Cincinnati Observatory: Its Critical Role in the Birth and Evolution of Astronomy in America 3031460332, 9783031460333

Table of contents :
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
Chapter 1: Astronomy Comes to Cincinnati
1.1 Astronomy Comes to America
1.2 The Dream of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel
1.3 Establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory and the Cincinnati Astronomical Society
1.4 Conclusion
Appendix: Constitution of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society
Preamble
Constitution
References
Chapter 2: John Quincy Adams – The Great Orator
2.1 John Quincy Adams and Astronomy
2.2 John Quincy Adams Comes to Cincinnati
2.3 The Laying of the Cornerstone
2.4 Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix 1: An Oration Delivered Before the Cincinnati Astronomical Society on the Occasion of Laying of the Corner Stone of an Astronomical Observatory on the 10th of November, 1843 by John Quincy Adams (as Transcribed at the HathiTrust Public Do
The Oration
Appendix 2: Colored People’s Speech
References
Chapter 3: Birthplace of American Astronomy
3.1 The Public and Financial Support
3.2 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Accomplishments
Catalog of Multiple Stars
Neptune
Electro-chronograph
3.3 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Final Years
The Dudley Observatory
The Civil War
3.4 Conclusion
Appendix: Lecture Delivered at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York
References
Chapter 4: What’s the Weather Going to Be, Professor?
4.1 Cleveland Abbe (Director, 1868–1871)
4.2 The Total Solar Eclipse of 1869
4.3 New Direction the United States Weather Bureau
4.4 Cleveland Abbe Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory
4.5 Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix 1: Instructions for Observers Reporting to the Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory
Appendix 2: Cypher for the Use of the Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory
References
Chapter 5: Ramping Up an Institution at a New Location
5.1 Relocating the Observatory to Mt. Lookout
5.2 Ormond Stone (Director, 1875–1882)
5.3 Ormond Stone’s Accomplishments
5.4 Ormond Stone Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory
5.5 Herbert Couper Wilson (Acting Director, 1882–1884)
5.6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: 45 Years of Classical Astronomy
6.1 Jermain Porter (Director, 1884–1930)
6.2 Classical Astronomy
6.3 Jermain Porter Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory
6.4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Astronomy Survives the Depression
7.1 Everett Yowell (Director, 1930–1940, 1943–1946)
7.2 Elliott Smith (Director, 1940–1943)
7.3 The Centennial of the Cincinnati Observatory
7.4 Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
I.
II.
III.
References
Chapter 8: Patriotism, Science and Pop Culture
8.1 Paul Herget (Director, 1946–1978)
8.2 The Submarine Book
8.3 The Minor Planet Center
8.4 Working with Local Companies
8.5 The Space Program
8.6 Also During Paul Herget’s Years at the Cincinnati Observatory
8.7 Paul Herget Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory
8.8 Conclusion
Appendix
References
Chapter 9: Saving the Observatory
9.1 Nathan Krumm (Director, 1981–1985)
9.2 Paul Nohr
9.3 Citizens to the Rescue
9.4 Michael Sitko (Director, 1986–1998)
9.5 Restoration of the Cincinnati Observatory
9.6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 10: Concluding Remarks
References
Index

Citation preview

Historical & Cultural Astronomy Series Editors: W. Orchiston · M. Rothenberg · C. Cunningham

Stella Cottam John E. Ventre

Cincinnati Observatory Its Critical Role in the Birth and Evolution of Astronomy in America

Historical & Cultural Astronomy Series Editors Wayne Orchiston, University of Science and Technology of China Hefei, Anhui, China Marc Rothenberg, Smithsonian Institution (retired) Rockville, MD, USA Clifford Cunningham, University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba, QLD, Australia Editorial Board Trudy Bell, Sky & Telescope Lakewood, OH, USA David Devorkin, National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian Institution Washington, USA James Evans, University of Puget Sound Tacoma, WA, USA Miller Goss, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Charlottesville, USA Duane Hamacher, University of Melbourne Clayton, VIC, Australia James Lequeux, Observatoire de Paris Paris, France Simon Mitton, St. Edmund's College Cambridge University Cambridge, UK Clive Ruggles, University of Leicester Leicester, UK Virginia Trimble, University of California Irvine Irvine, CA, USA Gudrun Wolfschmidt, Institute for History of Science and Technology University of Hamburg Hamburg, Germany

The Historical & Cultural Astronomy series includes high-level monographs and edited volumes covering a broad range of subjects in the history of astronomy, including interdisciplinary contributions from historians, sociologists, horologists, archaeologists, and other humanities fields. The authors are distinguished specialists in their fields of expertise. Each title is carefully supervised and aims to provide an in-depth understanding by offering detailed research. Rather than focusing on the scientific findings alone, these volumes explain the context of astronomical and space science progress from the pre-modern world to the future. The interdisciplinary Historical & Cultural Astronomy series offers a home for books addressing astronomical progress from a humanities perspective, encompassing the influence of religion, politics, social movements, and more on the growth of astronomical knowledge over the centuries. The Historical & Cultural Astronomy Series Editors are: Wayne Orchiston, Marc Rothenberg, and Cliff Cunningham.

Stella Cottam • John E. Ventre

Cincinnati Observatory Its Critical Role in the Birth and Evolution of Astronomy in America

Stella Cottam Lexington, KY, USA

John E. Ventre Cincinnati, OH, USA

ISSN 2509-310X     ISSN 2509-3118 (electronic) Historical & Cultural Astronomy ISBN 978-3-031-46033-3    ISBN 978-3-031-46034-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Paper in this product is recyclable.

Preface

This book evolved out of a Western Sydney University Masters of Astronomy research project of the first author, at the suggestion of Professor Wayne Orchiston, a series editor of Springer Books on Historical and Cultural Astronomy. This follows the successful publication by Springer of the award-winning book Eclipses, Transits, and Comets of the Nineteenth Century: How America's Perception of the Skies Changed, coauthored by the first author with Professor Orchiston. It has been our pleasure to communicate by phone, email or in person with the following individuals who were willing to share their insights, expertise and time with us. We would like to thank those for their contributions to our efforts: Lina Alkamhawi, Morgan Aronson, Trudy Bell, Brenda Corbin, Daniel Cottam, Dr. David DeVorkin, Aaron Eiben, Kevin Grace, Greg Hand, Anna Hehman, Marilyn Herget, Phoebe Lou Hamilton, Dr. Nathan Krumm, Rob Landis, Lyn Marsteller, Dr. and Mrs. F. McNulty, Craig Niemi, Aashi Mital, F. Kent Mitchel, Pam Nohr, Dean Regas, Suzanne Reller, Jeff Routh, Basil Rowe, Dr. Juan Santamarina, Dr. P. Kenneth Seidelmann, Dr. Michael Sitko, Dr. Paul Tenkotte and Steve Wagner. Lexington, KY, USA Cincinnati, OH, USA

Stella Cottam John E. Ventre

v

Acknowledgements

In addition, many unnamed individuals from the following institutions were immensely helpful, and we are grateful to those from: Archives and Rare Books – UC Libraries  – University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Astronomical Society, Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, Cincinnati Historical Society, Cincinnati History Library and Archives, Cincinnati Observatory Center, Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics, and the University of Cincinnati Archives. The first author would like to express her gratitude to her children Emily, Daniel and Tamara for their continued support. The second author, Chair of the Cincinnati Observatory History Committee, would like to thank the following members for their contributions: Sean Andres, Mandy Askins,  John Barnes, John Blasing, Dave Bosse, Dr.  Mark Plano Clark, Brian Crosby, Dr. Richard Davis, Carl Eastwood, Chuck Fairbanks, Frank Huss, Linda Magee, Craig Niemi, Valerie  Niemi,  JoAnne Pederson, Poul Pederson, Dr. Al Scheide, Bonnie Speeg, Kelsey Stryffe and Don Storck.

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Contents

1

 Astronomy Comes to Cincinnati������������������������������������������������������������    1 1.1 Astronomy Comes to America����������������������������������������������������������    1 1.2 The Dream of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel��������������������������������������    4 1.3 Establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory and the Cincinnati Astronomical Society������������������������������������������   12 1.4 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   21 Appendix: Constitution of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society��������������   23 Preamble ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   23 Constitution��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   24 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   25

2

 John Quincy Adams – The Great Orator����������������������������������������������   29 2.1 John Quincy Adams and Astronomy������������������������������������������������   29 2.2 John Quincy Adams Comes to Cincinnati����������������������������������������   33 2.3 The Laying of the Cornerstone ��������������������������������������������������������   35 2.4 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   41 Appendices������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   42 Appendix 1: An Oration Delivered Before the Cincinnati Astronomical Society on the Occasion of Laying of the Corner Stone of an Astronomical Observatory on the 10th of November, 1843 by John Quincy Adams������������������������������������������������������������   42 Appendix 2: Colored People’s Speech ��������������������������������������������   77 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   82

3

Birthplace of American Astronomy��������������������������������������������������������   85 3.1 The Public and Financial Support����������������������������������������������������   85 3.2 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Accomplishments����������������������������   95 Catalog of Multiple Stars������������������������������������������������������������������   95 Neptune��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   96 Electro-chronograph ������������������������������������������������������������������������   96

ix

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Contents

3.3 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Final Years���������������������������������������   99 The Dudley Observatory������������������������������������������������������������������  101 The Civil War������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  104 3.4 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  106 Appendix: Lecture Delivered at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  109 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  117 4

 What’s the Weather Going to Be, Professor?����������������������������������������  121 4.1 Cleveland Abbe (Director, 1868–1871)��������������������������������������������  121 4.2 The Total Solar Eclipse of 1869��������������������������������������������������������  126 4.3 New Direction the United States Weather Bureau����������������������������  133 4.4 Cleveland Abbe Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory������������������������  137 4.5 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  139 Appendices������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  141 Appendix 1: Instructions for Observers Reporting to the Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory������������������������������  141 Appendix 2: Cypher for the Use of the Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory��������������������������������������������  143 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  151

5

 Ramping Up an Institution at a New Location ������������������������������������  153 5.1 Relocating the Observatory to Mt. Lookout ������������������������������������  153 5.2 Ormond Stone (Director, 1875–1882)����������������������������������������������  156 5.3 Ormond Stone’s Accomplishments��������������������������������������������������  158 5.4 Ormond Stone Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory��������������������������  166 5.5 Herbert Couper Wilson (Acting Director, 1882–1884)��������������������  168 5.6 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  171 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  171

6

45 Years of Classical Astronomy ������������������������������������������������������������  173 6.1 Jermain Porter (Director, 1884–1930)����������������������������������������������  173 6.2 Classical Astronomy ������������������������������������������������������������������������  174 6.3 Jermain Porter Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory��������������������������  189 6.4 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  189 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  190

7

 Astronomy Survives the Depression������������������������������������������������������  193 7.1 Everett Yowell (Director, 1930–1940, 1943–1946)��������������������������  193 7.2 Elliott Smith (Director, 1940–1943) ������������������������������������������������  199 7.3 The Centennial of the Cincinnati Observatory ��������������������������������  201 7.4 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  205 Appendices������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  206 Appendix 1��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   206 Appendix 2��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   210 Appendix 3��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   213 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  219

Contents

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8

 Patriotism, Science and Pop Culture������������������������������������������������������  221 8.1 Paul Herget (Director, 1946–1978)��������������������������������������������������  221 8.2 The Submarine Book������������������������������������������������������������������������  224 8.3 The Minor Planet Center������������������������������������������������������������������  225 8.4 Working with Local Companies ������������������������������������������������������  229 8.5 The Space Program ��������������������������������������������������������������������������  231 8.6 Also During Paul Herget’s Years at the Cincinnati Observatory������  233 8.7 Paul Herget Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory ������������������������������  235 8.8 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  236 Appendix����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  238 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  243

9

Saving the Observatory ��������������������������������������������������������������������������  245 9.1 Nathan Krumm (Director, 1981–1985)��������������������������������������������  245 9.2 Paul Nohr������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  246 9.3 Citizens to the Rescue����������������������������������������������������������������������  248 9.4 Michael Sitko (Director, 1986–1998) ����������������������������������������������  249 9.5 Restoration of the Cincinnati Observatory���������������������������������������  250 9.6 Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  255 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  255

10 Concluding Remarks ������������������������������������������������������������������������������  257 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  260 Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  261

Chapter 1

Astronomy Comes to Cincinnati

1.1 Astronomy Comes to America It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that the study of scientific subjects became a matter of interest to citizens of the young United States. The immediate concerns of building the political and social infrastructure had been more pressing. American interest in astronomy up until this point was characterized as ‘utilitarian.’ It was a given that astronomy was valuable for navigation, surveying and timekeeping, but these practical needs, up till then, were satisfied by the knowledge and tools supplied by Europe. It was in the second quarter of this century that there developed a distinct change in attitude regarding the value of the science of astronomy. According to astronomer Edward S. Holden (1846–1914) there was an “intellectual awakening which came about as soon as our young country was relieved from the pressures of the two wars of 1776 and 1812.”1 While scientific subjects were already entrenched in European schools at all levels in the early 1800s, only astronomy of the practical type was taught in American schools. Students in secondary schools might learn how to calculate the figures of the type found in nautical almanacs.2 Topics of theoretical astronomy were only briefly discussed. At the college or university level little science of any sort was offered as part of the curriculum. The liberal arts were the heart of these programs. Scientific topics might be touched on in philosophy courses. Historian David Zochert identified factors that triggered this intellectual awakening in America as ‘curiosity’ and ‘social utility.’ After the wars there was more leisure time, available gas lighting and the manufacture of eyeglasses. New pursuits were possible. Scientific curiosity

 Edward Holden, “The Beginnings of American Astronomy,” Science 5, no. 129 (June 1897): 933.  Deborah Jean Warner, “Astronomy in Antebellum America,” in Science in the American Context: New Perspectives, ed. Nathan Reingold (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979), 55–75. 1 2

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_1

1

2

1  Astronomy Comes to Cincinnati

Fig. 1.1  Cincinnati in 1800. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cincinnati_in_1800.png)

might be inspired at lectures, a form of entertainment gaining popularity in the United States. Associations known as lyceums evolved, formalizing the lecture circuit for the American public. During the evening hours, citizens might learn of scientific topics by means of these lectures, sometimes with enthralling images or demonstrations. Part of the lyceum movement was the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, founded by Daniel Webster in Boston in 1828. This intellectual awakening could also be in part attributed to its ‘social utility,’ i.e. the application of science applied to the “social advancement of one’s self . . . one’s class, community or nation.”3 Indeed, there was a new ‘cultural nationalism’ in America driven by a need for intellectual independence from the Europeans. Initially many of America’s best scientists travelled to Europe to establish a useful knowledge base for their own scientific community. The quality of scientific instruments manufactured in America was measured against European standards.4 Scientific subjects were being added to all levels of the curriculum in schools and universities. Cincinnati, Ohio (Fig. 1.1) was first established by settlers in 1788. It was incorporated in 1802. There were just a few hundred citizens at the turn of the century, but by 1850 it was the largest city in what was then the western United States, and the sixth largest city in the nation.5  David Zochert, “Science and the Common Man in Ante-bellum America,” Isis 65, no. 3 (December 1974): 464. 4  Bruce Sinclair, “Americans Abroad: Science and Cultural Nationalism in the Early Nineteenth Century,” in Science in the American Context: New Perspectives, ed. Nathan Reingold (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979), 35–53. 5  John Rowe, “Cincinnati’s Early Cultural and Educational Enterprises,” The Centenary Society of Ohio Bulletin 8, (1950): 211. 3

1.1  Astronomy Comes to America

3

Frances Trollope, mother of the English novelist Anthony Trollope, arrived in Cincinnati in 1828 with three of her five children. It was her intention to take care of the preliminaries of a plan to establish a fancy department store. They hoped to market products from London and Paris. This business failed but Mrs. Trollope did earn some money from the publication of her book Domestic Manners of the Americans. Here she described her impressions of several American cities, the largest amount of material relating to Cincinnati. Historian Larry Gara summarized her views, “She painted a picture of ugly buildings, people devoid of culture, manners or morals, and pigs running wild in the streets.”6 Pigs did indeed run free. They were an unofficial sanitation department as they cleared garbage from the streets.7 Mrs. Trollope opined: I never saw any people who appeared to live so much without entertainment as the Cincinnatians. Billiards are forbidden by law, so are cards . . . They have no public balls, excepting, I think, six, during the Christmas holidays. They have no concerts. They have no dinner parties . . . They have a theater . . . it is very poorly attended.8

Frances Trollope was not alone in her appraisal of Cincinnati. Alonzo Garcelon, a young student from Maine attending the Medical College of Ohio, wrote home to his friend Cyrus Woodman in 1839, “ . . . if you desire to live in a population where no confidence exists - where drunkenness, licentiousness and crime prevail - come to the west . . . “9 Years later similar judgements were still made. In 1855 traveler William Hancock observed one poorly attended theater, a concert room that was never used and a museum “ . . . not in favor with the public.”10 One must wonder how such a decadent society could survive in such a vacuum of worthwhile cultural activity. The concert halls and theaters may not have been well-attended, but historian Ivan Steen pointed out, “If Cincinnati’s entertainment facilities were meagre, it certainly was not deficient in literary resources.” He further quotes another visitor, William Chambers, “I do not know that I ever saw a town of its size so well provided as Cincinnati with publishers, libraries and reading rooms.”11 Commerce had provided Cincinnati with its initial impetus for growth. Manufacturing was contributing to the economy. Besides book publishing, the city was becoming significant for its production of pork, liquor, soap, candles, furniture, shoes, stoves, and boats. Cincinnati had developed an adequate economy to foster a variety of cultural activities, but this could only be accomplished by means of individuals with the interest and leadership qualities to initiate such an evolution. Historian Louis Tucker describes such a group of men, New Englanders relocated

 Larry Gara, “A Correspondent’s View of Cincinnati in 1839,” Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio 9, (April 1951): 133. 7  Ivan Steen , “Cincinnati in the 1850s: as Described by British Travelers,” The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 28, no.2 (July 1968): 262. 8  Frances Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1832), 74. 9  Gara, “A Correspondent’s View of Cincinnati in 1839,” 139. 10  Steen, “Cincinnati in the 1850s: as Described by British Travelers,” 265. 11  Steen, “Cincinnati in the 1850s: as Described by British Travelers,” 267. 6

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to Cincinnati, an intellectual elite, men of political, religious, educational, and financial power, who were instrumental in the establishment of several cultural entities. He states, “The abundance of New Englanders led to the formation of a New England Society in 1845, and the membership of this group constituted an intellectual elite or braintrust [sic].”12 By the mid-nineteenth century Cincinnati had such cultural outlets as lyceums, literary and debating clubs, an historical society, opera houses and art clubs.13 In particular, it also had a Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. But why build an observatory in Cincinnati? Frances Trollope had an appreciation of astronomy and made the comment about America in general, “It appears extraordinary that a people who loudly declare their respect for science, should be entirely without observatories.”14 In Cincinnati some interest may indeed have been there as evidenced by newspaper articles on such topics as meteor showers or sunspots.15 However, an observatory was a grand and expensive endeavor. Besides the financial backing it would require knowledgeable, energetic, inspired, and inspiring individuals. One such individual was Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, the founder of the country’s first public observatory.

1.2 The Dream of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel was born in an area currently known as Morganfield, Union County, Kentucky on 28 July 1809, the last of seven children. He had four brothers and two sisters. His father, John, died when Ormsby was only two years old. Seven years later his widowed mother, Elizabeth, moved the family to Lebanon, Ohio, where two of her adult children lived. They moved in with Elizabeth’s daughter, Teresa, and her husband, William Robinson, a Presbyterian minister. Elizabeth had provided Ormsby’s early education at home while they still lived in Kentucky.16 In Lebanon, her oldest son, Daniel had opened a grammar school and it was there that Ormsby began his formal education. While there Ormsby joined the Thespian Society and the Debating Club, both of which would hold him in good stead later in his life.17

 Louis Tucker, “Cincinnati, Athens of the West,” Ohio History 75, no. 1 (Winter 1975): 18–20.  Tucker, “Cincinnati, Athens of the West,” 20–22. 14  Frances Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1832), 316. 15  Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, July 10, 1841; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, May 27, 1841; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, May 29, 1841; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 4, 1841. 16  Philip Shoemaker, Stellar Impact: Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Astronomy in Antebellum America, PhD thesis (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991), 5–8. 17  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1887), 11–12; Trudy Bell, “Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight,” in The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, eds. Thomas Hockey et al., (New York: Springer, 2007), 789–791. 12 13

1.2  The Dream of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel

5

Fig. 1.2 West Point in 1828. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Plain_at_West_ Point_in_1828.jpg)

The Mitchel family found themselves in serious financial straits when Elizabeth was unable to pay taxes on some property that remained in Kentucky. To ameliorate the situation, without his knowledge, arrangements were made to apprentice Ormsby to a tradesman. He refused, and instead found for himself a position as a clerk at a country store in a nearby town. Mitchel’s son Frederick would later share an anecdote that demonstrated the nature of his father’s character and concern for reputation. Ormsby’s employ as a clerk at this country store would prove to be short-lived. When one of his employer’s family members accused him of lying, “He walked away with so little hesitation or delay that he did not even deign to take his effects.”18 Ormsby continued to support himself for the next several years in various positions. After four years, while working as a store clerk back in Lebanon for four dollars a month, he came upon a notice from the West Point Military Academy (Fig. 1.2). It advised that one might be able to obtain an education while earning 28 dollars a month. He obtained letters of recommendation from friends of the family, people of influence in Ohio. One of these was John McLean, then the United States Postmaster General, later Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ormsby applied and waited several weeks for a response. He finally received his warrant calling him to report for examination in June of 1825.19 Currently Elizabeth was living with another married daughter in Piqua, Ohio. It was from Piqua, with the money he had saved, plus that which he had received from relatives, that Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel set off for West Point. He borrowed a

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 13–14.  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 13–18; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 11. 18 19

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horse to travel as far as Sandusky, Ohio, after which he sent the horse back and transferred to a lake boat to get as far as Buffalo, New York. Finally, he took a canal boat to travel down the Hudson River to West Point.20 Mitchel did not have the educational background and financial advantages enjoyed by many of the young men from the eastern urban areas, but he made up for much of this with his determination. He was established in a room with four others who had little in common with him. In a letter to his mother he described a meeting he had with “. . . an old cadet - a son of the great Fulton . . .” Mitchel was alone in his room, having forgone the dinner meal, when this new acquaintance stepped in and they had a conversation. Fulton made recommendations regarding the upcoming examinations and even lent him a book to review his arithmetic.21 Mitchel used his free time to study for the upcoming examination. On the morning of 28 June, Mitchel’s examiners had him demonstrate his abilities in reading, writing and arithmetical problem-solving. He learned that evening that he had passed along with 137 other young men.22 The next four years Mitchel’s daily life would be structured around the monotonous routine and rules of the Academy. The first six months were probationary, but the remainder of the four years would change little. New cadets’ days started at 5:00 a.m. and were filled with military parade drills and hours of academics, especially mathematics. As the years progressed, and the class size dwindled, there would be more science and engineering classes, including astronomy.23 In the last year there would even be courses of a classical nature.24 Mitchel survived these four years and graduated in June of 1829. He was one of the youngest and placed fifteenth out of the remaining class of 46.25 Mitchel stayed with the army for three years. For the first two years he remained at West Point as assistant professor of mathematics. Ever the learner, while teaching, he studied law. As he was then an officer, he had free time for social activities. During one weekend, while visiting a friend, he met a young widow. Louisa Trask lived then, with her son Thomas, at her father’s home in Cornwall on the Hudson. Other opportunities for Mitchel and Louisa to meet presented themselves, and in September of 1831 they married.26 While still at West Point Mitchel gave his first public lecture. It was to the Literary Society on 9 April 1831, entitled ‘On Temperance.’ His diary entries on this

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 19–20.  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 21. 22  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 21, 43. 23  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 23–27, 35–37. 24  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 42. 25  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 23–24; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 43. 26  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 32–40; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 46–47. 20 21

1.2  The Dream of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel

7

Fig. 1.3  Fort Marion. (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Fort_Marion_Civil_ War_2.jpg)

presentation were self-critical but he concluded, “I was much more calm and deliberate than I expected to be. Bungled and forgot but little comparatively.”27 After 2 years of teaching, Mitchel was ordered to garrison duty at Fort Marion in St. Augustine (Fig. 1.3), on the east coast of Florida. His duties were unchallenging, and he found little to do there. He resigned his commission after one year, in September 1832.28 Mitchel (Fig. 1.4) moved his family to Cincinnati, Ohio. With a population of about 25,000, it was then the largest city in the West. (Fig.  1.5) There he would remain for almost 30 years.29 At first Mitchel and his family struggled financially. He tried to reconnect with some old friends but found them less than helpful. However, in about a year he was able to put his law studies at West Point to use. He passed the bar and went into partnership in a practice with another West Point graduate, Edward D. Mansfield (1801–1880; Fig. 1.6). This practice did not prove to be successful and they both moved onto more satisfying ventures. Mansfield became editor of the Cincinnati Chronicle and Mitchel turned to his engineering skills to survey the line of the Little

 Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 47.  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact:, 48. 29  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 41–42. 27 28

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Fig. 1.4 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Citizen of Cincinnati. (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Ormsby_Mitchel2.jpg)

Miami Railroad.30 Mitchel was ordered by the Board of the Little Miami Railroad Company to find a useful route from Cincinnati to Springfield, Ohio, a distance of about 80 miles. Mitchel reviewed alternative routes, and anticipated costs of materials, grading, excavation, etc. and estimated likely income to be expected at completion.31 The Cincinnati College was founded in 1819. In 1825 there was a fire that demolished the main building. The trustees delayed rebuilding, anticipating future prosperity of the community after the growth of the city. Finally, revival began in 1835 when physician Daniel Drake opened an affiliated medical school. In 1836 the trustees offered Mitchel a professorship in mathematics, civil engineering, mechanics, and machinery at a salary of $1500 for an academic year of nine months. These duties would include lectures in astronomy which proved to be immensely popular. On special occasions family members of students were permitted to attend lectures.32 Currently, Cincinnati was the most populous city in the west, a significant site of manufacturing and commerce. Historian Louis Tucker described the concurrent

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 43–44; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 23–27, 35–43, 50, 67. 31  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Survey of the Little Miami Rail Road: Report and Estimates Made to the Board of Directors (Cincinnati: Pugh and Dodd, Printers, 1837). 32  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 44–47; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 65–66; Joseph Stern, Jr., “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39 (Winter 1981): 233. 30

1.2  The Dream of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel

9

Fig. 1.5  Cincinnati in 1841. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cincinnati-­in-­1841.jpg)

growth in a population of a business leadership, many transplanted New-Englanders who would organize “ . . . myriad agencies of intellectual life …”33 One of these was the Semi-Colon Club. This was an informal literary organization, unique to Cincinnati, which brought together men and women, of a cultural bent. They met regularly to share, anonymously, their literary endeavors. Among its members were Daniel Drake (founder of the Cincinnati Medical College), Salmon Chase (an attorney, and eventually Ohio governor and United States Secretary of the Treasury), Lyman Beecher (minister, father of Harriet Beecher Stowe), Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elizabeth Blackwell (first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States), Edward Mansfield (West Point graduate, attorney, faculty member at Cincinnati College) and Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel.34 Besides providing Mitchel with a means to demonstrate, and perhaps improve upon, his talent with a turn of phrase, the club also provided him with significant contacts that might serve him well in his ventures in the future. In 1839 Mitchel, his ex-partner, Edward Mansfield, and more than a dozen others joined to form the Cincinnati Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge for the purpose of mutual education. In June of 1840 they held their first meeting. Initially these meetings were held bi-weekly at a member’s home but they became so popular the Society decided to open the meetings to the public, at a small cost so they might rent an adequate meeting venue.35 In early 1842 Mitchel was invited to give a series of three public lectures on astronomy for the Society. The subject was “The Stability of the Solar System.” He proved to be an outstanding speaker. His terminology was simple, his language

 Louis Tucker, “The Semi-Colon Club of Cincinnati,” Ohio History 73 (1964): 15.  Tucker, “The Semi-Colon Club of Cincinnati,” 13–26. 35  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 73. 33 34

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Fig. 1.6 Edward D. Mansfield. (https:// commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Edward_ Deering_ Mansfield002.png)

eloquent. Mitchel found the response gratifying, “On the first evening, my audience was respectable, on the second evening my house was filled, and on the third it was overflowing.”36 Mitchel was asked to repeat the last lecture at the Wesley Chapel which was the only venue large enough to accommodate the expected crowd.37 Per Jeff Suess, at the time it was the largest church in Cincinnati and, with 1200 seats, it was the in fact the largest venue for such an event in the west.38 He supplemented his oratory with images from a home-made projector much like a magic lantern.39 He would rouse his audience by showing them “. . . transparencies of the stars lighted from behind by a powerful whale-oil-lamp.”40 Frederick quotes his father’s description: I succeeded in forming within a box a powerfully and equably illuminated surface. In front of this surface, and in the same box, I interposed an opaque surface which had wrought upon it and through it the figure of the object I designed to represent. The light from the illuminated surface behind only appeared as it shone through the cuttings or piercings

  Stephen Goldfarb, “Science and Democracy, a History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1842–1872,” Ohio History 78 (1969): 173. 37  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 75; Everett Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” Popular Astronomy 21 (1913): 70–74. 38  Jeff Suess, Lost Cincinnati. (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2015), 150–151. 39  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 75. 40  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory (Cincinnati: The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati, 1944), 30–31. 36

1.2  The Dream of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel

11

which formed the figure it exhibited. By the interposition of colored screens my light was tempered to any color or shade which might be desired.41

Author John Foote felt that these visual effects were largely responsible for the lectures’ success: . . . the beautiful telescopic views in the heavens were presented to the audience, with a brilliancy and power scarcely inferior to that displayed by the most powerful telescopes. To the fortunate invention were these lectures no doubt principally indebted.42

Mrs. Fanny Goodman Harrison, in a personal reminiscence for her children, describes one of Mitchel’s lectures: In these days lectures were very popular; took the place of the present magazine. I used to attend courses when very young. Among the most interesting were those of Professor Mitchel, upon astronomy . . . Mr. Mitchel used to prepare his own illustrations by picking out the constellation in thin paper with a large pin; he would nail the paper to a frame and put a candle behind it, and then explain the heavens to us.43

It was at this last lecture at the Wesley Chapel, encouraged by the warm response of his audience, that Mitchel proposed the building of an observatory for Cincinnati.44 He proposed to raise $7,500 by selling shares in a Cincinnati Astronomical Society to 300 subscribers for $25 each (equivalent to about 21 weeks of labor at the 2020 Ohio minimum wage). Ostensibly this was to be a democratic achievement of the people. Frederick Mitchel quoted his father, “I will go to the people, and by the anvil of the blacksmith, by the workbench of the carpenter, and thus onward to the rich parlor of the wealthy, I will plead the case of science.” And further, “Every person who purchases one share of stock becomes a member of the society, and shall forever enjoy the privilege of examining these beautiful and magnificent objects through one of the finest glasses in the world.”45 Mitchel succeeded in collecting this amount, in three week’s time, by personally meeting with merchants, druggists, blacksmiths, carpenters, butchers, plumbers, doctors, lawyers and paperhangers, among other professions.46

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 50.  John Foote, The Schools of Cincinnati and its Vicinity (Cincinnati: C.F. Bradley & Co.’s Power Press, 1855), 175. 43  Fanny Goodman Harrison, “To My Children,” autobiographical sketch provided by the Cincinnati Observatory Center, [undated]. 44  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 76–78; Everett Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 71; American Association for the Advancement of Science, “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: 1809–1862,” Science 98, no. 2556 (December 1943): 553–554. 45  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 52, 53. 46  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 32; W.C. Rufus, “Astronomical Observatories in the United States Prior to 1848,” The Scientific Monthly 19, no.2 (August 1924):133–135. 41 42

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1.3 Establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory and the Cincinnati Astronomical Society On 23 May 1842 a public meeting was held in the Hall of Cincinnati College to organize the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, draw up a constitution and elect officers. The constitution drawn (See Appendix) stated that the astronomer was responsible for the observatory property, to do research and to give lectures for which he might charge admission for his own compensation.47 There were four officers and twelve directors elected to the Board of Control. On 23 May 1842 the Superior Court Judge, The Honorable Judge Jacob Burnet (Fig. 1.7) was elected president. William Goodman (President of the Washington Insurance Company) was elected treasurer, Lewis Whitman (Owner of Springer and Whitman Wholesale Grocers), secretary, and Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, astronomer/director. Besides Mitchel the other directors were elected on 24 May 1842. They were E. Poor (Wholesale and Retail Grocer), J.H. Perkins (of the Female Seminary), E.D. Mansfield (Editor of the Atlas Newspaper), H.  Starr (Attorney), Jno. P.  Foote (Cashier/Secretary), J.T. Brooke (Rector of Christ Church), J. Jonas (Attorney), G.P. Torrence (County Officer), J.P.  Harrison (William H.  Harrison, Druggist), M.  Greenwood (Owner, Founder, Eagle Iron Foundry), M.  G. Williams (Teacher) and M.T.  Williams (unlisted profession).48 The next month Mitchel received a letter from Jacob Burnet and M.G. Williams of the Board of Control. One thousand dollars was authorized for his use to go to Europe. While there he was to purchase a telescope, procure plans for an observatory and to learn about its operation.49 Mitchel left two days after receiving this letter. He stopped in Washington on his way to Europe. He had received some letters of introduction to be presented to Ohio delegates there. It was hoped that through them he might be able to obtain an official mission for the government, which might help to defray costs, or at least some more letters of introduction.50 He met with President John Tyler and Secretary of State Daniel Webster, but neither took him seriously.51 He then got a personal introduction to John Quincy Adams (Fig. 1.8), currently serving in the House of Representatives. Adams had previously attempted to persuade Harvard College to build an observatory. He had also attempted to have some of the funds from the James Smithson

 Russell McCormmach, “ Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Sidereal Messenger, 1846–1848,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 110, no.1 (February 1966): 38. 48  Cincinnati Observatory Archives, Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, 23 May 1842; Cincinnati Observatory Archives, Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, 24 May 1842; The Cincinnati Directory for the Year 1842 (Cincinnati: E. Morgan & Co., 1842). 49  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 55–56. 50  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 93. 51  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 32. 47

1.3  Establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory and the Cincinnati Astronomical…

13

Fig. 1.7  Judge Jacob Burnet. (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:JacobBurnet_ cropped.jpg)

bequest, ultimately used for the Smithsonian Institution, put toward the establishment of a national observatory. He was a strong supporter of the sciences. Adams described this first meeting with Mitchel in his memoirs: Mr. Mitchel is a Professor of Mathematics of Cincinnati, where he delivered last winter a course of lectures, he says to three thousand persons, and he kindled such a passion for astronomy in that city that they have formed an astronomical society, with stock, and have raised a fund of thirty thousand dollars to erect and furnish an observatory, for which purpose he is now going to England. Mr. Pendleton introduced the gentleman to me on the floor of the House, and he came last evening to my house, with a young man named Baker, also from Cincinnati, a sculptor, bound for Florence . . . he all but begged me letters to my friends in Europe. There is an obtrusiveness of braggart vanity in the man, which he passes for scientific enthusiasm, and which is very annoying.52

Clearly, Adams did not care for Mitchel in this first meeting, but he did give him the requested letters. The figure of thirty thousand dollars mentioned is puzzling. It may have been an error in Adams’ recollections or a point of exaggeration by Mitchel. While on his way to the ship that would take him to Europe, Mitchel would make one more stop in Philadelphia. There he met Dr. Alexander Dallas Bache (1806–1867; Fig.  1.9), great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin. Bache was Principal of the Philadelphia Model High School, also known as the Central High School (Fig. 1.10).

 John Quincy Adams, The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection, Vol. 44 (Massachusetts Historical Society, 1843):183. 52

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Fig. 1.8  John Quincy Adams (portrait by Mathew Brady). (https:// commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:JQA_Photo.tif)

Like Mitchel, Bache was a West Point graduate. Astronomy was a significant part of that high school’s program. Professor E. Otis Kendall (1816–1899; Fig. 1.11), who was in charge of their telescope, showed Mitchel the 6-inch Merz and Mahler refractor (Fig. 1.12) perhaps the finest in the United States at that time.53 Mitchel also took the opportunity to meet with the distinguished astronomer Sears C.  Walker (1805–1853; Fig. 1.13), half-brother of Kendall.54 On 26 June 1842 Mitchel boarded the Garrick, the packet ship to take him to England. The trip took much longer than anticipated due to the still seas. When he reached Liverpool, he took a train to London, arriving there on 24 July 1842.55 Mitchel first hoped to meet with Astronomer Royal Sir George Airy (1801–1890; Fig. 1.14) but was disappointed to learn that he had gone to the continent to observe the solar eclipse. In Airy’s stead, the Reverend Robert Main, First Assistant at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, provided Mitchel with various scientific tracts.56 Still in London, Mitchel went to the optical shop of Troughton and Simms but was discouraged to learn that their largest glass was only seven inches in diameter. He

 Everett Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 70.  Franklin Edmonds, History of the Central High School of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1902): 86; Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 74–75. 55  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 78–87; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 95. 56  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 92. 53 54

1.3  Establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory and the Cincinnati Astronomical…

15

Fig. 1.9  Alexander Dallas Bache. (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Alexander_Dalls_ Bache_pers0117.jpg)

was informed that it would take several years to construct a lens of the 12 inches he desired.57 He decided that he would have to go elsewhere to find his lens but meanwhile took advantage of learning opportunities in England. He had been invited back to Greenwich for some nighttime viewing and to see some instances of record-keeping and reduction of observations. He also visited Camden Hill, where Sir James South (1785–1867) had a private observatory. At nighttime, there he observed a variety of astronomical objects.58 Mitchel’s next stop was Paris. He had seen various catalogs of opticians there. He visited the firm of Henri Prudence Gambay, where he was told, “We do not keep such large glasses, and I feel you will hardly find one in Paris.” His visit to another firm, that of Combe, Cauchoix and Lehrebours was also unsuccessful.59 Still in Paris he visited Francois Dominique Jean Arago (1786–1853; Fig. 1.15), Director of the Paris Observatory, to take advantage of another learning opportunity. Arago gave him a tour of the facility. While there Arago advised Mitchel that it would take several years to get his lens, no matter where he went. Despite these

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 93,118; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 95–96. 58  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 100–112. 59  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 118. 57

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Fig. 1.10  Philadelphia Central High School (first building). (https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:1852_Central_High_School_Philadelphia.png)

discouraging words, Mitchel decided to proceed to Munich, Bavaria to see what Merz and Mahler might have to offer.60 In Munich Mitchel met Georg Merz, then Director of Fraunhofer’s Optical Institute. In a display cabinet there he saw many beautiful glasses. He was convinced his search was at an end when he saw a 12-inch lens that had already been tested by Johann von Lamont (1805–1879; Fig. 1.16), at the Royal Observatory, at Bogenhausen near Munich, and which had been pronounced as ‘perfect.’ Mitchel decided to meet Lamont.61 Lamont gave Mitchel a tour of the Royal Observatory ending with an introduction to the room housing the equatorial telescope. This was where Mitchel’s desired lens had been tested. Mitchel was fascinated with the working of this room. He said in his account, “My conductor [Lamont] stepped to a small side closet, the door of which he opened, took by the handle a small wheel and axle, commenced, when, to my surprise, the entire roof, in one solid mass, slowly receded, and we stood in an apartment without a cover.”62 This objective lens that Mitchel wanted was surpassed in size at the time only by that at Pulkovo, Russia. It was, “…made up of two lenses, one double-convex of crown glass, the other concave-convex of flint glass, juxtaposed but not cemented, gigantic, twelve inches in diameter, achromatic, ground to an unbelievable

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 119–122.  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 126–127; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 96–97. 62  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 128. 60 61

1.3  Establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory and the Cincinnati Astronomical…

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Fig. 1.11  E. Otis Kendall. (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Ezra_Otis_Kendall_ portrait.jpg)

precision, mystic, wonderful.”63 The crown and flint glass blanks for the lens were actually cast at the Benediktbeuern glassworks, about 31 miles (49.8 kilometers) south of Munich. Dr. Leo Weber explained that the ‘mathematical-mechanical optical institute’ had been relocated to Munich but Fraunhofer frequently returned to Benediktbeuern to supervise glass melts.64 The cost of this lens, however, was $9000, which was more than Mitchel was authorized to spend.65 Another source states that the figure was actually $9500.66 The $500 discrepancy is curious but based on later correspondence from Mitchel to John Quincy Adams, it seems the $9000 figure is likely correct, “Two payments of three thousand dollars each have been remitted and the last payment of three thousand dollars will be placed in London in the month of May.”67 Ever the optimist, he asked the opticians to hold the lens. He would return to the United States to raise the additional funds.68

 Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 33. 64  Jahn Wolfgang et al., Fraunhofer in Benediktbeuern Glassworks and Workshop, ed. Martin Thum and Christa Schraivogel (Munich: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, 2008), 38. 65  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 131. 66  Everett Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 71. 67  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Cincinnati, 27 March 1844 to John Quincy Adams, Washington, D.C.,” From the Microfilms of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Part IV, Adams Manuscript Trust, Boston, 1958. Reel 528. 68  Joseph Stern, Jr., “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” 233. 63

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Fig. 1.12 Philadelphia Central High School Merz and Mahler telescope. (After Edmonds, 1902: 96)

On his way back from Munich, Mitchel stopped in England where he hoped to get more experience in the working of an observatory. Airy’s wife suggested to her husband, who had returned from his eclipse expedition, that Mitchel be taken on as an ‘assistant’ for two weeks. During this time Mitchel noted observations and made calculations for Airy while he learned the basics of the operation of an observatory.69 Now ready for his return to America, Mitchel chose for transport the steamer the Great Western (Fig.  1.17). The trip from Liverpool to New  York took just two weeks, about half of the time he had needed to cover the same distance on the Garrick.70 Mitchel returned to Cincinnati in the fall of 1842 and furnished the Cincinnati Gazette with a description of the telescope purchased: The clear diameter of the object glass is 11.18 inches. Its focal distance is 16.07 feet. The Telescope is to be mounted Equatorially with an hour circle 16.07 inches in diameter, divided from 2 seconds to 2 seconds of time, and a declination circle 26.56 inches in diameter divided from 4 seconds to 4 seconds of a degree by verniers on a limb of silver. The Telescope carries a chromatic finder 32 inches in focal length, with an aperture of 2.6 inches. All the movements, great and small, are perfectly balanced in every position.

