Having been proposed under the auspices of the Roman pontiff, the
Protestant world, for a century and more, rejected the new style.
It was in various places the subject of controversy, collision, and
bloodshed.[A] It was not adopted in England till nearly two centuries
after its introduction at Rome; and in the country of Struve and the
Pulkova equatorial, they persist at the present day in adding eleven
minutes and twelve seconds to the length of the tropical year.

[Footnote A: Stern's "_Himmelskunde_," p. 72.]


GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE.

2. The second great practical use of an Astronomical Observatory is
connected with the science of geography. The first page of the history
of our Continent declares this truth. Profound meditation on the
sphericity of the earth was one of the main reasons which led Columbus
to undertake his momentous voyage; and his thorough acquaintance with
the astronomical science of that day was, in his own judgment, what
enabled him to overcome the almost innumerable obstacles which attended
its prosecution.[A] In return, I find that Copernicus in the very
commencement of his immortal work _De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium_,
fol. 2, appeals to the discovery of America as completing the
demonstration of the sphericity of the earth. Much of our knowledge of
the figure, size, density, and position of the earth, as a member of
the solar system, is derived from this science; and it furnishes us
the means of performing the most important operations of practical
geography. Latitude and longitude, which lie at the basis of all
descriptive geography, are determined by observation. No map deserves
the name, on which the position of important points has not been