76 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



America. It was not greatly to be wondered at that the nation should 

 not up to that time have given any great degree of attention to scien- 

 tific matters. The proportion of the population having leisure for 

 scientific and especially for astronomical research was but small, and 

 the Government had matters of more vital importance than to attend 

 to the erection of observatories. For several years the attention 

 of Congress had been called to the necessity of a national observatory, 

 but when President Adams, in 1825, made a special appeal to this 

 effect, his proposal met with ridicule and disfavor. 



The first action toward the initiation of astronomical research in 

 America bears date March, 1810, when it was proposed in Congress 

 (by Mr. William. Lambert, of Virginia) that a first meridian should 

 be established for the United States (the meridian of the Capitol at 

 Washington being selected), in order to obviate the " confusion already 

 existing in consequence of the assumption of different places within 

 the United States as first meridians, on the published maps and 

 charts " in the country. The proposition was at once acted upon. 

 In July, 1812, we find Mr. Monroe, then Secretary of State, in- 

 dicating; its astronomical bearing. " In admitting:," said he, " the 

 propriety of establishing a first meridian within the United States, it 

 follows that it ought to be done with the greatest mathematical pre- 

 cision. It is known that the best mode yet discovered for estab- 

 lishing the meridian of a place is by observations of the heavenly 

 bodies ; and that, to produce the greatest accuracy in the result, such 

 observations should be often repeated, at suitable ojjportunities 

 through a series of years, by means of the best instruments. For this 

 purpose an observatory would be of essential utility. It is only in. 

 such an institution, to be founded by the public, that all the necessary 

 implements are likely to be collected together, that systematic obser. 

 vations can be made for any great length of time, and that the public 

 can be made secure of the results of the labors of scientific men. In 

 favor of such an institution it is sufficient to remark that every nation 

 which has established a first meridian has also established an observa- 

 tory." Mr. Lambert brought in a bill proposing the erection of such 

 an observatory in 1813 ; but nothing more was done until 1815, when 

 the memorial on which the bill of 1831 had been based was referred 

 to a select committee. No steps were then taken, however, to carry 

 a bill. In November, 1818, a third memorial from Mr. Lambert was 

 presented, and referred to a select committee ; but the resolution 

 asked for was not finally passed until March 3, 1821, when Mr. 

 Lambert was appointed by the President "to make astronomical ob- 

 servations by lunar occultations of fixed stars, solar eclipses, or any 

 approved method adapted to ascertain the longitude of the Capitol 

 from Greenwich." In December, 1823, Mr. Lambert, in a report of 

 his labors, gave for the longitude of the Capitol 76 55' 30".54, closing 

 his report with a strong appeal for the erection of an observatory. 



