O. MISCELLANEOUS. 659 



is generally credited " the honor of being the first in the 

 United States who conducted a working observatory." To 

 this, however, we may add that the first observatory estab- 

 lished by the United States government was erected, in 1806, 

 at Cincinnati, by Colonel Jared Mansfield, the first surveyor- 

 general, and at this were made from 1806 to 1813 numerous 

 observations, both astronomical and meteorological. The 

 bill establishing a permanent depot was passed in March, 

 1842, and its success was owing apparently in no small de- 

 gree to the interest excited by the appearance of Encke's 

 comet. It is interesting to note the exact coincidence of 

 this date with that of the beojinnino- of the course of astronom- 

 ical lectures of Professor O. M. Mitchell, who, in May of the 

 same year, secured the funds for the purchase of the fine 

 equatorial of the Cincinnati Observatory, whose corner-stone 

 was laid in November, 1843, by President Adams in person. 

 The buildings of the Naval Observatory were erected on the 

 site chosen long before by Washington as the location of the 

 proposed National University, and according to the plans 

 furnished by Gilliss in November, 1843, after consultation 

 with the best American astronomers, and were completed by 

 September, 1844, which is the date of the report of Lieu- 

 tenant Gilliss to the Secretary of the Navy. With the com- 

 pletion and equipment of the building w^e may close our ex- 

 tracts from Professor Nourse's interesting memoir. The sub- 

 sequent history of the institution is so well given in the an- 

 nual reports that it must be familiar to all. 



TWENTY- SECOND MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 

 EOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



The twenty-second annual meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, which was held in 

 Portland, Maine, from the 20th to the 26th of August, inclu- 

 sive, was one of the most successful of the series, whether we 

 consider the number of specialists in attendance or the char- 

 acter of the papers presented. 'For two years past the meet- 

 ings have been held in the West, that of 1871 at Indianap- 

 olis, and that of 1872 at Dubuque; and the long interval 

 that had elapsed since the association was coMvened in the 

 eastern portion of the country had its natural effect in in- 

 creasing: the size of the recent meetinoj at Portland. Com- 



