188 Prof. Lovering on the American Prime Meridian. 
an Almanac and such an Observatory to be the only effectual 
way of bringing an American meridian into use even by our own 
countrymen, advantage has been taken of this language to prove 
that, at the present day, this high authority must be considered 
in favor of an American prime meridian. Such an inference is 
do 
practicable it is therefore to be desired; and 
at least, it is wholly unwarrantable. Whoever will consult the pa- 
pers of ‘Dr. Bowditch on this subject in the ninth and tenth vol- 
umes of the Monthly Anthology, will be convinced that the prin- 
cipal force of his argument against an American prime meridian, 
is just as pertinent in 1850 as it was in 1810. With or without 
an American Nautical Almanac, Dr. Bowditch condemned an 
American prime meridian as an innovation which would not be 
“ attended with one real advantage.” 
In a Nautical oom: the preins object of which is to give 
the places of the sun and moon among the stars and planets, at 
frequent intervals iat the whole day, it becomes necessary to 
select some spot on the earth as the origin of absolute time and 
the first meridian for longitudes. The superintendent of the 
American Nautical Almanac is now called on to make his selec- 
tion. But the establishment and perfect success of an American 
Nautical Almanac will in no degree be promoted by the selection 
of an American first meridian, as the basis of its calculations. 
Lieut. Davis observes: “Our National Observatory at Washing- 
ton must have existed half a century before it will be able to 
furnish independent observations sufficient for the, determination 
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utility.” 
Thus it appears that the materials and whatever is most valuable 
and spp for the calculation of an American Nautical Al- 
will be and must be borrowed from Europe for many years. 
I see no reason why we should scruple to reckon from our 0 
prime meridian, even if it do intersect countries to which we lie 
under such heavy scientific obligations. Certainly, if the British 
Nautical Almanac is calculated for Greenwich, the American may 
be also. If both are based on the same identical —— it 
ean make no difference, either in the dispatch or accuracy of the 
work, whether the calculations are made at Greenwich or at 
Washin ngton. Indeed, I think it will appear hereafter that @ 
Nautical Almanac, wherever calculated, which relies on Euro- 
pean observations, can be calculated more accurately for an Eu- 
ropean prime meridian than for an American meridian. 
