268 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



positions. The changes next in importance consisted in the presentation of more 

 complete data, maps, and diagrams for the eclipses of the sun and the satellites of 

 the planets. The changes were so adjusted that the size and cost of the work 

 should not be materially altered. They commence with the Ephemeris of 1882, 

 now in press." 



In the preface to the Nautical Almanac for the year 1882 we 

 find the changes adopted mentioned in the following specific 

 terms : "' 



" The contents of the present volume of the American Ephemeris, though sub- 

 stantially unchanged in their general character, have, in some parts, undergone 

 material alterations in their form and arrangement." 



************ 



" Part I, Ephemeris for the Meridian of Greenwich .... The principal 

 change made in it has been the transfer of the sun's co-ordinates and of the geo- 

 centric ephemerides of Mercury, Uranus, and Neptune from Part II, and the 

 addition of accurate heliocentric positions of all the planets. 



" Part II, Ephemeris for the Meridian of Washington .... The list of 

 mean places of fixed stars has been greatly enlarged, for the convenience of field- 

 astronomers. 



" Part III, Phenomena .... The additions comprise more complete data 

 for eclipses of the sun, diagrams showing the configurations of the satellites of 

 Jupiter, data respecting the disks of Mercury and Venus for the reduction of 

 meridian and photometric observations, and diagrams, with tables, for identifying 

 any known satellites of other planets. 



" Simon Newcomb, 



" Professor U. S. Navy, Superintendent. 

 " Washington, 



" September 3, 1879." 



COMMITTEE ON A PLAN FOR SURVEYING AND MAPPING 

 THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 1878 



In the decade following the close of the Civil War the re- 

 curring discussion of the relative merits of military and civil 

 control of public enterprises centered around the management of 

 the surveys of the public domain. We learn that as early as 

 1869, at the meeting of the National Academy, "one of the 

 most eminent geologists and geographers in the country made a 



"American Epiiemeris and Nautical Almanac for 1882, ist ed., 1879. Preface, p. iii. 



