508 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



Congress to entertain the project of such an establishment. In 1841 

 and 1842, Lieutenant Gilliss submitted plans and estimates for the 

 construction of a permanent observatory, and in the latter year the law 

 was passed which authorized the erection and equipment of the pres- 

 ent Naval Observatory. 



On account of the active and efficient part which Lieutenant Gilliss 

 had taken in the furtherance of this project, he was intrusted with its 

 execution ; and in the discharge of this duty he again visited Europe. 

 He there consulted with the most distinguished astronomers concern- 

 ing the details of his plans, and contracted with the celebrated artists 

 of that time for the necessary instruments, and on his return he super- 

 intended the erection of the building and its equipment. 



In October, 1844, he surrendered the building and apparatus nearly 

 in the state in which they have since remained to Lieutenant Maury, 

 ■who had been appointed Superintendent. 



Of the observations made by Lieutenant Gilliss with the Coast Sur- 

 vey Transit in connection with the South Sea Expedition, the most 

 important were those for the determination of the right ascensions of 

 the principal stars visible at Washington. The results were published 

 in 1846, and make the first volume of published observations ever 

 printed in this country. 



From October, 1844, until April, 1861, when Lieutenant Gilliss suc- 

 ceeded to the superintendence of the Observatory, made vacant by the 

 desertion of Lieutenant Maury, he was constantly employed in duties 

 connected with the various geodetic and astronomical operations of the 

 public service. His chief work, however, executed between 1849 and 

 1853, consisted in observations of the planets Venus and Mars, made 

 at Santiago de Chile, for the purpose of obtaining a more perfect de- 

 termination of the parallax of the sun. From a combination of unfa- 

 vorable circumstances this work did not attain the valuable results 

 which were anticipated. While at Santiago, Lieutenant Gilliss em- 

 ployed the intervals between his principal observations in executing a 

 series of observations upon stars of the southern hemisphere. 



On taking charge of the Naval Observatory in 1861, Captain Gil- 

 liss proceeded immediately to reform the character of the establish- 

 ment, which, under the control of his predecessor, had lost much of its 

 astronomical prestige, and become mainly a meteorological bureau. 

 Under his supervision a new organization was given to the astro- 

 nomical department. Series of observations which had been inter- 



