ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES. 217 







which had been hitherto imported. It introduced the 

 instruments of Munich fairly to the notice of the Ameri- 

 can public ; and their superiority to the English telescopes 

 was felt to be so decided, that almost every large instru- 

 ment which has been since imported has been from the 

 same makers. In the hands of Messrs. Walker and 

 Kendall, this observatory became celebrated, not only in 

 America, but also in Europe. It has furnished 436 moon 

 culminations, about 120 occupations of stars, and several 

 series of observations for latitude ; together with numer- 

 ous observations of comets, especially the great comet of 

 1843. This was also an important station in several of 

 the earlier telegraph operations for longitude. 



The ground occupied by the High School being needed 

 for the accommodation of one of the railroads leading out 

 of the city, the building and lot were sold in 1853, and a 

 new lot was purchased on Broad-street, about 250 rods 

 north from the former site. Here a new school building 

 and observatory have been erected, and the instruments 

 were set up in the autumn of 1854. The following is a 

 description of the new observatory : 



For the support of the instruments, two parallel piers 

 of solid masonry, nearly at right angles to the plane of 

 the meridian, each 16 feet wide and 2J feet thick, were 

 erected in the central front part of the building. They 

 are 18 feet apart, being separated by the main entrance - 

 hall and principal stairway ; the latter extending to the 

 fourth story of the tower. The piers are inclosed and 

 completely isolated, and extend from below the founda- 



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