The following communication has now been received from M. A. Ellison, his son, of Knockamel, Sheeplands Lane, Sherborne, Dorset, England:

"You and other members of the American telescope-making fraternity will hear, with regret, of the death of my father, W. F.A. Ellison, Astronomer and Director of the Armagh Observatory, N. Ireland. At the age of 72, he had undergone a severe operation. He collapsed suddenly and unexpectedly on December 31, last, at a time when he was making a splendid recovery and was hoping to resume his duties at Armagh before long.

1 am glad to say that up to November, last he had been most healthy and active. One of the last things he undertook at Armagh was a large and most successful repair job to the 18" Calver reflector. He had also been a member of one of the expeditions to Greece to observe the total eclipse of the sun on June 19, last. He stayed with me at my home in Dorset just after that and was in fine fettle.

You will remember that I am the youth you met at Armagh during your visit there in 1928 1 am now Head of the Army Side of Sherborne School, and run a private observatory here. My father has left to me most of his optical stock and instruments. Some of these will come in useful for constructive work connected with a spectrohelioscope I am building.

1 think I may say that my father valued most highly your friendship and the contacts he was able to make, through you, with amateur telescope makers in all parts the United States. In his latter years, it was a constant source of pleasure to him to know that he had been able to help so many American amateurs by means of the Scientific American book and in other ways.

I am enclosing some facts about my father's life."

Mr. Ellison's account follows:

WILLIAM FREDERICK ARCHDALL ELLISON, eldest son of Humphrey Eakins Ellison, Dean of Ferns, and Letitia Archdall. was born in 1861.

He was educated by his father, and entered Trinity College, Dublin, with a Sizarship in Classics in 1883. His father was a man of unusual scholarship and tutorial ability. This is abundantly evident from the fact that William and his five brothers, coached by their father, all gained entrance scholarships to Trinity College, surely a unique record for any university.

He became a Scholar of the House in1886, and in the next year graduated with Junior Moderatorships in Classics and Experimental Science. He took his Divinity Testimonium in 1890. Four years later he took his M.A. and B.D. degrees, and in 1895 he won the Elrington Theological Prize.

He was ordained by Bishop Westcott for the diocese of Durham in 1890, and he held successively the curacies of Tudhoe and the Venerable Bede's, Monkwearmouth. In 1899 he returned to Ireland as Secretary of the Sunday School Society, a post which he retained until 1902, when he became Incumbent of Monart, Enniscorthy. Six years later he became Rector of Fethard with Tintern.

It was at Fethard-on-Sea, Wexford, that his first observatory and optical workshops were constructed. Telescope making and observing soon came to occupy all his leisure time, and it was then that he commenced that wide correspondence with astronomers, amateur and professional, all over the world, which he continued actively until the end of his life. In this he was greatly assisted by a remarkable command of foreign languages, writing to his correspondents, whenever possible, in their own tongue.

From Fethard also began that steady, stream of telescope mirrors and lenses which were celebrated for the excellence of their figures as well as the quality of their practical performance. In the course of his 30 years of optical work he introduced many improvements to the existing technique for the grinding and polishing of parabolic mirrors. This long experience was made available to his fellow-workers in his book "The Amateur's Telescope,' and in the Scientific American publication "Amateur Telescope Making." His life was spent, as he said himself, in helping lame dogs over stiles.

His skill at mirror making was developed at the beginning of the present century in close collaboration with Dr. Nathaniel Alcock of Dublin and later Professor of Physiology in McGill University, Montreal. Out of this friendship the infant art grew rapidly, so that by the end of his life Ellison had 142 lenses and mirrors to his credit, while he must have tested and refigured very many more at various times.

He was appointed Director of Armagh Observatory in 1918, He brought with him to Armagh his 18" Calver reflector, which he later presented to the Observatory so it should find a permanent home. This fine instrument was constructed originally for Colonel Tupman, a well-known English amateur. It was acquired from him by the late John Pierce of Wexford, industrialist, in exchange for a steam yacht. Pierce soon found that the difficulties of erecting an observatory to house such an instrument was much greater than he had anticipated and soon the telescope became such a white e elephant that he was glad to make a present of it to Ellison at Fethard. The latter immediately planned and built with his own hands a light Ruberoid dome, much more suitable for housing an instrument of this type than the massive construction which Pierce had projected. Having refigured the mirror, which proved to be rather too much under-corrected, he used the instrument for observations of Mars and other planets.