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 136–138; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 97–98. 70  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 139; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 98. 69

1.3  Establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory and the Cincinnati Astronomical… Fig. 1.13  Sears Walker. (After Edmonds, 1902: 42)

Fig. 1.14 Astronomer Royal Sir George Biddell Airy. (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Sir_George_Airy.png)

The Telescope can be made to follow the apparent motion of the stars and planets by means of clock work attached to the polar axis. The magnifying powers of the Astronomical Eye-pieces are, 160, 240, 360, 540, 856 while those of the micrometer eye-pieces vary from 100 up to 1200 times. This great instrument is capable of being directed to any point in the heavens with the smallest effort of a single individual.71

71

 Cincinnati Gazette, 17 November 1842.

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Fig. 1.15 Franςois Dominique Arago. (https:// commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/ File:Fran%C3%A7ois_ Arago.jpg)

Mitchel’s return was in time for him to return to his duties teaching at the college. At the same time, he had to follow through on his obligations to the Astronomical Society. He requested the extra money that would be needed for the desired telescope and was given authorization to raise this through the sale of additional shares. Over the next several months he pressed on the collection of money promised with the original pledges while accumulating new ones. He was able to send Merz and Mahler a payment of $3000, the first of three, in November. In mid-March he sent off the second payment of the same amount. He raised the remaining funds through a final plea to the wealthy citizens of Cincinnati and in May made the last payment.72 Having planned for the heart of the observatory, Mitchel now had to turn his attention to a location and a structure in which to house it. With the help of Judge Jacob Burnet, President of the Astronomical Society, Mitchel persuaded the land-rich Nicholas Longworth (1782–1863; Fig.  1.18), to donate four acres for this purpose. Longworth was the second richest citizen in the country based on real estate taxes paid.73 The piece of property of 25 acres, known as Mt. Ida, was purchased in 1830 by Longworth, as part of his highly successful land speculation. It was an ideal location for the observatory at 500 feet above the river, one of the highest points in the city. Mitchel could choose any four acres that would suit the purpose. The cautious Longworth did add the stipulation that the structure must be erected within two years, and if sold, proceeds would revert to himself or his heirs.74  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 141; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 99–100. 73  Louis Tucker, “‘Old Nick’ Longworth, the paradoxical Maecanas of Cincinnati,” Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 25 (1967): 254. 74  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 34; Knight, Marian, “Historic Mt. Adams,” Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 28, 72

1.4 Conclusion

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Fig. 1.16  Johann von Lamont. (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Johann_Lamont_ Litho.jpg)

1.4 Conclusion Cincinnati now had a telescope, the heart of its observatory. It was something its citizens had wanted, or so they had been convinced, through the inspiring words of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. He had suggested subscriptions of 25 dollars each from 300 citizens, from all walks of life. Who were these citizens? In Philip Shoemaker’s PhD thesis he lists the occupations of many of the subscribers. This list included 24 attorneys, 11 carpenters, 15 clerks and 23 doctors. On his list were also blacksmiths, teachers, grocers, pork merchants, secretaries, stable workers and a steamboat captain. There were no astronomers listed. Mitchel, himself, was listed as “a civil engineer and professor of mathematics.”75 The original charter (Fig. 1.19) hangs in the entry of the current Observatory building. The names of the original subscribers, who indeed came from all walks of life, are inscribed in the Charter’s margins. Mitchel brought this telescope to Cincinnati against daunting odds. To obtain the desired telescope he was only gone from Cincinnati for 100 days. In this time, he visited Washington, London, Paris and Munich. In this time, he met astronomers who provided invaluable help, and some who became lifelong friends. Success involved some serendipity. In London and Paris he could not find the lens he was looking for. He was advised that it was unlikely he would find one in the time he

no.1 (Spring 1970): 27; W. C. Rufus, 1924, “Astronomical observatories in the United States Prior to 1848,” 135–136. 75  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, Appendix I.

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Fig. 1.17 The Great Western (engraved by H. Papprill after a painting by J.S. Coteman, 1838). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Western#/media/File:The_Great-­Western_Steam_ Ship_1838_H._Papprill_after_J.S._Coteman.jpg) Fig. 1.18 Nicholas Longworth. (After Tucker 1967: 247)

desired. However, when he reached Munich he found one ready and available that more than fit his specifications. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel purchased a telescope with a magnificent lens and learned how to run an observatory. His accomplishments thus far were astounding, but his work had just begun.

Appendix: Constitution of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society

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Fig. 1.19  Charter of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

 ppendix: Constitution of the Cincinnati A Astronomical Society (from the leading pages of the Transcript of the Proceedings of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, 1842–1872)

Preamble Believing it to be the duty of every people to foster science, and to add as far as possible to the general stock of human knowledge: - recognizing to the fullest extent the claims which the world has on the several republics composing the United States, to contribute to the promotion of science, in proportion to their natural, social and

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constitutional advantages; -realizing the truth, that in our own country and under a republican form of government, the people must hold with respect to all great scientific enterprises that position of patrons, which in monarchical government is held by kings and emperors; -and knowing that our country is comparatively deficient in means and instruments to accomplish original observations in Astronomy, - therefore for the purpose of furnishing our city with an Observatory and Astronomical instruments, in all respects adequate to the wants of science, We, the undersigned, have united and agree to contribute the sums already subscribed, and for mutual guidance and government to adopting the following

Constitution Article 1. This association shall be called the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, and shall be composed of all such persons as have already subscribed, or may hereafter subscribe for one or more shares of stock, sold for the purpose of raising a fund to carry out the design set forth in the foregoing preamble. Article 2. This Society shall elect annually, on the first Monday in May, by ballot or otherwise, the following officers, viz., a President, twelve Directors, a Secretary, a Treasurer and an Astronomer, in all sixteen officers, who shall constitute a Board of Control, and shall have the management of the fiscal affairs of the Society. Seven members of the Board shall constitute a quorum to transact business. Article 3. The President shall preside at all the meetings of the Society and Board, and shall discharge the duties usually devolving upon that officer in other like associations. Article 4. The Directors and other officers constituting the Board of Control, shall deliberate upon and devise such measures as may in their judgement most effectually carry out the objects designed to be accomplished by this Society. Article 5. The Secretary shall keep a fair record of the Society and the Board. Article 6. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to collect and safely keep all dues of the Society, to audit all accounts, and to pay out money under the order of the Board of Control, and to discharge the duties usually assigned to such officers. His accounts shall at all times be open for the inspection of a committee of the Board which may be appointed for this purpose. He shall be required to give bond for the faithful discharge of his duty. Article 7. The Board of Control shall contract no debt beyond the means of the Society to pay promptly with money on hand or debt, whose payment may with certainty be relied on. For all amounts beyond this they make themselves responsible, not the Society. Article 8. It shall be the duty of the Astronomer, to take charge of the observatory, and all books, instruments and apparatus therein, belonging to the Society, and preserve them as far as possible in complete order. He shall conduct a series of scientific observations, such as may in conjunction with other similar observa-

References

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tions conduce to new discoveries, and perfect those already made in the heavens. It shall further be his duty by himself or by such assistants as he may from time to time appoint, to aid in gratifying the curiosity of such members of the Society as may desire to inspect the heavens through the Telescope. He shall also deliver each year a course of lectures, before such members of the Society, and such other citizens as may purchase a ticket to the same;- the sale of these tickets to constitute his only compensation for the services rendered to the Society; provided, that the owner of two or more shares shall be entitled to free admittance to all such lectures. Article 9. The funds of the Society shall be derived from the sale of shares of stock, and such as may desire to unite in promoting the object of the Society. Each share to be sold for the sum of twenty five dollars. The holder of one or more shares, upon payment for the same, shall receive from the President and Treasurer a certificate setting forth the purchase and payment, which certificate shall entitle him to the privileges of full membership. Article 10. The holder of one share, being the head of a family, shall be entitled to a family ticket, which shall admit two members of the same family at a time to the privileges of the observatory. The holder of one share, not having a family, shall be entitled to a ticket which shall admit himself and a lady in his company to the same privileges. The holder of more than one share to enjoy advantages proportioned to the number of shares held. Article 11. The stock may be alienated by sale and transfer on the books of the Treasurer in the usual way. The seller thus resigning his membership to the purchaser, who shall from the date of the purchase enjoy all the privileges of full membership. Article 12. The Society may from time to time adopt such bylaws as may be found necessary. Article 13. The Directory shall make an annual report of their acts to the Society. Article 14. The Astronomer shall make an annual report to the Society. Article 15. This constitution may be altered or amended by a vote of two thirds of the shareholders present, provided seventy shares be represented, the alteration or amendment having been proposed in writing at a previous meeting. On every question brought up for decision, each share of stock shall entitle the holder to one vote.

References Adams, John Quincy. 1843. The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection. Vol. 44. Massachusetts Historical Society. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1943, December. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: 1809–1862. Science 98 (2556): 553–554. Bell, Trudy. 2007. Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight. In The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, ed. Thomas Hockey et al., 789–791. New York: Springer.

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Edmonds, Franklin. 1902. History of the Central High School of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Lippincott. Foote, John. 1855. The Schools of Cincinnati and its Vicinity. Cincinnati: C.F. Bradley & Co.’s Power Press. Gara, Larry. 1951, April. A Correspondent’s View of Cincinnati in 1839. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio 9: 133–140. Goldfarb, Stephen. 1969. Science and Democracy, a History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1842–1872. Ohio History 78: 172–178. Harrison, Fanny Goodman. Undated. To My Children. autobiographical sketch of Mrs. Harrison, born in 1829, provided by the Cincinnati Observatory Center. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author). 1944. The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory. The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati. Holden, Edward. 1897, June. The Beginnings of American Astronomy. Science 5 (129): 929–935. Knight, Marian. 1970, Spring. Historic Mt. Adams. Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 28 (1): 27–37. McCormmach, Russell. 1966, February. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Sidereal Messenger, 1846–1848. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 110 (1): 35–47. Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, May 23, 1842a. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. ———, May 24, 1842b. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight. 1837. Survey of the Little Miami Rail Road: Report and Estimates Made to the Board of Directors. Cincinnati: Pugh and Dodd, Printers. Mitchel, Frederick. 1887. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General. Cambridge: The Riverside Press. Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight. 1958. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Cincinnati, 27 March 1844 to John Quincy Adams, Washington, D.C., From the Microfilms of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Part IV, Adams Manuscript Trust, Boston. Reel 528. Rowe, John. 1950. Cincinnati’s Early Cultural and Educational Enterprises. The Centenary Society of Ohio Bulletin 8: 211–216. Rufus, W.C. 1924, August. Astronomical Observatories in the United States Prior to 1848. The Scientific Monthly 19 (2): 120–139. Shoemaker, Philip. 1991. Stellar Impact: Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Astronomy in Antebellum America, PhD Thesis. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sinclair, Bruce. 1979. Americans Abroad: Science and Cultural Nationalism in the Early Nineteenth Century. In Science in the American Context: New Perspectives, ed. Nathan Reingold, 35–53. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Steen, Ivan. 1968, July. Cincinnati in the 1850s: as Described by British Travelers. The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 28: 6–26. Stern, Joseph S., Jr. 1981, Winter. Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky. The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39: 230–249. Suess, Jeff. 2015. Lost Cincinnati. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. The Cincinnati Directory for the Year 1842. Cincinnati: E. Morgan & Co., 1842. Trollope, Frances. 1832. Domestic Manners of the Americans. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Tucker, Louis. 1964. The Semi-Colon Club of Cincinnati. Ohio History 73: 13–26. ———. 1967. ‘Old Nick’ Longworth, the Paradoxical Maecanas of Cincinnati. Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 25: 246–259. ———. 1975. Cincinnati, Athens of the West. Ohio History 75: 10–25. Warner, Deborah Jean. 1979. Astronomy in Antebellum America. In Science in the American Context: New Perspectives, ed. Nathan Reingold, 55–75. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

References

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Wolfgang, Jahn, Josef Kirmeier, Leo Weber, Christoph Mews, and Carl PreyB. 2008. Fraunhofer in Benediktbeuern Glassworks and Workshop, ed. Martin Thum and Christa Schraivogel, 38. Munich: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Yowell, Everett. 1913, February. The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. Popular Astronomy 21: 70–74. Zochert, David. 1974, December. Science and the Common Man in Ante-bellum America. Isis 65 (3): 448–473.

Chapter 2

John Quincy Adams – The Great Orator

2.1 John Quincy Adams and Astronomy John Quincy Adams (Fig. 2.1) was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts on 11 July 1767. As the son of John Adams, the second President of the United States, John Quincy lived in an environment of great opportunity. He garnered the advantages of a good education and world travel. At the age of eleven he accompanied his father and Benjamin Franklin on a Congressional assignment to France. For seven years young John Quincy continued to travel through much of Europe, enjoying educational opportunities and experiences of participation in worldly matters.1 Later, in 1809, John Quincy began his tenure as United States Minister to Russia under President James Madison. While he lived for those four years in St. Petersburg his interest in astronomy increased. He made astronomical observations and personal discoveries from his home there. He made the the acquaintance of German astronomer Theodor von Schubert, who was head of an astronomical observatory, one preceding that of Pulkovo, for the Russian Academy of Sciences.2 On the return from his youthful travels John Quincy was admitted to Harvard College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1787. He read law but was unsuccessful in that endeavor and for a short time turned to journalism. He eventually served his country in the capacities of diplomat, Senator, Secretary of State, President and Congressman. He was one of the earliest leaders of the United States to take a pro-active role in the advancement of intellectual pursuits.3

 R. Thomas Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence: John Quincy Adams and the Birth of American Astronomy (self-published, 2019), 1–8. 2  Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence, 14–18. 3  Karl Schriftgiesser, Families: From Adams, Astor and Lee to Beecher, Barrymore and Roosevelt (New York: Howell, Soskin & Company, Inc., 1940), 11. 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_2

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Fig. 2.1  John Quincy Adams (Official White House Portrait). (https:// commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:John_Quincy_ Adams_by_GPA_ Healy,_1858.jpg)

John Quincy Adams observed a total solar eclipse in Boston on 16 June 1806. He was in the company of members of the American Philosophical Society on the property of Benjamin Bussey, a local landowner and later benefactor to Harvard University.4 He described the experience in his memoirs: 16th. Went to Mr. Bussey’s, in whose garden the gentlemen of the Philosophical Society met to take the observation of the solar eclipse. It commenced at three minutes twenty-one seconds past ten in the morning. At twenty-two minutes thirty-eight seconds past eleven the total obscurity commenced. At twenty-seven minutes nine seconds past eleven the first ray of the sun blazed out from behind the moon, and at forty-eight minutes one second past twelve the eclipse ended. The total obscuration continued more than four minutes and a half. The sky during the whole time was unusually clear, and not a speck of cloud was visible on the horizon. At the commencement of the eclipse the thermometer in the shade stood at 68. It fell gradually until the end of the total obscurity, when it stood at 57. There it remained stationary about a quarter of an hour – then began to rise, until at the end of the eclipse it was 67, and a few minutes after at 70. The fading of the sun’s light, from its greatest splendor until its total extinction, was peculiar, differing much from that of the usual declining day on the approach of evening. Six or eight stars were visible during a considerable part of the time. The planet Venus, particularly, appeared as large and as bright in the darkness as it usually does in the evening. The colors of natural objects appeared to the eye with a tinge different from any thing I had ever seen, during the total concealment of the sun. The center of the moon’s disk appeared black as ebony; but the shade appeared gradually less black to the circumference, which was of a dusky brown. A feeble luminous circle, not equally light in every part, surrounded the edge of the moon, and beyond that circle a coruscation fainter and fainter shot forth in angular aspects extended to a distance equal to  Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence, 14.

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31

about the semi-diameter of the moon; the western side of the hemisphere, being that from which the moon advanced, was much darker than the eastward, on which part the sun’s rays were last shut in, and during the whole time the borders of the horizon were very luminous throughout their extent. The darkness was about equal to that of half an hour after sunset at this season of the year ―or much like the darkness of midnight which I have witnessed in June at St. Petersburg. About fifteen seconds before the first returning sunbeam, a line of deep crimson appeared on the moon’s edge, on the limb where the sun was about to issue. But the most striking appearance was the first returning beam; it was about two seconds supportable to the naked eye, and in brightness far exceeded any thing I ever beheld. It was remarkable that, for two or three minutes before the sun’s disappearance, it could be looked at without the shelter of a glass, though it was so immediately intolerable on its return. The effect of the momentary gloom was heightened by the contrasted splendor of the day, before and after. The cattle and poultry discovered the symptoms of night, and followed their usual habits on its approach. The swallows appeared surprised, and flew with that wild irregularity which is described as betokening the approach of an earthquake. The atmosphere had the chilliness of night, but there was no fall of dew. Upon the whole, the phenomenon was principally curious on account of its uncommonness―having never occurred at this place since the settlement of the country, and being not to happen again for several centuries.5

These memories by Adams are remarkable in their detail. He noted the appearance of the eclipse itself, but did not neglect the observation of his environment. He commented on the changes in temperature and the behavior of animals. Any amateur presented with the opportunity to experience an eclipse would do well to use Adams’s description as a template for his or her own observations. It was as an alumnus of Harvard College, that Adams made an early effort of advocacy for the erection of an observatory. In 1823, then Secretary of State, he wrote a letter to the Harvard Corporation recommending such a construction. At the same time he offered a donation of $1,000 toward the funding of a professorship in astronomy. It would be two decades before enough funds were collected and construction of the observatory commenced.6 In his first annual address to the Congress as President in 1825, Adams advocated the nation’s building of astronomical observatories, or, as he called them ‘lighthouses of the sky.’ This part of his speech was met with scorn by the states rightists who did not want to see funds being spent on national institutions. His phrase was misquoted by naysayers as ‘lighthouses in the sky’ further disparaging the President’s ambitions. Adams’s phrase would be re-iterated with ridicule for years to come.7 In 1835 the United States received a generous bequest from Englishman James Smithson that was to serve “… to found at Washington under the name of the Smithsonian Institution an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men …”The nature of this institution was the subject of debate for ten years. Dr. Stephen Chapman, President of Columbia College, wanted it to be used  Charles Francis Adams, ed., Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874), 442–443. 6  Marlana Portolano, “John Quincy Adams’s Rhetorical Crusade for Astronomy,” Isis 91, no. 3 (September 2000): 489; Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence, 39–51. 7  Joseph Stern, Jr., “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39 (Winter 1981): 231; Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence, 110. 5

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for a national university. Adams preferred that it be used for a ‘National Institute for the Promotion of Science and Literature’ which would include a museum and observatory.8 It was during the debate over the use of the bequest, primarily 1838-1846, that his crusade for astronomy in America reached its peak. Historian Marlana Portolano commented that it was during these years that: “His addresses to congressional and public audiences about observatories and astronomy were intended to foster interest in the science and encourage the growing astronomical community in America.”9 Adams also had a hand in the creation of the United States Naval Observatory. The Depot of Charts and Instruments was its beginning. In 1830 this Depot was a storage facility for charts and instruments, with the task of testing the Navy’s chronometers which were important to navigation. In 1834 it was moved to the property of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, who built a small observatory there with a transit instrument employed for this purpose. James Melville Gilliss took charge of the Depot in 1837 and astronomical observations became more important. In 1841 he recommended to the Board of Navy Commissioners that a new larger building was needed, one that was not situated on private property.10 On 31 August 1842 a bill was passed that appropriated $25,000 for the purposes of this new Depot.11 During these years of the Smithson bequest debate John Quincy Adams had been proposing the establishment of a national observatory. Historian Steven Dick expressed the opinion that the partisan politics surrounding Adams and the Smithson debate served as a catalyst permitting Gilliss to push the Depot appropriation through Congress.12 During the final debate on the Smithson bequest Adams stated, “I am delighted that an astronomical observatory … has been smuggled into the number of institutions of the country, under the mask of a small depot for charts …”13 The Depot was formally renamed the United States Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office, by order of the Secretary of the Navy in 1854.14 In 1839 Adams gave a series of lectures in astronomy in Quincy and Boston sponsored by the Lyceum of the Apprentice Mechanic’s Association. The lectures were open to the public.15 The Boston Evening Transcript reported, “The hall was crowded with ladies and gentlemen of his native town who are even glad to listen to the voice of the old man.” In his diary he commented, “The hall was crowded to its utmost capacity with two or three women to one man.”16

 Stern, “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” 232.  Portolano, “John Quincy Adams’s Rhetorical Crusade for Astronomy,” 480. 10  Steven J.  Dick, “John Quincy Adams, the Smithsonian Bequest and the Founding of the U. S. Naval Observatory,” Journal for the History of Astronomy 22, no.1 (February 1991): 33. 11  Dick, “John Quincy Adams,” 36; Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence, 131. 12  Dick, “John Quincy Adams,” 41. 13  Dick, “John Quincy Adams,” 39. 14  Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence, 136–137. 15  Portolano, “John Quincy Adams’s Rhetorical Crusade for Astronomy,” 495. 16  Portolano, “John Quincy Adams’s Rhetorical Crusade for Astronomy,” 499. 8 9

2.2  John Quincy Adams Comes to Cincinnati

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It was in 1842 that John Quincy Adams had his first meeting with Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel who was on his journey to Europe to purchase a telescope for an observatory for the city of Cincinnati. Mitchell had stopped in Washington to garner support for these efforts, in the form of official missions that would help defray costs, or at least letters of introduction from significant individuals. Adams provided him with the requested letter of introduction.

2.2 John Quincy Adams Comes to Cincinnati At the Cincinnati Astronomical Society meeting on 18 July 1843 Mitchel made a motion to invite John Quincy Adams to participate in the upcoming dedication ceremony of the Observatory building. Considering Adams’s earlier efforts toward the building of the Harvard Observatory and the United States Naval Observatory, the Society members unanimously agreed. It was wished that Adams would lay the cornerstone and deliver the oration for the occasion. Mitchel was commissioned to personally deliver several encouraging letters from Judge Jacob Burnet and others.17 Mitchel found John Quincy Adams at Niagara Falls later that month to make this request. Fortunately Adams was there on vacation with family, saving Mitchel about one half of the travel distance to Massachusetts. In view of Adams’s advanced age of 76 years, his family objected, but ultimately he was flattered and made the decision to attend. He responded personally to Mitchel in a letter on 25 July 1843: I have received with deep sensibility the Resolution of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, which were delivered to me personally by you, and with the blessing of God, will perform the duty assigned to me by the Society on the day which may suit the convenience of the Society during the ensuing month of November.

At the Society meeting on 1 August Mitchel read this response. Mitchel subsequently received a letter advising him that Adams’s trip west would begin on the 25th of October, and that Adams expected to arrive in Cincinnati on the sixth of November. Within this same letter Adams would assert that he anticipated arriving on time, barring some ‘accidental detention’ out of his hands.18 Enthusiasm was growing in Cincinnati for the arrival of the ex-president. The ladies of the community invited him to a ‘Public Tea Party.’19 A parade was planned as part of the celebration. The Ohio Mechanics’ Institute and the Young Men’s Mercantile Library Association expressed plans to join the procession. The Bar of Hamilton County met to make plans to pay their respects to Adams. They resolved  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, July 18, 1843; Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1887), 147; Philip Shoemaker, Stellar Impact: Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Astronomy in Antebellum America, PhD thesis (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991), 101–102. 18  John Quincy Adams to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, October 3, 1843; Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, August 1, 1843; Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence, 67–72. 19  Ladies of Cincinnati Committee of Invitation to John Quincy Adams, October 6, 1843. 17

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to welcome Adams and requested that Judge David K.  Este, First Judge in the Superior Court of Cincinnati, make an address at the occasion on their behalf.20 The Astronomical Society had appointed a ‘Committee of Reception’, three members who were to meet Adams at his entrance to the state of Ohio, at Cleveland, and escort him to Cincinnati, a distance of approximately 250 miles. These three were identified by Judge Burnet in a letter to Adams as Mr. Greene, Mr. Jones and Mr. Stephenson.21 Five other committees were created for the ceremony. These were, “…Ceremonies; Reception of Strangers; Tickets, Medals and Badges; Preparation of the Grounds for the Celebration; and Preparation of Suitable Deposits for the Time Capsule in the Corner Stone.” This last committee recommended the following items be placed in a glass case which would be deposited in the Cornerstone: United States Constitution and Articles of Confederation, Declaration of Independence, Washington’s Farewell Address, Ordinance of the North West Territory, Constitution of the State of Ohio, Charter and Bylaws of the City of Cincinnati, Reports of Commerce Community Schools, Cist’s Cincinnati in 1841, Morrison’s Map of Hamilton County, ‘Suite’ of Daily Newspapers, Meteorological Observations for the two past years, an outline of the History of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society and its Constitution, and the Autographs of the Society on parchment.22 Adams left his home in Quincy, Massachusetts on 25 October 1843 and travelled the distance, greater than 1,000 miles by rail, canal, lake boat and stage-coach, finally arriving in Cincinnati on 8 November.23 He was to lay the cornerstone on 9 November 1843.24 Along the way he had stopped at several cities, such as Erie, Pennsylvania and Columbus, Ohio, which were eager for this rare opportunity for a visit by their ex-president. Several had their own ‘committees of reception’ and greeted him with a combination of artillery salutes, parades and speeches by significant leaders.25 Cincinnati’s Committee of Reception missed meeting Adams in Cleveland, due to his early arrival. They proceeded to Kirkersville and met him east of Columbus and accompanied him through Columbus, Springfield, and Dayton to Lebanon which is about 31 miles northeast of Cincinnati.26 Adams was greeted there with an eloquent speech by Thomas Corwin, previously “ … a distinguished member of the House of Representatives of the United States and late Governor of the State of  “Young Men’s Mercantile Library Association Plans,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 30, 1843; “Mechanics’ Institute Plans,” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 8, 1843; “Bar of Hamilton County Plans,” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 8, 1843. 21  Jacob Burnet to John Quincy Adams, October 30, 1843. 22  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, November 28, 1843. 23  “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: 1809–1862,” Science 98, no. 2556 (December 24, 1943): 553; Sultzer, Conceptions of Magnificence, 73–78. 24  W.  C. Rufus, “Astronomical Observatories in the United States Prior to 1848.” The Scientific Monthly 19, no. 2 (August 1924): 135. 25  Carroll Free Press, November 17, 1843; The Liberator, November 17, 1843. 26  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, November 28, 1843. 20

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Ohio …”27 Along the way from Lebanon to Cincinnati the escort was joined by the mayor of Cincinnati, Henry E. Spencer, and Mitchel.28 On 8 November Adams was escorted for the remainder of his journey to Cincinnati.29 On the final approach he sat in the barouche with Judge Burnet, Spencer and Mitchel. They were joined by a large crowd of excited citizens. The carriage reached the Henrie House at about half past one where Adams would reside during his stay in that city. He remembered “The day was fine and the sun shown bright…” In front of the Henrie House was a large balcony, from which the crowd could hear the Spencer’s welcoming address, and his response. Adams found these welcoming speeches gratifying but fatiguing. He felt obliged to respond in kind, with no preparation, however, both speeches were answered with enthusiastic applause. “The crowd then dispersed, but a continuous succession of visitors beset my chamber til late in the evening leaving scarcely an interval for dinner and tea.” In fact, Adams did not yet have his oration prepared for the next day’s cornerstone celebration. He worked on it until 1:00 a.m., leaving it still unfinished.30

2.3 The Laying of the Cornerstone The Cincinnati Astronomical Society had decided to turn this into a fund-raising event. The ‘Committee on Tickets, Medals & Badges’ authorized the printing of 15,000 admission tickets and the preparation of 5,600 ceremonial ribbon badges (Fig. 2.2). It had been decided that the production of commemorative medals would not be practical.31 The Society earned $394.25 through the sale of tickets and badges.32 Adams rose at 4:00 a.m. on the day of the ceremony and, before his breakfast, finished preparing his address. Until he was picked up by a carriage at 10:00 a.m. he dealt with a, “… succession of visitors, invitations and deputations …” Unfortunately, the day of the cornerstone ceremony was not so fine as the previous day. Rain began when Adams was met by the carriage. The rain increased such that they were obliged to raise the sides of the wagon and neither Adams, nor the crowd could see the other.33 In spite of the increasing torrential rain, people showed up in droves.34 According to Robert L.  Black, 50,000 people showed up, in spite of the weather, for the  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection, Vol. 44 (Massachusetts Historical Society), 125. 28  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 126. 29  Philip Shoemaker, Stellar Impact: Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Astronomy in Antebellum America, PhD thesis (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991), 102. 30  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 126; Licking River Register, November 11, 1843. 31  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, November 28, 1843. 32  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 106. 33  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 127. 34  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 104. 27

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Fig. 2.2 Ceremonial Ribbon Badge. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

­preliminary parade.35 Considering the population census of Cincinnati in 1840 was just over 46,000 this great number would seem unlikely. It was, however, a grand parade for the community, especially under the circumstances. According to the Society’s minutes it proceeded in the following order: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th

Major General Sneider and his staff. Brigadier General Wade and his staff. Band of Music. Cinc. Light Dragoons. Cinc. Guards. Light Artillery. Cinc. Grays. Jefferson Riflemen. Washington Cadets. LaFayette Guards. Morgan Riflemen. Band of Music.

 Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory (Cincinnati: The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati, 1944), 20. 35

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13th German Riflemen. 14th Jackson Guards. 15th German Light Infantry. 16th Montgomery Guards. 17th Kasciuska [sic] Guards. 18th The Board of Control of the Astronomical Society and Comm. of Arrangements. 19th Mr. Adams, the President of the Society, the City Mayor, and guests in barouches & carriages. 20th The members of the Astro. Society. 21st Society of Book Binders. 22nd The Chamber of Commerce. 23rd Young Men’s Mercantile Library Association. 24th Ohio Mechanics’ Institute. 25th Citizens.36

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer there were then 700 marching to represent the Cincinnati Astronomical Society in the parade.37 The climb to the site on the summit of Mt. Ida was difficult for the horses because of the mud. The carriage finally reached the site for the cornerstone ceremony where a stage had been erected. Looking at his audience Adams saw an “ … auditory of umbrellas instead of faces.”38 Fourteen-year-old Mary Jane Irwin described her recollection of that day in her journal: Uncle James Irwin who has been sick for about a week with the Pleurisy died at 5 o’clock this morning. The procession formed at 10 o’clock to escort John Quincy Adams to the hill to lay the corner-stone of the observatory but as the weather was very unpleasant, he did not deliver the speech.39

Young law clerk, James Wickes Taylor, was present for Adams’s arrival into the city, the laying of the cornerstone and Adam’s later departure. He described his recollection of the laying of the cornerstone on Mt. Ida in his diary: The next day dawned gloomy and lowering. The city was crowded to excess, with the thousands, who had come to witness the laying of the Corner Stone of the Observatory, and hear the address of Mr A. on an occasion so novel and interesting. By eleven o’clock it rained hard, and continued to do so during the day. Still the military, and a large number of citizens, braved the storm, sheltered by umbrellas, and accompanied Mr Adams to the hill … hitherto known as Mount Ida. Here an inclosure of four acres, donated by Longworth, is the site of the Observatory. I had resolved not to ascend the hill, but after the procession had started, I rebuked myself for my pusillanimity, and sallied forth from the city … After incredible toil I reached the summit, as the procession were filing into the inclosure. I was duly badged, and found no difficulty in effecting an entrance. I pressed forward to the stand, and was congratulating myself with being within ear-shot, when Judge Burnet announced at the top of his lungs, that owing to the inclemency of the weather, the address would be

 Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, January 11, 1844.  Cincinnati Enquirer, November 10, 1843. 38  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 127. 39  Mary Jane Irwin. Journal of Miss Mary Jane Irwin (unpublished), [from the collection of Bonnie J. Speeg]. 36 37

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2  John Quincy Adams – The Great Orator delivered the next day at Wesley Chapel, and that Mr A. would proceed to lay the stone. This I made no effort to witness, although accompanied by some happy and impressive remarks, but joining Mr Miner, I found my way, as speedily as possible ‘back again’ … I arrived at home, completely jaded, and bedabbled with mud.40

On that rainy day John Quincy Adams’s words were brief, ending with: I do lay this cornerstone invoking the blessing of Him in whose presence we all stand, upon the building which is here to rise, and upon all the uses to which it will be devoted – upon the observators and other officers who may be employed in it – upon the society by whose will it is constructed; upon the people of the city where it will stand, and the State, to which they belong; and finally upon the North American Union, and the whole Brotherhood of Man. 41

Due to the weather it was decided that Adams would not give the full speech he had prepared at that time, but rather the next day at the Wesley Chapel.42 Meanwhile Adams would not be left to his own devices. That evening he was escorted by Judge Burnet to a venue where the Ladies of Cincinnati invited him to a Temperance Tea Party. There John C. Wright of the Cincinnati Gazette presented Adams to the ladies and Adams responded. Attorney Bellamy Storer made a speech and the Reverend Lyman Beecher, father of Harriet Beecher Stowe, made the closing benediction. Mr. Wright finally escorted Adams back to the Henrie House.43 The next morning, 10 November 1843, after breakfasting at the home of Dr. John Jones, the procession of the Astronomical Society escorted Adams to the Wesley Chapel. After the Reverend Joshua Wilson’s opening prayer, Judge Jacob Burnet introduced Adams who spoke for nearly two hours, delivering about half of his prepared speech (See Appendix 1). He re-stated many of the historical milestones of astronomy and spoke of its importance as a science of the future. After the speech the members of the Society unanimously adopted a resolution that re-named the Observatory site as Mt. Adams in his honor.44 Adams stayed and shook hands with the members of the Astronomical Society and others who wished it. With a crowd following him, he returned to the Henrie House.45 At the Wesley Chapel, Adams had satisfied his obligation to the citizens of Cincinnati, but his presence would still be celebrated and appreciated over the next several days. That same day he received numerous invitations including one from Governor James T.  Morehead of Kentucky to visit Covington, other deputations from Louisville and Lexington in Kentucky, and a deputation from Wayne County in Indiana. He declined most of these due to time constraints. In his diary for that  James Dunn, ed., A Choice Nook of Memory. The Diary of a Cincinnati Law Clerk, 1842–1844 (Columbus: The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1950): 50–51. 41  George Paulson, “Lighthouse of the Sky: John Quincy Adams Visits Cincinnati,” Timeline 18, no. 4 (July/August 2001): 2–15. 42  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 22–23. 43  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 127. 44  Cincinnati Gazette, November 11, 1843; Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, The Centenary, 23; Minutes of the Cincinnati Observatory, November 10, 1843. 45  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 128. 40

2.3  The Laying of the Cornerstone

39

same date Adams relates that earlier, “A sub-committee from a Committee of 15 of the coloured people came and enquired when I would receive them and I appointed tomorrow at ten.”46 There would be no respite for Adams that evening. He dined with the family and friends of a local citizen John Pendleton. He briefly returned to the Henrie House and then joined Mr. Walker, “… an impromptu acquaintance … ,” to attend a performance, already in progress, of the Comedy of London. After this, they attended a ball at the home of one of Cincinnati’s more opulent citizens, Mr. Springer. One might expect that this 76 year-old gentleman would be exhausted at this point but he found the event, “… splendid – the banquet sumptuous and temperate and the company genteel and lovely.”47 Adams began the next day with breakfast at the home of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. Mitchel shared with Adams a volume of observations, just received from the Imperial Observatory at Vienna, and some of the transparencies he himself used for illustration at his astronomical lectures. At 10:00 a.m. Adams received the ‘Committee of 15 of the coloured people of Cincinnati’ at the Henrie House. Committee member Gideon Quarles Langston spoke for about 30 minutes on behalf of the group. He thanked Adams for his continued efforts for people of color. In particular, he mentioned Adams’s defense in the case of the Amistad captives just two years earlier. Langston stated his regrets that his people did not have the opportunity to welcome Adams to their city along with their white fellow citizens. Blacks were barred from taking part in the official ceremony. Again obliged to respond to a speech, without time for preparation, Adams replied to the Committee in kind for about 15 min. His speech was reported by Edward Cranch, Adams believed substantially correct, in the Cincinnati Atlas (See Appendix 2).48 Later that day, Adams visited the exhibition of the Horticultural Society, accompanied by their President Mr. Buchanan. Next he met Nicholas Longworth, patron of the arts, and donor of the land for the Observatory. At noon, he attended the meeting of the Bar of Hamilton County, where Judge Este delivered a very complimentary address and Adams answered “… offhand as desperation dictated.” Adams attended a dinner with members of the Bar with more speeches and retired early.49 Still in Cincinnati on 12 November 1843, a Sunday, Adams declined a breakfast invitation to Mr. Guilford, ‘a respectable merchant,’ but made a point of stopping by his home on his way to attending services at the Unitarian church which was officiated by the young James Perkins. Adams ate with the Burnets after which they walked about town where he could see the Roman Catholic Cathedral. They attended another service at the Presbyterian Church where the inspirational Lyman Beecher

 John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 128.  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 128. 48  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 129; William Cheek and Aimee Lee Cheek, John Mercer Langston and the Fight for Black Freedom (University of Illinois: Illini Books, 1996):72; Licking Valley Register, November 11, 13 and 15, 1843; Times-Picayune, November 28, 1843. 49  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 129. 46 47

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40 Fig. 2.3 Cincinnati Observatory Cornerstone laid by John Quincy Adams. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

was preaching. After tea at the home of Edward Cranch, they again went to the Unitarian church where they heard Mr. Perkins speak, this time on Michelangelo.50 On the morning of 13 November 1843 Adams responded to one of his many invitations by visiting a Common School in the city of Covington, Kentucky across the river from Cincinnati. On his return to Cincinnati he took one last opportunity to visit the site of the laying of the cornerstone (Fig. 2.3). He wrote in his diary: Returning to Cincinnati, I rode with Judge Burnet and Professor Mitchel to the summit of Mount Adams, the spot where I laid last Thursday the corner stone of the Astronomical Observatory, The prospect from it now, of the city in the valley and of the surrounding hills, with the windings of the Ohio River, is beautiful … It is 450 feet above the river, and no better site could have been selected for the building to be erected … 51

The party returned to the Henrie House before Adams’s departure from Cincinnati. At 4:00 p.m. he was to embark on the steamer Benjamin Franklin which would take him as far as Pittsburgh for his return to his obligations in Washington, D.C.52 He was followed by a crowd to the quay where he took the time to say a few words of thanks and parting blessings: I have not the power to speak so as to be heard by the multitude I now see, and I must ask that those who hear me, shall report to the others what I say. Last Wednesday, the day I entered Cincinnati, was one of the happiest of my life; this, the day of my departure from you, is one of the saddest. Language fails me to express what I feel at the kindness I have received, and now that I am about to part from you, perhaps, forever, this continued manifestation of that kindness overwhelms me. I can only offer you my best, warmest thanks, and pray for you, and your posterity, as I do, the blessing of God. Farewell!53

