Page:In the high heavens.djvu/109

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THE FIFTH SATELLITE OF JUPITER.
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instrument with which Jupiter's fifth moon has been found.

In this respect the Lick telescope may he compared with another celebrated instrument of America, the great Washington refractor. Doubtless much excellent work has been done by this latter instrument, besides that achievement by which its name will be specially handed down. It was with this superb glass at Washington that Professor Asaph Hall discovered the two satellites of Mars in 1877. This at once raised the name of Hall to a high rank in the list of famous astronomical discoverers. Now we have a triumph of the same high order won with the Lick telescope. This entitles the name of Barnard to be inscribed on the same select roll as that which contains the name of Asaph Hall.

On such an occasion astronomers of all countries freely offer their hearty congratulations to those who pursue their science in America. In no other country can there be found such a lavish and splendid endowment of astronomical observatories. Nowhere else is there such abundant provision for the carrying on of astronomical work of all kinds. It were fitting that the rewards should go to the credit of the country which has done most to earn them. There is no civilised nation whose inhabitants would not have experienced a thrill of pride if such a discovery as that of the two moons of Mars or of the fifth satellite of Jupiter had been achieved within its borders by one of its own people. As it happens, both these distinctions belong to America, and those who are fully acquainted with the matter know how valiantly the American astronomers have struggled with their difficulties and how trium-