64 NATIOXAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



A memorial asking for an appropriation of $5,000 to defray 

 the expenses of the observing party was presented to Congress 

 and having the support of the Secretary of the Navy was favor- 

 ably considered. The Sundry Civil Act for the fiscal year end- 

 ing June 30, 1884, contained the following item: 



.... To enable the National Academy of Sciences to make observations of 

 the eclipse of the sun on the sixth of May next, at an island in the Pacific Ocean, 

 five thousand dollars, the expenditures to be accounted for by the Superintendent 

 of the Coast and Geodetic Survey under the rules that govern that work; to be 

 immediately available." ^^ 



As the act was not approved until March 3, 1883, however, 

 the money was not available in time to serve the purposes of the 

 expedition and the sum of $3,500 was, therefore, advanced by 

 the trustees of the Bache Fund. At the same time a grant of 

 $500 was made by the Academy from the Watson Fund in aid 

 of the search for intra-mercurial planets. The observing party 

 consisted of Professor E. S. Holden (chief). Professor Charles 

 S. Hastings, Mr. C. H. Rockwell, Mr. E. D. Preston, Mr. 

 Winslow Upton and Ensign S. J. Brown, U. S. N. Four officers 

 of the Hartford also joined the party as voluntary observers, 

 and two English observers, sent out by the Royal Society, were 

 likewise included. 



The objective point of the expedition was Caroline Island, a 

 small island in the South Pacific, which had been suggested by 

 Mr. Rockwell as most suitable for an observing station. The 

 party remained on the island from April 21 to May 9, and 

 returning reached San Francisco on June 11. The expedition 

 was successful as a whole, though the search for an intra-mer- 

 curial planet, which was undertaken personally by Professor 

 E. S. Holden, the leader of the American party, gave a negative 

 result. 



The committee and observers made a report to the Academy 

 at the meeting of November, 1883, which report was by resolu- 



" Stat, at Large, vol. 22, 1883, p. 611, 47th Congress, 2d Session, chap. 143. Act approved 

 March 3, 1883. 



