1863.] 251 [Coppee. 



" The principal instrument having been ordered, and the first pay- 

 ment on its cost made, attention was now given to the procuring of 

 a suitable site for the building. Fortunately for the Society, the 

 place of all others most perfectly adapted to their wants, was then 

 the property of Nicholas Longworth, Esq. It is a lofty hill-top, rising 

 some four hundred feet above the level of the city, and commanding 

 a perfect horizon in all directions. On making known to Mr. Long- 

 worth the prospects and wants of the Astronomical Society, the writer 

 was directed by him to select/ojtr acres on the hilltop, out of a tract 

 of some twenty-five acres, and to proceed at once to inclose it, as it 

 would give him great pleasure to present it to the Association. On 

 compliance with the conditions of the title bond, a deed has since 

 been received, placing the Society in full possession of this elegant 

 position 



" At length the building was reared, and finally covered in, with- 

 out incurring any debt. But the conditions of the bond, by which 

 the lot of ground was held, required the completion of the Observa- 

 tory in two years from its date, and these two years would expire in 

 June, 1845. It was seen to be impossible to carry forward the 

 building fast enough to secure its completion by the required time^, 

 without incurring some debt. My own private resources were used, 

 in the hope that a short time after the finishing of the Observatory, 

 would be sufficient to furnish the funds to meet all engagements. 

 The work was pushed rapidly forward. In February, 1845, the 

 great telescope safely reached the city of Cincinnati, and in March 

 the building was ready for its reception. I had now exhausted all 

 my private means, and to increase the difficulty of the position in 

 which I was placed, the College edifice took fire, and burned to the 

 ground. My ordinary means of support were thus destroyed at a 

 single blow. I had engaged to conduct the Observatory, without 

 compensation from the Society, for ten years, in the hope that my 

 College salary would be sufficient for my wants. It was impossible 

 to abandon the Observatory. The College could not be rebuilt, at 

 least, for several years, and in this emergency, I found it necessary 

 to seek some means of support, least inconsistent with my duties in 

 the Observatory. My public lectures at home had been compara- 

 tively well received, and after much he.sitation, it was resolved to 

 make an experiment elsewhere. For five years I had been pleading 

 the cause of science among those little acquainted with its technical 

 language. I had become habituated to the use of such terms as 

 were easily understood; and probably to this circumstance more 



