days of Galilei, Cassini, Huyghens, Bradley, Dollond, and those who
came after them.

But, notable as are the services rendered to science by giant
telescopes, it remains that by far the greater bulk of useful work has
been done by apertures of less than twelve inches in diameter. Indeed,
it may be asserted that most of such work has been done by instruments
of six inches or less in size. After referring with some detail to
this, Denning tells us that "nearly all the comets, planetoids, double
stars, etc., owe their detection to small instruments; that our
knowledge of sun spots, lunar and planetary features is also very
largely derived from similar sources; that there is no department
which is not indebted to the services of small telescopes, and that of
some thousands of drawings of celestial objects, made by observers
employing instruments from three to seventy-two inches in diameter, a
careful inspection shows that the smaller instruments have not been
outdone in this interesting field of observation, owing to their
excellent defining powers and the facility with which they are used."
Aperture for aperture, the record is more glorious for the "common
telescope" than for its great rivals. Let us for a moment recall
something of what has been done with instruments which may be embraced
under the designation "common" as such a statement may serve to remove
impressions that small telescopes are but of little use in
astronomical work.

In his unrivaled book, Webb declares that his observations were
chiefly made with a telescope five and one-half feet long, carrying an
object glass of a diameter of three and seven-tenths inches. The
instrument was of "fair defining quality," and one has but to read his
delightful pages in order to form an idea of the countless pleasures