AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY FOR UPPER CANADA (FROM THE DOMINION ARCHIVES; SUPPLIED BY DR. O. KLOTZ) Royal Engineers' Office, Toronto, Upper Canada, For his Excellency, 10th Novr., 1835. Report on the Establishment of an Observatory in M. General Sir John Colborne, K.C.B., May is please Your Excellency: In obedience to Your Excellency's commands, I have the honour to state, that, having attentively considered the subject of establishing, in Upper Canada. conformity to the views of The Lords Commis Advantages of Toronto as the site. sioners of the Admiralty, an Observatory for Astronomical purposes in Upper Canada; the points which suggest themselves, in relation to the essentials of situation and practicability, as well as permanent utility, have caused me to arrive at the following conclusions: Toronto, the Capital of this Province, a city increasing in a ratio unprecedented in the New World, offers singular advantages desirable from its locality, in connection with Astronomy and those branches of the mixed and applied Sciences on which Astronomy depends. Built on an immense basin of Lake Ontario, its littoral consists of a vast expanse of water, affording an unlimited horizon, whilst the country behind it rises so little as to obscure none of the Constellations visible in its latitude being in fact nothing more than a very gentle inclined plane from Lake Simcoe, or the height of land in the interior. Latitude of 49° 39′ 10′′ Perhaps owing to the western end of Lake Ontario being very deep water, much agitated, and receiving the rapid Niagara River thus never freezing opposite to Toronto. From it, as a centre, the Great Lakes and the countries between the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans offer almost uninterrupted chains of water communication for those scientific enquiries relating to the figure of the earth and the development of the laws of magnetic influence, which can, in no other part of the world, be carried on over vast surfaces, with equal facility. Almost equal distant from the three Great Oceans above mentioned, and itself the key of those immense Mediterraneans of fresh water, which constitute the importance of this rising. Colony, it would be difficult to imagine a more eligible locality for a National observatory in the New World, in a favourable latitude being nearly that of 40°. Its iso-magnetic line or meridian (if the term is allowable), is nearly connected with that of apparently no variation, which crosses Lake Ontario in its vicinity. Its climate is unusually mild, a continuance of excessive rigour, rarely occurring, whilst almost every other part of the country during winter, is visited with the usual severity of that season in Canada, thus ensuring without difficulty the continuance of Astronomic and Meteorological observations, whilst the known purity of the atmosphere would prevent injury to the more delicate parts of instruments. On the point of having a university in addition to the college, Toronto would almost benefit most materially by being the spot selected for unfolding the resources of British Science, and if the Observatory was connected with the In the American edition of the British Nautical Almanack, the want of a fixed observatory provided with the larger kind of Astronomi cal Instruments in North America is mentioned as the reason for omitting that portion of the Ephemeris relating to land observation, "as there is no fixed observatory at present in this country," vide preface. 1st. projected university, its effects upon the edu'cation of the people would amply repay any outlay which the Mother Country might think fit to expend upon it, and erect a monument of imperishable glory for that country. Impressed with the great importance of the Canadas as a link between Britain and the Old Worlds of Europe and Asia, and fully persuaded that the period is not far distant when the Pacific will open its commerce through these regions, and the mineral wealth as well as the agricultural resources of the countries divided by the Rocky Mountains from the Great Lakes and that ocean, will be unfolded, I know no steps more calculated to effect such a desirable era in colonization than that of fostering the germ of a great city on Lake Ontario, and none will tend more to this end than the establishment of an observatory for astronomical and geographical purposes at Toronto, under the protection and support of the Admiraly of England. It would be as superfluous to point out that there is no observatory of any note on the continent of America, as it would be useless to state the advantages to Science generally by the establishment of one here. These are considerations no doubt already well weighed and better understood than I can presume to offer opinions on. Should the Lords Commissioners decide upon having admirable support to the extension of Science for the British dominions in the New World established at the Capital of Upper Canada, some consideration will be requisite, in choosing the site for it. For this purpose two or three positions present themselves. One is on the Reserve in the new part of the |