2 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 210. 



nomical observation is shown by a paper 

 published in the ' Transactions ' of the 

 American Philosophical Societj', New Series, 

 Vol. VII., pp. 1(55-213, detailing observa- 

 tions of nebulffi made by H. L. Smith and E. 

 P. Mason at New Haven, Connecticut, with 

 a 12 inch reflector. This memoir contains 

 carefully executed plates of several nebulfe, 

 on which the stars are accurately plotted. 



Among those in our country who re- 

 peatedly urged the foundation of an astro- 

 nomical observatory in the United States 

 was John Quincy Adams. While Secre- 

 tary of State, as early as 1823, he offered 

 personally to contribute $1,000 towards the 

 establishment of an astronomical observa- 

 tory in connection with Harvard College, 

 provided the requisite amount for complet- 

 ing the work should be raised within two 

 years, but this effort failed. In 1825, in his 

 first message to Congress after becoroing 

 President of the United States, he made 

 recommendations for the establishment of 

 a national observatory, a uniform standard 

 of weights and measures, a naval academy, 

 a nautical almanac and a national univer- 

 sity. Party rancor prevented the carrying- 

 out of any of these far-reaching plans at 

 that time, but all of them, except that of a 

 national university, were executed by our 

 government at a later date. It was some 

 j^ears after this notable message of Presi- 

 dent Adams before Emperor Nicholas, of 

 Russia, entered upon the preliminary steps 

 which culminated in the creation of the 

 celebrated Pulkowa Observatory. 



Even after leaving the Presidential chair. 

 President Adams never once relaxed his 

 efforts towards the founding of a national 

 observatory. In 1838 our Minister to. 

 England announced that he had received 

 the money bequeathed to the American peo- 

 ple by James Smithson for the increase and 

 diffusion of knowledge among men. Mr. 

 Adams immediately urged that this fund 

 should be devoted to the founding of an 



astronomical observatory and a nautical 

 almanac, and, as chairman of the select com- 

 mittee on the Smithson fund, he advocated 

 that plan on three different occasions be- 

 tween 1838 and 1842. It is interesting to 

 note that Senator Preston, of South Caro- 

 lina, violently opposed these recommenda- 

 tions of Mr. Adams, but that in 1842 Mr. 

 Preston gave the weight of his influence in 

 favor of the bill which finally created a 

 national observatory under the name of ' A 

 Depot of Charts and Instruments of the 

 Navy of the United States.' Let us trace 

 the circumstances leading up to this event. 

 In 1830, under orders from the Navy De- 

 partment, Lieutenant Goldsborough estab- 

 lished a depot of charts and instruments in 

 the western part of the City of Washington, 

 in the squai-e bounded by 24th and 25th 

 Streets, Pennsylvania Avenue and K Street 

 Northwest. Here, in a small circular build- 

 ing, on a brick pier with a foundation 20 

 feet below the surface, he mounted a 30- 

 inch transit instrument made by R. Patten, 

 of New York Citj'. Goldsborough was suc- 

 ceeded in 1833 by Lieutenant Wilkes, who 

 removed the depot to a si-te on Capitol Hill, 

 on the west side of North Capitol Street, 

 between B and C Streets north, about 1,200 

 feet, north, 5° west, from the center of the 

 Capitol. The dimensions of the small ob- 

 servatory erected by Lieutenant Wilkes 

 were 14 feet by 13 feet, and 10 feet from 

 the fioor to the eaves, and its outfit was 

 as follows : A transit instrument of 3f 

 inches' aperture and 63 inches' focal length, 

 made by Troughton under Hassler's direc- 

 tion for the U. S. Coast Survey in 1815, 

 which was loaned to the Navy Department 

 and mounted on massive piers. A Borda's 

 circle presented by Troughton to Mr. 

 Hassler in 1815; a 3|-foot achromatic 

 portable telescope by Jones ; a portable 

 transit instrument made by Richard Pat- 

 ten, and a sidereal clock. The Patten 

 transit instrument had previously been 



