" Herr Struve received us courteously, and an assistant,
was called to show us the instruments. All observa-
tories are much alike ; therefore I will not describe this,
except in its peculiarities. One of these was the pres-
ence of small, light, portable rooms, i,e,y baseless boxes,
which rolled over the instruments to protect them ;
two sides were of wood, and two sides of green silk
curtains, which could, of course, be turned aside when
the boxes, or little rooms, were rolled over the appa-
ratus. Being covered in this way, the heavy shutters
can be left open for weeks at a time.
" Everything was on a large scale — the rooms were
immense.
" The director has three assistants who are called
' elder astronomers,* and two who are called * adjunct
astronomers.' Each of these has a servant devoted to
him. I asked one of the elder astronomers if he had
rooms in the observatory, and he answered, ' Yes, my
rooms are 94 ft. by 50.*

" They seem to be amused at the size of their lodg-
ings, for Mr. Struve, when he told me of his apartments,
gave me at once the dimensions, — 200 ft. by ICXD ft.
