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 7 o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



tion in the creation of the institution. In 1830 the Depot of Charts 

 and Instruments for the Navy was established in Washington. This 

 was accomplished under the orders of the Navy Commissioners, and 

 with the sanction of the Secretary of the Navy. Lieutenant Golds- 

 borough, through whose influence principally the bureau was created, 

 was intrusted with the charge of it. He collected from New York 

 and other places the chronometers, sextants, theodolites, and other 

 instruments and charts of the navy, and located them in a building 

 opposite the residence of the Attorney-General, Hon. William Wirt. 

 A transit instrument was afterward added, and the naval Depot of 

 Charts and Instruments was in working order. One duty of the offi- 

 cers was the careful rating of all chronometers belonging to the navy, 

 which was at first effected by sextant and circle observations ; but 

 afterward with a thirty-inch transit instrument. This transit was 

 mounted within a small circular building upon a brick pier having a 

 base twenty feet below the surface, and is noteworthy as the first 

 astronomical instrument erected for the navy at Washington. 



In 1833 Lieutenant Wilkes succeeded to the charge of the depot, 

 and obtained permission to remove the office to Capitol Hill, where it 

 remained until 1842. He erected here at his own expense an observa- 

 tory sixteen feet square, and mounted a five-foot transit. But no 

 regular observations were made till 1838, on the departure of the ex- 

 ploring expedition, the principal use made of the transit being the de- 

 termination of time. In 1837 Lieutenant Gilliss was left in charge of 

 the depot, and, during the absence of the exploring expedition, and in 

 connection with it, made invaluable observations on moon culmina- 

 tions, occultations, and eclipses. There was not a visible culmination 

 of the moon, occurring when the sun was an hour above the horizon, 

 from 1838 to 1842, nor an occultation after the 15th of June, 1839, with 

 one exception, which he did not personally observe. He also completed 

 an important series of magnetic and meteorological observations. 



As the work took on larger proportions under such devoted lead- 

 ership, and valuable and expensive instruments were added, the un- 

 suitableness of the building, the defects of the transit-instrument, and 

 the want of space to erect a permanent circle, became more evident. 

 Earnest solicitations were made for an appropriation for a permanent 

 establishment, and the subject was brought before Congress by the 

 Secretary of the Navy in 1841. Tedious and disheartening delay 

 occurred before Congress was roused to an appreciation of the impor- 

 tance of the enterprise. But, after persistent effort on the part of its 

 supporters, at the last hour of the session of 1841-42 a bill passed both 

 Houses without discussion, authorizing the Navy authorities to contract 

 for the building of a suitable institution, and that it should be located 

 on any unappropriated land in the District of Columbia which the 

 President deemed suitable. Thus was the future observatory officially 

 recognized. 



