SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Journal of Scientific Progress. 



NEW YORK, JULY 3, 1880. 



THE UNITED STATES NAVAL OBSERVATORY, 

 WASHINGTON. 



BY PROFESSOR EDWARD S. HOLDEN. 



This institution has been long and favorably known 

 to the scientific public, not only of the United States, 

 but of the whole world. It was founded in 1844, 

 and commenced its operations in 1845, and as it is 

 now about to enter a new epoch of its existence 

 by a removal to a new and better site in the District 

 of Columbia, a brief account of its progress will not 

 be without interest. 



Astronomy did not flourish in America during the 

 eighteenth century. A few observations were made 

 by Professors at Harvard and Yale Colleges, and in 

 Pennsylvania by Rittenhouse and others (in 1769). 

 A telescope was mounted in 1830 at Yale College for 

 regular astronomical observations, and the first ob- 

 servatory was built at Williams College in 1836, by 

 Prof. Hopkins. Mr. William C. Bond, of Dorches- 

 ter, a maker of chronometers, had erected a small ob- 

 servatory at his residence, and this was afterwards re- 

 moved and formed the nucleus of the observatory of 

 Harvard College. The observatories of Hudson, Ohio, 

 Cfounded 1837), of the Philadelphia High School 

 (1840), of West Point Military Academy (1841), of 

 Cincinnati (1843), of Georgetown, D. C, (1844), and 

 the Naval Observatory (1842), were the first estab- 

 lished, and these observatories all erected within the 

 decade, 1835-1845, were the signs of a growing sense 

 of the importance of astronomical research among the 

 people. 



Probably due credit has not been generally given to 

 the efforts of General O. M. Mitchel the astronomer 

 of the Cincinnati Observatory, who, by lectures, treat- 

 ises and personal influence, kept the subject before the 

 reading public. In Congress a few intelligent men, like 

 Mr. John Quincy Adams, had always advocated the 

 establishment of an observatory which should be truly 

 national, but great opposition to such an institution 

 was constantly displayed, and so late as 1832 a bill 



appropriating money for the survey of the coast, con- 

 tained the clause ''provided that nothing in this act 

 should be construed to authorize the construction or 

 maintainance of a permanent astronomical observa- 

 tory." 



The final establishment of the Naval observatory 

 came about in this wise, and it was due largely to the 

 admirable abilities of Lieutenant Gilliss, of the Navy. 



The exploring expedition of Admiral Wilkes (1838- 

 1842), proposed making astronomical observations in 

 all parts of the world, and to utilize these, correspond- 

 ing observations were required at home. These were 

 made by Gilliss in a small observatory on Capitol 

 Hill for the four years and they were of high excellence. 

 The present observatory building was erected as a 

 " depot of charts and instruments " for the Navy from 

 designs by Gilliss. The regulations of the Service 

 required that Gilliss should be sent to sea, and the 

 direction of the observatory was confided to Lieute- 

 nant Maury, who retained it till 1861. A corps of 

 astronomers was formed and a detail made of the 

 officers from the line of the Navy to care for the 

 chronometers, charts and instruments, and to collect 

 hydrographical information, and this plan of organiza- 

 tion continued till 1866, when the Hydrographic 

 office was separated from the Observatory. Suitable 

 instruments were provided and the observations were 

 published in quarto volumes, twenty-two of which 

 have appeared up to 1880. The main instruments 

 were : 



1. A Transit Instrument (by Ertel, of Munich). 



2. A Mural Circle (by Simms, of England). 



3. A Meridian Circle (by Ertel). 



4. A Prime Vertical Transit (by Pistor & Mar- 

 tius, of Berlin). 



5. An Equatorial (by Merz, of Munich), with an 

 Object Glass of 9.62 inches. 



These instruments were kept steadily at work and 

 thousands of observations were made and have been 

 reduced and published. The mere index to these ob- 



