66 EDWARD S. HOLDEN 



vard college (1846) ; the private observatory of Dr. Lewis M. 

 Rutherford in New York city (1848) ; the observatory at Ann 

 Arbor (1854) ; the Dudley observatory at Albany (1856) ; and 

 that of Hamilton college (1856). 



These dates and the summary history just given will serve 

 to indicate the situation of astronomy in the United States 

 during the first half of the present century. A little attention 

 to the dates will enable the reader to place an individual or 

 an institution on its proper background. It must constantly 

 be kept in mind that the whole country was very young and 

 that public interest in astronomical matters was neither edu- 

 cated nor very general. The data here set down will have a 

 distinct value as a contribution to the history of astronomy 

 in America. The developments of later years have been so 

 amazing that we forget that the first working observatories 

 were founded so late as 1845. 



American science is scarcely more than half a century 

 old. The day will soon come — it is now here — when we shall 

 look back with wonder and gratitude to ask who were the 

 men who laid the wide and deep foundations which already 

 maintain so noble an edifice. 



