218 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



be through the means of astronomical observation. The 

 influence of all these discoveries upon the condition of man 

 is, no doubt, infinitely diversified in relative importance ; 

 but all, even the minutest, contribute to the increase and 

 diffusion of knowledge. There is no richer field of science 

 opened to the exploration of man in search of knowledge 

 than astronomical observation ; nor is there, in the opinion 

 of this committee, any duty more impressively incumbent 

 upon all human governments than that of furnishing means 

 and facilities and rewards to those who devote the labors 

 of their lives to the indefatigable industry, the unceasing 

 vigilance, and the bright intelligence indispensable to suc- 

 cess in these pursuits. 



The committee will add, that at no period of human his- 

 tory has the general impulse of the learned world been 

 more intensely directed to the cultivation of this science 

 than in the present age. It was an observation of Voltaire, 

 that if the whole human race could be assembled in one 

 mass, from the creation of man to his time, in the gradua- 

 tion of genius among them all, Isaac Newton would stand 

 at their head. But the discoveries of Newton were the 

 results of calculations founded upon the observations of 

 others of Copernicus, of Tycho Brahe, of Kepler, of 

 Flamsteed ; and among their producing causes, not the 

 least was the erection and establishment of the royal ob- 

 servatory of Greenwich. 



The original purpose of this institution, first commenced 

 in 1676, under the patronage of Charles the Second, and 

 the most glorious incident of his life, was for the finding 

 out the so-rnuch-desired longitudes of places for the perfect- 

 ing the art of navigation ; and the inscription still existing 

 above the original door of the observatory declares that it 

 was built for the benefit of astronomy and navigation ; so 

 intimately connected together are the abstract science 

 and the practical art, that, without the help of the astrono- 

 mer, the seaman could not urge his bark in safety one inch 

 beyond the sight of the shore. 



The discovery of the longitudes of places, the benefit of 

 astronomy and navigation, were thus the declared objects 

 of the erecting of the Greenwich Observatory, arid of the 

 appointment, in the person of Flamsteed, of an astronomical 

 observator ^vith a salary of one hundred pounds sterling a 

 year, leaving him to provide himself with all the instru- 

 ments and books necessary for the performance of his 

 duties. _ And what were the first fruits of this institution ? 

 1. An increased accuracy of observation, by the attachment 



