208 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



2. What art' the buildings connected with it, and how much land is there around 

 it belonging to it? 

 8. Han it at any time been rebuilt, or has it.s construction been in any wise altered? 



4. By whom is the astronomer royal appointed and paid? What is the amount 

 of his compensation? 



5. What are his duties and in what manner are they prescribed? Is there a 

 standing instruction to regulate his observations? Is he required to make reports; 

 and if so, to whom? 



6. Are there any other persons attached to the observatory as assistants, calcula- 

 tors, or servants? If so, what are their duties and their compensation? 



7. What are the instruments used at the observatory? By whom, and at whose 

 expense, are they furnished? What was their cost, and by whom were they made? 

 A list of them, witli their prices, and their maker's name, would be very acceptable. 



8. Is there any hbrary belonging to the establishment? If so, consisting of what 

 books? 



9. Who is now the most eminent mathematical and astronomical instrument 

 maker in London? Is there any successor to Troughton? 



If you can obtain me any information of the 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. 



Ansivers hy the Astronomer Roijal, the Rev. George B. Airy, to Mr. Adarn.s's (iHestio)!^, 



dated April 10, 1839. 



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

 ment, 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 Government, except in two instances where instruments have 

 been presented. The observations are now printed at the expense of the Govern- 

 ment. 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 observa- 

 tory, was then master-general of the ordnance). In the year 1816 or 1817 it was 

 transferred to the admiralty department. 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 was made for the print- 

 ing of the observatif)ns or for the communication of the results to the public in any 

 way, and no obligation to that effect 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 appoint a board of visitors (one of them being 

 Sir Isaac Newton, the president 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 to Baily's Account of the Life, 

 etc., of John Flamsteed, which may probably be found in the libraries of the scien- 

 tific bodies in America.) An edition of the observations was printed by them; but 

 another edition was afterwards printed by Flamsteed himself. Halley, the next 



