INTRODUCTION

Summary

The object of the following treatise is to furnish the possessors of ordinary telescopes with plain directions for their use, and a list of objects for their advantageous employment.

None but an eye-witness of the wonder and glory of the heavens can thoroughly understand how much they lose by description, or how inadequate an idea of them can be gathered in the usual mode, from books and lectures. It is but the narrative of the traveller instead of the direct impression of the scene. To do justice to this noble science,—to appreciate as we ought the magnificent testimony which it bears to the eternal Power and Godhead of Him “who by His excellent wisdom made the heavens,” we must study it, as much as may be, not with the eyes of others, but with our own.

This, however, is no easy matter: nor is the want of a telescope the only difficulty. Instruments quite sufficient for the student's purpose are far less expensive than formerly; a trifling outlay will often procure them, of excellent quality, at second-hand; and many are only waiting to be called into action. But a serious obstacle remains to the inexperienced possessor. How is he to use his telescope in a really improving way? What is he to look for? And how is he to look for it? For want of an answer, many a good instrument is employed in a desultory and uninstructive manner, or consigned to dust and inactivity.