Several days later, on 17 November 1843, Adams wrote of his Cincinnati experience, “That pageant was intended to promote the cause of science in the minds of people. It had a moral purpose, and important end, to the attainment of which I heartily concurred.”54

 John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 130.  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 131. 52  John Quincy Adams, The Diaries, 131. 53  Cincinnati Gazette, November 14, 1843. 54  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 25. 50 51

2.4 Conclusion

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2.4 Conclusion A researcher in the rhetoric of the nineteenth century, Marlana Portolano, said of John Quincy Adams, “Both in his annual addresses as president and in his later congressional rhetoric, Adams was one of the greatest political spokesmen for science, especially for pure or basic science in the 19th century.”55 Adams had to overcome the early-American mind-set of the utilitarian-only significance of astronomy. He attempted to appeal to the national patriotism of his fellow politicians and the public. Though he failed in bringing to fruition his own concept of a national observatory through the James Smithson bequest, he could enjoy some gratification in the part he played in the establishment and celebration of the observatories of the United States Navy, Harvard College, and Cincinnati. His legacy is acknowledged in the name of the location of the first public observatory in America as Mt. Adams in Cincinnati (Fig. 2.4). John Quincy Adams’s speech at the dedication of the Cincinnati Observatory was to be his last public speech.56 On 21 February 1848, serving his country and its citizens till the last, Adams suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage while on the floor of the House of Representatives. Two days later he died. He was 80 years old.57 The Cincinnati Astronomical Society called a special meeting, on learning of Adams death, to express their regret, and to plan a participation in a procession of mourning.58

Fig. 2.4  Cincinnati Observatory at Mt. Adams, 1848 Fontain & Porter Daguerreotype. (From the Collection of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County)  Portolano, “John Quincy Adams’s Rhetorical Crusade for Astronomy,” 480.  Rob Landis, “General Old Stars: The Blossoming of Astronomy in the United States,” Griffith Observer, 19, no. 2 (February 2005): 9. 57  Sultzer, Conception of Magnificence, 147, 158. 58  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, March 9, 1848. 55 56

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Appendices  ppendix 1: An Oration Delivered Before the Cincinnati A Astronomical Society on the Occasion of Laying of the Corner Stone of an Astronomical Observatory on the 10th of November, 1843 by John Quincy Adams (as Transcribed at the HathiTrust Public Domain Site, www.hathitrust.org, Original from the University of Michigan) FELLOW CITIZENS:If there be an individual in this assembly, who does not think, that (after hearing the eloquent discourse of my venerable friend, who has done me the honor of presenting me to you,) my own duty would be to hide my head in shame; I will say to myself, if I do not so, it is my respect for my friend that prevents me. Fellow Citizens – it is undoubtedly true, and has been a maxim in all time, for men desirous of obtaining approbation and praise from their contemporaries, to long for such praise from men entitled to praise themselves. And in that consideration, if I feel at this moment overwhelmed, by the kindness and partiality of my friend, I shall only ask it of you, as a favor, that you will indulge me with remaining silent concerning it. I come here for another purpose – I am about to address you for a term of time, which I am afraid you will all think far too long, upon a subject, in which I have no other personal interest and concern, than that of every individual upon the face of the earth. I came under a letter of invitation from the venerable gentleman himself, who is president of the society, formed in this city, for purposes useful to mankind, useful to our country, useful to the city to which you belong. It was in consideration of these circumstances, that when the invitation was extended to me, I found it impossible to hesitate a moment. I came upon the summons, believing that I was doing a service to my country and to mankind. As with these preliminary observations, you will permit me now to address you, in the manner requested in the invitation which I received. It is upon a topic far less interesting to you, than many others in which an interest is taken. It is about topics connected with dry, scientific inquiry, capable of no such display as many others. And it will appear to you to be dry, flat, and unprofitable. You will, therefore, indulge me by imputing this, partly to the subject, and not entirely to the speaker. The Oration Fellow Citizens of the Astronomical Society of Cincinnati, Fellow Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen

Appendices

43

When the people of thirteen colonies separately chartered by a succession of English kings, on a portion of the continent of North America, united to assume to themselves the transcendent powers of sovereignty, and to declare the ties of their allegiance to their sovereign beyond the seas, forever dissolved, they appealed for their justification in the performance of an act, which, without that resort would have been a crime of the deepest dye that can be committed by human hands – Treason against their country, to the Supreme judge of the world, and to the primitive rights bestowed by Him upon them and upon all mankind, by the laws of nature, antecedent and paramount to all human association, or human government – They appealed to their rights as men, and they declared that they held those rights to be self-evident truths – That they held them in common with all mankind; because all men were born equal – That bestowed as they were by God, their creator, they never could be divested of them, even by themselves, and much less could they be wrested from them, by the might of others – That unless forfeited by his own wrong every individual of the human race comes into being, endowed with those rights, and that if the whole compass of human power could be concentrated in one arm, it would be impotent to take away, however it might ravish or prostrate those rights personified in the meanest individual of the breed of man, crawling upon the face of the earth. What an exalted and sublime idea of the character of man! How must our nature swell with pride, at the consciousness of being members of a community by the fundamental principles of which, every soul belonging to it, is born to the inheritance of freedom; – Born with rights which he may forfeit by his own wrong, but otherwise inaccessible to human power! Government had never before been explicitly declared to be based on this foundation. Governments had by the people of England been declared to be founded on a compact between the sovereign and the people, and they had been classified as monarchies, aristocracies, or democracies, all of which had been said to be liable to degenerate: the monarchy into tyranny, the aristocracy into oligarchy, and the democracy into ochlocracy or the government of a lawless multitude. But it was admitted on all sides, by the votaries of each of the three simple forms, that government once instituted must necessarily be absolute and unlimited. And although the existence of primitive rights belonging to man at his birth, was admitted, it was asserted, that by entering into the social compact, man surrendered all his rights, and took in return, such as the ruling power was pleased to bestow upon him. The Declaration of Independence acknowledges no such principle. It recognizes no despotism, monarchical, aristocratic or democratic. It declares individual man, born with rights, of which, while blamelessly possessed, no government can deprive him. But by the very nature of the grant, the right can be possessed, only upon the condition, of respecting the same rights in all other men. The laws of nature and of nature’s God therefore are laws of duty, as well as laws of right. Nature says to every individual man, your rights are all held by the tenure of reverence for the same rights, in all other men. If you infringe the right of any other man, you place yourself at war with your brother, and in assailing any one of his rights, you make him the master of your own. The natural equality of mankind, is thus the parent of universal freedom. It follows irresistibly, from the fact, that man is at once a rational and a social being. His

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reason is given him by his Creator to govern his conduct through life, and he can neither be deprived of it by violence, nor can he transfer it to another. And hence the rights derived from it, are declared to be inalienable. There is a point of view, from which this new modeling of the institution of civil society, is to be considered, with reference to the special subject upon which I have been honored with your invitation at this time to address you. The intuitive genius of Shakespeare, which made the creative imaginations of the drama, the vehicle of inspiration to the noblest maxims, and the sublimest principles of morals, has said, in one of his immortal conceptions – “Nature never lends “The smallest parcel of her excellence, “But like a thrifty goddess she determines “Herself the glory of a creditor – “Both thanks – and use.”

The license of poetry, substitutes the name of Nature, as the handmaid of the omnipotent Creator of the worlds, and allows her to prescribe the conditions, and to exact the returns to the bounties which he bestows upon the creatures of his hands. It is God, the grants of whose favor, are instruments of beneficent power, and who in imparting them to his rational offspring, exacts the twofold return of thanks, and use. And thus the acknowledgment of the unalienable right of man to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is at the same time an acknowledgment of the omnipotence, the omniscience and the all-pervading goodness of God. Man thus endowed, is a being of loftier port, of larger dimensions, of infinitely increased and multiplied powers, and of heavier and deeper responsibilities, than man invested with no such attributes or capacities. If then it be true, that man is born with unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is equally true, that he is born under the deepest and most indispensable duties of ceaseless gratitude to his Maker, for the grant of these endowments, and of exercising, maintaining and supporting them, by all the faculties, intellectual and physical, with which he has been provided to that end. Nor is the duty less peremptory and irremissible, of holding and enjoying these rights, with the inviolate respect and observance of the same rights in others. Man is a social and a rational being; for the enjoyment of life, the wants of nature require, and the exercise of his liberty enables him to provide, from the world around him, food for his subsistence. In the pursuit of happiness, his first impulse is to the society of domestic life; by the exercise of liberty, this society is formed by mutual consent, and thus the foundation is laid of families, which, in process of time, swell into tribes, and tribes multiply into nations. The pursuit of happiness then, calls for the institution of governments, to regulate and adjust the collisions of interest and of passions, incident to the existence of civil society – to secure as far as the infirmities of human nature will admit, the rights of every one, by the organized and co-­ operating energy of all, and to harmonize the discordant elements of the social compact.

Appendices

45

Now the position to which I would invite your earnest and anxious consideration, is this: That the form of government, founded upon the principle of the natural equality of mankind, and of which the unalienable rights of individual man, are the corner stone, is the form of government best adapted to the pursuit of happiness, as well of every individual, as of the community. It is the only actual or imaginable human government, in which self-love and social, are the same; and I think I am fully warranted in adding, that in proportion as the existing governments of the earth, approximate to, or recede from, that standard, in the same proportion, is the pursuit of happiness, of the community and of every individual belonging to it, promoted or impeded, accomplished or demolished. It is the true republic of Montesquieu – the government, of which virtue is the seminal principle, and that virtue consisting of the love implanted in every bosom of the community of which it is a member. Of such a government, intense patriotism must be the vital spark; animated by the immortal spirit of Christian benevolence, which enjoins self-love as the standard of brotherly affection, and proclaims all mankind as a brotherhood of one kindred blood. The whole soul of every citizen of such a republic, must be devoted to improve the condition of his country and of mankind; while liberty allows and stimulates him to the constant exercise of all the faculties of body and of mind, with which he has been endowed by his Creator, to elevate, adorn and beautify the land of his nativity, or of his choice. Education multiplies and sharpens all these faculties. Liberty inspires his head with thought, and nerves his arm for action, while patriotism supplies a perpetual incentive to exertion. Man issues from the hand of his Maker, a frail and imperfect being. His life begins in helpless infancy, and closes in the clod of the valley. Evils, physical, moral, intellectual, beset his path from the cradle to the grave, and warn him that his condition here on earth, is a state of probation, to fit him for a fairer and a better world, toward which he is wending his toilsome way; and in his progress to which, every step of improvement in his present condition, approximates him to that boundary beyond which sorrow and grief are unknown, and where the pure in spirit will find that perfection, which must be denied to them on earth. In the pursuit of happiness, liberty is indispensable to the exercise of his faculties. Were his hands given him to be manacled or tied? Were his feet given him to be fettered or cramped into impotence? How absurd do these questions appear to you; and yet, read the history of your race, and see how they have been manacled, and fettered and cramped, till their limbs have been disabled, by torture, to the purposes for which they were given to them by their Maker. Man is a curious and inquisitive being, and the exercise of his reason, the immortal part of his nature, consists of inquiries into the relations between the effects which fall within the sphere of his observation, and their causes, which are unseen. The earth beneath his feet, and the vault of heaven over his head, are the first objects, in physical nature, which force themselves upon his observation, and invite him to contemplation. The earth and the sky, elements so different in their nature, yet indissolubly united by the mysterious mandate of Almighty power, indicate to his perception, and foreshow to his reason, the condition of his own existence, compounded

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of body and soul, of matter and of mind. The earth ministers to each and all of his senses, the knowledge of its physical properties. He sees, hears, feels, inhales and tastes of earth and its productions, adapted to his subsistence, and to the necessities of his life on earth. The sky is accessible only to his sight, and although peopled with splendors, dazzling in brightness and infinite in numbers, still presents to his bewildered imagination only the lights of the firmament, like a halo of glory surrounding the universe, but glowing at distances too remote to come within the reach of any other of his senses. He soon discovers, that distant as the great luminary of heaven may be from the earth, yet the earth could not exist without his generative beams; and that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth forth his handy work. He turns to the heavens his eyes, and inquires what are those innumerable spangles glowing on the brow of night, and extending into the regions of infinite space, till the visual orbs of man, can no longer follow, or discern them. Still he looks and searches for causes, as new celestial phenomena daily and nightly disclose themselves to his view, till the observation of the stars ripens into an art, and the germ of astronomical science has taken root in his memory. – Among the earliest of his wants for the conduct of his life, are standards for the division of time. In the revolutions of the earth round her axis, he finds the divisions of day and night. In her revolution in her orbit round the sun, he finds the succession of years; and in the phases of the moon around herself, the measure of the month. So peculiarly adapted to the nature of man, is the study of the heavens, that of all animated nature, his bodily frame is constructed, as if the observation of the stars was the special purpose of his creation. This peculiar adaptation of the mechanism of the human body, has not escaped the notice of the most ingenious of the Roman poets, who, in his fabulous account of the creation, by, he knows not what God, in concluding with the production of man, says, that while other animals were formed to look downwards to the earth, he gave to man a heavenward looking face, to gaze at the sky, and commanded him to raise his head, and turn his eyes toward the stars – Pronaque, dum spectant animalia cetera terram; Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.

Nor was it curiosity alone, which prompted the mind of the primitive man, to search the secrets of the skies. Nature unfolds to him in the structure of the firmament, scenes of unparalleled magnificence, wonder, and astonishment. In leaving to man the task of ascertaining the causes of the phenomena which he is intensely and incessantly occupied in observing, she seems devoted to the purpose of baffling his anxious inquiries, and sporting with his honest exertions. There are numerous optical illusions in the apparent movement of the heavenly bodies, and the report of the orb of vision, is never consistent with itself; never consists of the truth. The imagination becomes heated, and shadows the forms of things unknown. Superstition takes possession of the soul and the universe swarms with spectral shadows, ministering mischief and agonizing the bosom with ideal wretchedness. The first inquiry which presses itself upon the observation, is to ascertain how far the movement of the stars bears on the condition of his own existence. He sees the constant influence,

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beneficent or pernicious of the sun, upon the earth and all her inhabitants. He sees that the sun-beam is the source of all animal and vegetable life, and that the same sun-beam withers the plant at its root, curdles the blood in the pestilence, and speeds the bolt of death in the lightning’s fork. This indissoluble connection between earth and heaven, is palpable and unquestionable. But the same firmament, in one small portion of which, the sun and his tributary planets revolve, swarms with smaller lights, besides the moon, to his untutored eye of dimensions, equal to those of the sun himself. He has not yet learnt, that relative distances cannot be measured by the apparent size of the object surveyed; but in the progress of his studies, he will discover a method of measuring heights and distances, which will refute the testimony of his naked vision, and rectify the error of his eye. He cannot fail speedily to perceive, that of the nightly visitants over his head, there are two distinct classes of stars, all apparently rising from the horizon, moving in sublime grandeur and harmony from east to west and returning from day to day to the horizon again. So deep is this deception of the human eye, that although to the searching ken of science, the error is demonstrated, beyond the shadow of a doubt, and the fact placed beyond all controversy, that the apparent rolling of the firmament from east to west, is only the rolling of the earth round her axis from west to east, yet the stubbornness of man’s belief in the testimony of his senses, never acknowledges their mistake; and all mankind, the simple and the learned; the most sublimated astronomer, and the idlest school-boy, throughout their lives, continue to speak of the rising and setting of the sun, moon and stars, as if these were the real movements of the celestial orbs, and as if the earth, on whose surface we live, was stationed in eternal repose. Ages and ages pass away, before even the discovery of this error is made, but, in the meantime, man is continually gazing at the lamps of heaven, and in the lapse of centuries, successively detects many of their real movements, the laws by which they are regulated, their dimensions, their distances from the earth and from one another, their specific gravities, and all, but the purposes of their creation. It is soon perceived, that the sun, the moon, and one of the two classes of stars, though appearing from day to day to change their places in the celestial hemisphere, within which they are suspended, that yet, that the range of their excursive motion is confined within one narrow belt of the surrounding orb, and in the successive vicinity of one and the same portion of the clusters of stars of the second class fixed within that limited circle, while the other class if stars are apparently immoveable in the firmament, and although, moving with inconceivable velocity, yet in regions of space so remote, that the distances between them, cannot be made sensible to the human eye, so that they seem always fixed in one and the same spot of the blue expanse. They acquire thus the denomination of fixed stars. The annual revolution of the earth in her orbit round the sun, brings that luminary successively in contact, or as it is usually called, in conjunction with a succession of the same groups of stars, and while in this conjunction with them, he extinguishes, in a flood of his own splendor, all those seemingly lesser lights. At an age, in the history of the earth, so remote, that the memory of it has vanished from the records of antiquity, the zone of the heavens, through the range of which the sun and planets appear to pass, has been divided into twelve clusters of

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equal dimensions, each passing in the compass of two hours, before the eyes of the beholder. With the aid of fancy, these constellations have been fashioned into the shape of animals, or men, and the imaginary circle has been denominated the zodiac. The superstition inspired in the early ages, into the soul of man, by the wonders unfolded to his vision, flies to the resort of fabulous invention, and a spiritual world of numberless gods is formed, which connects a tale of human action and suffering, with every constellation in the skies. From the influence of the sun upon the fortunes of the earth, and of her inhabitants, the conception follows, that the stars, which revolve with him, must possess a proportion of the same influence; nor is the conjecture unnatural, that this influence of the sun, must be portentous, increased and various, modified when mingled with that of all the other stars, whose radiance, when in conjunction with him, is all absorbed in his own. A system of romance, is woven by superstition, into the annual revolution of the globe, and the labors of Hercules become the personification of the sun through the zodiac. The same process divides the year into twelve months, which were supposed to be of thirty days each, and thus, for many ages, the year was accounted to consist of 360 days. But the revolution of the moon round the earth, which constitutes the lunar months, is performed in twenty nine days, and from 8 to 16 h. Twelve lunations are thus performed in 354 days. It required no very protracted experience, to ascertain, the want of five additional days, to the 360, which had been assumed as an approximation to the exact amount of one change of the four seasons. It became an object of intense interest, to discover a common measure, by which the respective periods of the sun and moon might be so combined, as to bring them to precisely the same relative position towards each other, and it was found to be of 223 lunations. But among the stars, which, in the course of each revolving year, the sun obliterates for a season, and then restores to a splendor next in glory to his own, is Sirius, or the dog star. He was worshipped as a God, by the Egyptian shepherds, and they watched his heliacal rising, after several weeks of concealment from his rays. From that day, they dated the commencement of their year. A uniform experience of centuries, disclosed to them, that, although the star regularly rises at the expiration of 365 days from his last previous emerging from the sun-beam, yet that one day more will be required for his re-appearance, at the end of every fourth year. Six hours then, was to be added, to complete the solar year, and the calendar was reformed accordingly. But this great reformation, is comparatively of modern date, having in the Roman history been first accomplished by JULIUS CAESAR. At the end of twelve centuries, from the time when the Jewish passover, transformed into the Christian festival of Easter, by the decree of the council of Nice, in the year 325 from the birth of Christ, the precise duration of the solar year was more accurately fixed, by subtracting eleven minutes and as many seconds from the over allowance of six hours to the 365 days composing it. The Gregorian Calendar was then framed to a measurement of the solar year, consisting of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 49 seconds, which is so near the real average time of the earth in its orbit round the sun, that there cannot be a loss of one day in less than 4000 years. The origin of the science of Astronomy, is lost in the darkness of antiquity. It has been ascribed to an antedeluvian people, inhabiting the region of Mauritania, and of

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whom ATLAS, the inventor of the sphere, was the king. When the race of Adam, in the progress of their degeneracy and corruptions, lost all memory of the true and only God, the Creator of the worlds, they fell into foul idolatry, surrendered themselves to all the delusions of a fiery and flighty imagination, and created numberless gods, among whom, every star had a ruling spirit. They also fancied that gifted mortals of the human family, were changed into gods, and placed among the stars. Astronomy thus became associated with false religion; and judicial Astrology, born of wild superstition, usurped the place of the genuine and legitimate science. The sun and moon were worshiped as chief, among the gods, and the fabulous invention of Greece, traced their origin to the twins of Latona, born on the Island of Delos, children of Jupiter, the father of gods and men, and sovereign of Olympus. With these attributes of power, the divinities stationed in the stars, were invested with absolute control over the fortunes and fates of every individual of the human race, and these fortunes and fates, were believed to be foreshadowed and predestined by the peculiar conjunction of certain stars, at the moment of the infant’s birth. These visions of romance, were expanded and multiplied into a great, complicated system, blending together the fabrications of perverted history, the imaginations of judicial Astrology and the devoted studies of physical Astronomy. It is easy to conceive, how this amalgamation of truth and falsehood, of the most absurd forgeries of a boundless imagination, with the profound investigation of the real secrets of nature, must have obstructed the progress of real science. – From the moment that the tillage of the earth became the occupation of man, for the subsistence and multiplication of the species, it became of transcendant importance to ascertain the precise duration of the solar year, as the measure of time; and the exercise of religious worship, all adapted to the successive seasons of the year, furnished from time to time the approaches to a perfect accuracy of computation. From the lunar twelve months of three hundred and fifty-four days, to the twelve equal months of thirty days each, making three hundred and sixty, and thence to three hundred and sixty-five, the approximation was effected by the revolution of the seasons themselves. The commencement of the year was fixed at the conjunction of the full moon with the vernal equinox, and then it was, that the labors of the field commenced. The Sabbath, one day in seven, was enjoined as a holiday for religious worship and for repose and refreshment, from continual toil, and the subsequent festivals throughout the year, were adapted to the day of every new moon, and to the ingathering of the harvest at the end of the year. At the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, the Passover was instituted precisely at this commencement of the year, the combined full moon and vernal equinox. These institutions were, in all probability, a portion of that learning of the Egyptians, in which Moses had been initiated, and laid the foundation of the Jewish Passover, still maintained at this day in the modified form of the Christian commemoration of the day of the resurrection of their Lord and Mastre from the dead. All the other religious solemnities of the year, were adapted to this, and they soon brought the demonstration, that three hundred and sixty-five days were required, to complete the revolution of the year. The additional quarter of a day, was discovered by a religious festival, not of the Hebrews, but of the Egyptians, as I have already said, by the annual heliacal rising of the dog-star. And the final

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retrenchment of eleven minutes and eleven seconds, from the annual six hours, was again discovered in the fact, that the celebration of the festival of Easter, for twelve hundred years, the Julian calendar had encroached on the space of real time, the amount of ten days. To the art of Navigation, the observation of the stars is no less tributary. But navigation itself is an art which can scarcely be said to have been known to the ancients. Whatever of adventure upon the ocean was undertaken by them, could extend to but very short distances from the sight of land. The straits of Gibralter, by the name of the pillars of Hercules, and the Shetland Islands, by the name of the Ultima Thule, were deemed the extremities of the earth; and less than half a century before the daring voyage of Columbus, Vasco de Gama had opened the way to India, only by doubling the Cape of Storms. The path of navigation was indeed precariously pointed out by the stars, but a beclouded sky left the mariner without a pilot or a guide, other than the land within his sight. The polarity of the magnet, with all its yet unexplained, perhaps not inexplicable wonders, was yet a secret in the bosom of the Creator, nor has it yet been more than half revealed. To what favored mortal, the whisper of Omnipotence to man was indulged, that the suspended needle would turn in sympathy to the pole, the memory of heedless or ungrateful man, has not recorded; but notwithstanding the pretension that China, locked up in a dungeon as she has been for numberless ages, has been all the time possessed of this secret, without ever profiting by it, not withstanding that in the Odyssey of Homer, a passage of ambiguous import seems to indicate, that the man of many woes, the visitant of many cities, the crafty chieftain from Ithaca to the ten years siege of Troy, had a ministering spirit to conduct him in safety over, and through the rock bound seas. The voice of authentic history has pronounced, that the Mariner’s compass was invented at Amalfi, in Italy, on the shores of the Mediterranean, in the twelfth century of the Christian Era. In less than three centuries from that day, Christopher Columbus, of Genoa, sailed from the port of Palos in Spain, and spreading his sails to the breeze or the gale, plunged, in search of another passage way to India, into the Cimmerian darkness, of unknown oceans, with the polar needle for his only guide. He found not what he sought, the shores of Hindoston by a western track: but he found what he had not imagined, two intervening continents to block up his way, little inferior in extent to the whole eastern hemisphere. Upon this discovery of the polarity of the magnetic needle, it may be remarked, as upon multitudes of other occasions in the history of human sciences, what hidden links of sympathy bind them all together. Astronomy is the study of the movements of the stars, which appear suspended in the skies at immeasurable distances from the observer. To the skies, the God of nature first commands him to turn his eyes. From the daily revolution of the Earth round her axis, the monthly revolution of the moon round the earth, and the yearly revolution of the earth and moon round the sun, a combined standard measure of time is found, uniting in harmony, the three great and indispensable divisions of days, months and years. It is thus from the skies, that the inhabitant of the earth is provided with a measure of time, without which, the mind of man would be unconscious of its own succession of ideas, and of course unable to trace the connexion

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between effects and their causes, and incapable of the exercise of reason. Thus it is, that From harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began –

and thus it is, that the succession of thought, and the music of the spheres, is the chorus of Angels conveying to man the inspiration of the Almighty, which giveth him understanding. The declination of the sun from the winter to the summer solstice northward, and from the summer to the winter solstice southward of the equator, was among the earliest of Astronomical observations: It cannot escape the notice of any human eye accustomed to witness, from day to day, throughout the year, the rising and the setting sun. Its cause was reserved for the discovery of the Grecian philosopher, Anaximander, the pupil of Thales, the first of the Greeks, who devoted his talents and his life, to the investigation of the mechanism of the Universe. The cause of this phenomenon is the obliquity of the ecliptic, or the angle of inclination of the plane in which the earth rolls round in her orbit, to the plane of the equator, or imaginary circle, which divides the globe into two hemispheres. From the same cause, the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and stars from day to day, is not in a perpendicular, but in a slanting direction. The arch in the firmament, daily described by the fixed stars, is, with the exception of the almost imperceptible precession of the equinoxes, always the same on any given spot of the earth – but that of the sun, moon and planets, varies in right ascension from day to day; though all except the four new discovered planets, within the range of the Zodiac. In the daily arch described by the sun, his movement is, precisely half the time he is above the horizon, ascending, and half the time descending; and at the precise point of time when he ceases to ascend, and begins to culminate, the eye of the observer looking southward, meets an imaginary perpendicular line, crossing the zenith over his head, passing through the northern pole, and returning to its origin at the south. This is the meridian, and it is by the passage of the sun over this line, that the solar day is divided into two equal parts. The passage of the heavenly bodies over this line, is thus ascertained to a second of time, and the observation of that moment, continues to this day, to be one of the most important operations of the science. Its first result was to furnish the most simple, and most perfect instrument, for the subdivision of the day into hours, minutes and seconds; the sun dial invented by ANAXIMANDER. It is but to place a spindle in the centre of several concentric circles, so that the shadow of the spindle shall be formed by the rays of the sun. At whatever point of the circle, the point of the spindle terminates on the western side of the meridian line, in the morning, the interval between that point and the meridian will be precisely equal to a similar point eastward of the meridian, when the shadow of the spindle, lengthened by the descending sun, reaches the corresponding point of the same circle in the afternoon. The lapse of time for the shadow of the spindle to pass from the point west, to the meridian, and from the meridian, and the point east of the same circle, will be precisely the same. The morning measure, gives an unerring standard for the extension

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of the other; and the observer has a sliding scale, with which he can subdivide the solar day into as many equal parts, as his convenience, or his pleasure may require. This is the principle of the Sun Dial, invented by ANAXIMANDER, and thus was obtained a perfect measure of the succession of time, from the hundredth part of a second to numbers of centuries, lost in the boundless regions of infinitude. The fixation of the equinoctial and solstitial points follows close upon that of the meridian line, and they mark the bounds of the zodiac – and these lead to the disclosure of the distinction between the planets, which are appendages of our solar system, and the fixed stars: themselves central suns to other systems, swarming throughout the regions of space. The planets are known by their continual apparent changes of place, on the firmament, by their alternate declination, north and south of the equator and by their varying right ascension, always observable with the naked eye. These few wanderers, amidst the numberless multitudes of apparent fixtures to the vault of heaven, were recognized in very early ages. The planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, were successively discovered, and down to within our own age, were supposed, universally to be the only planets belonging to our system. Within the last century, however, the glazier and the musician have doubled the number of planets. In 1780, a musician, a native of Germany settled in England, by long continued observation, accidentally perceived a star of the 7th magnitude, invisible to the naked eye, which had changed its place in the interval, between two successive observations. The star had been marked in the catalogue of Flamstead as a fixture, and since that day had performed little more than one revolution of its orbit; nor has it yet, since its discovery as a planet, completed one such revolution. The imaginary lines of the equinoxes, the solstices and the meridian were followed by two others, denominated the colures, and the armillary sphere was completed. The remarkable constellations of the zodiac, were divided into twelve signs, through each of which, the sun appears to pass in twenty-four hours. Each of these signs was historically connected with the fabulous mythology of Greece and Rome, and each star was the personification, or the abode of some one of the divinities of the heathen. But, besides the daily occurring phenomena of the movements of the sun, moon, planets and fixed stars, at all times, with a clear sky exposed to the eye, and stimulating to reflection, there are occasional phenomena happening, at distant, and unequal distances of time, -striking to the eye, and terrific to the imagination. The first impression of the daily phenomena, having been that the stars themselves were animated, immortal beings, invested with indefinite power over the lives and fortunes of men, the incessant repetition of the same appearances, familiarized the minds of men to them, till they ceased to excite in any bosom, the sensation of hope or of fear. But it was not so with the unfrequent and unforeseen appearance of eclipses, and of comets, which never exhibited their forms in the sky, without exciting panic, terrors and agonizing distress. The eclipses of the sun and moon, usually being visible two or three times in the course of every year, lose their alarming character in proportion as their appearances multiply, and the enquiries into their causes, are multiplied and pursued by minds of various intellectual energies. The eclipses of the sun are occasioned by the passage of the moon between him and the earth,  – the opaque body of the moon, intercepting the rays of the sun in their

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passage to the earth, and the eye of the beholder resting upon the dark body of the moon. The eclipses of the moon are caused by the passage of the earth between her and the sun. The eye rests on the body of the moon, covered and darkened by the shadow of the earth, falling upon the moon in a tapering cone from the two sides of the globe, and alighting upon her disk. In both cases, the eye rests upon the body of the moon, in the solar eclipse, totally black, by the total privation of the sun’s effulgence – in the lunar eclipse overshadowed by the shade of the earth herself, extended like the frustrum of a cone, sometimes over the whole of the moon’s disk. In a total eclipse of the sun the moon covers his whole disk, and at his place is seen nothing, but a black spot, covering his whole disk, and looking like a blot on the fair face of heaven. The eclipse of the moon always happens at the full, and with her illuminated side turns towards the earth. The light of the sun is not extinguished, but the shadow falls on her luminous disk with a dark smoky color, seldom covering her whole disk. A very small portion of the eclipses, whether of the sun or of the moon are total, and the appearances of partial eclipses are infinitely varied. Terror and consternation spread universally, at these sports of nature with the passions of man, while their causes remain unrevealed. But when once disclosed they are found to be among the simplest and most harmless operations of nature. The interposition of an opaque body, between the light of a lamp, and any object upon which it sheds its beams, produces all the apparitions visible in these planetary conjunctions and oppositions, and reveals the whole theory of solar and lunar eclipses. By continual persevering observation of the skies, the discovery cannot fail to be made, and when the measure of time, comes once to be made, and the periodical revolutions of the sun, moon and planets, combined together, are so perfectly ascertained it is one of the easiest tasks of the Astronomer, to predict within a minute of time, when any given eclipse of the sun or moon will take place, for thousands of years to come: and there are memorable instances in history, of the use made by a nation possessed of this secret, to subdue their enemies uninstructed of the same knowledge. That it was known to the ancient Chaldeans, is known by the calculations of eclipses found by CALLISTHENES at Babylon, and transmitted to ALEXANDER, embracing a period backward in the lapse of time, of more than two thousand years. The annexation and adherence of comets to our solar system, is a secret among the more recondite mysteries of nature; and signalized by exhibitions to the vision of man, still more terrific and astounding than those of the eclipses. The intervals between the apparitions of those fiery visitors from infinite space, are longer and more frequent than of eclipses. The phenomena attending the appearance of comets, are of occurrence so rare, their movements are so irregular, and the fiery trail that they draw behind them is so terrific, that their existence, and the laws by which they are governed as part of our system, are far less accessible to the observation of the human eye, than the revolutions of the planets. Two centuries have not yet elapsed since the discovery made by Dr. HALLEY; that the comets have, like the planets, stated periods of revolution in their elliptical orbits round the sun. But their numbers, and the extent of their range over infinite space in the firmament, are not yet known, nor likely to be so, for centuries to come. The continual variations from day to day, of the declinations and right ascension of the planets, indicating movements precisely

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similar to those of the sun and moon, soon lead to the conclusion that they form a part of one system. The planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, form together a combination of cotemporaneous movements, which it requires ages of continuous observation to disentangle. The earth herself with her attendant satellite, the moon, is one of the planets; though being the abode of the observer, and her surface the station from which he observed, he has not the same elements for calculation of her movements as of the rest. It is soon found that the orbits of Mercury and Venus, are included within that of the earth, and those of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, at proportionate lengthened distances from the sun, as the distance of each planet increases its orbit, enlarges and encloses within itself the orbits of all the planets nearer to the sun than itself. Thus, as the orbit of the earth includes within itself those of Venus and Mercury, and is included within those of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the simultaneous observation of all these movements, runs into a scrall inexplicable to all but the most intense application and perseverance of the human intellect. The revolution of the planet Mercury round the sun, is performed in the space of three months – that of the earth in one year – that of Jupiter in twelve, and that of Saturn in thirty years. All these discoveries were made by the Astronomers of antiquity. It was reserved for the vision of an observer of the eighteenth century, to discover the planet now called Uranus, the revolution of which, in its orbit is performed in 80 years. Since which, four other planets have been discovered within the region, between Mars and Jupiter. Of these last four planets, there is this remarkable peculiarity, that their orbits, much interlocked with each other, extend beyond the belt of the zodiac. The daily variation of the declination and right ascension of the sun and moon, are so conspicuous to the eye of every beholder, that they cannot escape notice for any length of time. The star planets exhibit varieties of movement of the same character, less exposed to the naked vision; but being objects of so much smaller apparent size, are not so easily or so soon detected; but are ultimately recognized as parts of the same organized, complicated machine. The process of Astronomical discovery, is uniform in its operation. The object is first perceived as it presents itself to the eye. When that is sufficiently fixed, the reasoning faculty commences the search for causes, and then the inventive powers are put in requisition, for the application to useful purposes, of the discoveries that have been made. In observing the revolutions of the planets in their orbits, the optical delusions are multiplied, the movements themselves are complicated, consisting of the movement of the planet itself, combined with the simultaneous movement of the earth, and the alternate conjunction and opposition of the sun; and they give to the movement of the planet, the deceptive appearance of irregular motion; sometimes direct, at others retrograde – now slackening, and now accelerated, and occasionally stationary – but patient and persevering observation, discloses all the thread of the texture, Untwisting all the ties, that bind The hidden soul of harmony.

