194. Prof. Lovering on the American Prime Meridian. 
American science than any arrangement which can be made under 
existing circumstances. No one looks more confidently to the 
future to realize this maturity of American astronomy than I do; 
and no one, certainly, will more gladly hail it when it shall have 
arrived. Long before the advent of that happy day, the princi- 
pal difficulty which American astronomers now experience will 
have vanished of itself. For it cannot be that the costly and 
elaborate operations which the government are now conducting 
under the supervision of the superintendent of the coast survey, 
with the object of ascertaining with greater nicety the difference 
of longitude between Cambridge, U.S. and Greenwich, will be 
il. 
I am aware that an American prime meridian would he of 
some convenience to the single observatory through which it 
might pass. It is possible that an ephemeris, calculated for that 
observatory, could be corrected for other observatories on neigh- 
boring meridians with a little more dispatch than an ephemeris 
calculated for so distant a meridian as that of Greenwich. I pre- 
sume, however, that a little more time and care will ensure as 
much accuracy in the latter case as in the former.’ At any rate, 
if it should appear that the astronomers of the country and oth- 
ers whose pursuits, scientific or practical, require them to handle 
such an ephemeris, would be essentially accommodated by one 
which is calculated for an American first meridian, or if it should 
appear that, in the opinion of those who have charge of our prin- 
cipal observatories or are otherwise most competent to judge, the 
interests of astronomical science would be materially advanced 
by such an ephemeris, it may deserve consideration whether one 
ought not to be provided for their peculiar benefit and that of the 
science which they cultivate. But, in our desire to promote the 
science of astronomy, let us not lose sight of the grand aim con- 
templated in every nautical almanac ; but let us make that in fact 
what it professes to be in name, a manual for the advantage and 
security of seamen. 
