ASTRONOMY IN AMERICA. 
359 
servatory under the management of a board of control, to be 
elected by the shareholders. Before any subscription should 
become binding, the names of 300 subscribers should be first 
obtained. These 300 should meet, organise and elect a board, 
who should thenceforward manage the affairs of the association.” 
In three weeks the 300 subscribers had been obtained, without 
calling any public meeting, and merely by quiet visits in which 
the nature of the scheme was described and explained. Then 
officers were elected, a directory formed, and Mitchel was sent 
“ to visit Europe, procure instruments, examine observatories, 
and obtain the requisite knowledge to erect and conduct the 
institution, which it was now hoped would be one day reared.” 
When JNIitcliel returned four months later, a great change 
had occurred in the commercial affairs of America. “ Every- 
thing was depressed to the lowest point,” and it was with great 
difficulty that a sum of 3,000# was collected and remitted to 
meet the first payment for the telescope of 12 inches aper- 
ture ordered of Merz. The best place for the observatory 
was a hill-top rising 400 feet above the level of the city. On 
offering to purchase this from Mr. Longworth, to whom it be- 
longed, Professor Mitchel was directed to select and enclose 
four acres, which Mr. Longworth presented to the association. 
On Nov. 9, 1843, the corner-stone of the pier which was to sus- 
tain the great refracting telescope was laid by John Quincy 
Adams, who undertook the long (and then difficult) journey 
from Washington to give this proof of his interest in the cause 
of astronomy. When, in May 1844, the great telescope was paid 
for, the funds of the association were exhausted, and the esti- 
mated cost of the building amounted to more than 7,000#. In 
this difficulty a simple but again perfectly American plan was 
followed. Mechanics and others were invited to subscribe for 
stock in the Astronomical Society, paying their subscriptions 
with work. In six weeks not less than one hundred hands were 
at work on the hill-top and in the city. The stone of which 
the building was erected was quarried from the grounds of the 
society. The lime was burned on the hill, and every means 
was adopted to reduce unnecessary expenditure. Payment for 
stock was received in every possible article of trade ; due bills 
were taken, and these were converted into others which would 
serve in the payment of bills. In this way the building was 
reared, and finally covered in, without incurring any debt. 
But the conditions of the bond by which the lot of ground was 
held required the completion of the observatory in June 1845. 
It was seen to be impossible to carry forward the building fast 
enough to secure its completion by the required time without 
incurring some debt. “ My own private resources,” proceeds 
Mitchel, 66 were used in the hope that a short time after the 