Whatever of Astronomical science may have been acquired by the earliest Asiatic and African monarchies, which succeeded the confusion of Babel, the first schools of philosophy in Greece, are known to have originated about six hundred and fifty

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years before the Christian era. THALES of Miletus, is the first of the Grecian sages known to posterity, as having been versed in the science of Astronomy, and as having contributed to its progress. He was cotemporary with the prophet JEREMIAH, and with king AHAZ, whose sun dial was the subject of a miracle, which proves beyond all question, that the use of the dial was familiarly known, and had been so for ages, in the kingdom of Judah. The Argonautic expedition is the first event in Grecian history, showing the existence of a confederated government, carrying with it an art of navigation, and a science of Astronomy. THALES was the first of the wise men of Greece, and is, also, the first of Grecian Astronomers. He acquired in Egypt, all the astronomical knowledge that he possessed; and is said to have taught the Egyptian priests to measure the height of the pyramids, by the length of their shadows. He founded the Ionian school of philosophy. He taught that the stars are of the same substance with the Earth, but kindled into a flame. That the light of the moon is but borrowed from the sun. That she causes the eclipses of the sun, by interposing between the sun and the moon, and that the moon is eclipsed by the shadow of the earth. He taught that the earth was a globe, and divided into five circles, the arctic and antarctic, the two tropics and the equator. The obliquity of the ecliptic, and the perpendicular of the meridian, were also familiar to his school. The circles of the sphere are a mechanical invention, to describe the regions of the earth, and corresponding regions of the heavens; the forms of the constellations, and the distribution of the fixed stars. Yet two hundred and fifty years after his death, the first of Greek historians, HERODOTUS, in speaking of a solar eclipse, says, that the sun abandoned his place in the skies, and left it to night. THALES is said to have been the first man who foretold a solar eclipse. It is said, also, that he measured, the diameter of the sun. His successor in the Ionian school, ANAXIMANDER, was the inventor of geographical maps. And he was the first, who held that the sun, was a ball of fire, with the earth revolving round it. He believed, also, in the plurality of worlds; and held, also, that the moon receives her light from reflection, from the sun, but has, besides a feebler light of her own. ANAXIMANDER was succeeded by ANAXIMENES, of the same city, and said to have been, the inventor of the sun-dial. But, this is not possible, for it has been remarked, that the sun-dial was familiarly known in the days of AHAZ, who lived 200 years before ANAXIMENES. There is no doubt, that the dial was a Chaldean invention, and it is highly probable, that the pyramids, were among other uses, intended for dials, on a larger scale. ANAXAGORAS, of Clazomene, was the disciple and successor of ANAXIMENES. Like all the Grecian philosophers, in speculating upon the visible objects of the Creation, in eager pursuit of the causes of the natural phenomena exposed to the senses, whenever the fact did not appear sufficient for its own explanation, they resorted to conjecture, and they formed theories so wild, and extravagant, that we now wonder how they could ever have entered into the heads of rational men. ANAXAGORAS was so much absorbed in the contemplation of the heavens, that he neglected his worldly concerns; that, upon being asked, whether he had no time for his country, he pointed to the sky, and exclaimed, – there is my country. Yet, ANAXAGORAS, from the single fact, of the falling of a stone from the sky, a

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phenomenon of repeated, and well authenticated occurrence, both in the old and in the new world, imagined that the whole firmament was one mass of stone. That the stars, were small parcels of the substance of the earth, evaporated from the agency of fire, and suspended, as inflamed globes, in the atmosphere. He maintained, also, that the sun was a blazing torch, larger than the Peloponessus, and that the moon was larger than the earth. For these, and other profound and ingenious speculations, upon the nature of matter, and of mind, ANAXAGORAS was, as usual, persecuted. He was a Unitarian, and declared his opinion, that there was but one God. He taught the true causes of eclipses, by the interposition of the moon between the earth and the sun, and of the interposition of the earth between the sun and the moon. He was accused of impiety to the Gods, for believing that there was but one God, and for affirming, what is now universally known to be true, that eclipse is nothing more than the interposition of an opaque body, between a luminary and the object on which it shines. He was accused of impiety to the Gods – tried, convicted, and condemned to death: which sentence, at the suggestion of PERICLES, was commuted for banishment. The opinions of ANAXAGORAS, upon the materiality, size, distance, and relative magnitude of the sun, moon, and stars, illustrate the progress of the science of Astronomy, in enlarging the compass of the human mind, as well as the immensity of the material universe. That the mind of ANAXAGORAS was of the highest order of human intellect, is evident in the nature of the subjects on which it habitually, perseveringly and passionately dwelt. – The mind, capable of rising, by its native energies, to the conception of one, and only one Supreme Ruler of the universe – capable of ascending to the idea of its own ultimate destination in the skies, was of no ordinary stamp – and yet, how infinitely small, was the range of its contemplations, when we find it estimating the mass of matter in the sun, as comparable, in volume, to that of the Peloponnessus; the moon larger than the earth, and the stars as parcels of this terrestrial globe itself! When we see the first Herschel, bring within the field of one glance of his telescope, 36,000 solar systems in a nebulae, into what nothing, sink the estimates of ANAXAGORAS. The Ionian school, was transferred by ANAXAGORAS and ARCHELAUS, from Miletus to Athens, while, about the same time, another school of philosophy, was founded by PYTHAGORAS. This is one of the most remarkable personages of all antiquity, and his principal residence having been at Crotona, his school was known by the name of the Italic, His system of philosophy, like that of THALES, embraced the principles of morals, no less that the science of physical nature. He had, before attempting to introduce his institution, established a reputation for wisdom and virtue, so transcendent, that his moral instructions were issued, in the form of self-evident truths, and indisputable commands, so that, if upon any precept given by him, any question was ever made, the answer of his disciples, – “He said it,” silenced all objections. In our own times, in all the intercourse of society, there is a freedom of thought, and of speech, held so inviolable, that we find it difficult to believe that such despotic authority of intellect, should ever have been established, and submitted to, between man and man, otherwise equals. PYTHAGORAS, was a native of the Island of Sidon, the son of a sculptor, of Samos, and bred to the

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profession of a common wrestler. But, in attendance upon the discourses of PHERACYCLES, on the immortality of the soul, his own spirit took wing to the future world, and he devoted his life to philosophy. Morals, Politics, Mathematics, Astronomy, Natural History, and domestic economy, all were included in his school of philosophy, for the very name of which, the world is indebted to him. He modestly disclaimed the name of sage, or wise man, which the distinguished men of learning, had assumed, before him, and called himself, only a lover of wisdom. In every department of intellectual improvement, no individual of the human race, without the bounds of divine inspiration, ever bestowed more rays of light, upon the soul of his fellow creature, man, than PYTHAGORAS. His golden verses, are rules of life, as admirable at this day, as when first composed. His rules of justice, and mercy, and of sympathy with the human race, approach as near to Christian perfection, as ever had been attained before the advent of the Messiah. He was the discoverer of that mathematical theorem, the foundation of trigonometry, navigation; the mensuration of heights and distances – I might almost say, of all mathematics – a discovery not made by accident, or mere good fortune; but, wrought out with the most elaborate mental exertions, and for which, when accomplished, he is said to have exclaimed,  – I have found it: and sacrificed a hecatomb to the Gods. The immense stride in the advancement of the science of Astronomy, by this discovery between the sides of a right-angled triangle, can scarcely be conceived; but, PYTHAGORAS is further entitled to the credit, of having given the first hint of the Copernican system, now universally admitted, that the earth revolves around the sun. The next most renowned Grecian contributor, to the science of Astronomy, was METON, the calculator, who invented the cycle of 19 years, which bears his name, and is familiar to all our almanacs, under the name of golden number. It rests upon the assumption, that, 19 solar years, are in time, precisely equal to 235 lunar months, which is correct within a space of two hours. METON presented the tables, and an explanation of his cycle, at the Olympic games, of Greece, 432 years before Christ; it was immediately accepted, and the first cycle commenced with that year. It has continued, to the present time, and the golden number of the present year, is 1. The age of SOCRATES, and PLATO, followed close upon that of METON, and, it is generally believed, that SOCRATES, by confining his philosophical investigations to mind, and morals, rather discouraged, than promoted, the application of the faculties of the soul, to the phenomena of physical nature. A similar prejudice has prevailed among many of the eminent teachers of mankind, from that time to the present, whether, because the study of physical nature, combined with that of the mathematics (and, without this combination, nothing useful to mankind can ever be accomplished by the study,) necessarily requires more painful and toilsome exercise of the intellectual faculties, than speculations upon morals, religion, politics, and the sports of imagination; or, whether, in these studies, there is something more congenial to the nature of a being, compounded of perishable and immortal elements, the philosophers of associated man, have found more favor with their pupils, than the searchers into causes, necessarily leading up to the first cause, impenetrable to human search. The vulgar fable of the Astronomer, who, in gazing upon the stars, stumbles into a ditch, though, probably, first devised only to deride the devotion of

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weak and superstitious minds, to the absurd and baseless visions of Astrology, has an unfortunate tendency, to deter the inclinations of the young, from the sublimest and the most useful of all contemplations, to the meditative and energetic mind, – the structure of that universe, of which itself is an imperishable, though an infinitely diminutive atom. The poet, who sang, – the proper study of mankind, is man, narrowed down the faculties of the human soul to a nut-shell. Man, is, no doubt, the proper study of mankind, – but, so is nature – So is that world, in which he is placed, in probation, with rights to enjoy, and duties to fulfil – So is that Being, all wise, all good, all powerful, his creator, and his judge – So is that firmament, over his head – So is that earth, under his feet – So is that atmosphere, which is his breath of life – So are those waters, over which he must learn to float, but in which he cannot live – So are those animal, vegetable, and mineral realms of nature, given him by the bounty of his Maker, for food and raiment, for strength, beauty, and grace. – All, all, are studies for mankind, as proper, and as necessary, as man himself. And such, no doubt, was the sentiment of SOCRATES, and of PLATO. We know, that it was in the school of PLATO, that the Greeks learnt to trace the causes of the celestial phenomena; though his own conjectures of those causes, the cycle and epicycle, orb in orb, were erroneous. His friend EUDOXUS, like himself, sought for learning among the priests of Egypt. He learnt, also, from the Chaldeans, and, although he made no discoveries himself, he had the merit of separating the real, from the spurious science, and of devoting himself to the study of Astronomy, while he rejected, and spurned, the imposture of Astrology. He was followed by ARISTOTLE, PYTHEAS, and the Alexandrian school. EUDEMUS, and THEOPHRASTUS, wrote each a history of Astronomy, but neither of those works has been preserved from the scythe of Time. The poem of ARATUS, on the phenomena of the heavens, more fortunate, has not only survived, but has enjoyed the glorious privilege, of two several translations, into Latin verse; by two of the most illustrious names of Republican and Imperial Rome  – by CICERO, and by GERMANIAN CAESAR. ARATUS was the first, who gave a new charm to the study of Astronomy, by connecting it with the fascinating beauties, and irresistible charms of poetry. He lived in the age of that pattern of monarchs, patron of literature, science, and the liberal arts, PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS.  His museum, the first great establishment founded by royal munificence, for the cultivation of mind, contributed more than any other institution, of antiquity, to the improvement of mankind, and the elevation of the human character. There it was, that HIPPARCHUS laid the foundations of the modern sciences of Astronomy and of Geography – The invention of the armillary sphere – The first catalogue of the stars  – The discovery of the precession of the equinoxes; and the calculation in advance, of the eclipses of six hundred years, are in the history of Astronomy, achievements for which the men for all after ages, are indebted to HIPPARCHUS. He flourished, in the interval between 160 and 125 years before Christ, and the next great luminary of the Alexandrian school, was PTOLEMY, not of the royal race of than name, but of a far brighter name, as the author of that system of Astronomy, denominated, many centuries after, by its Arabian translators, the Almagest, or great work, by which it is known to this day. He was born in Ptolemais, in Egypt;

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his observations at Alexandria, were made under the reigns of Roman Emperors, ADRIAN and ANTONINUS PIUS, from the year 125 to 139, of the Christian era; 250 years had, of course, elapsed, since the Alexandrian school had been illustrated by the labors of HIPPARCHUS. During that interval, the reformation of the Roman Calendar, by JULIUS CAESAR, the purest and most glorious of the titles of that heroic monster, to renown, had been established. The measurement of time, by the combined diurnal rotation of the earth upon her axis, and the annual revolution round the sun, is the only certain regulator of human history, of religious devotion and of domestic life. The first Roman year of NUMA, was the lunar year of 354 days. It had been successively altered to twelve equal months, of thirty days, and to the subsequent addition of five supplementary days. It had long been discovered, that the solar year, consisted of a fragment of a day more than 365; and, in the approximation to the real fact, one quarter of a day, or one day in four years, had been assumed as the addition necessary to be made, to equalize the year of the Calendar with the equation of time. Many years, and not seldom, many ages, elapse, after the secrets of nature have been detected by the ingenuity, industry, and perseverance of man, before he avails himself of them for the improvement of his own condition. So it was, with the Roman Calendar, till the Julian reform. It answered its purposes for 1500 years. Centuries before the expiration of that period, it had been ascertained that the addition of six hours a year to the 365 days, was too long for the natural year. The Calendar was again reformed, by POPE GREGORY, the 13th, to restore the true scriptural day, for the celebration of the resurrection of the Saviour. Yet, such was the protestant prejudice, against this most salutary and useful improvement, that the learned, ingenious, and generous nation of which we were then members, resisted its establishment until beyond the middle of the last century; and the Greek church, of the immense Empire of Russia, resists its introduction even to this day; preferring to celebrate the most solemn of their religious festivals – that of the resurrection of the dead, on a day notoriously different from that prescribed by the Saviour himself, rather than adopt the decree issued by the supreme head of a sister church, followers of the same Lord and Master. The mind of JULIUS CAESAR, then, enlarged, comprehensive, liberal in the exercise of power, then not acquired by crime, appropriated to the benefit of the Roman world, in their measurement of time, the discoveries of the Grecian school of Alexandria; but the Romans, themselves, made no discoveries in Astronomy. HIPPARCHUS, was the first great luminary, of the Alexandrian school. PTOLEMY, was the second and last. Between them, they constructed a theory of the universe; a system of created nature; founded, indeed, upon that optical illusion, which first arrests the enquiries of man, into the mechanism of the world around him, but which was destined to vanish, in process of time, before the persevering searching of a future age. In contemplating that stupendous, apparent revolution of the whole firmament of heaven round the earth, performed day after day, under his eye, the royal psalmist of Judea, bursts forth into a shout of glory, to the Creator, and particularly describes the circuit of the sun, from his rising in the east, to his descent beneath the horizon, in the opposite quarter of the sky. But human observation, progresses to a system, by detecting the phenomena of nature, one by one. They accumulate, in a

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course of ages, and then range themselves into a system. Neither HIPPARCHUS, nor PTOLEMY, disciplined their souls to the hardihood of setting at defiance, the testimony of their eyes, and of assuming, that the appearance of the rotation of the firmament, was only the rotation of the earth herself round her axis; but the precession of the equinoxes, the obliquity of the ecliptic, the double system of movements, regulating the different movements of the fixed stars, and the planets, and even the parallaxes of the bodies congregated in the solar system, had been discovered by or before HIPPARCHUS, and were now organized into a system by PTOLEMY. Trusting to the optical delusion of the eye, he assumed, that the earth was at rest – the center of the universe, around which, all the heavenly bodies daily revolved – but the relative positions, movements, and distances of the sun, moon and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn had been calculated and made known by HIPPARCHUS, and were now wrought up into a celestial mechanism, by PTOLEMY. That the material substance of all these bodies, was spherical, had been ascertained, by long contested and multiplied demonstrations, and the natural conclusion, that their revolutions round the orbits was also necessarily circular, was another error, that nothing less than the lapse of many centuries, and the minds of TYCHO, of KEPLER, and of NEWTON, could redeem. The science of Astronomy, is the intercourse of immortal man with the universe. The mind, accustomed to contemplate with inquisitive and persevering research, the wonders of the creation, enlarges itself by the constant exercise of its powers, as steel is at once sharpened and brightened, by continual attrition. The genius of PTOLEMY, was not confined to communion with the stars. Besides, that common chain, which unites, as with links of adamant, the whole circle of the sciences, and the liberal arts, there is a still more close and intimate connection of Astronomy with Geography, and with optics, and the various branches of the Mathematics, than with the rest. The pillars of the fame of PTOLEMY, repose not less upon his system of Geography, than upon his Astronomy. He was the author, also, of a treatise of optics, which, although known to have been extant in the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, perished in the Gothic barbarism of the middle ages. It is easy to perceive, (says the profound and ill-starred BAILLY), that few men have labored so much, and upon more important objects, than PTOLEMY.  He embraced chronology, music, optics, and dialing, after ruling as the legislator of Astronomy and Geography. He is said to have died, at the age of 78 years. And a saying of his, has been recorded, characteristic of that conscious superiority of genius, over the conventional greatness of human institution, which belongs to the benefactors of mankind: On being invited to the table of a monarch, he declined the honor, observing, that kings, like paintings, are made to be seen from a distance. The glory of the Alexandrian school, finished with PTOLEMY.  His system became the scientific creed of the world, and, as it was founded on a basis of error, its semblance of truth itself, arrested for a thousand years, the progress of the human mind, towards the real truth. Assuming, that the earth was the centre of the solar system, round which all the heavenly bodies revolved in circular orbits, the movements of the planets in different directions, sometimes from east to west, at others from west to east, and then, again, stationary, became inexplicable to the theory of

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a simple and steady movement in a circular orbit, and required an imaginary complicated machinery of cycle and epicycle, orb in orb, supposing a separate organization of the motions for each separate planet, without connecting link, or observation of a single principle, impelling them all. Then came the conquest of the Arabian imposter, and the burning, by his ignorant and barbarian Lieutenant Omar, of that magnificent library of Alexandria. But the science scornfully rejected by the fanaticism of a new religion, resumed again her grasp upon the soul of man, by the lure of superstition. Till the age of Mahomet, the Arabian Astronomers had been of the Chaldean and Egyptian schools. The stars had been their Gods. Sirius, Aldebaran, Canopus had been the objects of their worship. The doctrine preached by Mahomet and his followers, consisted of two plain clear and intelligible principles. The unity of God, and the prophetic mission of Mahomet. So irresistibly did the first of these principles, once proclaimed, seize hold of the avenues to the heart, that it carried down the second with it. There is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet, was the triumphant shout of victory, and at the same time the whole creed of the warrior Muselman, from Mecca to Tontarabia. The stars ceased to be Gods. The Syrian, the Egyptian, and the Greek and Roman deities all perished in the conflagration of the Alexandrian library, before the unity of God and the prophetic mission of the Camel driver. But from their ashes sprung up a new swarm of spiritual rulers of the destines of man. The stars were still instinct with life, with occult mysterious agency in waving the wand of fate over the lives and fortunes of the only rational tenant of this terrestrial Globe. We must remember, that of the genuine and the spurious science, of the chaste matron and the painted harlot; the parentage is one and the same. They are sisters of one and the same descent, and their family features are so much alike, that it requires almost the eye of intuition to distinguish the virtue from the vice. The study of Astronomy and Astrology both, consist of a mere comparison between the relative location in infinite space; and movements of the heavenly bodies in their aspects towards one another. The firmament consists of innumerable multitudes of these shining bodies suspended in the immensity of space, moving in silent harmony, and incomprehensible order, day after day, over the head of man, from the cradle to the grave. They are exposed to the perception of only one of his senses, the eye – inaccessible to all the rest. What they are, whence they came, where they are going, and how they exist, suspended upon nothing – he knows not, but is left to discover, by the combining and discriminating powers of his intellect. None of the machinery which he invents to assist him in his researches, exist in nature. They are round, as they appear to his eye; the sun and moon, with disks of considerable dimensions; the largest of the stars, scarcely bigger that the head of a pin, and the rest tapering off into graduated magnitude, to a barely discernable point, and still swarming, as the power of vision fails, but all apparently round. The earth on which he dwells, never appears to him as one of these stars of the firmament; till after ages upon ages of observation, he finds she is one of the smallest of them. A satellite of the sun, and still round; spherical, though not a perfect sphere. To study the nature of these immeasurable masses, he must divide them into parts. He constructs then, artificial globes, and divides them into circles of latitude and longitude of three hundred and

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sixty degrees, subdivided into minutes and seconds. He provides them with poles, with an equator, a zodiac, and an ecliptic, a zenith, and a nadir’s equinoctial and solstitial points; polar circles, tropics and colures. Of all this, there is nothing in nature, neither the globe of earth, nor the firmament of heaven; they are merely human inventions, to assist the observations of man in his searches after physical truth. But all this machinery is equally used by the Astronomer and the Astrologer. And as they compare the relative positions of the heavenly bodies, in their complicated motions, the bodies which cross each other’s paths, appear in reference to each other, in different aspects, known alike to the Astronomer and the Astrologer, as in conjunction, or in opposition, in quadrature or in trine. The various, different, and in many respects, opposite motives which have impelled mankind to the study of the stars, have had a singular effect in complicating and confounding the nomenclature of the science. Religion, idolatry, superstition, curiosity, the thirst for knowledge, the passion for penetrating into the secrets of nature; the warfare of the huntsman by night and by day, against the beasts of the forest and of the field. The meditations of the shepherd in the custody and wanderings of his flocks and herds, the influence of the revolving seasons of the year, and the successive garniture of the firmament, upon the labors of the husbandman, upon the seed time and the harvest, the blooming of flowers, and the ripening of the vintage, the polar pilot of the navigator, and the mysterious magnet of the mariner – all in harmonious action, stimulate the child of earth and of heaven, to interrogate the dazzling splendors of the sky, to reveal to him the laws of their own existence. He sees his own comforts, his own happiness, his own existence identified with theirs. He sees the Creator in creation, and calls upon creation to declare the glory of the Creator. When PYTHAGORAS the philosopher of the Grecian schools, conceived that more than earthly idea of the music of the spheres, when the darling dramatist of nature, inspires the lips of his lover on the moonlight green, with the beloved of his soul to say to her Sit JESSICA – Look how the floor of heaven, Is thick inlaid with patterns of bright gold. There’s not the smallest orb which thou beholdest, But in his motion, like an angel sings, Still choiring, to the young eyed cherubim.

Oh! who is the one with a heart, but almost wishes to cast off this muddy vesture of decay, to be admitted to the joy of listening to the celestial harmony. As the motives in the mind of man, urging him to the study of the stars, are so powerful, and so multifarious, so are the modes of pursuing this study, equally numerous and diversified. The sun, the moon, and the two classes, the wandering and the sedentary stars, so seemingly alike to the first inspection; so utterly and increasingly unlike on close, and closer examination; the special search for discovery of each individual planet, and for the laws of their existence and movements, whether common to them all, or separate to each individual; the burning splendor of Mercury, so minute, as to be seldom visible to the naked eye, yet so dazzling bright when seen; the lunar phases of Venus, most brilliant in her quarter, and

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inextinguishable, even in the presence of the sun. The special privilege of these two planets to pass occasionally, though rarely, over the face of the sun – in the sight of man, and at times, predicted to the fraction of a second by him; the rubicund visage and snow bleached pole of Mars; the belts and satellites of Jupiter; the satellites and rings of Saturn; the planetary character, and satellites of Uranus, mistaken by FLAMSTEED for a fixed star of the sixth magnitude, and finally, the quadruple fragment of one large planet; which, to preserve the symmetry of the solar system, should have been stationed between Mars and Jupiter, – all the fragments discovered in that region, but ranging in eccentric orbits, beyond the bounds of the ecliptic, in which the sun, and all the other discovered planets are confined; all these have been, and yet, are made the special subjects of keen and acute observation, of stubborn and incessant research, and of elaborate calculation. Then the world of comets, travellers, perhaps, into the regions of more than one solar system, and in their parabolic orbits, passing successively from one to another, a theme but recently, and yet imperfectly opened to exploring enquiry. To all this, has been added of late years, with the new auxiliary assistance of stupendously increased magnifying glasses, indefatigable and unceasing labors, to enumerate, and classify, and publish catalogues of the fixed stars. Of more than one of them parallaxes, have been at length ascertained, and distances of almost inexpressible numbers, have been measured and recorded; double, triple and quadruple stars, having separate movements of mutual connection with each other, have been detected, and allured to further discovery. And while the star gazers, from Observatories, multiplying in the four quarters of the globe, almost in proportion to the multiplication of the new discovered stars themselves, force upon the mind of man, the conclusion, that every new accession to his knowledge, acquired by his unceasing and untiring efforts, are but spurs to stimulate the ever restless activity of his intellectual powers, for the acquisition of more. When, and how, and by whom the zodiac, as it is now exhibited in all our celestial maps, and all our annual almanacs, was invented, no effort of learning, has yet been able to discover. Its origin is undoubtedly fabulous, connected with the whole system of the mythology of Greece, with the twelve labors of Hercules, the expedition of the Argonauts to Colchis, for the golden fleece; the genealogy of Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, their common parent Saturn, and the final solution of the whole system, in the allegorical impersonation of heaven and earth. Here Astronomy, and Astrology, idolatry and superstition, agriculture and navigation, all march hand in hand, turning history into romance, religion into falsehood; the cultivation of the earth, and the navigation of the seas into fraudulent imposture. By what magical incantation, the belief of this system could be imposed upon the whole nations of men, imagination can scarcely conceive. An imaginary belt is cast round the portion of the heavens, within which, the solar system revolves. This belt is divided into twelve partitions, each embracing thirty degrees of the spherical circumference. Within each of these partitions, clusters of stars, as they are visible in the sky, are gathered as into one community; and over each of them, the figure of an earthly animal is stamped, covering the whole constellation, but bearing no sort of resemblance to it. The very positions, and attitudes of the animals are painted on the celestial atlas, names are given to all the brightest of the stars, and now, at least three

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thousand years after this uncouth fiction was first palmed upon the credulity of mankind, we find it imposed upon us still, and we cannot learn to recognize the bright stars of heaven in the path of the sun, without painting them to the mind’s eye , on the horns of a reposing ram, in the eye of a raging bull, on the foreheads of a pair of twin children, and in the fantastic and incoherent imagery of animals, wild and tame, of earth, air, fire and water, jumbled together, as if to resolve the created universe, into its primitive elemental chaos. Nor is this wild, and scarcely conceivable confusion yet exhausted. When the worship of idols, had thus insinuated itself into communion with the study of Astronomy, the population of the zodiac was extended over the whole firmament. The chief of the gods, Jupiter, and even the inferior idols of OLYMPUS, were invested with the prerogative, of placing favorite mortals to seats of honor in the heavens; and thus, not only HERCULES and PERSEUS, but ADONIS and NARCISSUS and DAPHNE, and NIOBE and her daughters, and multitudes of others, not more meritorious, rose to be dignitaries in the skies; till not only the hair of BERENICE, became a constellation, and the infamous ANTINOUS, a star of resplendent magnitude. To crown this infatuation of besotted learning, modern Astronomers, impelled by usurping vanity or base adulation, have assumed the presumption of placing among the stars, not only the shield of SOBIESKY, and the crown of the Prussian FREDERIC, with the scepter of BRANDENBURG, but have cast to the hunting dogs, the rotten heart of CHARLES the first. The printing press, the electrical apparatus, and the air pump, may be better entitled to this symbol of immortality, but their intrusion upon this, already overcharged canvas, only adds to its unnatural complication, and encumbers the study with supernumerary difficulties and obstructions. The cultivation of Astronomy, by the Arabians of the middle ages, during the learned period of their caliphs HAROUN-AL-RASCHID, ALMANZOR and ALMAMON, added little or nothing to the progress of science. They preserved it from decay by their translation of the great work of PTOLEMY, and by their diligent enumeration of the stars, and their assiduity in giving them names. It is said that no nation has ever given so many names to the stars; but even that, is not without its inconveniences to the modern student of Astronomy. Whoever is conversant with the celestial charts or globes, finds himself embarrassed with double and treble systems of notation. With Greek, Latin and Arabic names, all different, but affixed to the same stars – with letters of the Greek, Roman alphabets, often added to their names, and in many cases, the same Arabic names given to several stars in different Constellations. Happy, said the greatest of the Roman poets of the Augustan age, happy the man who has been able to ascertain the causes of things. To trace the causes of things, is, of all the animal creation, the exclusive propensity, and faculty of man. He is the only animated being privileged to enquire into causes. Happy, then, must he be, when indulgent nature condescends to answer his enquiries. Of the antediluvian study of Astronomy, no record is left; but from the time of the dispersion of mankind, from the plain of Sennaar, the study of Astronomy, and the search for the causes of its phenomena, have been unremitting. In the obscurity of remote antiquity, all that we can discern is, that Astronomy, Astrology, and the Pantheon of

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Paganism rose and flourished together. With the first glimpse of Astronomy, which has come down to us, are associated all the gods of the Greeks, long settled upon their thrones in the stars. The zodiac was already peopled, with its twelve signs and constellations, and the only indication we have of the time when it was established, is the fact, that it fixed the point of the vernal equinox, at the first degree of the constellation of the ram. THALES and PYTHAGORAS, the founders of the Ionian and Italian schools of philosophy, are the first who appear to have made the study of the stars, a subject of philosophical enquiry, to trace the causes of things; but the gods had been settled on Mt. Olympus, long before the time of HOMER, who lived, and whose epic poems had been composed at least five hundred years before THALES or PYTHAGORAS were born. The zodiac itself is an imaginary bandage of twelve successive clusters of stars, marking in the heavens the annual apparent path of the sun, but the real path of the earth; but what ages of successive observations, must have passed away before those successive groups of stars could have been gathered into conventional communities, stamped with the images of certain animals, and committed to the custody of certain deities, before they could be recognized and worshiped as gods. With every sign of the zodiac, with every one of the planets, and with all the remarkable constellations of the northern hemisphere, there was connected a historical fable and traditional biography, of men, who had made themselves conspicuous for good or evil, during their lives, and who were worshiped as gods, or doomed to Tartarus for their crimes after death. The study of the stars, then, was a whimsically compounded system of religion, of real and fabulous history, and of Astronomy, of which the metamorphoses of Ovid are, perhaps, the most characteristic exponents. The first attempts to separate these most incongruous and incoherent elements of philosophical enquiry, superstition and history, were made by THALES and PYTHAGORAS, and they appear to have been, both by different ways, on the real track in their search for the detection of causes, and the discovery of truth. But the first and greatest obstacle to the progress of that study, comes from superstition, which, at that stage of human society is identical with religion. THALES was the first of philosophers, that is, of searchers for that happiness, which the Mantuan bard avers flows from ascertaining the causes of things. But the worship of idols, is the first great error of man, in the state of nature. His unassisted mind has not energy to conceive the foundation of all truth, that there is one, and only one God, the Creator, and the ruler of the Universe. Bereft of that divine instructor, man sees in every thing around him, the necessity of a Creator, but sees not, that there is, and can be but one. In contemplating the stars, he believes that to every one of them, there is a separate creator, and from the moment that he admits a plurality of gods, he believes them all invested with absolute power, each within his separate jurisdiction, all constituted with human passions, good and bad; and all exercising a capricious and vindictive power, over the fortunes and destinies of mankind. He believes that there are two classes of creating gods – one beneficent, and the other malevolent – or that they may be propitiated by flattery, and offended by neglect. He believes that they love justice, as he himself loves justice, when it suits his own interest, but that their love of justice, like his own, is warped by every

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selfish motive, and every groveling propensity which flesh is heir to. He believes that they are susceptible of sensual and of sordid impulses; that they are rivals in love and ambition, and that heaven is as discordant as earth – a perpetual scene of civil wars, and insurrections, never totally suppressed. How deeply rooted in the human heart, are these radical errors, all flowing from the single false conception, that there can be more than one creator God, you may perceive in these lines of the most pious and orthodox, as well as the sublimest of modern poets. For spirits when they please, Can either sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is their essence pure, Not ty’d or manacled with joint or limb, Not founded on the brittle strength of bone, Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose – Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, Can execute their airy purposes, And works of love or enmity fulfil.

Works of love or enmity! He is speaking of those very deities, for whom the race of Israel often forsook the Lord Jehovah, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. When the mind and heart of man are perverted, to the belief of first principles, such as these, the prevailing sentiment to which they are disciplined, in their relations with the spiritual world, and a future state, is base and servile fear. The gods are the very personification of earthly tyranny. If such a people commence a career of philosophical speculation, the first conclusion to which their free-thinkers will arrive, must be, that a multitude of creating gods, is an absurdity to which the free intellect cannot submit; and as the order of the universe is the most striking and most impressive of its properties, that a creation so orderly, and so invariably uniform in its operations, must, and can be, no other than the work of one Almighty mind. There is no doubt, that THALES, and PYTHAGORAS, both came to that conclusion. But the false gods, had priests, and worshipers, and shrines; – and, from the first moment, when the philosopher applies his lever and his screw, to the foundation of the temple of Dagon, he becomes the blasphemer of the gods, and his doom must be the bowl of hemlock, the fiery furnace, or the crucifix. So it has been, in all ages, and in every region  – And this is the reason why THALES and PYTHAGORAS, so carefully rolled up in profound mystery, all their discoveries in the moral and intellectual world. At the restoration of the literature of Greece, and Rome, in the fifteenth century, the great work of PTOLEMY had perished in its original language. It existed, as a translation, in the Arabian Almagest, and was universally considered, as containing the only true system of the universe. It was then translated from the Arabic, into Latin, by PURBACH, and MULLER, of Montreal, known according to the custom of the age, by the name of Regiomontanus. In commenting upon the translated work, they ventured to suggest some objections to the foundation of the system itself; that the earth was the centre of the universe, and that, while she enjoyed perpetual repose, the sun, and moon, and all the planets of the solar system, from day to day, revolved round her. Shortly afterwards, NICHOLA COPERNICUS

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dissolved the spell, restored the sun to his long prostrated supremacy, as the centre of the system, and reduced the earth to her real station among the works of the Creator, as one of the smaller planetary satellites of the sun; while the sun himself, far from being the pre-eminent of nature, is, with his whole appendage of primary and secondary planets, and comets, no more than a relatively insignificant fragment of numberless similar systems, scattered over the regions of infinite space, and, for all we know, surpassing in brightness, all the splendors of the sun, as far as they exceed the twinkling of a fire-fly. The system of COPERNICUS, was so directly in the face of the testimony of the only sense, by which man can become acquainted with the stars, that, after he had made the discovery, and confirmed himself by observation and calculation, in the belief of its truth, he dared not publish it to the world. Thirty years he kept it confined to his own bosom, or communicated it only to students, in the same science, on whose discretion and reserve, he could confidently rely. Independently of the difficulty, of reconciling mankind to the belief of a system of creation, contradictory to their senses, the revolution of the firmament, and the immobility of the earth, had been taught as realities sanctioned by the Bible, and had become articles of religious faith. To question them, was to cast a doubt upon the existence of the Creator – To deny the daily revolution of the sun, and moon, was to discredit the adjuration of Joshua, to them, to stand still for a single day. The Astronomer, at the peril of his liberty, or his life, must discover nothing which would require so much as an explanation of the meaning of a passage in Scripture; and COPERNICUS, sensible that the truth is not always to be told, left the firmament to revolve, day by day, round the steadfast and immoveable earth, till, at the close of life, he permitted his system to be printed; but it was not published till after his death. COPERNICUS was born at Thorn, in Prussia, on the 19th of January, 1472, and died at Nuremburg, on the 25th of May, 1543, a few days after his work on the revolutions of the celestial orbs, had issued from the press. Three years after his death, on the 13th of December, 1546, was born, in the Danish Island of Schonen, TYCHO BRACHE, of the noble family of that name, illustrated by him as it had never been before. The study of Astronomy, kindled by the observation of an eclipse, in the tenth year of his age, was the passion of his life. He studied law, as a profession, at Leipsic; but his nightly vigils were occupied, not in poring over the Theodosian code, the compilations of PAPINIAN, or the ponderous volumes of CUJACIUS, but in contemplating the majestic scenery of the heavens, and in tracing their courses and their causes, with that prying and pertinacious eagerness, which prompted his last words, repeatedly uttered, in the agonies of death, – Ne frustra vixisse videar – that I may not appear to have lived in vain. The American mariner, or traveller, who passes from the North Sea into the Baltic, through the sound, between the Island of Zealand and the Swedish shore, as he approaches the Danish metropolis of Copenhagen, sees a small, seemingly solitary and deserted Island, close upon the Danish side of the strait, and will never fail to be told, – there is the Island of Hueen – there stood Uraniburg, the Observatory, built at his own expense, by TYCHO BRAHE, on a soil in which his sovereign, FREDERICK THE SECOND, of Denmark, had granted him a life estate, and

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where, by twenty years of assiduous observation and study of the stars, he contributed his share, a large one, to open to his fellow man, the secret volume of creation, the mystery of the divine architect of the universe. URANIBERG is no longer there – It is of no human being the abode – the owls, and the bats, have wrested it from the dominion of man – But there TYCHO BRAHE, and KEPLER, served their country, and their kind, and its fame, as an appendage to theirs, shall be imperishable as the everlasting hills. But the greatest flood of light, ever shed upon the science of Astronomy, constitutes the unrivalled glory of the seventeenth century of the Christian era. The true founder of modern Astronomy, is acknowledged by BAILLY, to be KEPLER, born 27th December, 1571, at Wiel, in the dukedom of Wirtemberg; born of a noble, but decayed family, his father, after many years service as a captain in the military service of the king of Naples, was compelled, by poverty, to return to his native country, and there to follow the occupation of an innkeeper; and, even in that condition, was unsuccessful, and fell into sordid indigence. Young KEPLER, was, therefore, bereft of all assistance from his parents, for his support, and cast upon his own resources, to provide for himself. Until his twentieth year, he studied divinity, at Tubingen, and became, for some time, a popular preacher. His teacher of mathematics, MOESTLIN, prevailed upon him, with no small repugnance, to devote himself to Astronomy. In the twenty-second year of his age, he was professor of mathematics, at Gratz, and published his first work, the Mysterium Commographicum; full of cabalistic fancies, concerning the recondite relations and mystic influence of proportional numbers. Throughout his life, he was in the habit of indulging in these day dreams, and was not a little addicted to the practices of judicial Astrology. Yet, his first book introduced him to the acquaintance, and recommended him to the favor, of TYCHO BRAHE, by whose invitation, he went to him at Prague, and shortly before his death, was employed as his assistant, and obtained the office of mathematician to the emperor. Here he lived eleven years, in the most astringent penury, the small stipend of his office remaining unpaid. He then resided fifteen years, as professor of mathematics, at Linz; three years afterwards, at Ulm, and one year, under the protection of the celebrated WALLENSTEIN, at Sagan. He was repeatedly compelled to waste his time, in journeying, to obtain payment of his small pension; and, after passing the last year of his life at Rostock, in the exercise of his profession, died at Ratisbone, on the fifteenth of November, 1650, worn down with cares and affliction, leaving to his family, nothing but an imperishable name. To the progress of Astronomical science, two distinct and separate operations of the mind are indispensable, – observation and calculation. The first, requiring clear, keen, and distinct vision. This quickness of perception, is the gift of nature, and depends upon physical organization. This faculty is bestowed in a numberless variety of degrees; perhaps not the same, in any two of the human race. Ninety nine in a hundred of mankind, never look to heaven with a searching eye, and live the three score years and ten allotted to their existence, without knowing the difference, between a fixed star, and a planet. Among the labors of Astronomers, has been that of counting the numbers, and publishing the catalogues of all the stars, visible in the firmament, and to facilitate the operation, they have been divided into classes of

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graduated magnitudes. To the naked eye, of the great mass of mankind, no star of less that the fifth magnitude, can be seen. The favored few, endowed with the more perfect optic nerves, can see stars of the sixth, and some even of the seventh magnitude; and as every class exceed in number, those of all the preceding classes together, the portion of mankind invested with this faculty, has opened to the inspection of his senses, a second world, more populous than that which he enjoys, with the rest of mankind. Before the invention of the telescope, no mortal man had ever beheld a star of less magnitude, than the seventh; glasses are now constructed, which have revealed to the searching eye of the observer, hosts of heaven, down to the twelfth magnitude; and there is every reason to believe, that new accessions of light, will hereafter disclose millions upon millions of these luminaries, never yet seen by the eye of man. COPERNICUS, and TYCHO BRAHE, with all the Astronomers of preceding ages, never saw a star not discernable to the naked eye. But the second operation of the mind, required for Astronomical discovery, is calculation, a talent acquired by study and intellectual labor, and increased wonderfully by long and pertinacious practice. These two faculties, are sometimes but rarely possessed by the same man, and not unfrequently has it happened, in the annals of Astronomy, that the observations of one man, fruitless, or but partially efficient to himself, have led to the most stupendous discoveries, by the calculations of another. Of this result, perhaps, the most memorable example, is presented in the joint and united labors of TYCHO BRAHE, and of KEPLER. The transcendent merit of TYCHO, consisted in the spirit with which he devoted his life, and an affluent fortune, to the cause of science, and the improvement of the condition of man. But, to turn to the most useful account, for the progress of Astronomical knowledge, the unparalleled mass of TYCHO’s observations, the powers of another, and kindred spirit, was indispensable; and that kindred spirit was found in the person of KEPLER. The unanswerable demonstration of the Copernican discovery, that the central body of the solar system, is not the earth, but the sun, was contained in the recorded minutes of TYCHO’s observations, especially for a series of the movements for many months, of the planet Mars. But that demonstration, could be made manifest only by mathematical calculations. To this work, so far as mere readiness in the computation of numbers was required, TYCHO was, no doubt, as competent as KEPLER himself; but he was not restrained by religious scruples. The daily revolution of the sun round the earth, had not only been unquestioned in the Almagest of PTOLEMY, for upwards of twelve hundred years, but was believed to be sanctioned by divine revelation, in the Bible. The religion of TYCHO, in the encounter with his philosophy, obtained a triumph, honorable to him, but erroneous in fact. He rejected the great, and ever memorable discovery of COPERNICUS, and compounded a system of his own, more complicated even than that of PTOLEMY, whose epicycles he discarded, only to admit them again, because his own system could not be satisfactorily explained without them. KEPLER had gone to live with TYCHO, by his invitation, in the year 1600. In 1601, he died, and by that event, his observations on the planet Mars, fell into the hands of KEPLER, who went to work upon them. The logarithms of NAPIER, were yet in the womb of time – ten folio pages of multiplication, and division, and square, and cube roots, were covered with figures, by KEPLER’s hand;

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one error of casting up, in this process, produced an erroneous result, and baffled the preconceived hopes of the calculator. The arithmetical computation was repeated: the error of the previous trial, was detected, and the result corresponded with the anticipations of the accountant. Seventy times over, was this process of calculation repeated, by the indefatigable hand of KEPLER, and seven hundred folio pages of figures, attested the fact, that the motion of the planet Mars, in his orbit, was not circular, but elliptical, and that the sun was in one of the foci of that ellipsis. Subsequent calculations, on the movements of the other planets, confirmed the demonstration, as applicable to them, and settled forever the principle, that the sun is the centre of the solar system; and that all the planets revolve round him, in elliptical orbits, in one focus of which, is his place. The immense stride, in the progress of human knowledge, by the discoveries of COPERNICUS, and of KEPLER, can be estimated only by the man, who, like them, can devote his time and his talents to the study of nature. Every human being can, and to some extent, does, observe the stars. To the eyes of all mankind, the sun and the firmament move from east to west, rising above the eastern horizon, every morning, and setting in the western horizon, at night. This is a false report to the human mind, made by the organ of observation, the human eye. The apparent movement of the sun, and stars, is occasioned by the real movement of the earth, rolling round her axis, and, like the ball of a bowling green, rolling on in an oval orbit, round the sun. The discovery of COPERNICUS, corrected this mistake. But to the eye of man, all the luminaries of the sky, large or small, appear round. He believes them to be spheres, and concludes, that, as they revolve, they must move in circles. The joint and several immense labors, of TYCHO BRAHE, and KEPLER, resulted in the correction of this mistake, which KEPLER communicated to the learned world, at Prague, in Bohemia, in a treatise, under the title of Celestial Physics, set forth in commentaries upon the movements of the star Mars, in the Latin language, in 1609. The arcana of creation, were opened, by this work, to the inspection of man. Discoveries like these, are of a prolific nature. They breed with unparalleled exuberance. The discoveries and inventions of KEPLER, would require the development of a volume, and your patience has already been strained, beyond the bounds of toleration. The discoveries of COPERNICUS, and KEPLER, disclosed, and corrected the mistakes of the optic nerve. But, in that same year, 1609, another invention, not the effect of profound study and incessant labor, but of childish sport, and unforeseen casualty, gave new and increased powers to the orb of vision. JAMES METIUS, a mechanic, of the city of Alcmær, in Holland, observed, on a winter’s day, some school boys, sporting on the frozen canal, and adjusting fragments of the ice to the two ends of their ink-horns, and looking through them, to see the objects, at which they looked, with enlarged dimensions. METIUS took the hint, and inserted into a wooden tube, an eye glass, at due focal distance from a double object glass, one convex, and the other concave, and presented one, as a sample of his invention, to the states general of the United Netherlands. The first use of these instruments was made by the navigators of the ocean; but one of METIUS’ spy glasses, having found

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its way to Venice, was seen there by GALILEO GALALEI, a native of Pisa, born on the 15th of February, 1564. GALILEO was, himself, one of the master spirits of his age, and of all ages. The science of Astronomy, and the knowledge of the structure of the universe, is scarcely less indebted to him, than COPERNICUS, TYCHO BRAHE, or KEPLER. To the ingratitude or neglect of the common herd of the rulers of mankind, suffered by all those benefactors of the race, he has the additional claim of the merit of martyrdom in their cause. At the very time when this new engine of discovery, the principle of the telescope, came to him like the present of a new pair of eyes, he was already involving himself in controversy, religious and philosophical, in support of the Copernican system, maintaining the central supremacy of the sun, and the subordinate revolutions of the planets round him. He immediately improved the spy glass of METIUS into a telescope; let in a new flood of light upon the Astronomical observer’s eye, and discovered by his own observation, several stars before unknown. The four satellites of Jupiter, the waxing and waning phases of the planets, Mercury and Venus, and the spots on the sun and moon. He was denounced, before the tribunal of the inquisition, and, in his own defence, wrote memoir upon memoir, to prevail upon the Pope, and the inquisitors, to declare the Copernican system, to be in strict conformity with the Holy Scriptures. As the Pope, and seven cardinals, appointed by him to solve this knotty question, pronounced, that the doctrine of the earth’s motion, was an absurdity in physics, and a damnable heresy in religion, GALILEO was expressly forbidden, ever again to maintain, by word of mouth, or in writing, that the rotary motion of the earth was countenanced by the holy scriptures. Cardinal BELLARMIN, charged with the duty of announcing this sentence to GALILEO, gave him at the same time a certificate, that it was not pronounced, as a penalty; and that GALILEO was not required, even to retract his opinions; but was merely prohibitory, forbidding him from ever again maintaining it. He promised obedience, and observed it, for a period of thirty-seven years; when in 1652, he published dialogues, to prove the immobility of the sun, and the planetary rotation of the earth round him. He was again summoned before the court of inquisition. Seven cardinals again pronounced his theory impious and absurd, and he was condemned, as a relapsed heretic, to three years imprisonment, and to repeat the seven penitential psalms, once a week during that time. At 70 years of age, GALILEO was compelled by the sentence of the inquisitor cardinals, to crave pardon for having maintained the truth; and abjured it as absurdity, error and heresy, upon his knees, with his hands upon the gospel. With what spirit he performed this ceremony, you may imagine, from the fact that, on rising from his knees, without raising his eyes from the ground, he stamped upon it, and said – “Yet she moves!” He was finally discharged from prison, but in the last years of his life was afflicted with blindness, brought on by the intenseness of application to his telescope. He died at Florence on the 6th of January, 1641, and was buried in the Church of the Holy Cross; not without a long interval, during which his friends and admirers, desiring to erect a monument to his memory, by the side of that of MICHAEL-ANGELO BUONAROTTI, were compelled to defer the execution of their purpose, till the popular prejudice against the apostle of truth, should have

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subsided into oblivion. In 1737, when it was no longer absurdity or sacrilege to believe, that the earth rolls round her axis, and round the sun, the monument was erected. In the lives of COPERNICUS, of TYCHO BRAHE, of KEPLER, and of GALILEO, we see the destiny of almost all the great benefactors of mankind. We see, too, the irrepressible energies of the human mind, in the pursuit of knowledge and of truth, in conflict with the prejudices, the envy, the jealousy, the hatred, and the lawless power of their cotemporaries upon the earth. The institution, by the officers of which, GALILEO suffered every persecution, short of death, which man could inflict upon him, was the invention of IGNATIUS LOYOLA, a man, in all the properties which constitute greatness, not inferior to GALILEO himself. The profound meditation, the untameable activity, the untirable pertinacity, the unconquerable will, stiffening against resistance, overcoming obstacles, bearing down opposition, sweeping its way along to its intended object, and, like faith, casting mountains into the sea, were alike in them both. What, then, was the difference between them? It was in the objects, to which they severally applied these properties, in action. IGNATIUS, under the influence of religious fanaticism, invents an engine of despotic power, a rod of iron, and puts it into the hands of a frail mortal man, already invested, by the infatuation of the age, with imputed infallibility. GALILEO interrogates the physical creation, for the causes of its own existence, and his ultimate object, is the triumph of truth. To which of the contending causes must the voice of posterity say – God speed? To the champion of truth – and the truth shall ultimately prevail. But I may no longer dwell on the fascinating theme. Absorbed in the gigantic energies, and more than heroic labors of COPERNICUS, TYCHO BRAHE, KEPLER and GALILEO, what time of space have I left, to speak to you of NEWTON, the consummation of them all; the man of whom, it was said, even by a cotemporary poet, with more than poetical justice, Nature, and nature’s laws, lay hid in night, God said, let NEWTON be, and all was light.

