the indescribable magnificence of the myriad suns that cluster like swarming bees or the grapes of Eshcol in the constellation of Hercules; yet probably most of the staff have never seen either spectacle through it. The professional astronomer who is worth his salt will find abundance of charm and interest in his work, but he will not, 'Like a girl, Valuing the giddy pleasures of the eyes,' consider the charm to lie mainly in the occasional sight of wonderful beauty which his work may bring to him, nor the interest in some chance phenomenon which may make his name known. It is not every field of astronomy that is cultivated at Greenwich. The search for comets and for 'pocket planets' forms no part of its programme; and the occupation so fascinating to those who take it up, of drawing the details on the surfaces of the moon, Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn, has been but little followed. Such work is here incidental, not fundamental, and the same may be said of certain spectroscopic observations of new or variable stars, and of many similar subjects. Work such as this is most interesting to the general public, and is followed with much devotion by many amateur astronomers. For that very reason it does not form an integral part of the programme of our State observatory. But work which is necessary for the general good, or for the advancement of the science, and which demands observations carried on continuously for many years, and strict unity of instruments and methods, cannot possibly be left to chance individual zeal, and is therefore rightly made the first object at Greenwich. Those striking discoveries which from time to time appeal strongly to the popular imagination, and which have rendered so justly famous some of the great observatories of the sister continent, have not often been made here. Its work has, none the less, been not only useful but essential. A century ago, when we were engaged in the hand-to-hand struggle with Napoleon, by far the most brilliant part of that naval war which we waged against the French, and the most productive of prize-money, was carried on by our cruisers, who captured valuable prizes in every sea. But a much greater service, indeed an absolutely vital one, was rendered to the State by those line-of-battle ships which were told off to watch the harbours wherein the French fleet was taking refuge. This was a work void of the excitement, interest, and profit of cruising. It was monotonous, wearing, and almost inglorious, but absolutely necessary to the very existence of England. So the continuance for more than two centuries of daily observations of places of moon, stars, and planets is likewise 'monotonous, wearing, and almost inglorious;' the one compensation is that it is essential to the life of astronomy.