4 o 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for several years materials for investigating the comparative 

 rates of chronometers at sea and on shore, he presented a paper 

 to the American Academy in which he effectually disposed of the 

 scientific question involved, so far as it related to the interests of 

 navigation. Mr. G. P. Bond, who records this, states that his 

 father investigated also the influence of changes of temperature 

 in the presence of large surfaces of iron upon the performance of 

 chronometers, and, " although the conclusions arrived at were at 

 variance with the opinions of men high in authority in such mat- 

 ters, they are now known to be correct." 



About this time the Navy Department sent out the Wilkes 

 Exploring Expedition, the purpose of which in part was to estab- 

 lish the latitudes and longitudes of uncharted places in distant 

 parts, of the world where American commerce was extending, and 

 in part to investigate natural phenomena, including the facts of 

 terrestrial magnetism. In connection with this expedition, Mr. 

 Bond was engaged to make at his private observatory investiga- 

 tions to fix a zero of longitude, whence final reference to Green- 

 wich might be had, and to make a continuous record of magnetic 

 observations at Dorchester for comparison with like records 

 obtained at distant points by the expedition itself. As prelimi- 

 nary to the latter work Mr. Bond tested the magnetic instruments 

 with which the expedition was to be equipped. 



Josiah Quincy, who had given Mr. Bond early encouragement, 

 was now President of Harvard College. It occurred to him, to 

 use his own words, " that if Mr. Bond could be induced to transfer 

 his apparatus and residence to Cambridge and pursue his obser- 

 vations there, under the auspices of the university, it would have 

 an important influence in clearing the way for the establishment 

 of an efficient observatory in connection with that seminary." 



There was little inducement for Mr. Bond to make the change. 

 His business was prosperous and his home life among friends and 

 neighbors whom he had known for years was very pleasant. The 

 college could offer him no salary only the use of a house. In 

 his excessive modesty he feared that the arrangement proposed 

 would arouse great expectations that he with the facilities at his 

 command would be unable to satisfy. He made other objections, 

 but all were overcome, and on November 30, 1839, he entered into 

 a contract with the college corporation, agreeing to make the 

 transfer as proposed. A subscription was at once raised for fit- 

 ting up a dwelling owned by the college to be occupied by Mr. 

 Bond. This building, known as the Dana House, was the first 

 observatory of Harvard College. It still stands upon its original 

 site at the southeast corner of what are distinctively called the 

 college grounds, and is remembered by many Harvard graduates 

 as the residence for a term of years of the Rev. Dr. A. P. Peabody. 



