402 Prof. Bessel's Remarks on Mr. Hassler's plan for an 



But Mr. Hassler describes his arrangements and methods 

 in a paper which has also been printed, as an extract from the 

 Philosophical Transactions of Philadelphia, which contains so 

 many new views in relation to instruments, that I believe I shall 

 make an agreeable communication to the readers of this jour- 

 nal by an extract from this paper, which has probably not be-* 

 come very extensively known (in Germany)*. Mr. Hassler 

 appears by it as a man who would rather think for himself 

 than imitate others, and whose arrangements, therefore, al- 

 ways bear an independent character. 



It is to be lamented that circumstances should have oc- 

 curred which hindered the complete execution of the work. 

 To judge from the contents of the publication, not only com- 

 plete success in reaching the intended object would have been 

 obtained, but also many other useful results f. 



According to Mr. Hassler's plan, two observatories were to 

 be established, one in Washington, and one in New Orleans | : 

 these were calculated not only for the purposes of the survey, 

 but also to subserve the general objects of astronomy. Of 

 the observatory for Washington, the whole plan is given, which 

 appears to me very appropriate ; it recommends itself by a 

 minute attention to all that can secure the accuracy of the 

 observations ; we miss in it none of those arrangements which 

 on this side of the Atlantic have been made in the most modern 

 observatories ; in its special arrangements this observatory 

 often agrees with the most modei'n one in Germany, that 

 of Altona§. The instruments are, a transit, of five feet, by 



* [And' we may say in England also: as we believe not more than two 

 or three copies of that paper ever reached this country. — Edit. Phil. Mag.] 



■)■ The opinion thus expressed by Mr. Bcssel, is praise of the highest de- 

 scription ; for no man has ever stood higher as an astronomer than that di- 

 stinguished Professor. 



X According to Mr. Hassler's original plan, one of the observatories was 

 to have been established in the State of Maine, near the north-eastern 

 frontier, the other in Louisiana near the south-western boundary of the 

 United States. Circumstances led to the choice of Washington for one; 

 the exact place of the other, although it must have been near New Orleans, 

 was not decided. 



^ The close coincidence between the plan proposed by Mr. Hassler, for 

 the observatory at Washington, and that erected under the superintendence 

 of Schumacher at Altona, is very remarkable. This last is unquestionably 

 the best in Europe, as well as the most modern. Mr. Hassler's plans were 

 presented to our Government in 1816, but his papers were not published 

 until 1826. The observatory at Altona was finished in the last-named year. 

 Thus it appears that these two astronomers deduced from obvious principles 

 two |)Ians of the closest similitude, each without any knowledge of the 

 other's proceedings, while the American project is prior in point of date 

 by several years. — [A drawing of the plan of Schumacher's observatory is in 

 the possession of the Astronomical Society of London. — Edit. Phil. Mag.] 



Troughton ; 



