402 



The meeting took place on the appointed day, 

 although Austria and Prussia, in threatening 

 notes, had urged the Frankfort Senate to for- 

 bid it. The meeting entered a strong protest 

 against the proceeding of the Austrian and 

 Prussian Governments, and renewed the de- 

 mand that the people of the duchies should 

 have an opportunity to decide of their destiny. 

 Austria and Prussia, in notes to the Frankfort 

 Senate, intimated, that if other meetings of the 

 kind were allowed in Frankfort, it would he- 

 come the duty of Austria and Prussia to pre- 

 vent it (see FRANKFOET). The Frankfort Senate 

 unanimously protested against any right of 

 Austria and Prussia to interfere in this matter, 

 and was supported in this protest hy the ma- 

 jority of the minor States, which reserved to 

 the Federal Diet the right to decide what steps 

 it might be necessary and legitimate to be pur- 

 sued toward the Frankfort Senate. The two 

 allies could not agree about ulterior measures. 

 Prussia objected to an appeal to the Diet, as by 

 so doing she would recognize its authority to 

 interfere, and establish a bad precedent in the 

 Holstein affairs ; and Austria declined to pro- 

 ceed exclusively against Frankfort. 



The Annual General Assembly of the Na- 

 tional- Verein took place at Frankfort-on-the- 

 Main on October 29th, when the following reso- 

 lutions of the committee in reference to the 

 political organization of Germany, and the solu- 

 tion of the Schleswig-Holstein question, were 

 agreed to by a large majority: 1st. The Na- 

 tional- Verein maintains its original programme 

 that Germany should be constituted as a Fed- 

 eral State, the central authority of which should 

 be transferred to Prussia upon condition that 

 such transfer be sanctioned by a Parliament 

 representing the whole German nation. 2d. 

 The National- Verein declares that the settle- 

 ment of the Schleswig-Holstein question can be 

 brought about solely by a vote of the popula- 

 tion of the duchies, the free exercise of which 

 can only be limited by the common interests of 

 Germany. It was further resolved that, should 

 a German central authority not be formed, Prus- 

 sia alone could effectually defend the northern 

 frontiers of Germany. In conclusion, the Na- 

 tionaJ-Verein resolved that the convocation of 

 the Schleswig-Holstein estates could no longer 

 be delayed. 



GILLISS, Capt. JAMES MELVIN, an officer of 

 the United States naval service, and at the time 

 of his death Superintendent of the National 

 Observatory, born in the District of Columbia 

 in 1810, died in Washington, D. 0., of apoplexy, 

 February 9, 1865. He entered the navy as 

 midshipman, March 1, 1827, having enjoyed 

 good previous advantages of education. He 

 spent but little time afloat, his entire sea service 

 amounting to only four years and seven months, 

 his fondness and adaptation for astronomical 

 studies having led to his being employed very 

 early in that department of naval service. In 

 1838 he organized the first working observa- 

 tory in the United States, and during the five 



GILMAN, CHANDLER K. 



following years collected and published hia 

 astronomical observations, the first American 

 work of the kind published. In September, 

 1842, Lieut. Gilliss was appointed to plan and 

 superintend the construction of a naval observa- 

 tory, which was completed and furnished in 1845. 

 On the 16th of November, 1848, he was ordered 

 to proceed to Chili to make observations for the 

 determination of the Solar Parallax, and re- 

 mained there three years. Through his in- 

 fluence a naval observatory was established in 

 that country, and he completed a series of ob- 

 servations of great value, not only in regard to 

 the Solar Parallax, but to the constellations of 

 the Southern Hemisphere, and to earthquakes, 

 and other subjects relating to the physical geog- 

 raphy of Chili. His observations have been 

 published by the Government in a series of 

 quarto volumes. In 1858 he visited Peru to 

 observe the total eclipse of the sun, which was 

 most complete and protracted in that country, 

 and in 1860 made the journey to Washington 

 Territory for the same purpose. His observa- 

 tions in regard to both were of great importance, 

 and went far toward settling several questions 

 of interest in relation to the form and properties 

 of the sun. On the departure of Lieut. Maury 

 at the commencement of the war, Commander 

 Gilliss was at once placed in charge of the 

 Observatory, which he had constructed and 

 equipped sixteen years before, his appointment 

 bearing date April 22, 1861. This proved a 

 beneficial change to the institution, which, 

 under his charge, soon became one of the few 

 first-class observatories in the world. He found 

 a vast amount of work left in arrears by his 

 predecessor, no reduction of the observations 

 of the previous six years having been made. 

 He applied himself to the work of bringing 

 them up, and of adding new and valuable ob- 

 servations, with great industry, and perhaps 

 with an assiduity which may have caused his 

 untimely death. On the 16th of July, 1862, ho 

 was promoted to the rank of captain in the navy. 

 He had won for himself a high reputation 

 among the most eminent astronomers of the 

 world, by his profound astronomical knowledge 

 and his eagerness in the pursuit of his favorite 

 science. Shortly before his death he had made 

 an official report to the Secretary of the Navy, 

 detailing the scientific observations made in 

 various observatories of the world, under his 

 auspices or at his request, to ascertain the par- 

 allax of the planet Mars, and the result as ap- 

 proximating the exact distance from the earth 

 to the sun. He possessed a rare degree of me- 

 chanical ingenuity, and had contributed many 

 valuable improvements to the instruments of 

 astronomical science. 



GILMAN, CHANDLER BOBBINS, M. D., an 

 American physician, medical writer, and pro- 

 fessor, was born September 6, 1802, at Marietta, 

 Ohio, died at Middletown, Connecticut, Sep- 

 tember 26, 1865. His father and his grand- 

 father, who received from Gen. Washington his 

 commission as Judge, were among the earliest 



