Lewis M. Rutherfurd was one of the most noted astronomers that this country has produced. As a young man, he began the study of the law with William H. Seward, and was admitted to the bar in 1837 and became associated with John Jay and afterwards with Hamilton Fish. But his tastes were entirely in the direction of science, and he decided to abandon the law and apply his attention to scientific research. With ample means, he had full opportunity to devote his life to the pursuit of his favorite study, astronomical photography. He spent several years of study in Europe and, on his return, he built an observatory in New York, the best equipped private astronomical observatory in the country. He made with his own hands an equatorial telescope and devised a means of adapting it for photographic use by means of a third lens placed outside of the ordinary object glass. He was the first to devise and construct micrometer apparatus for measuring impressions on the plate. It is said that he took such pains in the construction of the threads of the screws of his micrometer that he was engaged three years upon a single screw. He worked for many years at the photographic method of observation before the value and importance of his labors were recognized, but in 1865 these were fully acknowledged by the National Academy of Sciences. The remarkable results that he obtained were all secured before the discovery of the dry-plate process. His photographs of the moon surpassed all others that had been made. When overtaken by ill health he presented his instrument and photographs to Columbia College, and his telescope is now mounted in the observatory of that university. He was an associate of the Royal Astronomical Society, president of the American Photographical Society, and was the American delegate to the International Meridian Conference at Washington in 1885, preparing the resolutions embodying the results of the labors of the conference. He received many decorations and honors from the learned societies of the world, but his dislike of ostentation was such that he was never known to wear one of the decorations, emblems, etc., that were conferred upon him.[16] The Mansard roof has been added to the house since its occupation by the Rutherfurd family and the entrance removed from the avenue to the side street. When the house and grounds of the late Hon. Hamilton Fish, on Stuyvesant Square, were sold a few years ago, it was said that there had been no transfer of the site except by devise or descent since the time of the old Governor. The same might be said of this property. Stuyvesant’s house, in which, it is said, the papers were signed transferring the province to the British Crown, stood close to this spot. The house is the property of Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, a son of Lewis M. Rutherfurd. [Illustration] The Keteltas House An example of an old Second Avenue dwelling, the residence of the Keteltas family on the corner of St. Mark’s Place.