The discoveries of NEWTON were so great, and so various, that a mere enumeration of them would require a discourse too expansive, to be fitted for the present occasion. He was born at Woolstrope, in Lincolnshire, on Christmas day, O.S. 1642. His first essays were in optics, the grinding of glass, and the theory of light. The magnifying and approximating power of light, seen through a tube, and the medium of convex glass, had already become familiar, by the inventions of METIUS and GALILEO; but the changes of the nature of light, by reflection and refraction, in passing through glass, had not been made known, and DESCARTES, one of the brightest geniuses of France, had published a treatise maintaining, that light was a simple and homogeneous substance. The papers upon light and optics, were first read to the Royal Society. They preceded his mathematical principles of Natural Philosophy, published in 1687, containing his theory of the construction of the Universe, upon the principle and laws of gravitation. It was the good fortune of NEWTON, to be born, and to live in a country, where there was no college of Cardinals, to cast him into prison, and doom him to spend

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his days in repeating the seven penitential psalms, for shedding light upon the world, and publishing mathematical truth. NEWTON was not persecuted by the dull and ignorant instruments of political, or ecclesiastical power. He lived in honor among his countrymen – was a member of one parliament – received the dignity of knight-­ hood – held for many years a lucrative office, and at his decease, was interred in solemn state, in Westminster Abbey, where a monument records his services to mankind, among the sepulchres of the British Kings. From the days of NEWTON, down to the present hour, the science of Astronomy has been cultivated, with daily, deepening interest, by all the civilized nations of Europe. The institutions of the Royal Society, and of the Greenwich Observatory in England, and of the Academy of Sciences, and of the Royal Observatory in Paris, have given to the study of the heavens, the dignity of schools, of which nations are the pupils. The example has been followed by Prussia, Sweden, several German, and several of the Italian states, and above all, by Russia, whose present sovereign, has made the pursuit of knowledge a truly imperial virtue. The skies of St. Petersburg, and of Moscow, are among the most unfavorable of the earth, for Astronomical observation; the perpetual snows of winter, and the perpetual day light of summer, being equally unpropitious to that state of the atmosphere, in which, alone, the stars can be seen. But Astronomy, has always been one of the sciences, most assiduously cultivated, by the Academy of science, immediately under the inspection, and patronage of the Emperor. During the reign of Alexander, the Secretary of that Academy, was SCHUBERT, the author of two systems of Astronomy, in the German language; one for the most learned in the science, and the other, for the common, popular reader; and both among the most perfect treatises upon the subject extant, in any language. At the University of Dorpat, there had long been an Astronomical Observatory, and in 1813, the observator appointed to that edifice, was G.G. STRUVE, whose estimate of his duties in that capacity, is laid down in his own words, that he regards the duty of laboring for the progress of the science, which he cultivates, as the most important end of his existence. Thirty years of labors, invigorated by the spur of such motives, cannot have passed away, without results of the first importance; and Mr. STRUVE, is at this day, one of the most eminent Astronomers of the age. In the seventeenth century, the invention of the telescope, gave to the Astronomical observer, a new sense for discovery in the heavens. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, the enlargement of the field of vision, by increasing the size of the glasses, and the length of the telescope tube, gave a new increase of power to the orb of human vision, and its first result was the discovery by the first HERSCHELL, the inventor of the new tube, of a planet never before known, followed by many other subsequent discoveries, equally wonderful. And in the first half of the nineteenth century, a third enlargement of the visual orb, by object glasses of fourteen inches diameter, and tubes of twenty feet focal distance, unlocks again, the secret chambers of the firmament, finds a parallax in the bright star of Lyra, and exhibits solar systems of the stars, revolving round each other, within limited space, by the hundred and the thousand.

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The inventor of this instrument was JOSEPH FRAUENHOFER an ingenious mechanic of Munich, in Bavaria. Did I say an ingenious mechanic? Rather, should I have said, one of those productions of nature, which once, in an age, she exhibits as symbols and samples of creative power. He was born at Straubing, in Bavaria, of parents so indigent, that they could not give him the education of a common school. His father was a glazier, and destined him to his own trade. But in his eleventh year he lost both his parents, and his guardian bound him for six years to a glass maker in Munich, without charge or compensation. Towards the close of his apprenticeship, the house of his master, in which he resided, fell in, and he was by a special interposition of Providence, and extraordinary exertions, encouraged by the personal presence and cheering of the king of Bavaria, drawn out uninjured from the ruin. The king of Bavaria, taking compassion at his misfortune, made him a present of eighteen ducates, with part of which, he purchased books upon optics, and with the rest, he bought from his master the last half year of his time. He was reduced to the necessity of engraving visiting cards for a subsistence, and struggling for years, at once for knowledge and for bread; after many disappointments and disasters, he was at last admitted as a partner in the celebrated manufacturing establishment, for optical and mathematical instruments of Utzschneider and Reichenbach. From that time, the establishment soon acquired the reputation of the first optical instrument makers in Europe. FRAUENHOFER not only succeeded in making larger object glasses, than had ever been attempted, but by a composition of materials, known only to himself, he has made his glasses more perfect, for the transmission of light, than any that had ever been made before. In 1824, he furnished to STRUVE, for the University at Dorpat, the instrument which has been called his great Achromatic Refractor, afterwards still more enlarged by a similar instrument, for the new Observatory of Pulkovo. There, at this hour, perhaps, is STRUVE plying his optic nerve, to the detection of some never yet discovered wonder of the firmament, with an object glass of fourteen inches aperture, a tube of twenty-one feet focal distance, and a magnifying power of two thousand fold duplication. With the great Achromatic Refractor of Dorpat, STRUVE has been from the year 1824, constantly observing the most interesting phenomena of the heavens. His observations upon the moon, upon the planet Saturn, and upon many other celestial objects, have been of the most interesting character. But the great and transcendent labors of STRUVE, have been concentrated upon the ascertainment of the numbers and properties of the double, treble and quadruple stars, of which, at three several periods, he has published catalogues. Of the labors incident to these operations, some estimate may be formed, by reflecting on the fact, that in the space of two years and a half, the passage of the meridian was noted of one hundred and twenty thousand stars, from the first to the eighth magnitude. That three thousand one hundred and twelve of those stars, were ascertained to be double stars. Eleven years of these observations were consumed with inferior instruments, and twelve years with the great refractor of FRAUENHOFER. They are not yet completed. The discovery of a new planet, by the elder HERSCHEL, in 1781, was an electric spark in the atmosphere of Astronomy. In compliment to his royal patron, GEORGE the third, he called it the Georgium Sidus. The learned Astronomers of Europe, for

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some time, moved by an impulse of gratitude to the finder, gave it his name, and called it Herschel. The classical taste of the German scholars, following the analogy of the names given to the ancient planets, called it Uranus, which denomination, has finally prevailed, and been followed, by naming the four further discovered planets, Juno, Vesta, Ceres, and Pallas – discoveries, the merit of which, may be ascribed to HERSCHEL, as if he had been the first to see them himself. The new impulse given by this glorious achievement, of HERSCHEL, to the study of physical Astronomy, pervaded all Europe. The class of observers was multiplied, and their visual organs were quickened; Observatories started up in every quarter, like the enchanted castles of romance. Is it not strange, that the spark of enthusiasm never crossed the Atlantic? That the star of empire, then streaming like a Comet, in her western course, should not have been outstripped by the star of science; or at least, have illuminated, with double splendor, the path of the star of power? The discovery of HERSCHEL, was made in 1781, amid the fiercest flames of the war of independence. The new nation entered upon the magnificent scene of sovereign, independent potentates, with a progression of principles, elevating the standard of human virtue, to the highest pitch of perfection. She announced herself as the friend and patroness of science; she proposed to her sisters, of the European world, the abolition of war upon the Ocean, forever. Her Congress issued proclamations of peace and protection, to the English navigator of discovery, when winding his way round the globe, upon the seas. How, and why was it, that she seems to have received in sullen, if not in envious silence, the annunciation of that sublime discovery, of a new planet, added to the glory of God, in the works of creation; at the sound of which, the whole learned world of Europe shouted and clapped their hands for joy? The theme is painful – let me pass it over. Not such, was the influence upon the youthful mind of NICHOLAS, the imperial autocrat of all the Russias, of the new discoveries in the region of the stars, accomplished by the genius of FRAUENHOFER, and the never ceasing vigilance and untiring penetration of STRUVE. Not a year has passed away since the great refractor of FRAUENHOFER, has been the instrument in the hand of STRUVE, without bringing to light some new phenomena, interesting to the progress of science. The promotion of knowledge has wound itself into the heart of the Academy of Sciences, of the minister of public instruction, of the Emperor NICHOLAS himself. Besides the Observatory at Dorpat, there had been, from the time of the institution by PETER the Great, of the Academy of Sciences, at St. Petersburg, an Astronomical Observatory, connected with it there. Similar establishments had, in later days, been erected at Abo – afterwards transferred to Helsingfors – at Nicolaief, on the Black Sea – at Moscow – Kasan and Kiew. Various causes had combined to render these institutions inefficient, and the tower in the city of St. Petersburg was unfavorably situated for the purposes of observation. The heights of Pulkovo, between St. Petersburg and Zarsko Zelo, had long been noticed as admirably situated for erecting upon them an Observatory, and when the results of the use of FRAUENHOFER’s great refractor at Dorpat began to ring in the public ear, the

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Emperor NICHOLAS commanded a plan to be prepared, and presented to him, for an Observatory of the first class, to be erected there. A plan was accordingly prepared in April, 1834, with estimates of the expense required for the erection of the building, and for the purchase of suitable instruments for observation; the first amounting to 346,500 rubles, and the second to 135,000 rubles – the value of a ruble being 74 cents of our currency. The Emperor immediately issued an order to commence the work, under the direction of three commissioners, members of the academy; and that 100,000 rubles should be placed at the disposal of the minister of public instruction, for the prosecution of the work. It was accordingly commenced, vigorously prosecuted, and finally completed, at a cost of little less than one million of rubles; and the Observatory of Pulkovo, has been, for years, the most magnificent and best appointed establishment, for the observation of the heavens, in the world. Of this truly imperial munificence, much must undoubtedly be ascribed, to the generous and liberal spirit of the Emperor NICHOLAS; but, after all, it is but an exemplification of the spirit of the age. Of such exemplifications, the annals of European science are full. They are manifested, in the number of Astronomical Observatories, illuminating every part of the European continent – in the number of eminent observers, stationed at those watch-towers of science, – in those cotemporaneous discoveries of three planets at Bremen, in Germany, and another at Palermo, in Sicily, – in the number of periodical publications, devoted to the continual development of the phenomena of the heavens, – in the advances to perfection, in the theory of the science – from the solar centralism of COPERNICUS and the planetary laws of KEPLER, and the gravitation of NEWTON, to the celestial mechanism of LA PLACE, and its improved revisal of our own BOWDITCH. Finally, in the institution of Astronomical societies, and particularly that in our mother country, within the last quarter of a century, blooming in youth, and already bearing, from year to year, fragrant and delicious fruits, for the harvest of the human mind. But what, in the meantime, have we been doing? While our fathers were colonists of England, we had no distinctive, political, or literary character. The white cliffs of Albion, covered the soil of our nativity, though another hemisphere first opened our eyes to the light of day, and oceans rolled between us and them. We were Britons born, and we claimed to be the countrymen of CHAUCER and SHAKESPEARE, MILTON and NEWTON, SIDNEY and LOCKE, ARTHUR and ALFRED, as well as of EDWARD, the black Prince, HARRY, of Monmouth, and ELIZABETH.  But when our fathers abjured the name of Britons, and “assumed among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station, to which the laws of Nature, and of Nature’s God, entitles them,” they tacitly contracted the engagement for themselves, and above all, for their posterity, to contribute, in their corporate and national capacity, their full share; aye, and more than their full share, of the virtues, that elevate, and of the graces that adorn the character of civilized man. They announced themselves, as reformers of the institution of civil society. They spoke of the laws of Nature, and in the name of Nature’s God; and by that sacred adjuration, they pledged us, their children, to labor with united and concerted energy, from the cradle to the grave, to purge the earth of all slavery – to restore the race of man, to

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the full enjoyment of those rights, which the God of Nature, had bestowed upon him at his birth – to disenthral his limbs from chains – to break the fetters from his feet, and the manacles from his hands, and to set him free, for the use of all his physical powers, for the improvement of his own condition. The God, in whose name they spoke, had taught them, in the revelation of his gospel, that the only way in which man can discharge his duty to him, is, by loving his neighbor as himself, and doing with him, as he would be done by, – respecting his rights, while enjoying his own, and applying all his emancipated powers of body, and of mind, to self-improvement, and improvement of his race. Among the modes of self-improvement, and social happiness, there is none so well suited to the nature of man, as the assiduous cultivation of the arts and sciences. The opportunities and dispositions of individuals, for the cultivation of any one specific art or science, are infinitely diversified. One general impulse nerves the arm, and animates the soul, but, in giving direction to that impulse, every one may best follow the bent of his own inclination. We have been sensible of our obligation to maintain the character of a civilized, intellectual, and spirited nation. We have been, perhaps, over boastful of our freedom, and over sensitive to the censure of our neighbors. The arts and sciences, which we have pursued with most intense interest, and persevering energy, have been those most adapted to our own condition. We have explored the seas, and fathomed the depths of the ocean, and we have fertilized the face of the land. We – you – you, have converted the wilderness into a garden, and opened a paradise upon the wild. But have not the labors of our hands, and the aspirations of our hearts, been so absorbed in toils upon this terraqueous globe, as to overlook its indissoluble connection even physical, with the firmament above? Have we been of that family of the wise man, who, when asked where his country lied, points, like ANAXAGORAS, with his finger to the heavens. Suffer me to leave these questions unanswered. For, however chargeable we may have been, with inattention or indifference, to the science of Astronomy, heretofore,  – you, fellow citizens of Cincinnati  – you, members of the Astronomical Society, of this spontaneous city of the West, will wipe that reproach upon us, away. That edifice, of which, under your charge, the corner stone is now to be laid, will rise, a lasting monument of your ardent and active zeal, to connect the honor of your country, with the constant and untiring exploration of the firmament of heaven; and may the blessing of Him, who, from his lofty throne, rules the universe in wisdom and goodness, crown your labors with success.

Appendix 2: Colored People’s Speech On 11 November 1843 John Quincy Adams, while staying at the Henrie House in Cincinnati, was visited by a committee of fifteen ‘colored people’, chaired by Gideon Quarles Langston. Langston delivered a short welcome, and thanked Adams for his role in the Amistad event and his efforts to end slavery. Langston’s speech and Adams’s

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reply were printed in the Licking Valley Register between 13 and 15 November 1843. (transcription by Bonnie Speeg of the Cincinnati Observatory Center) Langston: Mr. Adams – Sir: The agreeable task has been conferred on me in behalf of the colored people of this city, of welcoming you on your arrival amongst us, and proffering to you the tokens of our highest regard and esteem. Sir, the situation in which we are placed by the laws and prejudices of our country, deprives us of an opportunity of participating with our white fellow citizens, in offering to you that kind of reception which we believe your claims justly demand. However, Sir, permit us to tender you our entire approbation of the course you have pursued when in defiance of the threats and imprecations of a slave-holding representation, you endeavored to sustain, unsullied, the right of petition; a right guaranteed by the Constitution to every citizen of these United States, and inherited from a beneficent Creator by all his intelligent creation. Sir, your able defense of the Amistad captives, by which means a number of our fellow men were raised from a level with the brute erection, and placed in the scale of human existence; and your indefatigable exertions against the admission of Texas into the Union, in the event of which slavery would have been prolonged, and our common country perhaps forever ruined, have convinced us of the position you occupy in relation to that oppressed portion of American citizens, the colored people; and the views of American slavery promulgated by you to the world, are more than sufficient evidence of the sentiments you entertain in favor of crushed and bleeding humanity. These demonstrations of your regard for us we duly appreciate, and although, we have no honors of State to confer, yet we offer you a far higher reward in the approbation of a grateful people. Injuries, we write upon sand, but favors on marble, not to be erased; and these acts of yours are as indelibly written on the tablets of our hearts, and can never be obliterated. Sir, your untiring efforts in favor of the acknowledgement of Haitian independence, and your whole course, as it regards the policy of this government, presenting as it does, one continual scene of active life devoted to the improvement of moral and political condition of man, lead us to recognize in you the true American citizen, the supporter of equal rights and privileges, and the friend of mankind. Throughout the last half century, one portion of the people of these United States for whom and with whom you have fought the moral and political battles of liberty – have been living in the full possession of all its fruits, one of the happiest among the family of nations. Whilst the other, during the same period, has been laboring under an oppressive bondage, such as the world has never seen. But, as you will have your voice in the defense of universal freedom, we hope it will never cease to be heard until there shall not be a slave to curse the soil of the boasted land of liberty. The cause you have adopted, sir, is the cause of truth and justice; it is one which God himself will sanction; and although the combined powers of earth and hell shall

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be raised against it, it must and will prevail. And here I am reminded of the language promulgated on one occasion, by your venerable sire, when the energies of his soul were put forth in defense of the liberties of this country. “Let the pulpit resound with the doctrines and sentiments of religious liberty. “Let us hear the danger of thralldom to our conscience, from ignorance, extreme poverty and dependence, in short from civil and political slavery. “Let us see delineated before us the true nature of man. Let us hear the dignity of his nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God; that consenting to slavery is a sacrilegious breach of trust, as offensive in the sight of God, as it is derogatory from our own honor, our interest, our happiness, and that God has promulgated from heaven, liberty, peace and good will to men.”

And of all great questions, in which the rights of mankind are concerned, it may truly be said of your distinguished self, that the mantle of the father has fallen upon the son. In conclusion, sir, permit us to congratulate you on the apparent success of your public career, hoping that you may be endowed with health and strength, to perform the duties assigned here, and when you shall have finished your earthly existence, may be welcomed to that blest abode prepared for all the faithful, and there receive that glorious ejaculation, “well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joys of the Lord.” Now, in behalf of the colored citizens of this Queen of the West, we bid you welcome. Mr. Adams’s Reply: Sir – Fellow citizens – I receive this testimony of your regard and approbation of my public course through life with pleasure. It would have given me greater pleasure, were it possible, that in the reception which my fellow citizens of this portion of the country have given me, there could have been no motive to induce one class of them to receive me in a manner different from all the rest. It is one of the most painful reflections in the life of a public man, that there should have been distinctions arising from color between citizens of the United States. This is, however, a state of things which is out of my power to prevent. Of course, (as in my public career, it has necessarily occurred), it has been my duty to devote my attention to movements and acts of legislative bodies, which in an especial manner interest of the colored people. It is agreeable to me to receive the testimony of their gratitude which you now present to me, and to reflect that I have done something to discharge my duty to my fellow men, of whatever class or condition they may be. It is my sincere hope that the time may come when the disabilities imposed upon men on account of color, shall cease to exist, in any part of our entire country. Respecting the reference which has been made to the part I have taken in the Congress of the United States, it is proper that I should say, that so far as the Right of Petition is concerned, I did not intend solely to advocate your interests, but those of all the people of the country. That great right has been availed in Congress, and for some years effectually assailed – and it needed to be supported, not for you, but

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for the majority of the people of the United States. By majority I mean that whole portion of the people of every color, who are not slaves themselves, and have feelings of aversion for the condition of slavery, for which they call upon Congress for the remedy. On that ground I have in Congress always received the prayers and petitions of the people, of whatever color, for such measure as might tend to the abolition of slavery throughout the United States. I am aware that is the opinion of a great portion of the people, there is no power delegated to Congress, to operate on slavery in the Slave States. I do not subscribe entirely to that doctrine. I have in Congress declaimed the opinion, that a crisis might occur when the power of Congress would extend not only over abolition of slavery, but to the emancipation of slaves. I must say to you however, that the opinion I entertain is, that at the present time – in times of peace – Congress has not the power to abolish slavery in those States where it exists by law. They have the power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia and in the Territories of the United States. But in abolishing slavery as an institution, they have no power to emancipate slaves. The abolition of slavery is the annihilation of the institution. I have myself proposed a resolution in Congress, in which I gave it as my opinion that slavery might be abolished throughout the United States. That is, by amending the Constitution so that all people of color born after a certain period should be born free – this would not affect the condition of any person, now living. I appointed a time – I think it was the year 1850 – after which, all persons born in the United States, should be born free; and that there should be no such thing of slavery thereafter. This could be done without changing the condition of any living person. That, it is not in the power of the Government of the United States, in time of peace, to do. With regard to the services you are pleased to say I performed in the case of the Amistad captives, it is right that I should say, they are not entitled to that importance which you give them. That case was peculiar. They have found themselves, not by their own act, but by deception of those who alone could navigate the vessel, accidentally within the Territory of the United States. They were Africans recently brought from the coast of Africa. They had been landed in the Spanish Dominions, in the West Indies, against the law of nature and of the Spanish government itself. They had been made slaves in the Spanish West Indies, contrary to the laws and treaties of Spain itself. They had been clandestinely shipped from one port of Cuba to another, there to be sold as hereditary slaves forever. This was their condition. They were taken by the officer of the United States without authority, and without any law of the United States, and brought before the tribunals of this country for a decision upon their fate as criminals. They were before the Courts of the United States, without friends, without means, without a knowledge of the language of the country, and were to be tried for their lives in a criminal charge, without any power of making a defense; all this time some benevolent citizens of the United States seeing their condition, stepping forward as friends of human nature to save them from slavery and destruction. Those friends of human nature thought proper to apply to me and request my services as a counsellor at law in their defense. Thirty-five human beings, men, women, and children, stood before the tribunal of our country for a decision upon their lives and

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liberty. I had been therefore a practitioner of the law in the Courts of the United States. But for thirty years and upwards had ceased to practice. I had never expected to appear in Court in the same capacity, again, during my life. But that appeal being made to my sense of humanity, it was not possible for me to resist it. I must say to you that I acted altogether independently of the question whether they were slaves or freemen. It was with me a sentiment of simple humanity, seeing fellow creatures suffering, and to whom it was supposed I might, possibly, render assistance. I acted upon the same general principles of humanity upon which any of you seeing a drowning child, would save him at the peril of your own lives. I did therefore undertake their defense. Their case was one as clear in principle as it was perilous in the condition to which they were exposed. There never came a cause before a human tribunal, in my opinion, when the law was more decided, and the rights of the prisoners to a full and free discharge more clear; and so decided the Supreme Court of the United States, after a week of searching argument in which I regret to say that the Attorney General of the United States appeared in argument against those suffering human beings. A respectable counsellor at law from the State of Connecticut and myself appeared in their defense. I should have taken more pleasure in the sequel of that transaction, if from what has transpired since, I had reason to believe, that the persons relieved, had drawn from it those precepts of wisdom, for their future conduct, which I hoped could furnish a great opportunity, through this means to let in the light of civilization into Africa itself. I must say to you that it is my fixed opinion, that the abolition of slavery in this country, cannot be successful till the evil is struck at the root, and slavery in Africa is suppressed. If it is possible to mitigate the condition of those persons, whom the white people bring from the coast of Africa to use for life, as slaves in America, and who would not be enslaved were they not themselves in Africa, the original founders of slavery, it is by changing the state of things in Africa. Let the people of Africa – let the sovereigns of Africa – let the Republics of Africa, if such there be, let them abolish slavery at home, and slavery will be abolished in America. But as long as Africa encourages slavery, it is impossible to put an end to it in America. The very source of the evil must first be cut off. How this can be done, I do not pretend to say. It is not the nature or the right of our government to interfere with the government of any foreign country, not even the government of Africa itself. There is another reason for wishing the abolition of slavery in that country, and that is, that it is the impression upon the minds of multitudes of that barbarian people, and in fact, it is the impression of many minds in our own country, that slaves transferred from Africa to a civilized land have their condition ameliorated, not injured. Upon this subject I do not know, and cannot speak; but if I may judge from the fact that the condition of the natives of Mendi before alluded to, when brought here, compared with their condition when taken back to Africa, leaves it still

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problematical, whether any service has been done them more than to save their lives, I am afraid that question remains to be decided hereafter. And if you, as colored men, having a peculiar sympathy for your fellow men of color, have it in your power to operate upon or influence in any way their condition, I exhort you to exert that influence as powerfully there, as you exert it here for the abolition of slavery in this country. I suppose it is possible there may be some power on your part in exerting an influence over them. Respecting the disability of color in those states where slavery is not recognized, I have utter abhorrence. I hope sincerely, that at no distant day, it may be done away with, at least in those states which profess to be governed by the laws of nature. I will go further and say, that I hope the time is not distant, though I utterly despair of living to see it, when color will not be the cause of slavery in the United States, but when America will be able to face the world, and say that there is not a slave within her borders. Gentlemen, I thank you for your kind feelings, and remain your friend.

References Adams, Charles Francis, ed. 1874. Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. Adams, John Quincy. 1843a. The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection, Vol. 44. Massachusetts Historical Society. ———. 1843b. An Oration Delivered Before the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, on the Occasion of Laying of the Corner Stone of an Astronomical Observatory, on the 10th of November, 1843. Cincinnati: Shepard & Co. Adams, John Quincy to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, July 25, 1843a. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. ———, October 3, 1843b. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. Burnet, Jacob to John Quincy Adams, October 30, 1843. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. Cheek, William, and Aimee Lee Cheek. 1996. John Mercer Langston and the Fight for Black Freedom. University of Illinois: Illini Books. Dick, Steven. 1991. John Quincy Adams, the Smithsonian Bequest and the Founding of the U. S. Naval Observatory. Journal for the History of Astronomy 22 (1): 31–43. Dunn, James, ed. 1950. A Choice Nook of Memory. The Diary of a Cincinnati Law Clerk, 1842–1844. Columbus: The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory Cincinnati: The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati, 1944. Irwin, Mary Jane. Journal of Miss Mary Jane Irwin. unpublished. [from collection of Bonnie J. Speeg]. Ladies of Cincinnati Committee of Invitation to John Quincy Adams, October 6, 1843. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. Landis, Rob. 2005, February. General Old Stars: The Blossoming of Astronomy in the United States. Griffith Observer 19 (2): 2–19. Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, July 18, 1843a. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. ———, August 1, 1843b. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives].

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Minutes of the Cincinnati Observatory, November 10, 1843. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, November 28, 1843c. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. ———, January 11, 1844. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. ———, March 9, 1848. [Cincinnati Observatory Archives]. Mitchel, Frederick. 1887. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General. Cambridge: The Riverside Press. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: 1809–1862, Science 98(2556), 553. 1943, December 24. Paulson, George. 2001, July/August. Lighthouse of the Sky: John Quincy Adams Visits Cincinnati. Timeline 18(4). Portolano, Marlana. 2000, September. John Quincy Adams’s Rhetorical Crusade for Astronomy. Isis 91 (3): 480–503. Rufus, W. C. August 1924. Astronomical Observatories in the United States Prior to 1848. The Scientific Monthly 19, no. 2 (1924, August):120-139. Schriftgiesser, Karl. 1940. Families: From Adams, Astor and Lee to Beecher, Barrymore and Roosevelt. New York: Howell, Soskin & Company, Inc. Shoemaker, Philip. 1991. Stellar Impact: Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Astronomy in Antebellum America, PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Stern Jr., Joseph. 1981, Winter. Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky. The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39 (4): 230–249. Sultzer, R.  Thomas. 2019. Conception of Magnificence: John Quincy Adams and the Birth of American Astronomy. Self-published.

Chapter 3

Birthplace of American Astronomy

3.1 The Public and Financial Support As it happened the $7500 collected by, or promised to, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel would be insufficient for his venture. The telescope cost more than he had been authorized to spend. Future funds would also be needed for an observatory structure to contain this telescope. Mitchel obtained more subscriptions, and donations from wealthy citizens, meeting each goal at the appropriate time. After the last payment for the telescope was made in May of 1843, Mitchel turned his efforts toward designing and building the structure. Mitchel opted to design a building modeled after the one in Munich. It would not have the typical dome shape seen today, but rather a flat roof that could be pulled to the side along a track by ropes.1 He requested of the Society, and was granted, the right to incorporate living quarters for his family.2 When completed, it would be a two-story structure of 30 by 80 feet. On the main floor were to be meeting rooms and a parlor for use by the Society. His family’s living quarters would be in the basement and on the second floor. Also, on the second floor would be the room for the equatorial telescope (Refer to Fig. 2.3). From week to week Mitchel managed to pay for the labor and materials.3 He saved money and time by quarrying his own stone, burning his own lime, hauling his own brick, and even building a temporary dam to collect water for the mixing of mortar. He utilized some of his personal funds and obtained some additional subscriptions, some of which were paid in  Joseph Stern, Jr., “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 39, no. 4 (Winter 1981):236. 2  Philip Shoemaker, Stellar Impact: Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Astronomy in Antebellum America, PhD thesis (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991), 110. 3  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory (Cincinnati: The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati, 1944), 36. 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_3

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building materials, services or goods that could be traded. He oversaw the construction at those times outside of his obligation of teaching at Cincinnati College.4 The land on Mt. Adams had been donated by Nicholas Longworth with the stipulation that it must be put into use within 2 years. The structure was completed 6 months before Longworth’s deadline.5 Meanwhile the Society had other financial concerns. There was no endowment to cover the cost of upkeep. Toward this Mitchel had promised to provide his own services to the observatory, free-of-charge to the community, for 10 years. For his personal needs he would rely on his salary from teaching at the Cincinnati College.6 In November of 1843 John Quincy Adams had delivered his final public oration for the dedication of the Observatory. Mitchel could not let this endeavor fail. The telescope was shipped from Munich on 14 September 1844 in 16 boxes to Bremen, from where it continued its journey to New Orleans.7 Mitchel reported at the Society meeting on 21 December 1844 that the telescope had arrived in New Orleans to begin its trip up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.8 It was to be delivered by the steamer Yorktown. Unfortunately, while on its way to Cincinnati the Yorktown was obliged to cut its journey short due to low water.9 The steamer deposited its cargo at Smithland, Kentucky and returned to New Orleans. Finally on 13 January the Yorktown left New Orleans once again, retrieved its cargo at Smithland, and completed its journey.10 On the evening of Tuesday, 21 January 1845, the boxes, with assembly instructions, arrived safely in Cincinnati.11 This delay was fortunate as on Sunday, 19 January 1845, the Cincinnati College burned down. The observatory structure was not quite ready then to receive it. Had the telescope arrived when expected it would likely have been stored at the College Hall, “… and, in all probability, been burned.”12 Mitchel’s personal situation was not so fortunate after the College fire. He had agreed to be Director of the Observatory without pay, anticipating his salary for

 Jermain Porter, Historical Sketch of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1843–1893 (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1893), 6–7; Everett Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” Popular Astronomy 21 (1913): 72. 5  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 36. 6  Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 72. 7  The Daily Picayune, December 3, 1844. 8  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, December 21, 1844. 9  Cincinnati Gazette, January 6, 1845; January 20, 1845. 10  Cincinnati Gazette, January 20, 1845. 11  Cincinnati Gazette, January 22, 1845; The Daily Picayune, December 3, 1844; Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1887), 157. 12  Cincinnati Daily Gazette, January 20, 1845; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, January 22, 1845. 4

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teaching at the College.13 With no salary he was obliged to live off of his savings for 1 year.14 When the construction of the observatory was completed, Mitchel communicated with the editor of Astronomische Nachrichten on 7 April 1845 to share details with him, and his readers, regarding the Cincinnati Observatory and telescope. He related that the Observatory provided accommodations for himself and his family. There were also two large rooms for the Society members. The equatorial room was 25 feet square and 14 feet high covered by a square roof that could be moved aside by operation of a crank. Over a weekend into the following Monday, the telescope was mounted on a stone pier in the equatorial room. The pier passed through the center of the building, detached from the floors and the building itself. It was then adjusted by himself and a crew and one of the first objects observed on that Monday evening was the Orion Nebula. As of the writing of the letter the telescope was not yet perfectly adjusted.15 It had taken almost 3 months from its arrival to assemble the telescope and set it on top of the pier.16 It was in this year, 1845, that Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, erstwhile Professor of Cincinnati College, would publish his first academic monograph, a textbook, An Elementary Treatise on Algebra  – Designed to Facilitate the Comprehension, Demonstration and Application of the Leading Principles of That Science. In the preface to this volume he expressed his desire to make the reader’s understanding of the mathematical concepts effortless, even without the assistance of an instructor.17 On the very day that Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel made his first scientific observations through Cincinnati’s new telescope on 14 April 1845, some anxious subscribers were also ready for their first peek. Esther Baker, mother of artist Nathan Baker, wrote to her son of her visit: On Saturday evening Pa and I rode up on Mount Adams to look through the telescope … We had our curiosity satisfied by looking at the moon through a glass magnifying 180 you may judge what an interesting sight it was to us … We found company there among who was Jacob Burnet and family. (Letter from Esther Baker to Nathan Baker).18

 Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 38. 14  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 121. 15  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, “Schreiben des Herrn O.  M. Mitchel au den Herausgeber,” Astronomische Nachrichten 23 (1845): 199–204. 16  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 37–38. 17  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, An Elementary Treatise on Algebra – Designed to Facilitate the Comprehension, Demonstration and Application of the Leading Principles of That Science (Cincinnati: E. Morgan & Co., 1845), ix–x. 18  Esther Baker to Nathan Baker, April 14, 1845. 13

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Nathan Baker was a charter member of the Astronomical Society, but at this time he was studying art in Florence, Italy.19 His mother further described for him the rules of use: The observatory is now open for visitors – a shareholder is entitled to take two of his family at a time. Citizens are permitted to visit the house from 3 till sunset by paying $1but cannot look through the telescope at all in the evening. Persons not residing in the city can by paying $2 visit the observatory room and view the heavens through the telescope  – which arrangement of the board has offended the citizens and has occasioned some ill natured and abusive remarks to appear in the newspapers about the observatory and the astronomer.20

The newspaper article to which she referred is quoted here: By the rules of the Society, the Observatory will be open at night to the admission of none but stockholders ― in certain hours of the day to citizens, who are not stockholders on the payment of one dollar each entrance. Complaint is made on one side that this price of admission is too exorbitant ― on the other there is a retort that the stock-holders erected the building and purchased the Telescope, not that the Observatory should be a ‘Public Institution’ but that it should rather be for the benefit of themselves, who were seeking after scientific knowledge, and willing to pay the necessary expense … we will make this remark that the very manner in which funds were raised in several instances when needed, for the construction of the building, and, if we mistake not, for the payment of a portion of the Telescope debt had led the public mind into either the belief or the anticipation that the Observatory would be a Public Institution … We refer now to the several Public Soirées held for the express purpose of raising funds from the public, to defray certain necessary expenses in accomplishing this great enterprise of science … A large portion of these patronizers of the enterprise are now ruled out, save at an uninteresting hour, and on the payment of a large fee! … Hundreds will go in for a fourth of a dollar where tens will go now …21

The journalist cited did not have a problem with a charge for admission but felt the price set was too high, especially since no nighttime viewing was involved. Mitchel’s words had stirred such enthusiasm in the community about the beauty of the heavens that there were great expectations. The public felt frustrated and betrayed. The journalist was probably correct in his assessment that the smaller fee of 25 cents would bring substantially more patrons and possibly lead to a greater profit, but it was the intention of Mitchel and the Society to limit the number of public viewers. This was true even though Mitchel, now without the support of a teaching position, had been given permission to retain fees for admitting non-members.22 Edward D.  Mansfield, Mitchel’s ex-law partner, now Editor of the Cincinnati Chronicle, would respond, in defense of Mitchel and the Society, that the machinery of the Observatory was “… too delicate…” for public handling. The stockholders

 William Henry Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley (Cincinnati: R. Clarke & Co., 1891), 323. 20  Esther Baker to Nathan Baker, April 14, 1845. 21  Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, April 12, 1845. 22   Russell McCormmach, “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Sidereal Messenger, 1846–1848,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 110, no. 1 (February 1966): 38. 19

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had produced the observatory “‘for the promotion of science.”23 These limits on public viewing would become even more restrictive over the next few years. Later that year the Astronomical Society would establish a course of lectures on topics of astronomy. Mitchel would deliver these on Monday nights, also for a price, to both its members and the public.24 Meanwhile, Mitchel could no longer ignore his personal financial situation. He had agreed to take on the directorship of the Cincinnati Observatory with no compensation, counting on his salary from the Cincinnati College. When the College burned down, he no longer had that support. He decided he would have to earn some money by going on the lecture circuit. His first lecture, in the company of his wife Louisa, was at the Tremont Temple in Boston.25 There he met with success and he would continue to participate in this circuit for about 15 years.26 According to historian Philip Shoemaker: His circuit ran from Boston to New Orleans, from November through March, when observing conditions in Cincinnati were marginal. His audiences soon began overfilling the theaters, spilling into hallways and aisles, and establishing his reputation as one of the most erudite and inspirational speakers of the antebellum period.27

In one typical lecture series of five lectures, assuming about 1500 patrons per lecture paying 25 cents each, Mitchel could expect to gross $1875. When delivering a series of six lectures at the Broadway Tabernacle in New  York City in 1847 a reporter from the New York Tribune was present to phonograph his words. (See Appendix for a transcription of one of these lectures.) It was during these early years, in 1846, that Henry Twitchell (1816–1875) of New Hampshire presented himself at the door of the Observatory at Mt. Adams. He was looking for work. He had been a sailor, had seen the world, and was ready for new ventures. He was handy with tools but ignorant of astronomy. Mitchel told him that he could only be taken on as an unpaid assistant and these terms were accepted.28 He was provided with a little house on the grounds referred to as ‘the Cottage’ and there he “… swung a hammock, and prepared for science and poverty.”29 Twitchell would prove to be an invaluable assistant. He was ingenious with mechanical and optical work. He built a pine observatory chair for the transit room. He was

 Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 115.  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, September 27, 1845. 25  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 159–160. 26  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 127–128. 27  Philip Shoemaker. “Mitchel, Ormsby Macknight (1809–1862), Astronomer and Advocate of Science.” American National Biography. (February 2000) Retrieved 7 May. 2019, from https:// www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1301147. 28  William Jensen, A Few Cincinnati Eccentrics, Cranks and Curios: Nine Historical Vignettes (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 2017), 58–70. 29  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 179. 23 24

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responsible for most of the machinery used at the Observatory.30 When Mitchel left for his winter lecture tours, Twitchell was left in charge. As a potential alternative to the lecture circuit toward financial support, Mitchel undertook an astronomical publication. His monthly journal The Sidereal Messenger (Fig. 3.1) was launched in July of 1846. Sidereal is a Latin word meaning ‘of or related to stars.’ This was the first astronomical journal in the United States, and of the few astronomical journals in the world, it was the only one of a popular nature. He planned to have 12 popular issues per year with occasional extra issues that would be more scientific in nature. He promised to keep language simple, to define

Fig. 3.1 The Sidereal Messenger. (Cincinnati Historical Society, photograph by first author) 30

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 178–181.

