the popular interest, and comets and eclipses are not useless, though they served no other purpose than to found observatories. Under the cometary influence, a meeting was held in Boston in 1843, and the sum of 20,000 dollars was subscribed on the spot for the Cambridge Observatory. One-half the sum was contributed by ten individuals; and of this half Mr David Sears gave 5000 dollars, to build a tower which now bears his name. The names of the munificent donors are, in a business-like manner, inscribed on a marble tablet, built into the internal wall of the dome. All honour to these liberal-minded merchants who have made their names historical by erecting 'this temple of science, destined alike to throw a lustre around their country, and proclaim the glory of God in the heavens.
It is unfortunate that, in British America, the taste for astronomy has not been caught up from the States. The people have not yet been trained to depend upon themselves for the advancement of such objects, and the Provincial Government have imitated the States in leaving science to struggle for itself. A step in advance, however, has at length been taken. The Government of Canada, along with the city of Kingston, have provided means for the erection of an observatory in connexion with the University of Kingston. It is to be hoped, that it will be so equipped and worked, as to maintain the credit of the British name in America, and extend the boundaries of astronomical science.