At Armagh he also kept up his clerical work, being Incumbent of Kiltlarton and Canon and Prebendary of Ballymore, Armagh Cathedral.

Canon Ellison married first in 1895, Elizabeth Havelock, daughter of Joseph J. G. Blackburn and grand-niece of Gen. Sir Henry Havelock of Lucknow. By her he had three sons, the eldest of whom was killed in the Great War. He married secondly Kathleen, daughter of the late F. R. Spoule of Dublin, in 1934.

He is survived by his widow and two sons, Henry Havelock Ellison of Elstree, Mervyn Archdall Ellison, Sherborne School, Dorset

The late Canon Ellison was a noted Hebrew scholar. His translations of the Psalms from original sources and other works were well-known to the clergy of Church of Ireland. He possessed, in addition a phenomenal memory which made him a delightful companion to all who knew him and were privileged to draw upon his wide store of knowledge.

He was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Member of the British Astronomical Association, Membre de la Société Astronomique de France and a Contributing Editor of Scientific American.

M. A. E.

IN his letter Mr. M. A. Ellison mentioned this writer's visit at Armagh Observatory in 1928, and possibly a few homely expressions of that brief visit will add to the human side of the picture. Armagh lies two hours inland from Belfast by train through rolling country as a green as song and story make the Emerald Isle. Never having seen either Ellison or a photograph of him, the problem of identifying him at the Armagh railway station was a matter of looking for a man who would be looking for a man. A sudden pause was made to study an unusually arresting figure, standing in a doorway-a large framed man dressed wholly in black and with a black beard, the whole giving at first the impression of an immense Spaniard. This proved be Ellison, who was swarthy in appearance.

A short mile was traversed in the side car of his motorcycle, ending in the passage of a gateway and the ascent of a hill 100 feet high covering several acres-Armagh Observatory and its grounds. Atop this hill stood the group of fine old stone buildings shown below from the north, also from the west in "A.T.M.", page 359, and surrounded not, as incorrectly stated there, by boxwood trees but by large yew trees-the sturdy timber from which crossbows were made in days of yore.

The place was a veritable museum, Built in 1791, it had for generations accumulated what would elsewhere be regarded as museum pieces, The residential part contained some fine old furniture about which it was felt that a connoisseur of such things would go into ecstasies. Ellison opened a box, revealing one of those old brass-mounted Newtonian-Cassegrainian-Gregorians made by Short and once owned by King George III-the ruler with whom we Americans once had a slight difference of viewpoint. Possibly few know that this monarch was an excellent amateur astronomer, but he knew the stars too well and the British Colonies of his day too ill. Except in jokes, however, all that is forgotten when one visits the British countries.

Ellison's shop contained but little to look at-which is equally true of most optical experts' shops; in fact, the amateur's shop is likely to display more fixings than the professional's, an optician's mainstay being what is under his hat and in his fingers. After some weeks of separation from a whetstone the writer's jack-knife had become dulled, and Ellison at once volunteered to restore its razor edge, and his manner of handling it on his whetstone clearly showed that he was a natural mechanic

Around the dining table Ellison's family circle happened by good luck to include, in addition to Mrs. Ellison and the son whose letter appears above, and who was then in the University of Dublin, his younger brother F. O'Brien Ellison of the Ceylon Medical College, at that time home on a visit (see "A.T.M.", page 409, and "A.T.M.A.", page 47-methods of silvering in the tropics). Jokingly, family allusion was made to the elder Ellison's keen zest and enjoyment of vigorous published arguments with other telescope makers, for the files of English Mechanics are full of letters by him, pertaining to telescopes and telescope making, few of which evidence an inclination to take a back seat. Ellison, in reply pointed out how sad and empty an Iris man's life would be if there were nothing left to fight about, and he added that in a contingency something would obviously have to be hunted up. He had a sense of humor.