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all scientific terms, and to keep the reader current in all astronomical research worldwide. The journal was eight pages in length and included one engraving. He learned to do the engravings himself to save money. Subscribers paid three dollars a year and were entitled to visit the Observatory.31 During Mitchel’s 1848 lecture series in New York at the Broadway Tabernacle he promoted his journal: “ … should this periodical commend itself to you, it would be of course gratifying to me to have your aid and support.”32 Mitchel did much of the work on the journal himself. He wrote about 60 percent of the material in the first issue and 40 percent of that in the second. Much of the rest was taken directly from other journals or newspapers. He updated the readers on celestial events and discoveries, notably the discovery of Neptune. He informed readers of the opening of new observatories, the opening of the Smithsonian, activities of professionals in astronomy and the business news of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. Besides writer, Mitchel served as editor and business manager.33 He also learned to do the engraving himself (Fig. 3.2). Mitchel put out three extra issues the first year intended to be more professional in nature. In the first of these he published some of his own findings on double stars. He solicited, but could not get, many contributions from professional astronomers. Most Americans preferred to submit their work to the more prestigious general science journals of the East. Ironically, Mitchel found more respect for this endeavor from the Europeans. German Karl Ludwig Hencke (1793–1866) sent a note on the discovery of a new asteroid for inclusion. The Russians Johann Heinrich von Maedler (1794–1874) and Friedrich von Struve (1793–1864) were impressed. Maedler said the journal would “… readily forward a regular exchange of current publications” between observatories in America and Europe. Von Struve assured Mitchel that he might expect some contributions from himself and his son. Director of the Greenwich Observatory, James Challis (1803–1882), praised Mitchel’s efforts.34 However, it seemed the American professionals could not involve themselves with such a ‘popular’ venture. In the issue of April of 1848, Mitchel reported the death of John Quincy Adams. He opined: ― the Cincinnati Astronomical Society laments the loss of an associate whose fame reflected honor upon their body, whose scientific attainments contributed to their aid and encouragement, and whose personal attentions and zeal in promoting their welfare were of inestimable value.35

 McCormmach, “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Sidereal Messenger,” 35.  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, A Course of Six Lectures on Astronomy Delivered in the City of New York by Professor O.M. Mitchel (New York: Greeley & McElrath, 1848), 31. 33  McCormmach, “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Sidereal Messenger,” 39–41. 34  McCormmach, “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Sidereal Messenger,” 44. 35  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, “John Quincy Adams,” Sidereal Messenger 2, no. 9 (April 1848): 71–72. 31 32

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Fig. 3.2  Jupiter sketched by Mitchel and published in the Sidereal Messenger Monthly Journal, Vol. 1, No. 10, 1847 (Hathi Trust)

Less than 2 months earlier the Observatory had been gratified to receive an oil portrait of Adams (Fig. 3.3) painted by William Powell (1823–1879). Powell was born in New York and reared in Cincinnati. Nicholas Longworth, who had donated the original four acres on Mt. Ida, a great supporter of the arts, was also his financial benefactor.36 While visiting Cincinnati in 1847 Powell had visited the new Observatory on Mt. Adams and was much impressed. On 27 February 1848, 4 days after Adams’s death, Powell wrote to Judge Jacob Burnet, the President of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society: During my sojourn in Cincinnati last summer I made a visit to the Astronomical Observatory. To say that I was pleased with it or came away gratified would be to express very feeble the intensity of my [undecipherable word] or the feelings of pride with which my eyes rested upon the “Queen City” below, where right minded citizenry had raised this temple to a science which more than any other dignifies and solidifies thought, induces continued exploration of the mysterious soul-awing nature of our existence & of the mighty powers of the Great Creator.

 Cincinnati Art Museum, The Golden Age, Cincinnati Painters of the Nineteenth Century Represented in the Cincinnati Art Museum (Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Art Museum, 1979), 93. 36

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Fig. 3.3  William Powell Portrait of John Quincy Adams (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

I look upon the Observatory as a kind of “Mount Sinai” from whose heights the people of our fair City may hear the voice of God in the still twilight of the day. Now my dear Sir having said this mainly in admiration of the Observatory I desire to make it [two undecipherable words] manifest by presenting to the Society a portrait of the venerable man who laid the first stone of the edifice “The Hon. John Quincy Adams.” The portrait is I believe the last that has been painted of him & is esteemed a good likeness.37

The CAS Board of Control accepted Powell’s generous donation, and in appreciation for the gift, presented him with a membership to the Society.38 The Powell portrait has been prominently displayed in the Observatory ever since. The Sidereal Messenger lasted only a little more than 2 years as paid subscriptions fell. The last issue was put out on October of 1848.39 Shoemaker says that The Sidereal Messenger was a casualty of Mitchel’s ‘amateur’ image, particularly evident as professionals chose to publish elsewhere.40 In 1849 Benjamin Apthorp Gould (1824–1896) started the publication Astronomical Journal which dealt only with professional research.41 Mitchel continued to publish papers in other journals over the next few years.

 Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, February 28, 1848.  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, February 28, 1848. 39  McCormmach, “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel‘s Sidereal Messenger,” 46–47. 40  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 143. 41  McCormmach, “Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel‘s Sidereal Messenger,” 47. 37 38

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Mitchel also wrote books in hopes of gaining financial support. His first was written in 1848, the year The Sidereal Messenger ceased publication. It was a collection of ten ‘lectures’ called Planetary and Stellar Worlds. The introduction for this book was the same as the lead article for the first issue of his journal, a description of the founding of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society and Observatory. The first ‘lecture’ dealt with the early history of astronomy and the later chapters dealt with the nature of the cosmos as it was understood at the time. The language was classic Mitchel, simple, yet eloquent.42 Mitchel also, on occasion, would supplement his income by returning to railroad engineering jobs. In 1850 was published O.M. Mitchell’s [sic] Report of Preliminary Reconnoissance [sic] of the Country between Cincinnati and St. Louis with the View to Determine the Practicability and Character of a Railway Constructed over the Same. He dissected a likely route to cover the distance of about 360  miles and addressed the issues within each, a canal to be filled, streams to be crossed with bridges or bypasses, or potential floods to be considered. He also described the advantages to each terminus to be gained by such an endeavor. He estimated a cost of 5 to 6 million dollars.43 By 1853 his personal financial situation was much improved, and he might even be considered ‘well-to-do.’ He had gone to England as an agent to float some bonds for railroad companies and his commission led to financial independence.44 He was able to take his family on a European holiday that year as he travelled on business for the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad.45 He published a book in 1860, Popular Astronomy: A Concise Elementary Treatise on the Sun, Planets, Satellites and Comets. He again attempted to keep things simple, “ … reasoning is carried as far as could be done without the use of mathematics.”46 In this volume he had chapters on each of the then eight planets, including Neptune. He also dealt with some concepts such as gravity and the controversial ‘nebular hypothesis’ which was causing some difficulties for the religious. Mitchel, himself a religious man, managed to merge this theory with traditional faith. Mitchel’s last written monograph was The Astronomy of the Bible which would not be published until 1863, the year after his death. It was composed of seven chapters dealing with such topics as the nature of God and the universe, and astronomical miracles of the Bible.47

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 182.  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 206–207. 44  Paul Herget, “Cincinnati Observatory’s Founding,” Times-Star Centennial (undated), Cincinnati Observatory Archives. 45  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 207. 46  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Popular Astronomy: A Concise Elementary Treatise on the Sun, Planets, Satellites and Comets (seventh edition) (New York: Oakley & Mason, 1867), 376. 47  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, The Astronomy of the Bible (New York: A. Mason, 1863). 42 43

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3.2 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Accomplishments Mitchel did not want for suggestions on the use of this new Observatory. Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy (1801–1892) wrote, “… the first application of meridional instruments should be for the exact determination of … geographical latitude and longitude.”48 During the years 1848 to 1849, Mitchell worked with Sears Walker (1805–1853) of the United States Coast Survey in Philadelphia, on ascertaining the latitude and longitude in Cincinnati.49

Catalog of Multiple Stars Astronomer Royal Airy told Mitchel, “The subject most likely to occupy your meridional instruments is the determination of the places of some classes of stars, which may be concerned in your equatorial observations.”50 Airy pointed out that Mitchel’s refractor was well-suited for the resolution of double-stars. One of Mitchel’s contributions to this endeavor was his rediscovery in 1845 that the red supergiant Antares was actually a double star. The fiery red star was found to have a small green companion. This had been seen in 1844 by Grant in India, but it was first made known to the general astronomical community by Mitchel’s announcement.51 Mitchel’s work led to the update of Elijah Burritt’s Geography of the Heavens published in 1833.52 The Geography of the Heavens: and Class Book of Astronomy Accompanied by a Celestial Atlas, revised and corrected by O.M. Mitchel, was published in Cincinnati in 1848. According to the preface Mitchel would add material on multiple stars, the discovery of the planet Uranus and five asteroids, and new star charts.53 The task that would finally occupy most of Mitchel’s time initially came from a request from Friedrich G.W.  Struve (1793–1864), Director of the Pulkovo Observatory, which at the time had the largest refractor telescope in the world, also a Merz and Mahler. The Pulkovo Observatory was located near St. Petersburg at a  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 165.  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Report of Professor O. M. Mitchel, of Cincinnati, on the mechanical record of astronomical observations. Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, Communicating the Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Showing the Progress of the Work During the Year Ending November, 1849. 31st Congress, 1st Session. 50  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 165. 51  C. H. Cleminshaw, “The founding of the Cincinnati Observatory,” Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets 5, no. 208 (June 1946): 71; Porter, “Historical Sketch of the Cincinnati Observatory,” 9. 52  Shoemaker, “Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight (1809–1862), Astronomer and Advocate of Science” 53  Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, The Geography of the Heavens: and Class Book of Astronomy Accompanied by a Celestial Atlas (Revised and Edited) (Cincinnati: H. W. Derby & Co., 1848).

48 49

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latitude of 59.93° N., which did not adequately permit viewing of the southern skies. Mitchel’s location in Cincinnati enabled him to catalog double and multiple stars up to 15 degrees south of the equator.54 His major work thereafter was his measurement of 2714 multiple stars that were listed in the catalog of Struve.55 His studies were eventually published in 1876 by the direction of a later director, Ormond Stone.56

Neptune During Mitchel’s tenure as Director of the Observatory the discovery of a new planet was made. Saturn’s orbit had irregularities leading to the suspicion of a disturbing gravitational influence of a body outside its orbit. Astronomers in Europe confirmed the existence of this body as a new planet to be named Neptune. In the United States Mitchel and his wife, Louisa (Fig.  3.4), were looking for this new planet. Mitchel found four objects of 8th magnitude in the finder scope. Louisa, while at the eyepiece of the telescope, determined one of the objects was indeed the disc of a planet. F.A. Mitchel believed that she was the first American to see Neptune. She definitely was the first woman to see it.57

Electro-chronograph When Alexander Bache (1806–1867) was appointed Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey in 1843 one of his priorities was determining the best means of determining longitude.58 Samuel Morse’s invention of the telegraph provided the means to achieve this by the comparison of time signals at sites distant from each other. The early methods were manual, the earliest being the clock signal method, whereby signals of time sent from one end of a telegraph line were compared to those at the other end. The difference in time between the chronometers could be used to determine the longitude. Two variations on this method followed. By the star signal method, local times for the crossing of specified stars over the crosshairs of a transit telescope were compared. The method of coincidence took advantage of the  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 169.  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 41. 56  Ormond Stone (Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel), Micrometrical Measurements of 176 Double and Triple Stars Observed with the 11 In. Refractor of the Cincinnati Observatory, Publication No. 2 (Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1876). 57  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 175. 58  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 167. 54 55

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Fig. 3.4  Louisa Mitchel, Mitchel’s wife (F. Kent Mitchel)

difference between solar and sidereal clocks. A sidereal (star) clock gains about 1 s every 6 min over the solar clock. Astronomers frequently used sidereal clocks as these noted the rate of stellar movement rather than solar movement across the sky. Astronomers at the two ends of the telegraph line with the different clocks would note a coincident click about every 6 min, which time will be noted to determine longitude.59 Bache’s deputy in charge of telegraphic longitude determination was Sears Walker.60 In October of 1848, Mitchel, in Cincinnati, and Walker, in Philadelphia, used all three manual methods to determine the distance between their two sites. This distance was a record of about 700 miles. However, Walker had concerns about the accuracy of these methods. There was the possibility of human error, at either end, at the time of tapping of the telegraph key. Also, since this method depended on sound alone, there was no permanent record being made.61 Several individuals would rise to the challenge of creating a device that would eliminate human error and provide a permanent record. John Locke,  Trudy Bell, “The Victorian Global Positioning System,” The Bent of Tau Beta (Spring 2002): 17.  Shoemaker, “Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight (1809–1862), Astronomer and Advocate of Science.” 61  Bell, “The Victorian Global Positioning System,” 17. 59 60

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M.D. (1792–1856), also of Cincinnati, and a member of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, made use of the Morse fillet paper to telegraphically record the transit of a star. This method proved effective but used more than 300 feet of fillet paper in one night. It also still required an astronomer to tap a key at the instant of star transit. Mitchel invented an automatic register which made use of the pendulum in his observatory clock to make the marks. Instead of the Morse fillet, it used a flat disk of 22 inches in diameter. This chronograph used electric current to ameliorate longitude determination. It took Henry Twitchell’s mechanical skills to make Mitchel’s electro-chronograph a reality.62 His revolving-disk chronograph (Fig.  3.5) is described in this quote by Elias Loomis (1811–1889): At every alternate second, a dot is struck by the time-pen on the paper. When the disc has performed one revolution, a tooth upon the axis of the disc takes hold of a fixed rack, and moves the travelling frame, which carries the center of the disc through the tenth of an inch, when a new circumference of time dots is commenced. The observation dots fall intermediate between the minute circles and second circles, and are struck so as to distinguish them by form from the time dots.63

Mitchel shared information of his invention with Astronomer Royal Airy who was impressed and installed one of the devices at the Greenwich Observatory.64 However, Fig. 3.5 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Revolving-Disk Chronograph (Annals of the Dudley Observatory, 1866:33)

 Bell, “The Victorian Global Positioning System,” 18.  Elias Loomis, The Recent Progress of Astronomy, Especially in the United States (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1856), 329. 64  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 181. 62 63

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it was only a year later that the Bonds of the Harvard College Observatory designed another chronograph, this one cylindrical in shape, which became the reference method for such determinations at most observatories until about 1920, when it was replaced by wireless technology.65

3.3 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Final Years While Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel could not completely forget his obligation to the members of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society he struggled to gain more time for scientific research. Initially the equatorial room was open to Society members from 3:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays. However, beginning in November of 1846, at Mitchel’s request, the number of days it would be available to members was cut down to Thursdays through Saturdays. In March of 1852 Mitchell asked for permission to close the Observatory to the public completely so that the instruments might be used exclusively for scientific research. This was ultimately granted in 1854.66 Over the next several years Mitchel would have new challenges to his research in the growing city of Cincinnati. On 23 October 1858 Mitchel made a report to Professor Bache, Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, on the subject of moon culminations. He stated that Bache would find “… by an examination of the observations as reported from month to month, that their value has been greatly diminished by the effect of the city smoke …”67 In 1859 the Society met to address the problem of the location of the Observatory on Mt. Adams in the heart of Cincinnati. Science historian Stephen Goldfarb quoted Mitchel, “… the smoke issuing from the chimneys of surrounding factories had the last two or three years become so great as to preclude for more than half the time any observations.”68 At this same meeting Mitchel announced that he had accepted an offer to be the Director of the Dudley Observatory69; the Dudley phase of the story will be addressed shortly.

 Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 74; Bell, “The Victorian Global Positioning System,” 18. 66  Stephen Goldfarb, “Science and Democracy, a History of the Cincinnati Observatory,” Ohio History, 78, no.3 (1969): 176–177. 67  Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (corporate author), The Coast and Geodetic Annual Reports, “Appendix No. 23, Report of Professor O. M. Mitchel, Director of the Cincinnati Observatory, Stating the Number of Astronomical Observations Made There for the Use of the United States Coast Survey”, October 23,1858, 190. 68  Goldfarb, “Science and Democracy,” 177. 69  Goldfarb, “Science and Democracy,” 177. 65

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Mitchel would leave Cincinnati in 1860.70 Before doing so, in 1859, he agreed to give a lecture series at the Academy of Music in New York. It was requested that he deliver one more lecture for the benefit of a proposed observatory to be erected in Central Park.71 Typical for Mitchel, the venue was full and his audience appreciative. This was to be his last lecture.72 This last series was phonographed for transcription, so some of his compelling words are available, but the voice that contributed so much to these words is missing. His son Frederick quoted from the transcription which follows in part: When I stood, some fourteen years ago, in my own little city before a multitude like the one which I now have the honor of addressing, and there for the first time lifted my voice in behalf of a noble structure, whose chief ornament should be one of the grandest instruments that science and skill have ever produced, I ventured to make an appeal of this kind: – The Old World looks with comparative contempt upon the profound ignorance and inertness of the New. They point to us and say: Yonder is activity and strength and power and vigor, but it is all put forth to grasp the almighty dollar. And when I stood before that great assemblage and said, Let us rescue our country from the stain resting upon it; let us show to the crowned heads of Europe that free, independent, republican America can take the lead even in science itself, the response to my appeal afforded the most gratifying evidence that in the end this grand object would be accomplished. What is the result? A short time after the commencement of the undertaking – and at that day there was scarcely an observatory in our country – I visited Europe. I went to Munich, the great centre for the construction of these mighty instruments, and there I stood in the presence of the successors of old Frauenhofer and Utzschneider. I said to them, “Your predecessors sold to the Emperor of Russia the great equatorial refractor. And why? Simply because they desired that their skill and handiwork, displayed in this masterpiece, shall fall into the hands of some profound astronomer, and thus give them a world-wide reputation. Sell to me,” I said, “poor, simple republican that I am, and yet one of the nobles of our land, this mighty refractor, equal to almost any other in the world, at cost, in like manner, and I will guarantee that in the next ten years you will get more orders from the United States than from all the other countries of the world together.” They would not make the sale on these terms, and yet during that time they have received more orders from this country than from all others, and we have built more observatories and erected more magnificent instruments than all the world besides. Now our scientific men stand on the same high platform with those of Europe. They hail us as brothers, in this grand and noble crusade against the stars. We are moving on together, a solid phalanx; the watch-towers are rising all over the earth, and the grand cry is “Onward!” It is echoed from observatory to observatory. The sentinel is everywhere posted, and do you not mean to post one on your rocky heights? I know you do.73

Though inspired, the citizens of New  York ultimately could not consider this endeavor due to the event of the Civil War. For this series Louisa would be too ill to accompany Mitchel so he requested that a message be sent by his friend, G.L.Coltan, to apprise her of the success of the series (Fig. 3.6).

 Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 228.  Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 73. 72  “Sketch of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” Popular Science Monthly 24 (1884): 697. 73  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 197–198. 70 71

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Fig. 3.6  Letter from G.L. Coltan to Louisa Mitchel (The Cincinnati Museum Center, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel papers 1809–1862. MSS 679)

The Dudley Observatory By the mid-nineteenth century, the United States had overcome most of the growing pains of a new country. General agreements had been reached regarding rules of government, national and local. The improved economy provided for the services and material needs of thriving communities. Citizens had new leisure time for subjects of interest through entertainment or education. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel took advantage of such inclinations to promote astronomy and the establishment of an observatory in Cincinnati. Americans were beginning to recognize the advantages of European higher education. Harvard Professor (1809–1880) actually drew up a plan for a national university. Dr. James H. Armsby, a physician in Albany, suggested that the attachment of an astronomical observatory to the existing medical and law schools in his city might serve as the beginning of such a proposal.74 To begin raising funds he approached Mr. Thomas W. Olcott, President of the Mechanics and Farmers’ Bank of Albany and, through him, other citizens. Mrs. Blandina Dudley, widow of Charles E. Dudley, erstwhile Mayor of Albany, and United States Senator for New York,

74  Mary Ann James, Elites in Conflict: The Antebellum Clash over the Dudley Observatory (New Brunswick and London: Rutgers University Press, 1987), 35.

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would make an initial donation of 10,000 dollars.75 Another interested party, Professor Amos Dean of the Law Department of Albany University, reached out to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, to seek advice on the establishment of such an observatory.76 Mitchel had previously delivered an inspirational speech before a club in their community in January of 1851.77 In October of 1851 Mitchel again spoke to the citizens of Albany. This time he challenged them to raise the money both for the observatory and the national university.78 A bill was introduced and passed by the Senate of New  York that would incorporate the Dudley Observatory 11 February 1852. Armsby, Olcott and Mitchel were among the named trustees. Mitchel drew up plans for the observatory and a list of necessary equipment.79 As the legislature refused to fund the observatory this was mainly to be done through subscription.80 Mitchel designed the observatory (Fig. 3.7) on grounds donated by Stephen Van Rensselaer, one of the trustees. He had had the experience of designing the observatory in Cincinnati and this time he had more funds with which to work. An equatorial would be mounted on a central pier in a one-story structure. There would be a

Fig. 3.7  The Dudley Observatory (undated-completed in 1854). (Dudley Observatory Board)

 Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 219.  Benjamin Boss, History of the Dudley Observatory: 1852–1956 (Albany, NY: The Dudley Observatory): 2–3. 77  James, Elites in Conflict, 37. 78  James, Elites in Conflict, 38. 79  Boss, History of the Dudley Observatory, 5–6. 80  James, Elites in Conflict, 39. 75 76

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workshop in the cellar. To the right and the left of the main hall would be rooms for the Olcott Meridian Circle and the transit instrument. In the rear would be the library and computing rooms. This time the residence for the astronomer’s family and staff would be separate from the observatory.81 Shortly thereafter Mitchel put aside his loose association with the Dudley Observatory due to his duties in Cincinnati. It had been assumed by those in Albany that he would be their Director and indeed he remained so, in name only, so subscriptions would be honored. After the subscriptions were paid, Mitchel recommended Benjamin Apthorp Gould for this appointment.82 As funds were at that time limited, Gould, while still an astronomer at the United States Coast Survey, volunteered to take the Dudley position at no charge to Albany. He brought with him assistants from the Coast Survey so he could fulfill his obligations to both entities. He then made a trip to Europe to obtain the instruments recommended by Mitchel.83 The trustee majority felt there was a delay in progress in making the institution fully operational due to Gould’s outside responsibilities. In response, Gould obtained permission to bring in Dr. C.  H. F.  Peters (1813–1890) from the Coast Survey to work exclusively in Albany, mounting instruments and beginning observations. This was temporarily satisfactory. One day two trustees went to visit the Observatory to check on progress and found they were locked out. Representatives made a list of resolutions delineating rules for the use of the observatory. Gould responded with some conciliation and some defense. His directorship was terminated on 3 July 1858.84 The trustees again turned to Mitchel to be the Director. He was hesitant at first. He wanted answers regarding income and their expectations. He had concerns about his wife’s poor health, after two paralytic strokes, though it was a move that Louisa would welcome. She would be nearer her girlhood home on the Hudson River in New  York.85 Mitchel was already at the Cincinnati Observatory 4  years past his 10-year commitment. Ultimately he did accept the position in Albany, however, he did not resign from his post in Cincinnati, becoming the director of two observatories at the same time.86 George W. Hough (1836–1909), who had been assistant to Mitchel, followed him to Albany, while Henry Twitchell was left in charge at Cincinnati.87

 Boss, History of the Dudley Observatory, 6–9; James, Elites in Conflict, 41.  James, Elites in Conflict, 41–42. 83  Boss, History of the Dudley Observatory, 12. 84  Boss, History of the Dudley Observatory, 15, 17, 27. 85  Boss, History of the Dudley Observatory, 29; Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 192–193. 86  Samuel Yorke at Lee, “General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” Potter’s American Monthly 5, no. 45 (September 1875): 653; Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 193. 87  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 202–203. 81 82

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The Civil War The American Civil War began with the fall of Fort Sumter to the Confederates on 12 April 1861. In the following month a crowd gathered in Union Square in New  York City to hear six speakers. The last of these was Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel (Fig. 3.8) who spoke in support of the Union and his President. When the Union lost at Bull Run on 21 July 1861, Mitchel requested a commission of the President and was granted that of Brigadier General (one star) of Volunteers. His wife, Louisa, died 2 days after he left for Washington.88 The two observatories, to which he still had responsibilities, were each left in the charge of a temporary caretaker, Henry Twitchell at Cincinnati and acting Director George W.  Hough at Dudley.89 In September of 1861 Mitchel was put in charge of the Military Department of Ohio. This included Cincinnati which was felt to be a likely target for attack by the Confederates. The Department included Ohio, Indiana, and the northern part of Kentucky. Mitchel saw no military action there and spent 2  months training his troops.90 Fig. 3.8 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Soldier, as a Major-­ General (two-star), c. 1862 (en.wikipedia.org)

 Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 207; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 232–236; Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 74. 89  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 202–203. 90  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 238; “Sketch of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 695–699. 88

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In October of 1861, Mitchel was ordered to move south to take the Cumberland Ford, the Cumberland Gap and, if possible, to destroy the Tennessee Railroad.91 His engineering skills were to be useful whenever he was directed to destroy, or sometimes rebuild, sections of railroad, telegraphs, bridges, etc.92 This time he did not have the opportunity to act, as he was too soon called back to Ohio.93 He was frustrated by this lack of action. In a letter of 2 April 1862, he wrote to a Mr. Coe, “I have but one trouble, and that is my dependence on others who are too slow. The entire war has been moved too slowly.”94 Some of his free time was spent doing astronomy. He directed Hough, who was acting as Director of the Dudley Observatory, to collect data on observations of Neptune, which he sent to Astronomer Royal Airy on February 3, 1862.95 These were to aid in an ephemeris update. Mitchel personally checked the calculations. His troops knew of his interest and would call him by the nicknames ‘Old Stars’ or ‘Old Starry.’96 Again, Mitchel moved to the south. On 11 April 1862 he succeeded in taking Huntsville, Alabama.97 He had had detachments cut telegraph wires and tear up railroad track. He sent a dispatch to the War Department: After a forced march of incredible difficulty, leaving Fayetteville yesterday at 12 noon, my advanced guard … entered Huntsville this morning at six o’clock. The city was taken completely by surprise … We have captured about 200 prisoners, 15 locomotives … We have succeeded at length in cutting the great artery of railroad intercommunication between the Southern states.98

Not a shot was fired.99 After this success Lincoln, on that same date, promoted Mitchel to Major-­ General and gave him the new task of taking Vicksburg, Mississippi. However, in this region, all such ‘operational’ decisions were in the hands of General Halleck, who would not sign the order. Again Mitchel could not act.100 In September of 1862 he received his final orders to take charge of the Department of the South in Beaufort, South Carolina. At this location he was cut off from the

 Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 239–240.  Rob Landis, “General Old Stars; The Blossoming of Astronomy in the United States,” Griffith Observer 69, no. 2 (February 2005):14. 93  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 226–227; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 239–240. 94  Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 271. 95  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 242. 96  Landis, “General Old Stars,” 13. 97  Landis, “General Old Stars,” 13; Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 282; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 246. 98  Landis, “General Old Stars,” 14. 99  Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 248. 100  Landis, “General Old Stars,” 15–16; Frederick Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General, 288; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 248. 91 92

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North except by sea. Mitchel contracted yellow fever that was rampant there and succumbed on 30 October 1862.101 Henry Twitchell had been acting as custodian of the Cincinnati Observatory for a period of Mitchel’s absence, but resigned in 1861.102 He moved on to a more financially satisfying position. Besides his contributions to the invention of the electro-­ chronograph while he was in Cincinnati, he is credited with two other inventions, the acidometer, for which he received a patent in 1870, and a version of a hygrometer.103 When Twitchell left, a Mr. William Davis was designated as custodian of the property, granted its use for his residence. Davis was to pay 300 dollars a year for its maintenance.104 The Observatory structure began to deteriorate105 until the time of the appointment of Cleveland Abbe of the National Observatory as Director in 1868.106

3.4 Conclusion Societal changes in the United States in the early nineteenth century permitted, even encouraged, interests in activities that, years earlier, might have been considered trivial or non-relevant to everyday life. Advances such as improvements in the production and distribution of paper and books, the manufacture of eyeglasses, and the presence of gas lighting during nighttime leisure hours, enabled greater access to printed materials. Verbal communication of new discoveries and concepts in parlors, schools and public meetings enhanced the promotion of the sciences, astronomy in particular, as a popular topic for education and entertainment. Enthusiastic amateur astronomers had a variety of outlets for this developing interest in the new democratic society. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel was more than an amateur, but continually struggled to gain respect as a professional. His original research was not extensive. His study of the skies led to the publication of several books. His study of multiple stars with Cincinnati’s telescope led to added data for Struve’s catalog. His perfection of the electric current chronograph to improve longitude determination was adopted by the Astronomer Royal in Greenwich, though it was to be followed within a year

 Goldfarb, “Science and Democracy,” 178; Landis, “General Old Stars,” 16; Shoemaker, Stellar Impact, 261. 102  Porter, “Historical Sketch of the Cincinnati Observatory,” 10. 103  Jensen, A Few Cincinnati Eccentrics, 58–70; William Jensen, “The Twitchell Acidometer,” Museum Notes (May/June 2013): 1. 104  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, October 30, 1861. 105  Goldfarb, “Science and Democracy,” 178. 106  Porter, “Historical Sketch of the Cincinnati Observatory,” 10. 101

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by the superior apparatus devised by the Bonds, then of Harvard.107 His lectures were inspirational to the public, students and future scientists. Jermain G. Porter, an eventual Director of the Cincinnati Observatory, listed several young men, who worked with Mitchel, and went on to careers in astronomy. Edward S.  Holden (1846–1914) of the Lick Observatory stated Mitchel’s “… work was done under immense disadvantages, in a new community, but the endowment of astronomical research in America owes a large debt to his energy and efforts.”108 Currently one may see the name of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel recognized in numerous features, both astronomical and geographical. On 30 August 1845 Mitchel reported seeing a bright spot projecting from the southern polar cap of Mars. This entity follows a seasonal pattern transitioning with spring melting into smaller spots and eventually dissolving. These have been named the Mountains of Mitchel.109 Also near the southern pole is a crater named for him approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1973.110 There are three towns or cities named for him. Mitchell (spelled with two “l”s), Indiana, is named for him. It was here that Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel was the chief engineer for the construction of the Ohio and Mississippi Railway, now the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern, and was responsible for the surveying and platting of the town.111 In November of 1861, following the Union forces success at the Battle of Port Royal, the Union Army used Hilton Head for their headquarters. The freedman formed a community and officially named their new city Mitchelville, which soon became the site of one of the first self-governing towns of freed Africans in the country. The new citizens established their own legal and school systems. They voted on their own laws and elected their own officials. Mitchel’s troops contributed to the building of the city. Mitchel addressed the freedmen, “Good colored people, you have a great work to do, and you are in a position of responsibility. This experiment is to give you the freedom, position, homes, your families, property, your own soil. It seems to me a better time is coming … a better day is dawning.”112 Another city named for him is Fort Mitchell. Historian Paul Tenkotte and C. Adam Hartke explain: The city of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, although spelled with an extra “l”, bears General Mitchel’s name. The match seems appropriate, for several reasons. The Civil War fortification of the same name was located in the current city. Second, Fort Mitchell is a suburb of Cincinnati, a city that the general cared deeply about and for which he spent many of his

 C. E. Stephens, “Astronomy as Public Utility - the Bond Years at Harvard Observatory,” Journal for the History of Astronomy 21, no. 1 (February 1990): 24. 108  Yowell, “The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel,” 74. 109  Thomas Dobbins, “The Mountains of Mitchel,” Sky and Telescope 139, no. 5 (May 2020):52–53. 110  International Astronomical Union, Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature, “Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature,” accessed August 30, 2020, planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov. 111  History of Lawrence, Orange and Washington Counties, Indiana (Chicago: Goodspeed Bros. & Co. Publishers, 1884), 10; James Edwards, History of Mitchell and Marion Township, Indiana (Reprinted from the Mitchell Tribute, 1916). 112  The Mitchelville Preservation Project, “Dawn of Freedom: the Freedmen’s Town of Mitchelville, The Exhibit.” Hilton Head, SC (2013). 107

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adult years engaged in the advancement of its transportation and educational facilities. Third, Fort Mitchell today prides itself on its excellent educational institutions, an important focus of General Mitchel’s life.113

To obtain the desired telescope Mitchel was gone from Cincinnati for about 100 days. In this time he visited Washington, London, Paris and Munich. In this time he met astronomers who provided invaluable help and some who became lifelong friends. He purchased a magnificent lens and learned how to run an observatory. Success in the establishment of the observatory was due in large part to Mitchel, but it was also due in large part to many of Cincinnati’s citizens who donated money and labor. Success also involved some serendipity. Mitchel could not find the lens for which he searched in London or Paris. In fact, he was advised that it was unlikely that he would find one at all at that time. However, when he went to Munich, he found one ready and available that fit his specifications. This telescope was held in such high esteem that it was used as the defining image in Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language from 1864 through 1884 (Fig. 3.9). It was also fortunate that the steamboat Yorktown was delayed in the delivery of the telescope, preventing its loss in the Cincinnati College fire. Mitchel even enjoyed good fortune in locating Adams on vacation in Niagara to present the city’s invitation to participate in their celebration. This saved him about half the distance he would have had to cover to reach Quincy, Massachusetts. Fig. 3.9  Image of Mitchel’s telescope accompanying the word “Telescope” in an early Noah Webster Dictionary. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author). The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1944: image subsequent to page 44

 Paul Tenkotte and C Adam Hartke, A Home of Our Own - The Suburb of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, 1910–2010 (Cincinnati, OH: Black Tie Press, 2011): 110. 113

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Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Observatory in Cincinnati was completed and celebrated. It was now up to the Cincinnati Astronomical Society to see that it was put to good use.

 ppendix: Lecture Delivered at the Broadway Tabernacle A in New York Second of Six Lectures Delivered by Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City in December of 1847, phonographed by a reporter for the New York Tribune (Mitchel, O.M., 1848a. A Course of Six Lectures on Astronomy Delivered in the City of New York by Professor O.M. Mitchel. New York, Greeley & McElrath.) LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: It has been my fortune to appear before a public assembly in this City 11 times in the course of my life, and on eight of those occasions I have been greeted by exactly such inclement weather as we have to-night. There seems to be some fatality attending my coming here, and I fear, if it goes on much longer, you will come to the conclusion that I had better always stay at home. I have before stated the fact that the Science of Astronomy has furnished to the human intellect the widest and noblest field for its efforts. As my Course of Lectures will be necessarily short, I shall embrace the whole range of the Science and accomplish as much in this Course as is possible  – I propose, therefore, to direct your attention to specific objects. Follow me then to-night, if you please, through the History of the Developments of Discoveries made with reference to our nearest neighbor – the MOON. The early history of Science we know is lost. – We may trace back the record of its movements until we see that there was a Science of Astronomy anterior to the earliest date which History can reach. We may then take up Tradition – stepping still further back – and there again we stop and ponder upon the fact that there was a Science of Astronomy anterior even to Tradition. Thus we are lost in the obscurity of past time, and, having nothing more to guide us upon which we can rely, we must resort to Speculation. But let it be remembered that this speculation is of such a character that it is absolute certainty, and, if it be properly conducted, it will lead us to results entirely reliable. I shall be obliged, then, to begin with Speculation. In turning the eye to the heavens, the strong probability is that the very first astronomical observations made upon any moving body were those made upon the Moon. This attracted the wondering gaze of every eye, − its curious and extraordinary changes, and the rapidity of its movements, were so different from those of any other heavenly body. While the Sun was ever bright and round – while the other planets always shone with a serene and steady light – while the fixed stars shed forth the same unvarying degree of splendor year after year, it was found that the Moon was constantly changing. On one evening it was observed to be the slender silver crescent, close beside the Sun: it was watched from night to night, receding from a

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line with the Sun, and increasing in brilliancy, till, finally, it was found to rise in the East in full orb while the Sun was sinking in the West. Then, as the nights rolled on, the light was discovered to decrease, until, when it again came round in conjunction with the Sun, it had entirely disappeared. These changes were doubtlessly the first observed. But there was another point which early attracted the attention of man. When the grouping of the stars in the heavens had first been made – when it was seen that they held invariable relative positions to each other, the next point was to watch and see if the Moon held its place among the stars. Here arose a most wonderful discovery. The Moon did not hold its place among them. What did it do? It was found, in the next place, to be moving contrary to the motion of all the heavenly bodies, which appeared to make regular diurnal rotations. The Moon was heaving upward, while at the same time it had a general diurnal motion. – Here was the first discovery ever made with regard to the Movements of the Heavenly Bodies. For a long time it must have been a matter of perplexity whether this motion of the Moon was real, or was occasioned by the fact that the whole sidereal heavens were sweeping past the Moon. – How was it possible to determine this question? If they had only this object to examine and no other moving bodies were found, then would it have been impossible to have settled the question whether this motion actually belonged to this object alone, or whether the whole Sphere of Stars wheeled round more rapidly than the Moon. But after a little while they found that the Sun in like manner partook of a similar motion. They watched the setting Sun. How many of us have done the same thing, for the like purpose? They saw certain bright stars first making their appearance, apparently near the Sun, as it sunk to rest. Night after night they watched, and found to their astonishment that these broad groups of stars were coming downward to meet the Sun, and at every successive day they were nearer and nearer that luminary. The Sun is heaving upward, said they, to meet the stars, as they are sinking down under the horizon; and inasmuch as this phenomenon did not differ from that of the Moon, it settled the question, at once and forever, that this motion of the Moon and the Sun was really in no sense belonging to the heavenly bodies among which they appeared to be located. Here, then, was a second grand discovery – the Movement of the Sun. But as they continued these examinations they had occasion to refer the Sun to a very brilliant, beautiful star, that was found to be visible to them after the Sun’s setting. This was regarded as a fixed star among the rest; but, by continuous examination, it was found this star was moving downward to meet the Sun. It did not hold its place among the rest. What could be the meaning of this? He who first fixed his eye comprehendingly upon this object, how intense must have been his emotions! What is this, hitherto regarded as a fixed star? He watches it till finally it is lost in the splendor of the Sun. What now? It has been found that all the bright stars among which the Sun appears, move upward in the East in the morning just before the Sun rises. Might it not be that this star will pass by the Sun and make its appearance in like manner? We can imagine this individual, morning after morning, with his gaze

