/ 



230 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



8. Is there any library belonging to the establishment ? If so, consist- 

 ing of what books ? 



9. Who is now the most eminent mathematical and astronomical instru- 

 ment maker in London ? Is there any successor to Troughton ? 



If you can obtain me any information of tlie same, or similar particulars 

 with regard to any of the public observatories in any part of the continent 

 of Europe, I shall owe yOu another obligation for the communication of 

 them. 



I am, my dear sir, with the highest esteem and respect, your friend and 

 servant, 



John Q. Adams. 



Christopher Hughes, Esq. 



Answej'S by the Astronome?- Royal, the Rev. George B. Airy, to Mr. Adams' 

 questions, dated lOih April, 1839. 



1. The royal observatory at Greenwich was built, at the expense of the 

 Government, in the reign of Charles II, (about 1670,) and the buildings 

 have always been repaired or extended at the expense of the Government. 

 The instruments used by Flamsteed, the first astronomer royal, were not 

 furnished by the Government, and were taken away by his executors. 

 Since that time, the instruments have always been furnished by the Gov- 

 ernment, except in two instances where instruments have been presented. 

 The observations are now printed at the expense of the Government. 

 Thus every expense connected with the observatory is defrayed by the 

 Government. The observatory was at first connected with the ordnance 

 department of the executive, (I believe from the accidental circumstance 

 that Sir Jonas Moor, the personal friend of Flamsteed, and one of the 

 original proposers of the observatory, was then master-general of the ord- 

 nance.) In the year 1816 or 1817 it was transferred to the admiralty de- 

 partment. The estimates for the annual expense of the observatory are 

 inserted under the "scientific branch" of the admiralty account in the 

 Parliamentary estimates, and are voted annually by Parliament. 



In the original institution of the observatory, no provision wag made for 

 the printing of the observations, or for the communication of the results to 

 the public in any way, and no obligation to that eifect was imposed on the 

 astronomer royal. When Flamsteed had held the office about thirty years, 

 and had published nothing, the Royal Society applied to the Queen to ap- 

 point a board of visitors (one of them being Sir Isaac Newton, the Presi- 

 dent of the Royal Society) to superintend the observatory generally, and 

 with power to require a publication of the observations. (For a full detail 

 of the quarrel which followed, I would refer ta Rally's Account of the Life 

 ^•c, of John Flamsteed, which may probably be found in the libraries of 

 the scientific bodies in America.) An edition of the observations was 

 printed by them; but another edition was afterwards printed by Flamsteed 

 himself. Halley, the next astronomer royal, printed nothing of observa- 

 tions. Bradley and Bliss left manuscripts ; but the right of the Govern- 

 ment to them was disputed, and they were ultimately printed by the Uni- 

 versity of Oxford. It was not till 1767, on Maskelyne's accession, that the 

 King, (George III,) on the petition of the Royal Society, ordered that the 

 observations should be printed annually ; and since that time there has 

 been no doubt that the observations are the property of the Government, 

 and are to be printed annually. 



The board of visitors above alluded to existed without alteration (as I 

 believe) till 1830 ; and it was by that board (as I imagine) that representa- 

 tions were made to the Government which led to the purchase of instru- 

 ments in Halley's time, to the regular printing of the observations in Mas- 

 kelyne's time, &c. The president and council of the Royal Society, (or 



