescope method.
Director: Miss B. M. Bardwell. *
Through the liberality of Mr. A. L. Williston, of Northampton , theseminary has recently been enabled to erect a small but very completeastronomical observatory, supplied with all the necessary instruments.It is designed to furnish the means for instruction to any who may wishto make the subject a specialty, and to give opportunity to any of theteachers or post-graduates wiio may take an interest in astronomy tomake observations of real value.
The building, of wood, consists of a tower with a dome 18 feet iudiameter, flanked by two wings, one extending to the east and one tothe north. The dome is very light, and rotates so easily that even thefeeblest of the young ladies can manage it without difficulty. The ar-rangements for opening and closing the shutters which cover the slit inthe dome, and the openings for the transit and prime vertical instru-ment, are w r orked with equal facility. In the dome is mounted a fine8-inch equatorial by Clark , completely fitted out with clock-work,finding-clock, micrometers, spectroscope, solar eye-piece, etc., and soarranged that the circles can be read and the clamps and tangentscrews worked from the eye-piece of the instrument.
The object-glass is almost entirely the work of the senior AlvanClark , and is one of the most perfect specimens of his art.
In the transit-rooin is mounted a meridian circle by Fauth & Co., ofWashington . The instrument has a telescope of 3 inches aperture, andcircles of 16 inches diameter, reading to seconds by two microscopes.It has a reversing apparatus, and is fitted with a “ latitude level” andmicrometer, so that it can,‘if desired, be used as a zenith telescope. Alarge collimator is mounted upon a pier south of it, and in a corner ofthe room is a clock with Denison escapement, also by Fauth & Co.,as is the chronograph, which is mounted in an adjoining closet. TheObservatory possesses also a sextant and artificial horizon and a set ofmeteorological apparatus.
There is no instrument in the prime vertical room (which is usedmainly as a waiting-room or for recitations), but it is provided with apier and shutter, so that the meridian circle can be set up there if it isever thought desirable to make observations in that plane.