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fixed on the eastern sky, watching the reappearance of his lost star. At length it is found: there it is, on the other side of the Sun! Here, then, is the first discovery ever made of a planet by the human eye. Who discovered it? – Alas! his name – his country, is forever lost. But we know this to have been the process. Having found one of these moving bodies, it was not difficult to find others. But it is unnecessary to go into an explanation of the manner in which other planets were discovered, and I will revert to the Moon. Up to this time no explanations of the changes of the Moon were divined  – it was impossible to divine them. Another phenomenon, more wonderful, more terrific than all, now came to impress itself upon the mind and awake its energies: it was the exhibition of a Solar Eclipse. No eye, even at this day, has ever gazed upon this startling scene without experiencing a sense of awe or fear. The idea that the great Source of Light is waning – is dying – is passing away from the heavens, always chills the blood and fills the mind with terror. What, then, must have been the effect produced upon the minds of the early inhabitants of the Earth by this phenomenon – while the causes which produced it were unknown, and it was impossible to predict its coming – when, at the noon of a gorgeous and sunny day, it presented itself to their astonished gaze? Surely, we may imagine that, after such a startling phenomenon, the most powerful intellects were consecrated to the investigation of this mystery. Now I shall venture to attempt an explanation to go far enough to show to you how it was that the first eclipse was predicted, so that you yourselves can, with the eye alone, make the requisite observations and attain sufficient knowledge to be able yourselves to predict the coming of such an event. This may seem very difficult – and it is marvelous, even now, with all the aid of astronomical tables, and all the knowledge we have derived from the storied Past. How it could have been done thousands of years ago, when the true knowledge of our System did not exist, is most remarkable and entirely inexplicable. Let us examine into this matter. In the first place, the attentive eye marked the fact that when an eclipse of the Sun occurred, no Moon was visible. This was a very important point; and, aroused by the discovery of this fact, they watched the movements of the Moon and marked its position before the coming eclipse. The next night after the eclipse they found the Moon close to the Sun – a silver crescent, actually located in such a manner that if it pursued its wonted orbit it must have passed very near the Sun at the very time the eclipse took place. The Moon was last seen on this side  – immediately after the obscuration it occupied the other side. They joined these two points, and by the rate of motion of the Moon calculated how long it took for the Moon to come up to a junction with the Sun, and it was found to be just such as to allow the Moon to come in conjunction with the Sun at the very time of the eclipse. Hence they reached the conclusion that the Moon was passing between the eye of the observer and the Sun, and in that manner the light of the Sun had been intercepted. Here was an explanation of the extraordinary phenomenon of a Solar Eclipse. But how was it possible for them to calculate the return of an eclipse? This will require more attention. I beg you to remember that we have no history going back

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sufficiently far to record this wonderful discovery – even tradition knows nothing of it. We must then go back in imagination, and speculate concerning it. First, then, it was remarked that the track pursued by the Sun and the Moon among the fixed stars was circular. Now if it were possible for me to mark out the track of the Sun in the heavens – if it would, for our accommodation, leave a broad belt equal in breadth to its diameter – if the Moon in like manner should leave the mark of its track, these two belts would not coincide, but would cross each other in two opposite points. – These are what are called the Nodes. You will understand what follows without difficulty. Now, in order that it should be possible that the eclipse should take place, you will readily perceive that it was necessary, not only that the Moon should be in conjunction with the Sun, but it must actually cross the track of the Sun when in conjunction, in order to make an eclipse. The Moon must be in one of these nodes or an eclipse cannot take place. But again, it has been already observed that an eclipse cannot occur except at New Moon. Combine these two facts. If it should so happen that the New Moon should come in just at the instant it was crossing under the disc of the Sun, then would the Moon interpose itself between the eye and the Sun and an eclipse would necessarily occur. Now then, to find out that period: Let us go, in imagination if you please, to the top of some mountain peak, where the first Astronomer – immured from the world – carries on his nightly observations. He has reached to the knowledge of the fact that there will be an eclipse of the Sun if the New Moon occur at the time she is in her node. He already knows the time for the New Moon to come in, which is fixed and certain. He believes he can compute the time when the next node will come round, and to do it he seizes the aid of the Moon to-night. He runs onward till he finds when the New Moon will appear, and discovers that when it comes round it is not in the act of crossing the Sun’s path. He runs round another cycle and finds again that it is not on the Sun’s track. He extends his investigations still farther from one lunation to another, − he finds the New Moon approaching nearer and nearer to the desired place, till finally it comes exactly to this point. The computation is marked. “There,” he says, “when that day arrives, I announce to the inhabitants of the world that the Sun shall lose its light.” With what anxiety he must have watched the coming of that day! How slowly did the revolving Moons pass by! At last the day arrives; − he retires to his rocky summit, there to await the test of his triumph or defeat. The Sun rises, bright and beautiful – it mounts the heavens, and scatters glory in its path. While the mortal world below are engaged in the avocations of business and the pursuits of pleasure, he is watching with intense anxiety to know what the result will be. But in the very noon of the day his triumph arrives. The Sun begins to fade – it wanes – it dies! The terror-­ stricken millions below cry with agony; while this lone man, on his bleak and barren watch-tower, with outstretched arms offers his thanks to the God of the Universe who has crowned his efforts with success! (Applause). But, alas, for human fame! Surely that individual might have hoped to believe that he who had first predicted the coming of an eclipse, who had removed the causes of terror which this phenomenon had spread among the inhabitants of Earth,

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should have his name engraved upon the tablet of Fame “with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond.” Yet his name – his nation, is lost forever! No history reaches so far back – no tradition can extend to the point of time when he lived or where. Now, by a most remarkable and wonderful arrangement of the lunations, on the return of the New Moon it is found that, after we have predicted one eclipse, if we will go on and record each successive eclipse for the period between 18 and 19 years, at the end of the cycle of 223 years they will have run round what might be called an orbit, and again occur on the same days. Hence, after they have recorded eclipses for one such cycle, there was no difficulty in predicting an eclipse at any future time. The coincidence, however, is not exact. For, if an eclipse occurred on the 19th of March, 3000 years ago, the succession of the cycle may in the course of time wear gradually around and disappear; but many years must roll away before on the recurrence of the cycle, an eclipse will not take place. As soon as it was possible to understand the cause of the eclipse of the Sun, the human mind was directed to the investigation of the cause producing an eclipse of the Moon. This was far more difficult, and for this reason: – In the eclipse of the Sun they had watched the coming up of the Moon to the Sun, its passage across the Sun’s disc, believing without question that the eclipse was caused by its interposition between them and the Sun, and that it occurred only at New Moon. But what was to interpose itself between the beholder and the Full Moon? There seemed to be nothing in the heavens. Upon reflection, the human mind bethought itself that every body which revolves in the light of another luminous body, will cast a shadow beyond in a right line with the light itself. Now if the Earth is opaque, it might intercept the light thrown upon it from the Sun, casting a shadow toward the horison, and might it not be projected far enough to reach the Moon itself, so that the Moon in passing into the shadow, having no light of its own, would be obscured? Here is an explanation of the cause of the Lunar Eclipse, revealing to the early Astronomers the fact that the Moon was not self-luminous. The explanation of the Phases of the Moon is easy. If it be a globe, or sphere and only brilliant in consequence of the reflection of the light from the Sun, it became necessary that the illumination should always be at the time when the Moon and the Sun were in contrary positions relative to the Earth. When the Sun was setting and the Moon was comparatively near to the Sun, and, of course, between the observer and the Sun, it was impossible to see the whole illuminated surface of the Moon, and indeed sometimes almost none at all. But as the Moon gradually receded from the Sun, night after night, after a time it came to occupy an easterly position, when the light of the Sun falling upon its surface was thrown back at a very acute angle upon the eye of the observer, and the Full Moon was presented. These changes were going on from lunation to lunation, and, once observed, were easily comprehended. While the Moon thus revealed to them the causes of the eclipse of the Sun, and the reason of its own phases, it also revealed to the early astronomers the figure of the Earth. How did this occur? It was found, when the Moon passed into the shadow of the Earth, that the line cut out of the disc of the Moon by the shadow was an arc of a circle, and as it passed farther and farther on, even to the entire obscuration of

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the Moon, it still appeared in a form nearer a complete circle. Now it was impossible than any other than a globular figure should cast such a shadow upon the surface of the Moon. The Moon, then, first revealed the figure of the Earth upon which we live; and strange to tell, that same Moon, in our own day, has given us a more perfect knowledge of the figure of the Earth than can be derived from any measurements with the most accurate instruments we yet possess. – This matter I shall undertake to explain hereafter. We find, on running back to past history, that observations were made upon the Moon, at Babylon, 2250  years before the Christian Era. And these observations, upon the taking of that city by Alexander, were said to have been presented to Aristotle. The truth of this we cannot know; but one thing we do know – that on the 19th of March, 2567  years ago, there was an eclipse of the Sun observed and recorded in the tower erected in that mighty city: on the 8th of March in the following year there was another; and on the 4th of September in the next year there was another. And we know and understand the peculiarities belonging to these antique observations. These are, perhaps, among the earliest observations – and of such importance are they in linking the Past with the Present, that but for them we would at this time be comparatively ignorant of the movements of that wondrous orb which does more for the civilization of the world than any other one thing of which we have a knowledge. I pronounce this to be true without hesitation. If it were possible, now, to trace with perfect precision the exact position of the Moon, we should accomplish more for Commerce, for Science, for Civilization than could be done in any other way. Why? Because then the tempest-tossed mariner upon any ocean – over whom days and weeks had passed without his seeing the Sun or stars – the moment this silver orb made its appearance again in the heavens, would be able with perfect confidence to exclaim: “I know exactly in what part of the globe I am situated; the smallest observation gives me my latitude, and the position of the Moon my longitude.” Hence, I say, it is of the utmost consequence that we should have these old observations; for by linking them with those now making, we are able to approximate the accomplishment of this grand design more fully. But as we come down through the tide of Time, we find a particular theory adopted with regard to the whole System with which we are united – the old Greek theory, to which I will just advert. It located the Earth in the center, and made the Moon the nearest object, and the Sun next. Now it happened, curiously enough, that there was one truth in the theory: the Moon did revolve around the Earth. When Copernicus presented his theory, and transferred the fixed center to the Sun, causing the planets to take proper positions, rescuing the Earth from its false position and sending it revolving round the Sun, the question was, What is to be done with the Moon? There seemed to be a difficulty here. The query was: Is the Moon a planet like the rest? Perhaps many of my audience have not thought of this. How many of us have asked the question  – “How do we know that the Moon revolves?” Because the books tell us so? We are generally in the habit of receiving facts in that way. I do not remember ever to have seen an explanation of this in any book. But Copernicus reasoned in this way. Said he: I do not believe the Moon

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revolves in an orbit interior to the Earth’s, because I find that evinces a miracle; the Moon in that case should never leave the Sun but to a limited distance. Now the Moon does leave the Sun, and moves off till it is directly opposite, and then comes around again up to the Sun. I therefore say it does not revolve interior to the Earth’s orbit. In the next place, it does not revolve exterior to the Earth’s orbit; for I find the motion of all the planets exterior to the Earth, at certain points of their career becomes slow – it is arrested – they stop – retrograde – they stop again, and then take up their onward motion. Now I understand why it is that we, being on the surface of a circular globe must have these changes exhibited to us. But the Moon never stops and retrogrades – it is ever moving onward, and therefore is not exterior to the orbit of the Earth. Here was a farther absolute demonstration. It could not be either interior or exterior – therefore it was no planet at all. Now the phenomena exhibited by the Moon were perfectly accounted for. If – upon the hypothesis that you make the Earth its center – it revolves about the Earth, it is our satellite, ever accompanying us in all our movements. But we come down still farther in the history of our neighbor. When Kepler discovered the two laws of planetary movements  – that they revolved in orbits not exactly circular, but a little elongated – elliptical as they are called; when, in like manner, he had discovered, by tracing them up, that a line drawn from the Sun to any of the planets always swept over equal areas of space in equal times  – and, when, at the end of 17 long years of toil, he had also discovered his last great law, which linked all these isolated planets into one grand unit, making the Sun always the center, it seemed that nothing more remained to be done. But immediately the question arose: What holds these mighty globes steady? What power reaches out to them and prevents them from breaking from their orbits and wandering away into the blackness of darkness? The resolution of this problem was reserved for the immortal Newton. Kepler himself gathered some faint glimmerings of the great cause – that there was a power of attraction existing in bodies, mutually operating upon each other; but he did not attain to the demonstration of this fact. This was reserved for that great man to whom we owe our knowledge of the laws of attraction. Here, if you will allow me, I will attempt to explain the manner in which Newton conducted the argument which led him to the grand result. I am confident that although there are many here who have given comparatively little attention to Astronomical Science, they will also be able to follow me readily in this explanation. Newton began where Kepler left off. The latter announced that bodies were attracted to each other, and by a force which he believed decreased according to a certain fixed law: and it was to prove this that Newton made his investigations. In the first place, he announced this as a law, according to his belief: That every body attracts every other body by a force which varies inversely as the square of the distance. If a body be located at a distance one, the force of its attraction we will call one. Now remove this body as far again to a distance two, and the attractive power will be one-fourth  – at a distance three, one-ninth, and at a distance four, one-­ sixteenth; and you can carry out the law to any distance.

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Now, to prove the truth of this law was the question. In the first place, it is manifest that, whatever be the law of attraction, it will be clearly and positively determined by the amount of velocity it is capable of impressing upon a falling body. This is intelligible to all. If from this point I let fall any object toward the Earth’s surface, under the influence of the force of attraction suppose it fell 16 feet in the first second of time – this 16 feet will measure the force of attraction at the Earth’s surface. If it were possible to get 4000 miles high, and from that point, as remote from the surface of the Earth as my first station at the surface was distant from the center, and then drop a body, measure the space through which it falls, and find it to be one-fourth of 16 feet in a second, this would be proof that the law was true. But sup[pose?] I rise still higher, 12,000 miles above the center of the Earth, and there find the space through which this body falls is a ninth part of 16 feet in a second – here is another confirmation of the law. And if, as I increase my distance every time by the radius of the Earth’s circumference, I find the same law holds true, I pronounce, without hesitation, that this is the Law of Attraction. But I cannot rise in this way to a distance of twelve, eight, or four thousand miles. Yet may I not carry my observations to a certain hight? Yes; but to such a comparatively small distance that the distance will be inappreciable. Alas, for the person who undertakes the experiment! such is the minute difference, even when he has attained the greatest hight ever attained by man, it cannot be appreciated. What then was to be done? No one could ascend above the Earth to perform these experiments. But the mighty intellect of Newton stretched still farther, and our old friend, the Moon, was brought in to play the part of this falling body! What! do you ask – Is the Moon falling toward the Earth, and does Newton seize it and stop it, and then compute with what velocity it should come toward its central planet? No: This is not possible. But, let me explain. Here is the Moon: – Now let us start with the Moon when it was first projected in its orbit. Under the action of the impulsive force it would have moved off in a straight line, with a certain determined velocity, which we can measure. If this impulse had not been given to it, and it had been left free in Space, it would have dropped toward the center of the Earth with a certain velocity, which we can also measure. Now under the action of these two forces, it does not obey either of them, but takes a direction intermediate between the two, and swings in a curve about the Earth. And here is the stated point: if under the action of an impulsive force, it would in a second of time reach that point in as straight line, under the attraction of the Earth it is drawn down, and the amount by which it is drawn down is the amount through which it falls during that second of time. One more grand point is to be accomplished, and we are through. First: Inasmuch as the Moon is falling, it is necessary to note how much it falls. That is easily measured: all we have to do is to remark the amount of declension from a straight line which it would have pursued in a second of time. A straight line is easily measured, and gives the value of the distance through which a body located at the Moon will fall toward the Earth in 1 s. Now the grand point is whether that distance is what it ought to fall, under the hypothesis of the Law of Gravitation. When Newton undertook this investigation he was not provided with accurate data. It was easy to compute how far a body should

References

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fall in a second of time – every person can do that. Only follow this law, beginning with 16  feet a second at the surface of the Earth, or at the length of the Earth’s radius. Just square the distance, which will be successively 2, 4, 9, 16, and so on, till at the distance of the Moon, or 60 times the length of the Earth’s radius, it will be 3600. Since this computation was so easy, all that was necessary was to measure the space through which the Moon did fall, and if they were equal, then of course the demonstration was made. Yet, alas for the toil of the philosopher! His data were incorrect, and for 17 years did he goad his mind to the subject, toiling day and night to make this coincidence perfect, but it would not agree; so he threw his laborious computations away in despair. But, in attending a meeting of the Royal Society in London, he happened to catch the sound of the voice of an individual who was talking about a recent measurement of the circumference of the Earth. That was principal element entering into the computation. The new measurement differed from the old. Here, thought he, may be the source of my error. He takes down his old computations, and substitutes the new measurement of the diameter of our globe, which makes a difference in the proportional distance to the Moon. The result he anticipates is coming out. But his nervous system sinks beneath the intense excitement – he yielded up the computation to a friend, for he could not make it himself. The coincidence was perfect – the grand demonstration was made  – the Law of Gravitation was proved. At last he had grasped the Key to the Mysteries of the Universe, and held it with a giant hand. (Great applause.)

References Bell, Trudy. 2002, Spring. The Victorian Global Positioning System. The Bent of Tau Beta, 14-21. Boss, Benjamin. 1968. History of the Dudley Observatory: 1852–1956. Albany: The Dudley Observatory. Cincinnati Art Museum. 1979. The Golden Age, Cincinnati Painters of the Nineteenth Century Represented in the Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Museum. Cleminshaw, C.H. 1946, June. The Founding of the Cincinnati Observatory. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets 5 (208): 65–72. Dobbins, Thomas. 2020, May. The Mountains of Mitchel. Sky and Telescope 139 (5): 52–53. Dudley Observatory (corporate author). 1866. Annals of the Dudley Observatory. Edwards, James. 1916. History of Mitchell and Marion Township, Indiana. Reprinted from Mitchell Tribute. Esther Baker to Nathan Baker. 1845, April 14. [From the collection of Mrs. James M. S. Mixby, relating to Nathan Baker, gift to the Cincinnati Historical Society, box 1, item 27]. Goldfarb, Stephen. 1969. Science and Democracy, a History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1842–1872. Ohio History 78 (3): 172. Herget, Paul. undated. Cincinnati Observatory’s Founding. Times-Star Centennial Issue. [Cincinnati Observatory Archives]. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author). 1944. The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory. The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati.

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History of Lawrence, Orange and Washington Counties, Indiana. Chicago: Goodspeed Bros. & Co. Publishers, 1884. International Astronomical Union, Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Accessed 30 Aug 2020. planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov. James, Mary Ann. 1987. Elites in Conflict: The Antebellum Clash over the Dudley Observatory. New Brunswick/London: Rutgers University Press. Jensen, William. 2013, May/June. The Twitchell Acidometer. Museum Notes, 1. ———. 2017. A Few Cincinnati Eccentrics, Cranks and Curios: Nine Historical Vignettes. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. Landis, Rob. 2005, February. General Old Stars; The Blossoming of Astronomy in the United States. Griffith Observer 69 (2): 2–19. Loomis, Elias. 1856. The Recent Progress of Astronomy, Especially in the United States. New York: Harper and Brothers. McCormmach, Russell. 1966, February. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Sidereal Messenger, 1846–1848. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 110 (1): 37. Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. 1844, December 21. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. ———. 1845, September 27. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. ———. 1848, February 28. [Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives]. Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight. 1845a. An Elementary Treatise on Algebra – Designed to Facilitate the Comprehension, Demonstration and Application of the Leading Principles of That Science. Cincinnati: E. Morgan & Co. ———. 1845b, April 7. Schreiben des Herrn O. M. Mitchel au den Herausgeber. Astronomische Nachrichten 23 (543): 199–204. ———. 1848a, April. John Quincy Adams. Sidereal Messenger 2 (9): 71–72. ———. 1848b. A Course of Six Lectures on Astronomy Delivered in the City of New  York by Professor O. M. Mitchel. New York: Greeley & McElrath. ———. 1848c. The Geography of the Heavens: and Class Book of Astronomy Accompanied by a Celestial Atlas. (Revised and Edited). Cincinnati: H.W. Derby & Co. ———. 1849. Report of Professor O.M. Mitchel, of Cincinnati, on the mechanical record of astronomical observations. [Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, Communicating the Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Showing the Progress of the Work During the Year Ending November, 1849. 31st Congress, 1st Session]. ———. 1863. The Astronomy of the Bible. New York: A. Mason. ———. 1867. Popular Astronomy: A Concise Elementary Treatise on the Sun, Planets, Satellites and Comets. 7th ed. New York: Oakley & Mason. Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight. 1876. Micrometrical Measurements of 176 Double and Triple Stars Observed with the 11. In Refractor of the Cincinnati Observatory. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Observatory. Mitchel, Frederick. 1887. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel: Astronomer and General. Cambridge: The Riverside Press. Porter, Jermain. 1893. Historical Sketch of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1843–1893. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (corporate author). 1858, October 23. The Coast and Geodetic Annual Reports. Appendix No. 23, Report of Professor O.  M. Mitchel, Director of the Cincinnati Observatory, Stating the Number of Astronomical Observations Made There for the Use of the United States Coast Survey. Shoemaker, Philip. 1991. Stellar Impact: Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Astronomy in Antebellum America. PhD Thesis. University of Wisconsin-Madison. ———. Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight (1809–1862), Astronomer and Advocate of Science. American National Biography (2000, February) Retrieved 7 May. 2019., from https://www. anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-­9780198606697-­e-­1301147. Sketch of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. 1884. Popular Science Monthly 24: 695–699.

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Stephens, C.E. 1990, February. Astronomy as Public Utility  – The Bond Years at Harvard Observatory. Journal for the History of Astronomy 21 (1): 24. Stern, Joseph S., Jr. 1981, Winter. Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky. The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39 (4): 230–249. Tenkotte, Paul, and C. Adam Hardke. 2011. A Home of Our Own – The Suburb of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, 1910–2010. Cincinnati, OH: Black Tie Press. The Mitchelville Preservation Project. 2013. Dawn of Freedom: The Freedmen’s Town of Mitchelville, The Exhibit. Hilton Head, SC. Venable, William Henry. 1891. Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley. OH: Cincinnati. Yorke at Lee, Samuel. 1875, September. General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. Potter’s American Monthly 5 (45): 653–654. Yowell, Everett. 1913, February. The Debt Which Astronomy Owes to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. Popular Astronomy 21: 70–74.

Chapter 4

What’s the Weather Going to Be, Professor?

4.1 Cleveland Abbe (Director, 1868–1871) After the loss of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and the temporary caretaker, Henry Twitchell, the Cincinnati Observatory was left without leadership and without direction. The personal use of the premises by Mr. William Davis after Twitchell left in 1861 led to its deterioration.1 Members of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society stepped up to find a qualified Director and to raise funds for necessary repair and future needs of the Observatory. The Secretary of the Society, William Hooper, inspected the structure and found that much of the exterior was in bad condition. The parts of the interior occupied by the Davis family were in fair condition, but the equatorial room needed repair and the telescope itself, though still functional, was in need of cleaning. William Davis claimed personal expenditures incurred to be $2000 for repairs and another $2000 for instruments, including a new transit instrument he had constructed himself. At a meeting in July of 1867 a recommendation was made that Davis be considered for the position of Observatory Director.2 Meanwhile, Hooper had been corresponding with an individual who had been interested in the work and publications of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. This individual, Cleveland Abbe, had recently spent 2 years at Pulkovo, the Royal Observatory in Russia. It was Hooper’s opinion that Mr. Abbe might be convinced to take charge of the Cincinnati Observatory.3 Cleveland Abbe was born on Madison Street in New York City, on 3 December 1838, to George Waldo Abbe, a dry goods merchant and broker, and Charlotte

 Stephen Goldfarb, “Science and Democracy: A History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1842–1872,” Ohio History 78, no.3 (Summer 1969): 178. 2  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, July 12, 1867. 3  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, June 20, 1867. 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_4

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Colgate Abbe. He was the oldest of seven children.4 While they lived in New York, in the fall of 1845, his mother Charlotte was able to attend one of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s lectures in Brooklyn. She remembered, “He made astronomy as interesting as one of Dickens’s short stories.”5 Though it was not discovered until he was 14 years old, Cleveland had apparently been very near-sighted since birth. He did not participate in many of the boyhood games that might require good eyesight. He enjoyed the more sedate activities of exploring nature. He was a voracious reader.6 His parents encouraged him to enter the ministry but that was not in his independent nature, though he was devoutly religious throughout his life. Among his treasured books was Telescope and Microscope. He appreciated the opening comment: “God has been pleased in various ages to guide men to their discoveries which have enlarged their view of His perfections and increased their knowledge and happiness. Among these may be placed the construction and use of the telescope.”7 Abbe’s early education was in New York where he received his B.A. and M.A. at the New York Free Academy, which is now the City College of New York.8 While acting as an engineering tutor at the University of Michigan, he was inspired by Franz Brünnow, Director of the Detroit Observatory, to study astronomy.9 In August of 1862 Cleveland answered the call to defend the Union during the Civil War. He attended several weeks at a recruiting camp but was ultimately dismissed, deemed unfit for service due to his severe myopia.10 Instead he went to work on telegraphic longitude with Benjamin Gould of the United States Coast Survey from 1860 to 1864.11 After the war was over, Cleveland Abbe applied to Otto Wilhelm Struve (1819–1905) for an opportunity to work as an astronomer at the Pulkovo Observatory in Russia. His request was accepted and he spent 2 years there.12 Pulkovo was a serf village of only 2000 inhabitants, south of Saint Petersburg. There was little to do besides studying astronomy and writing letters. In letters to his

 Leonard Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” in The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, eds. Thomas Hockey et al., (New York: Springer, 2007), 2; W. J. Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916 (City of Washington: National Academy of Sciences, 1919), 470; Charles Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe: 1838–1916,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 56, no. 1 (1917): ix–x. 5  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe and the Isobars: The Story of Cleveland Abbe, America’s First Weatherman (New York City: Vantage Press, Inc., 1955), 98. 6  Alfred Judson Henry, “Memoir of Cleveland Abbe,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 7 (1917): 61. 7  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 12, 14. 8  Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” 2. 9  Henry, “Memoir of Cleveland Abbe,” 62. 10  Henry, “Memoir of Cleveland Abbe,” 62. 11  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 20; Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” 2; William Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 472; Charles Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” x. 12  Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” x. 4

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parents Abbe described his life and tasks at the Observatory. In one letter he related, “ … I am now making observations of stars near the horizon for the investigation of laws of the refraction of light by our atmosphere …” 13 He told his father in another letter, “The practical astronomy is what I have pursued and hope to pursue in a very quiet life of patient labor and can only be conducted in an observatory.”14 In another he related that he was considering staying at Pulkovo permanently “ … as one of the official members of the corps of astronomers.” This consideration included his hope of marrying Struve’s youngest half-sister Aemalia, though cultural differences would ultimately not permit this.15 Abbe’s 2 years at Pulkovo were fruitful ones. He was at liberty to pursue his own interests, but also had the opportunity to engage in the regular workings there for a small compensation.16 According to his son Truman, “It had given Father valuable astronomical experience at one of the world’s leading observatories. It had brought him into personal contact with scientific colleagues whose friendship was richly rewarding and with whom he was in correspondence ever after.”17 After he returned from Pulkovo, in 1867 he returned to do work at the United States Naval Observatory. It was soon after, on 6 November 1867, that William Hooper, Secretary of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, had a meeting with ‘Mr. Abbe’ regarding the possibility of his taking charge of the Observatory.18 Alphonso Taft, then President of the Society, and father of future U.S.  President William Howard Taft, revived an interest in the Observatory. Members raised $4000 dollars to put the structure back in order and to provide funds for a three-year budget.19 On 23 January 1868 a committee was appointed to invite subscriptions to pay the salary of a new Director and expenses. An election was held for a new Director. Mr. Harrison nominated William Davis and Mr. Hooper nominated Cleveland Abbe (Fig. 4.1). The vote on that day was six for Abbe and one for Davis. Absent members were invited to include their votes.20 Abbe visited Cincinnati in April to look over the equipment and meet the Board of Directors. He found that there was much to be done to make the Observatory useful again but would accept the challenge.21 In June of 1868 he accepted the position of Director of the Cincinnati Observatory.22

 Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 52.  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 60. 15  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 85–92. 16  “Sketch of Cleveland Abbe,” Popular Science Monthly 32 (January 1888): 400. 17  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 92. 18  Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” xi; Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, November 6, 1867. 19  Joseph Stern, Jr., “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39 (Winter 1981): 242. 20  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, January 23, 1868. 21  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 97; Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, April 12, 1868. 22  Henry, “Memoir of Cleveland Abbe,” 62. 13 14

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Fig. 4.1  Cleveland Abbe. (After Hockey, T., et al. 2014: 2)

Cleveland Abbe arrived to take on the position as the second Director at an observatory that housed what was believed to be one of the most historically significant telescopes in America, and which had not had a director since the beginning of the Civil War.23 At a meeting of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society subscriptions were requested to pay for the Director’s salary and expenses.24 A signed document attesting to the commitment of 18 individuals, who agreed to donate $100 a year toward the salary of the new Director, exists at the University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Books Library.25 In his inaugural address of 30 June 1868 Abbe outlined a broad program that included meteorology, surveying, and engineering, as well as astronomy. Specifically, he suggested the collection of weather reports from around the country to create a system of weather prediction.26 However, his first tasks at the Observatory were those of clean-up and repair. He had to clean the great telescope, and see to the repair of the roof, windows, and landscaping. Besides repairs, there were also basic personal needs such as stoves for the winter. He required expenses for travel for the short excursions necessary to determine the longitude and latitude of nearby towns.27  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 97; Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” 2; Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 473. 24  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, January 23, 1868. 25  Cincinnati Observatory Collections, Inventory WA-79-43, Box 1, Folder 14, University of Cincinnati Library, Archives. 26  Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” xiv. 27  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 104, 106. 23

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Fig. 4.2  Frances Martha Neal in 1865, who eventually married Cleveland Abbe. (After Abbe, T., 1955: image after page 53)

In a brief letter to the Astronomische Nachrichten in 1868 Abbe advised the astronomical community of his assignment and his plans for the future. He expected to use the equatorial for useful scientific research and to bring in the assistance of young astronomers. He expressed one immediate concern, “It is imperative that we remove to a new location far beyond the influence of the dense smoke that hangs over this city.”28 It would be years before this particular issue was resolved. William Hooper, recommended his sister-in-law, Miss Frances Martha Neal (Fig. 4.2), to be secretary to Abbe. Abbe later married Miss Neal on 10 May 1870.29 They had a small wedding at the Hooper home. Abbe noted in his diary that their honeymoon was spent at the Observatory on Mt. Adams, as he had to work. They had three sons. It proved to be a good marriage.30 Besides astronomy Cleveland Abbe had an interest in meteorology. He wanted to know how meteorology related to astronomy, but also appreciated its significance in other aspects of life in the United States. His son quotes him from an undated note, “The frequent reports of terrible shipwrecks among vessels aproaching [sic] New York City and loss of crops by frost in Connecticut, for many years had been a stimulation to my observing windstorms.”31 Later, while at Cincinnati, Abbe  Cleveland Abbe, “Schreiben des Herrn Cleveland Abbe, Directors der Sternwarte in Cincinnati, an den Herausgeber,” Astronomische Nachrichten 72 (June 1968):43. 29  Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 471; Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” xii. 30  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 198–204; Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” xii. 31  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 100. 28

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received reports from Increase Lapham, a self-taught naturalist from Milwaukee, which confirmed the urgency for such a service. Lapham gathered statistics for the year 1868, reporting that weather disasters in the Great Lakes resulted in the loss of 321 lives and damages in an amount greater than three million dollars. He also reported that in 1869, 209 lives were lost and property damage amounted to greater than four million dollars.32 As early as 28 July 1868, Abbe communicated with John Gano, editor of the Cincinnati Commercial, regarding a system of daily weather predictions. In 1869, then President of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Gano appointed a committee of support. He agreed with Abbe that the geographical location of the Observatory relative to the railroad and telegraph system made it ideal as a central station to receive and dispatch meteorological reports throughout the country. A Chamber committee met with Abbe and agreed to meet his expenses for the first three months for the gathering and dispensation of these reports.33 After Gano’s death in 1898, Abbe would credit his significance to “… American scientists as the one who most efficiently encouraged the establishment of a system of daily weather predictions for the benefit of business men.”34

4.2 The Total Solar Eclipse of 1869 Cleveland Abbe decided to delay his weather service plan until after his return from an expedition to observe the total solar eclipse of 7 August 1869. A solar eclipse is a rare event where the path of the Moon, as seen from the Earth, crosses that of the Sun. The eclipse is ‘total’ when orbital circumstances allow the disc of the moon to totally blot out that of the Sun. It is only in this case that one can see the corona or prominences. The corona is the outermost region of the solar atmosphere. The prominences are bright gaseous features that extend outward from the Sun into the corona. Among data that scientists endeavor to collect at these events are the times of contact. First contact occurs when the disc of the Moon just begins its ingress onto the solar disc. Second contact occurs when the disc of the Moon is newly completely internal to that of the Sun. Third contact occurs when the Moon’s disc is still completely internal to that of the Sun, but about to begin its egress. The fourth contact occurs when the disc of the Moon has just completed its egress from that of the Sun, but is yet tangential to it. Abbe’s report on his expedition was published in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette on 14 August 1869. Abbe was the head of the expedition at the position “… furthest northwest of any party this side of the Pacific Coast… “ He described his party. It consisted of Robert  J. Cecil Alter, “National Weather Service Origins,” Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio 7 (July 1949): 177. 33  Cleveland Abbe, “John A. Gano,” Science 7, no. 161 (January 1898): 123–124; Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 116–117; Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 474; Everett Yowell, “Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916,” Science 98 no. 2556 (December 1943): 554–555. 34  Cleveland Abbe, “John A. Gano,” 123–124. 32

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Abbe, his brother, who attended New  York City Free College; Professor A.G. Compton, a friend, also from the New York City Free College; James Haines, Astronomical Assistant of the Cincinnati Observatory; and Robert Warder, Assistant Teacher of the Illinois Industrial University. Meanwhile, James Russell, the meteorological assistant of the Observatory, was left in charge at Cincinnati where he would make and record hourly observations of the partial eclipse, while Henry Twitchell, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s assistant of many years returned, and with D.K. Winder would undertake photography at this site.35 The expedition party left Cincinnati on 28 July 1869 for Chicago, where they were met by the photographer W.C. Taylor and his brother-in-law S.N. Longstreth, both of Philadelphia. They would all continue by railroad to the Missouri Valley Junction and further to Sioux City, 85 miles north. From there they travelled north by three wagons to Sioux Falls City, formerly Fort Dakota. This final journey by wagon took 2½ days. Initially the party members paid their own expenses though the three morning newspapers of Cincinnati, the Gazette, Commercial and Enquirer promised a ‘most generous remuneration’ to three of their party that would act as special correspondents.36 There was also support from the railroads for this scientific endeavor in the form of free transportation. Communication between Sioux City and Chicago was facilitated by the railroad companies, enabling the eclipse party to determine the longitude of the former.37 Sioux Falls City had formerly been protected by Fort Dakota, after an Indian massacre in 1863. The Indian troubles had ended. The soldiers were gone. What remained was hardly a city. There were about six homes with about twice as many inhabitants. The fort was abandoned when no longer needed as the frontier had moved westward and northward.38 The property had been purchased by E.D. Broughton, who took the Commandant quarters for his residence. These quarters were made available for the needs of the scientists.39 Taylor, assisted by Longstreth, was in charge of the photography of the eclipse. The cover of one of the wagons was set up for the purposes of a dark room. He had the use of a telescope of 3 inches aperture whose images were received on sensitive paper held firmly at the appropriate distance. Photographs were taken of the partial eclipse both before and after the event (Figs. 4.3 and 4.4). For the time of totality a clockwork mechanism was contrived, which was invented by Taylor for the purpose. Photographs taken with this device, outside and during totality, were labelled on the back sides with the times (Fig. 4.5).40

 Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse – Scientific Observations at Sioux Falls City,” Cincinnati Daily Gazette (August 14, 1869). 36  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 37  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse”; Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 109. 38  Cleveland Abbe, “Professor Abbe‘s Eclipse Observation, 1869,” The Cincinnati Commercial (August 14, 1869). 39  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 40  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 35

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Fig. 4.3 Taylor Photographs – 2 ¼ inch square – Numbered Only. (Photograph by first author, University of Cincinnati Archives)

Professor Compton oversaw spectroscopic studies of the red prominences. Cleveland Abbe describes the crude apparatus devised for this purpose: The spectroscope used on the occasion was somewhat hastily made, and consisted of an adjustable slit through which the light to be received passes. The slit is in the focus of an achromatic lens of about 8 inches focal length, and three quarters of an inch aperture. After passing through this lens the light enters a direct vision prism, made by Browning, of London, as recommended by the eminent spectroscopist, Wm. Huggins. Having been thus analyzed, the light passes into a small telescope of a magnifying power of five or six diameter, and is viewed by the observer. There being no micrometer or other means of measuring, the results attained by this apparatus are purely relative, but such has always been the character of the observations made on these occasions.41

As was sometimes the case at such rare solar eclipse events, a new device was brought to Sioux Falls City to test its value in determining useful scientific information. Abbe describes the adaptation of John Herschel’s actinometer of 1825, a device used to measure the intensity of the Sun’s rays, used at their site: The Actinometer was the combined invention of Professor Compton and Mr. Taylor, and its management was undertaken by the former. A disc of cardboard pierced with several fine holes, revolved by clock work with great uniformity in front of a disc of sensitive paper, the action of the sun’s rays combined with the motion of the fine hole, produced a dark circular line on the sensitive paper, the intensity of whose blackness reveals the varying photographic power of the sun’s rays.42

Actinometric observations were made for 3  h, including the entirety of totality. Further consideration of these results was anticipated but it was apparent that the intensity of the power of the sun’s corona and prominences was significant. Mr. Haines was assigned to photometer observations. Abbe described the photometer used:

41 42

 Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.”  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.”

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Fig. 4.4 Taylor Photographs – 2 ¼ inch square – Numbered Only. (Photograph by first author, University of Cincinnati Archives)

Fig. 4.5 Taylor Photographs – 2¼ × 3½ inch – Labeled with Times. (Photograph by first author, University of Cincinnati Archives)

The photometer consisted of a vertical box, ten inches square and six feet long, open at the top, where a slit having a constant breadth could be opened to any extent, in order to admit just enough light to render visible a piece of white paper placed at the bottom of the box. The observer, looking through a hole in the side of the box, near its top, saw the paper reflected from a mirror, and with the head completely covered, retains perfectly the sensitiveness of his eyes to the least impression of light.43

The photometric readings taken by Mr. Haines demonstrated little reduction in light right up till the time of totality. During totality the photometric readings fell to less than one five-hundredth that of 30 min earlier. Even so, only four planets and the star Regulus were visible. Mr. Haines was also to record any meteors observed and search for any intra-mercurial planets.44 Mr. Warder was principally responsible for assuring the accuracy of the various time-pieces to be used. Besides keeping time, data from these instruments would be 43 44

 Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.”  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.”

