MARIA MITCHELL. 33.") 



for State or Governmeut surveys. The State lent a transit for the 

 meridian, AVest Point Academy sent a repeating circle, and the Coast 

 Survey furnished an equatorial telescope aud a transit instrument for 

 the prime vertical, the understanding being that the observatory at Nan- 

 tucket should be one end of a great arc in the determination of the Jigure 

 of the earth. 



Mr. Mitchell had enjoyed in his youth an acquaintance with many 

 of the students of astronomy, and this acquaintance extended as the 

 theme became more and more popular in our country. The observa- 

 tory at Nantucket had the advantage, therefore, of personal visits 

 from kindred spirits of the outside world ; and as at this period Mr. 

 Mitchell was appointed one of the Overseers of Harvard College and 

 placed on the Observatory Committee (a portion of the time as Chair- 

 man), the little observatory at Nantucket was brought into intimate 

 relations with the best of its kind in the country. 



For several years father and daughter worked together on routine 

 observations of the cumulative sort, much relied upon in those days 

 as cancelling errors which modern improvements in instruments and 

 methods have more effectually corrected. They observed moon cul- 

 mmations and occultations for longitude, and the transit of stars across 

 the prime vertical for latitude, until, towards the last, they obtained a 

 zenith telescope. The aspects of the planets, the solar spots, meteors, 

 and auroral clouds, were observed diligently. But in 1845, when 

 Smyth's " Celestial Cycle " (containing the Bedford Catalogue) ap- 

 peared, they entered upon systematic studies of nebulfe and double 

 stars, using often the two telescopes side by side on the top of the 

 Pacific Bank. Thenceforth they were prospectors beyond the fron- 

 tiers ; and routine work gave place to exciting explorations. 



Many years after these explorations began. Miss IMitchell being a 

 guest at St. John's Lodire, was asked by Admiral Smyth if his book 

 had reached as far as Nantucket. She replied, " If it is a fine night 

 at Nantucket, my father has your catalogue open upon the table, and 

 runs in every few minutes from his telescope to identify his objects." 

 The Admiral expressed his gratification at this homage, but remarked 

 that his " forte '' was poetry ; and he gave her some verses printed 

 upon a little press by himself, because, as he facetiously remarked, 

 ♦' the publisher could not appreciate their merits^' Those who are 

 familiar with the Bedford Catalogue will remember " certain Brackish 

 lines " and '' Galley rhymes " mingling strangely with classical quota- 

 tions. Miss Mitchell was lenient towards this kind of simplicity ; she 

 too had been prone to repeat verses, and even to compose very good 



