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First edition. "Charles Piazzi Smyth, British astronomer, was born at Naples on the 3rd of January 1819. He was called Piazzi after his godfather, the Italian astronomer of that name, whose acquaintance his father, Admiral Smyth, had made at Palermo when on the Mediterranean station. His father subsequently settled at Bedford and equipped there an observatory, at which Piazzi Smyth received his first lessons in astronomy. At the age of sixteen he went out as assistant to Sir Thomas Maclear at the Cape of Good Hope, where he observed Halley's comet and the great comet of 1843, and took an active part in the verification and extension of La Caille's arc of the meridian. In 1845 he was appointed astronomer royal for Scotland and professor of astronomy in the university of Edinburgh. Here he completed the reduction, and continued the series, of the observations made by his predecessor, Thomas Henderson. In 1856 he made experimental observations on the Peak of Teneriffe with a view to testing the astronomical advantages of a mountain station. The Admiralty made him a grant of £500 for the purpose, and a yacht, the 'Titania', of 140 tons and a fine 7 1/2 in. equatorial telescope were placed at his disposal by friends. The upshot of the expedition was to verify Newton's surmise, that a 'most serene and quiet air . . . may perhaps be found on the tops of the highest mountains above the grosser clouds.' The scientific results were detailed in a Report addressed to the lords commissioners of the admiralty, 1858, in a communication to the Royal Society, and in the Edinburgh Observations. A popular account of the voyage is contained in 'Teneriffe, an Astronomer's Experiment,' 1858. In 1871-1872 Piazzi Smyth investigated the spectra of the aurora, and zodiacal light. He recommended the use of the trainband for weather prediction, and discovered, in conjunction with Professor A. S. Herschel, the harmonic relation between the rays emitted by carbon monoxide. In 1877 1878 he constructed at Lisbon a map of the solar-spectrum, for which he received the Macdougall-Brisbane prize in 1880. Further spectroscopic researches were carried out by him at Madeira in 1880 (Madeira Spectroscopic, 1882)" (Britannica). Small 4to, frontispiece, pp. viii, 83, with engraved plate (a few small marginal tears not affecting text). Original red cloth ruled and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt (spine sunned, minor wear at spine ends). Seller Inventory # ABE-1674742738246
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