COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 305 
able time would be required for making the necessary prepara- 
tions, and it was improbable that any money that might be 
appropriated would be available until late in the spring of 1886, 
the committee did not recommend that Congress be asked to take 
action regarding it. 
The eclipse was, however, observed in the West Indies by 
astronomers from private American observatories. 
THE U. S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY 
An act of Congress approved February 4, 1880, provided for 
the purchase of a new site for the Naval Observatory in Wash- 
ington,” which since 1844 had been located on a low eminence 
near the Potomac River, known as “ observatory hill,” situated 
between 23d and 2sth streets. The affairs of the observatory 
form the main theme of the committee’s report. For some years 
the old site had been generally regarded as very unhealthy, the 
building was somewhat dilapidated and had become inad- 
equate for the needs of the observatory, the equipment had be- 
come more or less antiquated, and the grounds were regarded 
as too limited. The committee invited expressions of opinion as 
to the advisability of moving from astronomers who had been 
attached to the observatory for a long term of years, including 
Professor Holden and Professor Newcomb, and also from 
various physicians of Washington as to the wholesomeness of the 
old site. While opinions differed widely as to the effects of the 
malarial surroundings of the observatory caused by river-fogs, 
the committee reached the conclusion that a change of location 
was desirable. Accordingly, an item was included by the Sec- 
retary of the Navy in the estimates for 1887, for beginning the 
erection of a new building on the site on the heights back of 
Georgetown, and in the act making appropriations for the naval 
service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, approved July 
26, 1886, Congress gave the necessary authorization, in the 
following terms: 
“For commencing the erection of the new Naval Observatory on the site 
purchased under the act of Congress approved February fourth, eighteen hundred 
*8 Stat. at Large, vol. 21, p. 64, 46th Congress, 2d Session, chap. 19. 
