NOVEMBER 12, 1897.] 
zsthetic, which took place about the same 
time. Happily, no such contest has been 
fought over the astronomical as over the 
surgical discovery, the fact being that all 
who are engaged in the application of the 
new method were more anxious to perfect 
it than they were to get credit for them- 
selves. We know that Saxton, of the Coast 
Survey ; Michell and Locke, of Cincinnati ; 
Bend at Cambridge, as well as Walker and 
other astronomers at the Naval Observatory, 
all worked at the apparatus ; that Maury 
seconded their efforts with untiring zeal, 
that it was used to determine the longitude 
of Baltimore as early as 1844 by Captain 
Wilkes, and that it was put into practical 
use in recording observations at the Naval 
Observatory as early as 1846. 
At the Cambridge Observatory the two 
Bonds, father and son, speedily began to 
show the stuff of which the astronomer is 
made. A well devised system of observa- 
tions was put in operation. The discovery 
of the dark ring of Saturn and of a new 
satellite to that planet gave additional fame 
to the establishment. 
Nor was activity confined to the observa- 
tional side of the science. The same dec- 
ade of which I speak was marked by the 
beginning of Professor Pierce’s mathemat- 
ical work, ‘especially his determination of 
the perturbations of Uranus and Neptune. 
At this time commenced the work of Dr. 
B. A. Gould, who soon became the leading 
figure in American astronomy. Immedi- 
ately on graduating at Harvard, in 1845, he 
determined to devote all the energies of his 
life to the prosecution of his favorite science. 
He studied in Europe for three years, took 
the doctor’s degree at Gottingen, came 
home, founded the Astronomical Journal, and 
took an active part in that branch of the 
work of the Coast Survey which included 
the determination of longitudes by astro- 
nomical methods. 
An episode which may not belong to the 
SCLENCE. 
715 
history of astronomy must be acknowledged 
to have had a powerful influence in excit- 
ing public interest in that science. Profes- 
sor O. M. Mitchel, the founder and first 
Director of the Cincinnati Observatory, 
made the masses of our intelligent people 
acquainted with the leading facts of as- 
tronomy by courses of lectures which, in 
lucidity and eloquence, have never been ex- 
celled. The immediate object of the lec- 
tures was to raise funds for establishing his 
observatory and fitting it out with a fine 
telescope. The popular interest thus ex- 
cited in the science had an important effect 
in leading the public to support astronom- 
ical research. ~ If public support, based on 
public interest, is what has made the pres- 
ent fabric of American astronomy possible, 
then should we honor the name of a man 
whose enthusiasm leavened the masses of 
his countrymen with interest in our science. 
The Civil War naturally exerted a de- 
pressing influence upon our scientific activ- 
ity. The cultivator of knowledge is no less 
patriotic than his fellow citizens, and vies 
with them in devotion to the public welfare. 
The active interest which such cultivators 
took, first in the prosecution of the war and 
then in the restoration of the Union, nat- 
urally distracted their attention from their 
favorite pursuits. But nosooner was polit- 
ical stability reached than a wave of in- 
tellectual activity set in, which has gone 
on increasing up to the present time. If 
it be true that never before in our history 
has so much attention been given to edu- 
cation as now; that never before did so 
many men devote themselves to the diffu- 
sion of knowledge, itis no less true that 
never was astronomical work so energet- 
ically pursued among usasnow. One deplo- 
rable result of the Civil War was that Gould’s 
Astronomical Journal had to be suspended. 
Shortly after the restoration of peace, in- 
stead of re-establishing’ the journal, its 
founder conceived the project of exploring 
