The Life of Boyer Langdon. Told by Himself, with Additions
by his Daughter Ellen. (Elliot. Stock. 2s. 6d. not.)-11ogOr Langdon spent the greater part of his life in the service Of the Great Western Railway.. From 1874 down to his death in 1894 he was stationmaster at Silverton. His autobiography °overt; only the first twenty-five years of his life. It gives a somewhat sombre picture of rural England during the "Hungry Forties." Sersey, where Roger Langdon worked for some eight years, is scarcely more attractive. What was really remarkable about the man is to be found in his daughter's story. He had a genius for mechanics and a passion for astronomy. His first achieve- ment was the making of an harmonium. But it was in the eon- structiou of telescopes that he found his chief delight. He began
with a small instrument with an inch-and-a-half reflector mounted on a wooden stand. His fourth telescope bad an eight- and-a-quarter-inch silver-on-glass reflector, with a focal length of seven feet. With this he was able to make some noteworthy observations. One of his papers, "On the Markings of Venus," appeared in the Journal of the Astronomical Society. He was probably happier as be was than if he had been taken ont of his place. Still, one can hardly help wishing that the conditions of his life had been a little easier.
Previous page
