A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. ^^5 



the corner-stone of the new building now in process of erec- 

 tion on Mount Lookout was laid with becomino^ ceremonies. 

 The site chosen for tlie new observatory is about four miles 

 northeast of that on Mount Adams, ^^lere the original ob- 

 servatory, founded by Professor O. M. Mitchell, was estab- 

 lished. The corner-stone that was laid in 1848 on that ele- 

 vation by John Quincy Adams has been carefully removed 

 to the new site, and appropriately forms the corner-stone 

 of the new equatorial pier. The observatory has, by means 

 of a tripartite agreement with the city and the heirs of 

 Nicholas Longworth, now passed into the hands of the Cin- 

 cinnati University. The proceeds, amounting to $50,000, 

 realized on the sale of the property on Mount Adams, have 

 been invested for the support of the art department of the 

 university. The city, however, has pledged itself to main- 

 tain the observatory when once established, and the estab- 

 lishment has itself been hastened by the liberality of Mr. 

 John Kilgour, who has given four acres of ground as a site 

 for the new building, and added $10,000 for the latter. The 

 site is admirably adapted for the pur^Dose of the institution. 

 It is one of the highest points in the county, commanding a 

 beautiful and extended view, and it is not likely that the 

 difficulty experienced at the old site from the smoke and 

 vapors of the city will for a long time, if ever, trouble the 

 astronomers on Mount Lookout. The new edifice faces south, 

 having a width of about sixty feet, a depth of ninety feet, 

 and two wings, making the breadth through the wings about 

 one hundred feet. One of the wings will be used for the 

 meridian instruments ; and in the centre of the building, on a 

 brick pier thirty-six feet high and seventeen feet in diameter, 

 will rest the big telescope. The building will be two stories 

 liigh, except in the centre, where the revolving turret of iron 

 for the equatorial will add half a story. The structure is to 

 be of pressed brick, Avith freestone trimmings. 



The exercises connected w4th the ceremony consisted of 

 an address by Hon.Rufus King, in which he gave a clear and 

 interesting statement of the early history of the observatory, 

 dwelling with peculiar interest upon the fiict that " it was 

 the energy of Mitchell, his tireless zeal, his earnestness in the 

 cause he so bravely espoused, that won the first victory for 

 our city and gave us the observatory. That observat4)ry 