Before leaving, the writer was treated Ellison to a splendid performance of classical music on the big organ of Ann Cathedral, as mentioned in "A.T.M. " p. 489. The installation of an electric organ and the kindness of the rector had permitted him to indulge in this happy pastime whenever the mood struck him (it is an interesting coincidence that three other authors of "A.T.M." and "A.T.M.A:' are organists-Messrs. Hindle, Kirkham, and Haviland; perhaps organ playing smooths off the tribulations of mirror making).

Amateurs know of Ellison as a mirror maker but he was primarily a scholar as was clearly shown by the nature of the reading matter so profusely stacked about his study. He was physically a big, square man with large hands-no armchair mirror maker but a man who could do practical things and who did many of them.

The Armagh Observatory was founded in the year 1791 by Richard Robin Baron Rokeby, Archbishop of Armagh, and 20 acres of land were selected as the s for the buildings and for the use of the Astronomer. The power of nominating and appointing the Astronomer is reserved for the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland for the time being. Ellison occupied the residence, and he built for actual modern use the two domes seen at right in the illustration. A letter from Ellison, dated January, 1926, just after the telescope making hobby had become started in this country, makes interesting reading:

"I duly received the Scientific American for November. I have been much interested by the account of the amateur astronomers of Springfield, and should esteem it a favor if you would convey to them my congratulations on their enterprise, and truly American pioneer spirit.

"As you will see by a glance at the bossed stamp above, they have adopted the motto of this ancient observatory ["he Heavens Declare the Glory of God."-Ed.] which was founded in 1790, and has done great work in the 136 years of its existence.

When I took over, in 1918, it had fallen on evil days, and its revenues had declined so much that it was lucky for me that I could make telescopes as well as look through them. Very little of the equipment was in working order; some had to be scraped as obsolete; roofs were far from watertight, and valuable instruments were suffering from damp. I would have been very glad of the presence of the mechanics of Springfield. But in default, I had to turn my own hands to, and a fine big job I had to tackle, with practically no funds to do it with.

One telescope, a 6-inch refractor, I made throughout myself; to take the place of an ancient metal reflector, which had lost all its polish, and lain unused for 50 years. A fine 10-inch refractor by Sir Howard Grubb I had to take almost entirely to pieces, clean, repair, and readjust; while I brought with me an 18-inch Calver reflector, my own property. With these three instruments, the 18-inch, the 10-inch, and the 6-inch, together with the transit instrument, we are very well equipped.

We have a number of instruments which formerly belonged to George III, King of England, the only crowned head, so far as I know, who ever possessed a private observatory. These included a very fine clock, mirror by Sir William Herschel, a sort of combination telescope by the famous maker Short, of 150 years ago, being a Gregorian, Cassegrainian, Newtonian, and refractor all in one; the object-glass with which King George III observed the transit of Venus in 1761; and several other articles. The combination telescope can be converted from one form to another by changing the small mirrors, and to a refractor by substituting an object-glass in their place."

In addition to his astronomical work Ellison was active in his Church. The Church of Ireland Gazette, kindly sent by Canon M. Moeran, Rector of Armagh, states that "since 1934 Canon Ellison has occupied a seat on the Chapter of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, during which time he regularly attended the Chapter and Board meetings and preached at the morning Service when it was his turn to do so. His loss will be deeply felt by this congregation as well as by the entire Church.''

Possibly his congregation is aware of the extent of his prestige among amateur telescope makers the world over, but it scarcely seems likely that this can be fully sensed. Twenty thousand amateur telescope makers in America have looked to him as their chief inspiration. Amateurdom has lost heavily in losing him. His lasting monument is his long series of mirrors in many owners' hands, mainly, of course, in the British nations.

Vale and farewell.

OCCASIONALLY we are asked to publish here monthly maps of the heavens pertinent planet data and so on. When we dropped these, several years ago, the total number of protests was less than 100 and we decided that the space could be used otherwise; especially since the "Observer's Handbook" of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, with considerably more data than we had space present, is so easily available. Amateurs who are not familiar with this book can get from the Society, at 198 College St. Toronto, Ont., Canada, and once it is got the owner is more than likely to make a habit of getting it each year. It is a meaty booklet and now has simple star charts.

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