3IO Mojiorial of Gcoro^c Brouni Cioode. 



eter, purchased in London l)y Doctor Franklin with money voted l)y the 

 assembly of Pennsylvania. The transit was successfully observed and 

 an elaborate report was published. 



This enterprise is worthy of mention because it was the first serious 

 astronomical work ever undertaken in this countrj-. Being under the 

 auspices of the only scientific society then in existence, it was in some 

 sense a national effort. Had not the Revolution taken place, it w^ould 

 undoubtedly have resulted in the establishment of a well-equipped observa- 

 tory in this country under the auspices of the home government. Doctor 

 Thomas Bwing, the provost of the University of Pennsylvania, who 

 seems to have been the first to propose the observations of 1769, and 

 under whose direction the}^ W'ere carried on, visited London a few 3'ears 

 later, and while there made interest with Lord North, the prime minister, 

 and with Mr. Maskelyne, the astronomer royal, for the establishment of 

 an observatory in Philadelphia, and that his efforts gave great promise 

 of success may be shown by the letter here presented, addressed to him 

 by Mr. Maskelyne in 1775: 



Greenwich, August 4, 177J. 



Sir: I received your late favor, together with 3-oiir observations of the comet of 

 1770, and some [copies] of that of 1769, for which I thank you. I shall communi- 

 cate [them] to the Royal Society, as you give me leave. In the present unhappy 

 situation of American affairs, I have not the least idea that anything can be done 

 toward erecting an observatory at Philadelphia, and therefore can not think it 

 proper for me to take a part in any memorial you may think proper to lay before my 

 Lord North at present. I do not mean, however, to discourage yoii from presenting 

 a memorial from yourself. Were an observatorj^ to be erected in that city, I do not 

 know any person there more capable of taking care of it than 3'^ourself. Slioi:ld 

 Lord North do me the honor to ask my opinion about the utility of erecting an 

 observatory at Philadelphia, I should then be enabled to speak out, being always a 

 well-wisher to the promotion of science. You did not distinguish whether the times 

 of your observations were apparent or mean time. 

 I am, your most humble servant, 



N. ]Maskki,yne. 



Rev. Dr. Ewing, 



No. 2^ Liidgatr street. 



In this connection mention should be made of the extended astronom- 

 ical work done from 1763 to 1767, by Charles Mason, an assistant of 

 Maskelyne, and Jeremiah Dixon, while surveying the boundar}- line 

 between Pennsi'lvania and Maryland, and especially of the sitccessful 

 measurement by them of a meridian of latitude. Mason was a man of 

 high scientific standing, btit, though he became a citizen of Philadelphia, 

 where he died in 17S7, little is known of him bej'ond the record of his 

 scientific work. He had been one of the obser\'ers of a transit of Venus 

 at the Cape of Good Hope in 1761, and it was no doubt he who inspired 

 the American Philosophical Society to its effort in 1769. 



Another event in the Adams Administration was the beginning of the 

 National Botanic Garden. The foundation of such an institution was 

 one of the earliest of the projects for the improvement of the capital. 

 Washington decided that it should be closely connected with the 



