86 
we are now so proud, and which has already given such 
distinction to the names of Fitz, Spencer, Wiirdemamn, Clark, 
Tolles, and others, all happily yet remaining to us except the 
first-named, — the pioneer of all. Although well aware of 
the danger of too much detail, I cannot refrain from giving 
the history of this first large American Equatorial. The 
five-foot telescope purchased for the exploring expedition, 
and upon which Gilliss has depended for his observations, 
was found, to his dismay and embarrassment, to have been 
stored in a position exposed to the extremes of temperature 
and moisture, which had seriously, if not fatally injured the 
object glass. Already the Fox’s deflector had been found to 
be hopelessly injured, and the declinometer to have been 
given to a mixed commission for surveys in California. But 
in these difficulties the Smithsonian Institution, although 
scarcely more than organized, came to his relief. Professor 
Henry offered a seismometer and a complete meteorological 
outfit, and subsequently authorized the purchase, at the ex- 
pense of the Institution, of a complete set of portable instru- 
ments for magnetic determinations. But where in this 
unforseen emergency to look for the telescope, the indispen- 
sable implement for the proposed observations, became 4 
question of the most serious moment. Nearly one half of 
the appropriation was already pledged for the meridian-cir- » 
cle ordered from Berlin, and $1,000 at the least would be 
needed for the piers, buildings, &e. 
To the honor of the Smithsonian Institution, this admira- 
ble organization came again to Gilliss’s succor. Although all 
its available funds were in demand for current expenses, and 
for the erection of the expensive building, then slowly going 
. - “te so that any immediate appropriation of the requisite 
— out of the question, the Regents, at the instance 
rofe "Henry, manifested a deep interest in the under 
