Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art. Various
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СКАЧАТЬ and more conspicuous on his leonine and intellectual face than that of the Duke of Wellington, whose nose was familiar in the purlieus of the Horse Guards. It procured for him the title of “conkey” from the street urchins, and I recognised him at a glance as soon as he entered. On his taking the seat for Park to model his face in clay, the sculptor asked him not to think of too many things at a time, but to keep his mind fixed on one subject. The general did his best to comply with the request, with the result that his face soon assumed a fixed and sleepy expression, without a trace of intellectual animation. Park suddenly startled him by inquiring, “Is it true, general, that you gave way – retreated in fact – at the battle of – ?” (naming the place, which I have forgotten). The general’s eyes flashed sudden fire, and he was about to reply indignantly when Park quietly remarked, plying his modelling tool on the face at the time, “That’ll do, general, the expression is admirable!” The general saw through the manœuvre, and laughed heartily.

      The general’s statue in Trafalgar Square is an admirable likeness. Park was much disappointed at not receiving the commission to execute it.

      Park modelled a bust of myself, for which he would not accept payment. He found it a very difficult task to perform. I had to sit to him at least fifty times before he could please himself with his work. On one occasion he lost all patience, and swearing lustily, more suo, dashed the clay into a shapeless mass with his fist. “D – n you,” he said, “why don’t you keep to one face? You seem to have fifty faces in a minute, and all different! I never but once had another face that gave me half the trouble.”

      “And whose was the other?” I inquired.

      “Sir Charles Barry’s” (architect of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster). “He drove me to despair with his sudden changes of expression. He was a very Proteus as far as his face was concerned, and you’re another. Why don’t you keep thinking of one thing while I am modelling, or why can’t you retain one expression for at least five minutes?”

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      1

      Popular Astronomy, p. 145.

      2

      The Observatory, No. 43, p. 613.

      3

      Nature, vol. xxv. p. 537.

      4

      Silvered glass is considerably more reflective than speculum-metal, and Mr. Common’s 36-inch mirror can be but slightly inferior in luminous capacity to the Lick objective. It is, however, devoted almost exclusively to celestial photography, in which it has done splendid service. The Paris 4-foot mirror bent under its own weight when placed in the tube in 1875, and has not since been remounted.

      5

      E. Holden, “The Lick Observatory,” Nature, vol. xxv. p. 298.

      6

      Monthly Notices, R. Astr. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 133 (1854).

      7

      Phil. Trans. vol. cxlviii. p. 455.

      8

      Captain Jacob unfortunately died August 16, 1862, when about to assume the direction of a hill observatory at Poonah.

      9

      The height of the mercury at Guajara is 21·7 to 22 inches.

      10

      Phil. Trans. vol. cxlviii. p. 477.

      11

      We are told that three American observers in the Rocky Mountains, belonging to the Eclipse Expedition of 1878, easily saw Jupiter’s satel

1

Popular Astronomy, p. 145.

2

The Observatory, No. 43, p. 613.

3

Nature, vol. xxv. p. 537.

4

Silvered glass is considerably more reflective than speculum-metal, and Mr. Common’s 36-inch mirror can be but slightly inferior in luminous capacity to the Lick objective. It is, however, devoted almost exclusively to celestial photography, in which it has done splendid service. The Paris 4-foot mirror bent under its own weight when placed in the tube in 1875, and has not since been remounted.

5

E. Holden, “The Lick Observatory,” Nature, vol. xxv. p. 298.

6

Monthly Notices, R. Astr. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 133 (1854).

7

Phil. Trans. vol. cxlviii. p. 455.

8

Captain Jacob unfortunately died August 16, 1862, when about to assume the direction of a hill observatory at Poonah.

9

The height of the mercury at Guajara is 21·7 to 22 inches.

10

Phil. Trans. vol. cxlviii. p. 477.

11

We are told that three American observers in the Rocky Mountains, belonging to the Eclipse Expedition of 1878, easily saw Jupiter’s satellites night after night with the naked eye. That their discernment is possible, even under comparatively disadvantageous circumstances is rendered certain by the well-authenticated instance (related by Humboldt, “Cosmos,” vol. iii. p. 66, Otte’s trans.) of a tailor named Schön, who died at Breslau in 1837. This man habitually perceived the first and third, but never could see the second or fourth Jovian moons.

12

Sir W. Herschel’s great undertakings, Bessel remarks (“Populäre Vorlesungen,” p. 15), “were directed rather towards a physical description of the heavens, than to astronomy proper.”

13

Am. Jour. of Science, vol. xiii. p. 89.

14

The characteristic orange line (D3) of this unknown substance, has recently been identified by Professor Palmieri in the spectrum of lava from Vesuvius – a highly interesting discovery, if verified.

15

The Sun, p. 193.

16

R. D. Cutts, “Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington,” vol. i. p. 70.

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