78 TENTH ANNUAL EEFORT OF 



Hamilton College, Clinton, 

 Oneida County, N. Y., February 2, 1856. 



To the liegents of the Smithsonian Institution : 



The trustees of Hamilton College, in the State of New York, made, 

 on the 22(1 dav of July, 1854, a contract with Messrs. C. A. Spencer 

 & Co. , of Canastota, in the same State, for the construction of an 

 "equatorial telescope of the first class, with all the mountings and 

 other incidents necessary and usual thereto." 



There is a provision in this agreement, that " when the telescope 

 and work are finished and j^ut up in the ohservatory, the whole is to 

 he suhmitted to the examination of three men of science, to be agreed 

 upon by the parties, and their judgment and decision as to the char- 

 acter of the telescope and the whole work, and whether the contract 

 lias beeu iuily performed un ihe pari of the builders, shall be final and 

 conclusive." 



The instrument is now nearly completed. The diameter of the 

 object-glass is thirteen and one-half inches. 



The undersigned, as a committee in behalf of the College, request 

 that the above-named examining board of scientific men may be ap- 

 pointed by your body. They ask this for the following reasons : 



First. This telescope is the largest ever constructed in this country — 

 constructed in the face of many obstacles, with an adverse public 

 opinion. If it be equal to instruments made in Europe, its construc- 

 tion is a triumph of American genius in a hitherto untried field. The 

 contractors, if successful, deserve that their success should be made 

 known through some medium whose judgment shall be rigid and im- 

 partial, and shall have a character to be respected abroad as well as 

 at home. 



Again. The funds for the construction of this instrument, and the 

 observatory to which it is attached, were contributed in various sums 

 by many persons interested in the advancement of science, and scat- 

 tered throughout the State of New York. To these persons our in- 

 stitution pledged itself to secure a first-class instrument. The college 

 corporation desires to satisfy them by an announcement from an au- 

 thoritative quarter that it has faithfully fulfilled the trust, and that 

 the contractors have produced the exact instrument provided for in 

 the specifications of the contract. 



Furthermore, as persons interested in the advancement of science, 

 and desirous that telescopes hereafter built in this country may be 

 thoroughly and satisfactorily tested, the undersigned, in behalf of the 

 college, would be glad to establish a precedent, which might lead the 

 purchasers of other astronomical instruments to submit the question 

 of their proper construction to your body, as being an institution cen- 

 tral in its position and national in its character. 



We are authorized to state that the contractors join with the cor- 

 poration in this application. 



Should this proposition be accepted by you, we would like to receive 



