124 Scientific Intelligence. 



1834;" Mercury, Venus, Mars, from Lindenau's Tables, 1810-13; Ju- 

 piter, Saturn, Herschel, from BouvarcTs Tables, 1821. Since these 

 dates, an immense mass of observations has accumulated, from which 

 doubtless important corrections may be deduced for almost every element 

 involved in the construction of the tables. The great work, therefore, 

 which invites the labors of American astronomers is a full revision of 

 these tables, or rather of the theories of the sun, moon and planets, in- 

 deed of the whole solar and stellar systems, and the construction there- 

 on of new tables which shall bring in all modern observations at Green- 

 wich, Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, etc., in Great Britain ; at Paris, 

 Berlin, Pulkova, Konigsberg, Munich, Vienna, and many other places 

 on the continent ; at Washington and other places in our own country. 

 This would be a work worthy of the nation, and might engage our 

 ablest astronomers and computers. 



It will be observed that we do not propose to make an American 

 Nautical Almanac by interpolating the European books to the meridian 

 of Washington, nor by making separate computations from the same 

 tables. Such works would add nothing to the stock of astronomical 

 knowledge and little or nothing to the scientific reputation of the coun- 

 try. Nor do we propose an exclusively nautical work. A complete 

 astronomical ephemeris will of course include what is requisite for the 

 purposes of navigation ; but if it were confined to this object it would 

 be of little use to the astronomer engaged in improving the science it- 

 self. He requires the extreme of accuracy ; the navigator only such 

 a degree of precision as will enable him to determine his position within 

 certain practical limits. 



Since such a work as has been described requires the cooperation of [ 



the ablest astronomers of the country, some organization is necessary 

 under a superintendent whose scientific character shall command the 

 confidence of mathematicians. For this we look only to the general 

 government. Let Congress authorize the President to appoint such a 

 superintendent, with a certain number of assistants, and let all the sal- 

 aries attached to these offices be sufficient to command the services of 

 the most competent persons. The national character of the work pre- 

 cludes the idea of confining it to officers already in the service of the 

 government. At the last session of Congress a proposition was made 

 to commence an American Nautical Almanac, under the superintend- 

 ence of a captain, commander or lieutenant of the navy. Now we do not 

 question the possibility or probability of finding a suitable officer among 

 those grades; indeed, we hail with delight every thing that tends to 

 promote or encourage scientific attainments among them ; but we must 

 deprecate the passage of a law which would pronounce our professed 

 astronomers, who devote their lives to the science, to be less competent 

 to take charge of important astronomical works than those who by 

 profession are devoted chiefly to other pursuits. It is not to be suppo- 

 sed, indeed, that it was the intention of the originator of this proposi- 

 tion so to pronounce. It was doubtless supposed that a nautical alma- 

 nac was simply designed for practical use at sea, and that a nautical 

 work could be best prepared only by nautical men ; to which it is suffi- 

 cient to reply, that the ability to use an instrument loes not necessarily 

 imply ability to construct it. There might also have been some idea of 





