DETERMINATIONS OF THE LATITUDE, LON- 
GITUDE AND HEIGHT ABOVE SEA LEVEL 
OF THE LAWS OBSERVATORY OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF MIS- 
- SOURL, CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF 
THE BUILDING AND PRINCIPAL INSTRU- 
MENTS. 
By Mitton UpprEeGrarFr. 
I. INTRODUCTION. 
THE OLD OBSERVATORY. 
The old Observatory of the University of Missouri was one 
of the first institutions of its kind west of the Allegheny mount- 
ains and was for many years the only astronomical observa- 
tory in the United States west of the Mississippi river. The 
building, which still exists as a part of the present Observatory, 
18a well built wooden structure, 44 feet long from east to 
west and 14 feet wide. It was completed in the spring of 
1853 and cost $1,150. (See Missouri Statesman for July 
8, 1853.) The old Observatory stood a few rods west of the 
old main building of the University, where the Physics and 
Engineering building now stands, and consisted of two parts, 
@ transit-room 14x28 feet and a tower 14x14 about 15 feet 
high. The tower was surmounted by a cone which revolved 
on lignum vitae balls. 
Under the revolving cone, mounted on a pier of masonry, 
Was an equatorial refracting telescope by Fitz of New York. 
Its aperture was 4,1, inches and its focal length 5 feet 4 
Inches. This instrument was provided with a finding tele- 
Scope, eye-pieces of powers ranging from 30 to 240 diame- 
ters and graduated circles in both right ascension and 
declination reading to 4 minutes of time and to 2 minutes of 
are réspectively. In the transit-room mounted on suitable 
