THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1909. NATIONAL OBSERVATORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14145, 21 August 1909, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1909. NATIONAL OBSERVATORY.

Three hundred years will have passed away at some uncertain date in this present .year since Galileo invented the first telescope used for astronomical research in Europe. Only a few years ago we might have ventured to go farther than this,, and called the great invention of Galileo the first of its kind which the world had seen; but it may be the statement would have been a rash one. Year after year the evidences of past discoveries that have been swept out of memory, only to be rediscovered in later times, seem to accumulate, and it is far from impossible that some Egyptian sage, or Chinese philosopher, had prediscovered the instrument that has made the name of Galileo one of the household words of modern science. But after all it matters little to the world of science to-day whether the astronomers of Ancient Egypt, or of China before its people were overtaken by the sleep which has retarded their progress so long, had really discovered an instrument answering the purposes of the astronomical telescope or not; it was Galileo's invention that really opened the gate of knowledge in astronomy to the world of modern times. Great minds have taken up the work which his invention rendered possible—some of them, it may well be, greater than the Italian man of genius who showed them the way. Great inventors have arisen, and no doubt will continue to arise, who have developed, and will yet develop still further, the powers of the instrument which

he originally designed. By doing so they will increase the world's knowledge, and deserve the gratitude of future ages; but they will not deprive the Italian philosopher of the credit due to the man who, in the face of obstacle? we can hardly imagine or appreciate to-day, took the first steps that rendered possible the knowledge which our age possesses of the universe. A suggestion made a few days ago by Professor Segar in his lecture on " Comets" comes with special fitness in this memorial year, and, curiously enough, it may be said to find a special suitability from the past history of New Zealand. The professor's suggestion was that the time had arrived when the Dominion should take steps to found a national observatory, following the examples set by New South Wales and Victoria, both of which States have, years ago, when much less able to bear the expense involved than New Zealand is at present, made ample provision for astronomical study, by establishing such institutions. He might have added to his argument in favour of such an undertaking here that New Zealand may fairly be said to be the child of astronomical

science, and, therefore, it becomes her, more than other countries, to take special interest in the science which practically gave her birth as a land of civilisation and knowledge. The discovery of these islands by the Dutch navigator, Tasman, more than two centuries and a-half ago, did almost nothing for the world's geographical knowledge, and absolutely nothing for the future of the islands to which he gave a name, or of their people, whom he carefully avoided. It was reserved for Captain Cook, in the prosecution of astronomical research, to lift for the first time the veil that hung over these far-away islands, and to turn the attention of Englishmen upon the land and its people. The Dominion to-day is the natural result of this attention; and there could hardly be anything more appropriate than that this centenary year of the invention of the astronomical telescope should be celebrated by carrying out the suggestion of Professor Segar.

The age in which we live is the age of increasing knowledge beyond all that have gone before it. This knowledge is, of course, of many kinds, and applicable to many purposes, and there is, perhaps, a tendency on the part of many people to belittle the value of knowledge which is hardly commercial in its character, at least in comparison with other things that seem to have a more immediate connection with the everyday needs of the community. And, within certain very definite limits, this tendency may be a reasonable one. There was a time when knowledge for its own sake was the main object of the student; but the spread of knowledge from the few to . the many has changed the situation. When intellectual culture and advanced knowledge win the privileges of the very few, they might be regarded rather as luxuries than as in any sense necessaries. Now that they are within reach of the many, those who neglect them must fall behind in the race of progress, and be outstripped by others, even in material prosperity. That which is true of the individual is true also of the nation; and we need not doubt it will be increasingly true of communities. It will be the best allround community, in knowledge and in enterprise, that will lead the way in the times of greater knowledge that are before us. Nobody can tell what discoveries the future has in store, or what bearing these discoveries may have on national prosperity ; but all experience goes to show that knowledge is really power in almost every direction. The Dominion has not hesitated to spend great sums of money on many things—some of which might well have been saved—and the expenditure that would be needed at least to begin the work suggested by Professor Segar would be no severe tax on a country like this. In connection with such a national institution, too, it may be suggested that the establishment of a seismograph would be specially suitable to the conditions of this country, and might even be the means of throwing light upon the earthquake phenomena which might be of no little advantage to other parts of the world, where they are apparently less constant but far more dangerous than they have yet proved in New Zealand.