92 ASPECTS OF AMERICAN ASTRONOMY. 



as well as Walker aud other astronomers at the Naval Observatory, all 

 worked at the apparatus; that Maury seconded their efit'orts with untir- 

 ing 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 observations was put in operation. The discov- 

 ery 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 observational side of the science. 

 The same decade of which I speak was marked by the beginning of 

 Professor Pierce's mathematical work, especially his determination of 

 the perturbations of Uranus and Neptune. At tliis time commenced 

 the work of Dr. B. A. Gould, who soon became the leading figure in 

 American astronomy. Immediately 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 history of astronomy must 

 be acknowledged to have had a powerful influence in exciting public 

 interest in that science. Prof. O. M. Mitchell, the founder and first 

 director of the Cincinnati Observatory, made the masses of our intelli- 

 gent people acquainted with the leading facts of astronomy by courses 

 of lectures which, in lucidity and eloquence, have never been excelled. 

 The immediate object of the lectures was to raise funds for establishing his 

 observatory and fitting it out with a fine telescope. The popular interest 

 thus excited in the science had an important effect in leading the public 

 to support astronomical research. If public support, based on pub- 

 lic interest, is what has made the present 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 dej)ressing influence upon our sci- 

 entific activity. 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 aud then in the restoration of the union, naturally distracted 

 their attention from their favorite pursuits. But no sooner was politi- 

 cal stability reached than a wave of intellectual 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 education as 

 now; that never before did so many men devote themselves to the dif- 

 fusion of knowledge, it is no less true that never was astronomical work 

 so energetically pursued among us as now. 



