COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 305 



able time would be required for making the necessary prepara- 

 tions, and it was improbable that any money that might be 

 appropriated would be available until late in the spring of 1886, 

 the committee did not recommend that Congress be asked to take 

 action regarding it. 



The eclipse was, however, observed in the West Indies by 

 astronomers from private American observatories. 



The U. S. Naval Observatory 



An act of Congress approved February 4, 1880, provided for 

 the purchase of a new site for the Naval Observatory in Wash- 

 ington,"'' which since 1844 had been located on a low eminence 

 near the Potomac River, known as " observatory hill," situated 

 between 23d and 25th streets. The affairs of the observatory 

 form the main theme of the committee's report. For some years 

 the old site had been generally regarded as very unhealthy, the 

 building was somewhat dilapidated and had become inad- 

 equate for the needs of the observatory, the equipment had be- 

 come more or less antiquated, and the grounds were regarded 

 as too limited. The committee invited expressions of opinion as 

 to the advisability of moving from astronomers who had been 

 attached to the observatory for a long term of years, including 

 Professor Holden and Professor Newcomb, and also from 

 various physicians of Washington as to the wholesomeness of the 

 old site. While opinions differed widely as to the effects of the 

 malarial surroundings of the observatory caused by river-fogs, 

 the committee reached the conclusion that a change of location 

 was desirable. Accordingly, an item was included by the Sec- 

 retary of the Navy in the estimates for 1887, for beginning the 

 erection of a new building on the site on the heights back of 

 Georgetown, and in the act making appropriations for the naval 

 service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, approved July 

 26, 1886, Congress gave the necessary authorization, in the 

 following terms: 



" For commencing the erection of the new Naval Observatory on the site 

 purchased under the act of Congress approved February fourth, eighteen hundred 



''"Stat, at Large, vol. 21, p. 64, 46th Congress, 2d Session, chap. 19. 