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useful in determining the longitude at the site. At the site he would be helpful in recording data of the eclipse event, particularly that of photometric readings. He would also take time to note other scientific observations in the region, in particular those of botany and geology.45 Mr. Robert Abbe was entrusted with the care, during transportation, of the barometer. During the travels of the party to the site, he noted data regularly, taken from all their meteorological instruments, which would later be compared with the data collected at Cincinnati. At the site itself he was responsible for the meteorological observations, recording times for Mr. Taylor’s photographs, and any miscellaneous help that might be called for from party members. During the eclipse there were some fluctuations in the barometer that may have been due to the clearing of the cloud cover. Also noted was the temporary drop in temperature.46 As Cleveland Abbe was unable to leave Fort Dakota for Sioux City for the timely exchange of communication needed for the determination of longitude, the party was obliged to depend on their chronometers. They thus calculated their position to be at 96 degrees 35 minutes longitude and 43 degrees 36 minutes latitude.47 With the use of the five-foot telescope belonging to Mr. Taylor, Abbe with Mr. Compton made several magnetic observations before, during and after the eclipse. These data were to be reduced at a future time though Abbe noted that “… there was a decided disturbance of the needle just after the totality had passed by.”48 Times noted by the various participants were:49 Duration of totality: Mr. Compton: 3 minutes, 6.5 seconds Mr. Warder: 3 minutes, 16.5 seconds Total duration of the eclipse: Mr. Compton: 2 hours, 4 minutes, 42 seconds Professor C. Abbe: 2 hours, 4 minutes, 49.5 seconds Time of 1st contact: Mr. Compton: 3:22:31 Professor C. Abbe: 3:22:35 Time of 2nd contact: Mr. Compton: 4:26:8 Time of 3rd contact: Mr. Compton: 4:30:15 Professor C. Abbe: 4:28:11 Time of 4th contact: Mr. Compton: 5:27:24

 Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.”  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 47  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 48  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 49  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 45 46

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Professor C. Abbe: 5:27:35

Telescopic descriptions of prominences were made. All observers saw Baily’s beads and numerous rosy prominences.50 At first six prominences were seen at second contact, the ‘finest’ one at the lowest point on the sun’s left limb. As the moon moved to the left more were seen. Others were seen on the right limb as well. Naked eye observations were also made of a red flame on the sun’s lowest limb.51 With the use of Mr. Taylor’s telescope Abbe was able to observe and comment on the solar corona and the visibility of solar spots. Those without a telescope simply saw the circle of light surrounding the sun. Abbe described what he saw: Rays of an ashy, pale hue, based on the sun, rose to the height of more than the sun’s radius. These rays appeared more like conical tapered flames than radial arms of light. These bases, in two cases, covered areas of thirty degrees on the sun’s limb, and their tapering and twisted tops resembled columns of gas or smoke very perfectly.52

Abbe and Mr. Compton agreed on what was seen and concluded that this effect originated in the Sun. Mr. Warder drew his impression of what he had seen in his journal (Fig. 4.6). Observations were also made by both Abbe and Mr. Compton of the solar spots. The occultation of six of these were seen by both men. Mr. Taylor’s telescope permitted the observation of several groups of small spots as well as the limits of the penumbra of the larger ones.53 Meanwhile during Abbe’s absence, at the Cincinnati Observatory where meteorologist James Russell was left in charge, D. K. Winder and Henry Twitchell photographed the partial eclipse and sketches were made (Fig. 4.7).54

Fig. 4.6  Pencil Sketch in Mr. Warder’s Journal. (Photograph by first author, University of Cincinnati Archives)

 Stella Cottam and Wayne Orchiston, Eclipses, Transits, and Comets of the Nineteenth Century: How America’s Perception of the Skies Changed. (New York: Springer, 2015): 70. 51  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 52  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 53  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.” 54  Cottam and Orchiston, Eclipses, Transits and Comets, 73. 50

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Fig. 4.7  Pencil Sketches of the Partial Eclipse as Seen from Cincinnati in 1869. (Photograph by first author, Courtesy of University of Cincinnati Archives)

Abbe’s report to professional journals was delayed more than 2  years due to obligations toward a new weather service. He had already moved to Washington D.C. to pursue these new duties, but in February of 1872 he wrote an article on his party’s success and their observations. This was published in both Nature (March 1872) and the American Journal of Science (April 1872). He noted that his party was particularly fortunate as they were situated on a comparatively elevated station and enjoyed a clear and steady atmosphere. His own attention during this event was the observation of three blunted prominences at high power and through a small field of view. As depicted in his drawing (Fig. 4.8), he described the structure of three prominences as blunted conical masses whose height varied “… between one half and two thirds of the solar radius.” Of particular interest he noted dark upward striations on each cone.55 Present at their site were scattered observers of the city, as well as one curious Indian.56  Cleveland Abbe, “Observations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun,” American Journal of Science and Arts 3, no. 10 (April 1872): 264–267. 56  Cleveland Abbe, “Professor Abbe‘s Eclipse Observation, 1869,” The Cincinnati Commercial (August 14, 1869). 55

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Fig. 4.8  Drawing by Abbe, C., American Journal of Science and Arts, April 1872: 265

4.3 New Direction the United States Weather Bureau In August of 1868, on the way home from the eclipse expedition, Abbe and Warder stopped in Chicago to attend the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Here Abbe spoke on his new position and hopes for the Cincinnati Observatory. He spoke of the need for a new site for the structure: … on the removal of General Mitchel from Cincinnati, the interests of the Observatory were generally lost sight of. Thus it has happened that for the past ten years the corroding effects of time have become more and more plainly visible, while on the other hand the rapid growth of the city has surrounded the Observatory site by dwellings and factories, whence issue clouds of smoky vapors even in the hottest months of summer.57

He also met with a committee of the Chicago Board of Trade to garner support for a weather forecasting service.58 Regretfully, Charles Randolph, Secretary of the Chicago Board of Trade, responded regarding this meeting, “The Committee expressed some doubt of the practical value of such reports to our trade generally, except perhaps at certain limited seasons. And in view of the expense necessarily

57 58

 Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse.”  Cleveland Abbe, “The Eclipse”; Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 109.

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attending a regular report from a large number of points, it is recommended that no action be taken.”59 William Ferrel in Runkle’s Mathematical Monthly wrote a series of articles entitled “The Motions of Fluids and Solids on the Earth’s Surface.”60 As early as his years at Pulkovo, Abbe was an advocate of William Ferrel’s theory of the circulation of the winds. When he began his work in meteorology at Cincinnati he used this theory as a guide to successful weather prediction.61 W.J.  Humphreys (1862–1962), an American physicist and atmospheric researcher noted: A red letter year, perhaps, in the history of applied meteorology, was 1845. In that year, on the first of April, a commercial telegraph line was opened to public use. After that date any one could, and many did, see the possibility of forecasting the weather by the obvious and simple process of telegraphing ahead what was coming.62

Since working with Gould at the Coast Survey, Abbe appreciated the value of the telegraph as a tool in making simultaneous scientific readings. Telegraph operation was available in Cincinnati since 1847.63 With the cooperation of the Western Union Telegraph Company he began to collect readings from weather stations around the country in 1869. He also had the support of the local newspapers. He built databases from which he was able to make weather predictions for daily publication.64 It was on 1 September 1869 that Abbe chose to start his daily weather reports intended for use by the Chamber of Commerce, which was funding the service. He primarily wanted to receive weather reports from the west in order to predict the weather in Cincinnati.65 He only received three of the requested set of data on that day, including those from Chicago, Leavenworth, and St. Louis. With these and that of Cincinnati, he was able to publish his first weather bulletin on 2 September 1869 in the Cincinnati Commercial. In Abbe’s hand we now can see the original data collected as well as his first prediction written in at the foot of the bulletin: “Easterly and southerly winds prevail. Barometer has begun to fall at Cincinnati, and a storm passing over the southern country will not reach Cincinnati. Temperature here on the increase. Cloudy and warm weather this evening. Tomorrow clear.” (Fig. 4.9) After releasing the first official weather forecast to the press on 22 September 1869,

 J. Cecil Alter, “National Weather Service Origins,” 164.  Henry, “Memoir of Cleveland Abbe,” 62. 61  “Professor Cleveland Abbe, of Washington,” American Meteorological Journal. A Monthly Review of Meteorology and Allied Branches of Study (1884–1896), (August 1888): 159–169. 62  W.  J. Humphreys, “Origin and Growth of the Weather Service of the United States, and Cincinnati’s Part Therein,” The Scientific Monthly 18 (1924): 378. 63  Alter, “National Weather Service Origins,” 144. 64  Everett Yowell, “Cleveland Abbe: 1838–1916,” 553–554; Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 475. 65  Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916,” xiv–xv. 59 60

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Fig. 4.9  First Weather Bulletin prepared by Cleveland Abbe of 2 September 1869 (Cincinnati Enquirer, 23 January 2019)

Abbe wrote to his father, “I have started that which the country will not willingly let die.”66 The Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory was issued for the first time on 8 September 1869, designated as Bulletin Number 1. They were numbered consecutively thereafter.67 The number of stations reporting rose and Bulletin Number 13, his first long-range forecast, for 3 days, was printed based on data from ten stations: Wednesday, September 22nd; Morning cloudy and warm, afternoon not so oppressive, evening clear and cool; Thursday, September 23rd; morning cloudy and warm, afternoon cloudy, evening clear and cool; Friday, September 24th; morning clear and warm, afternoon hot.68

Participating stations were requested to collect reports on their local weather conditions including barometric readings, temperature, humidity, wind direction and force, quantity and motion of lower and upper clouds and precipitation at 8:00 a.m. (See Appendix 1  - “Instructions for Observers Reporting to the Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory“) A code, titled “Cypher for the Use of the Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory,” was created enabling short telegrams to minimize expenses (See Appendix 2).69 These data were to reach  Rebecca Goodman and Barrett Brunsman, This Day in Ohio History (Cincinnati: Emmis Books, 2005): 267. 67  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 5. 68  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 6. 69  Everett Yowell, “The Cincinnati Observatory - Birthplace of the U.S. Weather Bureau “University of Cincinnati Record: Exercises Celebrating the Opening of the Mitchel Observatory. (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1912), 10–11. 66

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Fig. 4.10  After Abbe, T., image after page 52

Cincinnati by noon for interpretation for weather reporting and prediction. Specifically Abbe advocated ‘dynamical meteorology’ by the study of daily maps (Fig. 4.10) created with such data so that patterns over time might be observed and lead to predictions.70 In these maps a circle was drawn around each reporting location, noting temperature and direction of the wind with an arrow. Denver, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming were the westernmost sites to report.71 The significance of this new service was recognized by the United States Government, which on 9 February 1870 passed a bill authorizing the creation of a weather service under the direction of the Chief Signal Officer. Signed by President Ulysses Grant, it authorized: … taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent, and at other points in the States and Territories of the United States, and for giving notice on the Northern Lakes and the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals of the approach and force of storms.72

 Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 475; Napier Shaw, “Prof. Cleveland Abbe,” Nature 98 (December 1916): 332. 71  Alter, “National Weather Service Origins,” 154, 180. 72  Goodman and Brunsman, This Day in Ohio History, 267. 70

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4.4 Cleveland Abbe Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory One of Cleveland Abbe’s immediate concerns had been the location of the Observatory. The site of Mt. Adams had been donated by Nicholas Longworth with the stipulation that, if not used for the purpose for which it was donated, it should revert to Longworth or his heirs.73 The Astronomical Society appointed a committee to negotiate with the heirs. Julius Dexter, Secretary, subsequently informed the Society that a proposition had been received. Joseph Longworth agreed “… That if the Society could raise $50,000 for the endowment of the Observatory, he would convey the present site of the Observatory in fee simple.” Resolving to agree to this proposition William Hooper and Julius Dexter were appointed as the committee to obtain subscriptions to raise the funds necessary. Meanwhile Abbe visited several potential sites for the relocation.74 No money was spent on the grounds of the Observatory as a move was anticipated, but Abbe continued to make use of astronomical instruments, and improvements when deemed necessary. The equatorial was in use. A photometer had been ordered. The library was increased by purchase and donation. Abbe expended most of his energy at this time on the improvement of the weather service. At a meeting of the Society in May of 1871, Julius Dexter would report that the attempt to raise the money for the endowment desired to meet Longworth’s proposition had failed. An alternate plan to assure the continuance of the Observatory might be a plan to merge with the University.75 It was in the year of the creation of the weather service at the Army Signal Corps, 1871, that Cleveland Abbe resigned from the Cincinnati Observatory. He accepted the position with the Service of professor of meteorology, the title given to civilian meteorologists on their staff.76 On 1 July 1891 the weather service was moved to a special department within the Department of Agriculture, becoming formally the United States Weather Bureau.77 Abbe lived in Cincinnati only 3 years. His remaining years were in Washington D.C. where he continued his work in meteorology. He edited reports for the Monthly Weather Review, except for a few months in 1909,

 Charles Woodward, “Two Cincinnati Astronomers, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Paul Herget,” Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 25 (1967): 170; Marian Knight, “Historic Mount Adams,” Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 28 (1970): 27; W.  C. Rufus, “Astronomical Observatories in the United States Prior to 1848,” The Scientific Monthly, 19, no. 2 (1924):135–136; Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory (The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati, 1944), 34. 74  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, April 10, 1869. 75  Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, May 1, 1871. 76  Jermain Porter, Historical Sketch of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1843–1893 (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1893), 11; Shaw, “Prof. Cleveland Abbe,” 332. 77  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 129; Goodman and Brunsman, This Day in Ohio History, 267; Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” 2. 73

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until his retirement shortly before his death in 1916.78 Abbe went on two further total solar eclipse expeditions, these times as a meteorologist. He went to Pike’s Peak in 1878, but due to altitude sickness could not complete the trip up the mountain. He was carried back down where he was laid on the ground and there studied the solar coronal rays that extended beyond the ring of the corona.79 He was sent by the weather service to Cape Ledo on the west coast of Africa to see the total solar eclipse of 1889. He again had bad luck regarding observing the eclipse as the corona was invisible due to heavy cloud cover.80 He did, however, put into use his own version of a nephoscope, an instrument used to determine the direction of movements of clouds, while on the trip to Africa. To be used on vessels at sea, a navigator should observe cloud motion as accurately as that of the wind.81 While Abbe continued to collect, interpret and print reports for the weather service, he explored means to improve methodology. While at the Naval Observatory in 1867 he had used kites to study winds below thunderclouds.82 At the eclipse of 1889 he intended to make observations of air currents at high altitudes with hundreds of free balloons but the hydrogen generator that was needed to fill the balloons failed.83 He even considered the use of manned balloons to record upper-air weather conditions.84 He wrote an introduction to an article by aëronaut Samuel A. King, “How to Cross the Atlantic in a Balloon.” King described considerations for the safe travel of men or women over long distances for extensive periods of time in a balloon.85 Abbe personally considered accompanying King on one of his lofty excursions, much to his wife’s distress. Balloon flights were very dangerous. King himself described an incident when sudden atmospheric pressure changes nearly caused him to wreck.86 Always desirous to share his knowledge and passion for meteorology, Abbe published articles for the benefit of the public as well as professional papers. He wrote for popular journals and newspapers. For example, he wrote several articles for the Independent, a weekly Congregationalist newspaper. Here he described the history and significance of the United States Weather Bureau. Desirous of giving credit where it was due, he noted that there had already been individuals instrumental in

 Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 204; Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” 2; Shaw, “Prof. Cleveland Abbe,” 332. 79  “Sketch of Cleveland Abbe,” Popular Science Monthly, 408. 80  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 228. 81  Henry, “Memoir of Cleveland Abbe,” 65; Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” xviii. 82  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 174. 83  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 172–173. 84  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 173–174. 85  Cleveland Abbe and Samuel King, “How to Cross the Atlantic in a Balloon,” The Century Magazine 52 (1901): 855–859. 86  Truman Abbe, Professor Abbe, 173. 78

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providing some local weather reports, but he emphasized the significance of mapping shared reports from across the country over time as a tool for prediction.87 Abbe still had an interest in astronomy. In his later years he was working on an invention that would automatically photograph and record the velocity of meteors. He recognized a potential significance to meteorology as the study of their tails might provide information on currents in the upper atmosphere. A relevant paper was presented to the American Astronomical Society in August of 1916.88 Abbe’s wife Frances died on 24 July 1908. By this time their three sons were already married and had moved on, but he found happy companionship again when, at the age of 70, he married Margaret Augusta Percival on 12 April 1909. Margaret was his junior by about 30 years.89 Cleveland Abbe died on October 28, 1916.90

4.5 Conclusion Cleveland Abbe was an astronomer and a meteorologist. He stayed active in astronomy. Among other things he had an interest in the effect of the atmosphere on astronomical observations.91 By donating his own extensive collection, he founded a meteorology library at Johns Hopkins University.92 He was much appreciated for his kind and generous nature as may be noted among the words of his contemporaries. Charles Frederick Marvin, who started his profession under the supervision of Cleveland Abbe, noted for a meeting of the American Philosophical Society: I have … worked literally side by side in close association with him throughout all the years that have followed our first acquaintance, and to my feelings of esteem and respect for the scholar and devotee have been added my affection, for the man of gentle and generous ways and a spirit refined and purified by his unselfish promotion of the pleasure and welfare of all around him.93

Abbe received many honors for his work. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society on 14 January 1876. He received the Franklin Institute’s Longstreth Medal of Merit, the Royal Meteorological Society’s Symons Memorial Gold Medal in 1912, the United States National Academy of Sciences’ Marcellus  Cleveland Abbe, Independent, May 20, 1897; May 27, 1897; September 16, 1897; October 14, 1897. 88  Royal Astronomical Society, “Report of the Council to the Ninety-Seventh Annual General Meeting,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 77, no.4 (1917): 290–292. 89  Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” 2; Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 471; Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” xiii. 90  Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” ix. 91  Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” 2. 92  Shaw, “Prof. Cleveland Abbe,” 332. 93  Marvin, “Cleveland Abbe,” ix. 87

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Hartley Memorial Medal in 1916, and the American Philosophical Society’s Franklin Medal. He received honorary degrees from the College of the City of New York, the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and the University of Glasgow. He was accepted as an Officier d’Académie of France.94 In 1915 the National Weather Service opened a branch of the United States Weather Bureau in Cincinnati (Fig. 4.11) and named it after Cleveland Abbe. The Abbe Observatory was the only weather station in the country named after an individual. Within the observatory was a tablet with the following inscription:95 U.S. Department of Commerce Weather Bureau ABBE METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY Established April 1, 1915 Named in Honor of 1838 CLEVELAND ABBE 1916 First Official U.S. Weather Forecaster

The station was closed in 1960.96 Fig. 4.11 Abbe Observatory in Cincinnati (Rogers, R.: 39)

 Abbey, “Abbe, Cleveland,” 2; Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 484; Shaw, “Prof. Cleveland Abbe,” 332; Yowell, “Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916,” 554–555. 95  Yowell, “Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916,” 555. 96  Ruby Rogers, “Cleveland Abbe: America’s First Weather Forecaster,” Queen City Heritage 54 (Winter 1996): 37–39. 94

Appendices

Appendices  ppendix 1: Instructions for Observers Reporting to the Daily A Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory

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 ppendix 2: Cypher for the Use of the Daily Weather Bulletin A of the Cincinnati Observatory

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References

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References Abbe, Cleveland. 1869, August 14. The Eclipse  – Scientific Observations at Sioux Falls City, Cincinnati Daily Gazette. ———. 1897a, May 20. Independent. ———. 1897b, May 27. Independent. ———. 1897c, September 16. Independent. ———. 1897d, October 14. Independent. ———. 1898. John A. Gano. Science 7 (161): 123–124. ———. 1872. Observations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun. American Journal of Science and Arts 3 (10): 264–267. ———. 1968. Schreiben des Herrn Cleveland Abbe, Directors der Sternwarte in Cincinnati, an den Herausgeber. Astronomische Nachrichten 72: 43. Abbe, Cleveland, and Samuel King. 1901. How to Cross the Atlantic in a Balloon. The Century Magazine 52: 855–859. Abbe, Truman. 1955. Professor Abbe and the Isobars: The Story of Cleveland Abbe, America’s First Weatherman. New York City: Vantage Press, Inc. Abbey, Leonard. 2007. Abbe, Cleveland. In The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, ed. Thomas Hockey et al., 2. New York: Springer. Alter, J. Cecil. 1949. National Weather Service Origins. Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio 7: 138–185. Cincinnati Observatory Collections, Inventory WA-79-43, Box 1, Folder 14, University of Cincinnati Library, Archives. Cleveland Abbe: 1838–1916. Science 98 (25): 553–554. Cottam, Stella, and Wayne Orchiston. 2015. Eclipses, Transits, and Comets of the Nineteenth Century: How America’s Perception of the Skies Changed. New York: Springer. Goldfarb, Stephen. 1969. Science and Democracy: A History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1842–1872. Ohio History 78 (3): 172–178. Goodman, Rebecca, and Barrett Brunsman. 2005. This Day in Ohio History. Cincinnati: Emmis Books. Henry, Alfred Judson. 1917. Memoir of Cleveland Abbe. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 7: 61–67. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author). 1944. The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory. The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati. Humphreys, W.J. 1919. Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916. City of Washington: National Academy of Sciences. ———. 1924. Origin and Growth of the Weather Service of the United States, and Cincinnati’s Part Therein. The Scientific Monthly 18: 372–382. Knight, Marian. 1970. Historic Mount Adams. Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 28: 27–37. Marvin, Charles. 1917. Cleveland Abbe: 1838–1916. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 56 (1): ix–xix. Minutes of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. 1867a, June 20. [University of Cincinnati Archives]. ———. 1867b, July 12. [University of Cincinnati Archives]. ———. 1867c, November 6. [University of Cincinnati Archives]. ———. 1868a, January 23. [University of Cincinnati Archives]. ———. 1868b, April 12. [University of Cincinnati Archives]. ———. 1869, April 10. [University of Cincinnati Archives]. ———. 1871, May 1. [University of Cincinnati Archives]. Porter, Jermain. 1893. Historical Sketch of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1843–1893. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati.

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Professor Cleveland Abbe, of Washington. American Meteorological Journal. A Monthly Review of Meteorology and Allied Branches of Study (1884–1896) 5: 159–169, 1888, August. Rogers, Ruby. 1996. Cleveland Abbe: America’s First Weather Forecaster. Queen City Heritage 54: 37–39. Royal Astronomical Society. 1917. Report of the Council to the Ninety-Seventh Annual General Meeting. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 77 (4): 290–292. Rufus, W.C. 1924. Astronomical Observatories in the United States Prior to 1848. The Scientific Monthly 19 (2): 120–139. Shaw, Napier. 1916. Prof. Cleveland Abbe. Nature 98: 332. Sketch of Cleveland Abbe. 1888. Popular Science Monthly 32: 400–408. Stern, Joseph S., Jr. 1981. Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky. The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39: 230–249. Woodward, Charles. 1967. Two Cincinnati Astronomers, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and Paul Herget. Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 25: 164–187. Yowell, Everett. 1912. The Cincinnati Observatory – Birthplace of the U.S. Weather Bureau. In University of Cincinnati Record: Exercises Celebrating the Opening of the Mitchel Observatory. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. ———. 1943. Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916. Science 98 (2556): 554–555.

Chapter 5

Ramping Up an Institution at a New Location

5.1 Relocating the Observatory to Mt. Lookout Cleveland Abbe resigned as the Director of the Cincinnati Observatory in 1871 when he was hired as a Professor of Meteorology and Civilian Assistant in the office of the Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army in Washington.1 He continued for several years providing support and counsel to the CAS Board members. The Cincinnati Astronomical Society needed a new Director, but they would also have to address a second problem. The growing industrial city was producing too much smoke to continue proper astronomical observations at the Mt. Adams location. Abbe early recognized that an alternate site would ultimately be necessary. At the meeting of the Astronomical Society of 5 May 1859, Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel had read a letter from Nicholas Longworth. It was Longworth who had donated, with caveats, the original site of the Observatory on Mt. Adams. Longworth’s letter specified that if the site was not to be used as an Observatory the land was to revert to him or his heirs.2 After Abbe’s departure Alfonso Taft, father of future President William Howard Taft, was elected President of the Society, for the second time. On 15 May 1871 he was authorized to negotiate with Joseph Longworth, heir to Nicholas, the transfer of the Mt. Adams property to the city. On 4 May 1871 the Cincinnati City Council had passed a resolution seeking an agreement among all concerned parties for the sale of this property to support the Observatory which would become a part of the University.3 It was at about this time that the newly created University of Cincinnati  W. J. Humphreys, Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916. (City of Washington: National Academy of Sciences, 1919), 485. 2  Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, May 6, 1859. 3  Charles Woodward. The History of the Cincinnati Observatory Since 1870 (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1966), 21–22. [unpublished, submitted toward fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts]. 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_5

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Board of Directors proposed to other educational and scientific institutions that a consolidation of their entities might be beneficial to the city. The Cincinnati Astronomical Society readily agreed to this proposition. With the incorporation of the Observatory into the University in 1873, the University of Cincinnati would staff the Observatory. The University would obtain its telescope, all records and books, and change its name to the University of Cincinnati Observatory.4 The Cincinnati Astronomical Society then ceased to exist. In 1878 the city further took on the responsibility of maintaining the Observatory through taxation.5 To facilitate this initial agreement John Kilgour Jr., son of the late John Kilgour Sr. who was one of the Society’s original Charter members, donated four acres for a new site. This site was named Mt. Lookout in honor of the new Observatory. It was several miles to the east of Mt. Adams, at one of Cincinnati’s highest points. Kilgour also donated ten thousand dollars toward the construction of a new observatory building.6 The original site of the Observatory was converted to a Passionist Monastery in 1872. The transfer of ownership of this property was not without rancor. Edward Purcell, Cincinnati priest and editor of the Catholic Telegraph, had a long festering complaint against alleged words attributed to John Quincy Adams from the speech delivered during the celebration surrounding the laying of the corner stone of the Observatory. Printed in the Telegraph of 7 November 1872 were these words, ostensibly from Adams’s speech, referring to Galileo’s confinement as punishment for heresy: The founder of the Inquisition was Ignatius Loyola, a man not inferior to Galileo in all the qualities of greatness. Moving under the influence of fanaticism, and exciting the imagination, he created a despotism.

Such a reference to Loyola as the “founder of the Inquisition” would indeed have been an error, as Loyola was born 300 years after the beginning of the Inquisition. Adams’s actual words, as he himself recorded them later, but prior to Purcell’s claim, for the benefit of the Cincinnati Observatory, were: The institution, by the officers of which, Galileo suffered every persecution, short of death, which man could inflict upon him, was the invention of Ignatius Loyola, a man in all properties which constitute greatness, not inferior to Galileo himself … (See Chapter  2, Appendix 1)

A clarifying response to the assertions of Purcell was published in Cincinnati’s Atlas, asserting that “… Ignatius Loyola founded not the Inquisition but the institution (i.e. the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits) that enforced the Inquisition”. Furthermore,  Jermain Porter, Historical Sketch of the Observatory of the University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1893), 12.; Joseph Stern, Jr., “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39, no.4 (Winter 1981): 242. 5  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory (The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati, 1944), 16. 6  Porter, Historical Sketch, 12; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 22–23. 4

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an anonymous contributor to the Atlas suggested that Purcell “… was wrong to have insulted such an esteemed guest of the city.”7 Edward Purcell’s brother, Bishop (later Archbishop) John Purcell, purchased some land near the Observatory on Mt. Adams in 1848, to build a church to the honor of Mary. The Church of the Immaculate Conception was finally completed and consecrated on 9 December 1860. The cross on the bell tower reached a height of 125 feet, making it symbolically higher than the roof of the Observatory.8 It was in the spring of 1872 that the Passionist Catholics leased the actual Observatory property for 90 years. They eventually picked up the option of purchase for $50,000.9 They renovated the Observatory and built onto it a third story. This was their Church of the Holy Cross. A cross placed on the new belfry surpassed any elevation in Cincinnati. The hill was renamed Monastery Hill.10 The original corner stone of 1843 (Fig. 5.1) was re-laid in the new Hannaford Building (Fig.  5.2) by Mayor Johnson on 28 August 1873.11 This was called the Hannaford Building in honor of its architect, Samuel Hannaford, who eventually was recognized as Cincinnati’s most significant architect. Regretfully, the original contents of the corner stone laid by John Quincy Adams were lost during this move.12 Mayor Johnson packed the stone at the new site with “appropriate items for posterity, such as a copy of Adams’ orations of 1843, Charles McMicken’s will, and some 1873 currency.”13 Also in 1873 the Ohio Legislature passed the means to provide permanent support of the Observatory through an annual levy to be assessed by the Board of Education based on property taxes. This levy provided approximately $5000 a year.14 Fig. 5.1  Corner Stone at the Mt. Lookout Location. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

 C. Walker Gollar, “The Triumph of the Cross - President John Quincy Adams, Archbishop John Baptist Purcell, and the Reclamation of Cincinnati’s Mount Adams as a Sacred Site,” Ohio History 18, no. 2 (Summer 2018): 52–55. 8  Gollar, “The Triumph of the Cross,” 56. 9  Cincinnati Enquirer, October 16, 1899. 10  Gollar, “The Triumph of the Cross,” 59. 11  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 2. 12  Cincinnati Enquirer, October 16, 1899. 13  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 2. 14  Cincinnati Enquirer, June 20, 1893. 7

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Fig. 5.2  The 1873 Observatory Building at Mt. Lookout, circa 1882–1883. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

One issue with the movement of the location to Mt. Lookout was the fact that access to the Observatory was now more difficult for staff travelling to and from the University, and for the downtown public that might want to take advantage of opportunities to view the skies. In 1871 the ‘Dummy’ line was constructed. This was a form of rapid transit for the city similar to a streetcar, but the cars differed in that there was a steam engine at one end. In 1874 its operation was extended to Mt. Lookout. There were connections to the Little Miami trains and the East End horse cars, furnishing good transit to and from the city. The Dummy line served the community well until 4 July 1897, when the street railway lines were electrified.15

5.2 Ormond Stone (Director, 1875–1882) Ormond Stone (Fig. 5.3) was the first Observatory Director to work at the new Mt. Lookout location. Ormond Stone was born in Pekin, Illinois, a frontier town of the United States, on 11 January 1847. He was the oldest son of a travelling Methodist minister, Elijah Stone and Sophia Creighton Stone. As Elijah was committed to a large circuit, the family was obliged to move every year or two.16

 Cincinnati Enquirer, 26 August 2012; Everett Yowell, “The History of Mt. Lookout,” Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, folder #2, undated. 16  F.  P. Matz, “Biography: Ormond Stone,” The American Mathematical Monthly II, no. 11 (November 1895): 299–301; Scott Teare, “Stone, Ormond,” in The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, eds. Thomas Hockey et al., (New York: Springer, 2007), 1093–1094. 15

5.2  Ormond Stone (Director, 1875–1882)

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Fig. 5.3  Ormond Stone. (After Teare 2007: 1093)

As a child Ormond demonstrated excellence in mathematics. When his family finally settled in Chicago, he attended their public schools.17 At the age of 19 he introduced himself to Truman Henry Safford (1836–1901), the Director of Chicago’s Dearborn Observatory.18 He was accepted as Safford’s student assistant. Meanwhile he began his studies at the University of Chicago. He accompanied Safford to observe the total solar eclipse of 1869 in Des Moines, Iowa, where he met astronomers from the United States Naval Observatory.19 These new contacts led to his appointment as an assistant to the United States Naval Observatory in 1870 where he remained until 1875. During this period, in 1871, he married Catherine Flagler.20 It was the director of the USNO, Simon Newcomb (1835–1909)21 who recommended Ormond Stone for the directorship of the Cincinnati Observatory, and he was elected to this position in 1875.22 One of the early tasks taken on by the new Director at Mt. Lookout was that of sending the 11-inch Merz and Mahler refractor lens to Alvan Clark of Cambridge

 Matz, “Biography: Ormond Stone,” 299; Richard Taibi, Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2016), 10. 18  Taibi, Charles Olivier, 10. 19  J. J. Luck, “Ormond Stone: 1847–1933,” Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 39, no. 5 (May 1933): 318; Matz, “Biography: Ormond Stone,” 300; Taibi, Charles Olivier, 10; Teare, “Stone, Ormond,” 1093. 20  Teare, “Stone, Ormond,” 1093. 21  Taibi, Charles Olivier, 10. 22  Cincinnati Daily Star, March 16, 1875; Highland News [from the Chicago Tribune], April 1, 1875; Charles P.  Olivier, “Ormond Stone,” Popular Astronomy, 41 (1933) 294; Taibi, Charles Olivier, 10; Teare, “Stone, Ormond,” 1093. 17

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for reconfiguration, to eliminate a scratch in the lens.23 The glass was replaced in January of 1877.24 The Clarks also replaced the clock-drive and provided supplementary eyepieces.25 The public was not forgotten during Stone’s leadership. Stone responded to the community’s needs with the introduction of ‘Visitors’ Nights.’ Using the Mitchel telescope, up to 30 individuals with the help of a staff member, could view and learn. This opportunity for the public continued until the observatory closed temporarily in 1978.26 A reporter for The Cincinnati Commercial described the experience of a ‘Visitors’ Night.’ Because of its new location some effort was involved for an interested party to attend. Depending on the status of the street cars or dummy on any given night, the trip to the Observatory might take as long as two hours. But on a clear night the visitor would be rewarded with the attention of Professor Stone who would share views of Jupiter and its satellites, ‘fiery’ Mars, the ‘jewel’ Saturn and its rings, the Moon and the stars. Time was short as, “We must take the 10:05 P.M. dummy at Mt. Lookout, if we reach the city by street cars that night.”27

5.3 Ormond Stone’s Accomplishments Double Stars Ormond Stone revived Mitchel’s study of double stars. He published Mitchel‘s work in 1876 (Fig. 5.4). He decided to look for double stars in the southern skies, down to 30° southern declination, using the 11-inch refractor.28 He opined that European astronomers had complete knowledge of double stars as far south as 15° declination. He stated that, “… [it] seemed to me appropriate that the 11 in. refractor of this Observatory should be devoted to suplementing [sic] the labors of other astronomers, by observations of double stars between 15° and 35° of south declination.”29 Besides Stone, observations were made by Herbert Howe (1858–1926), who was granted the first Master’s degree in Cincinnati in 1876, and

 Historical and Philosophical Society, The Centenary, 46; Ormond Stone, Micrometrical Measurements of 166 Double and Triple Stars, Observed with the 11 In. Refractor of the Cincinnati Observatory During the Years 1875–76 (Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1877), i; Teare 2014: 1093. 24  Ormond Stone, Micrometrical Measurements of 517 Double Stars, Observed with the 11 Inch Refractor During the Year 1877, Under the Superintendence of Ormond Stone, A.M., Director (Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1878), iii. 25  Deborah Jean Warner and Robert Ariail, Alvan Clark & Sons: Artists in Optics (Richmond, Virginia: Willmann-Bell, Inc.,1996), 75–76. 26  Stern, “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” 243–244. 27  The Cincinnati Commercial, September 26, 1877. 28  Matz, “Biography: Ormond Stone,” 300; Olivier, “Ormond Stone,” 295. 29  Stone, Micrometrical Measurements of 166 Double and Triple Stars, i. 23

5.3  Ormond Stone’s Accomplishments

159

Fig. 5.4  1876 Publication of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel‘s Observations of Double and Triple Stars. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Winslow Upton (Fig. 5.5; 1853–1914).30 Upton had been an assistant and student at the Cincinnati Observatory from 1875 until 1877 and received his A.M. degree at the University of Cincinnati.31 Later, when Upton left to become assistant astronomer at the Harvard College Observatory, H. V. Egbert replaced him to make these

 Frederick Slocum, “Winslow Upton,” Popular Astronomy, 22, no. 214 (April 1914), 208; Stone, Micrometrical Measurements of 166 Double and Triple Stars, ii; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 28. 31  Slocum, “Winslow Upton,” 208. 30

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Fig. 5.5  Winslow Upton. (Slocum 1914: image following page 208)

observations.32 Stone published four additional catalog volumes (Fig. 5.6) during his tenure at Cincinnati.33 During Stone’s administration the 11-inch refractor was also used to observe satellites of Saturn. He published the results obtained by himself and Winslow Upton from their observations of Rhea, Dione and Tethys.34 The refractor was also pointed toward some brilliant comets of 1881 and Stone published results obtained from those observations.35 The Total Solar Eclipse of 1878 In 1880 the United States Naval Observatory printed its reports on the total solar eclipses of 29 July 1878 and 11 January 1880. For the eclipse of 1878 Congress had

 Ormond Stone, Micrometrical Measurements of 1054 Double Stars, Observed with the 11 Inch Refractor from January 1, 1878, to September 1, 1879, Under the Superintendence of Ormond Stone, A.M., Director (Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1879): v; Ormond Stone, Micrometrical Measurements of 455 Double Stars, Observed with the 11 Inch Refractor During the Year Ending September 1, 1880, Under the Direction of Ormond Stone, A.M., Astronomer (Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1882), iii. 33  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 27–28. 34  Ormond Stone, “Observations of Three of Saturn’s Satellites Made at the Cincinnati Observatory,” Astronomische Nachrichten, 87 (1876): 348–349. 35  The Spirit of Democracy, June 28, 1881; Ormond Stone, “Observations of Comets,” Astronomische Nachrichten, 101 (1881): 118–120; Ormond Stone, “Cincinnati,” Sidereal Messenger, 1 (1882): 32–33. 32

5.3  Ormond Stone’s Accomplishments

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Fig. 5.6  Double Star catalogs published by Ormond Stone at the Cincinnati Observatory. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

authorized $8000 which the USNO used to send out eight parties along the line of totality. John Rodgers, Rear Admiral and Superintendent of the USNO also acknowledged the generosity of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railways, and the

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Pennsylvania Railway, as well as the Western Union, and the Atlantic and Pacific among other telegraph companies toward these endeavors.36 Ormond Stone, previously associated with the USNO, was requested by them to lead a party in 1878. His report was included in their publication.37 His party included his assistant Mr. Winslow Upton of the Harvard College Observatory, previously of the Cincinnati Observatory, and volunteers Professor Samuel Alsop, Jr. of Haverford College, Mr. W. H. Ingersoll of Columbia College, and Mr. E. M. Herr, a telegraph operator. Upton, Alsop and Herr also submitted reports of their eclipse experiences that were included in the same USNO publication.38 The site chosen by Stone was Schuyler, Colorado which was eight miles east of Denver on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. He secured accommodations on the ranch of Mr. Schofield, about one mile east of the railway station. Schofield’s cattle-shed served as the party’s observatory. Western Union permitted a temporary connection between the shed and the railroad. He described the results of the calculations for determination of the location of their observing shed as: Latitude: 39° 45′ 53″.1 Longitude west of Greenwich: 6 h 59 m 15.20 s Longitude west of Washington: 1 h 51 m 3.08 s Stone listed the equipment the party had available including a Clark refractor and Herbst chronograph on loan from Harvard, Mr. Ingersoll’s 3-inch glass, and multiple instruments from the Cincinnati Observatory.39 Using the Cincinnati Observatory’s Hoffmann direct vision spectroscope fitted to Cincinnati’s Clark comet-seeker, Stone attempted, without success, to observe the reversing layer at the beginning of totality, “When the spectrum disappeared I was surprised that no plainly-visible bright lines took its place.”40 Next he would observe, describe and sketch the structure of the corona. He again used the comet-­ seeker, this time with a magnification of about 50. He saw a narrow bright halo around the sun outside of which, extending in all directions, there was an area of faint homogeneous light. Upon this region he noted rays extending from the halo outward: “The polar rays were radial at the base, the others more or less inclined” (Fig. 5.7).41 Assistant astronomer Winslow Upton included his report of the 1878 eclipse. His assigned tasks included taking measure of the distance between the solar cusps at  John Rodgers, in United States Naval Observatory Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880), xiii-xiv. 37  Luck, “Ormond Stone: 1847–1933,” 318; Olivier, “Ormond Stone,” 295, 297; Ormond Stone, “Report of Professor Ormond Stone,” in United States Naval Observatory, Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880), 235–239. 38  Cincinnati Daily Star, August 8, 1878; Stone, “Report of Professor Ormond Stone,” 235. 39  Stone, “Report of Professor Ormond Stone,” 235–236. 40  Stone, “Report of Professor Ormond Stone,” 237. 41  Stone, “Report of Professor Ormond Stone,” 238. 36

5.3  Ormond Stone’s Accomplishments

163

Fig. 5.7  Sketch of total solar eclipse of 1878. (Ormond Stone 1880a: 435)

partiality, in order to determine the relationship of the Moon’s center with that of the Sun. He was also to study the coronal structure with his 5.2-inch Clark on loan from Harvard.42 Upton described the cusps as colorless and sharply defined. The times of transits of the observed cusps were tabulated in the Appendix of the report.43 His descriptive observations of the corona paralleled that of Stone as he also noted a difference between the north/south portions of the corona versus that of the east/ west. In the north/south regions he saw distinct rays separated by dark spaces. The east/west regions demonstrated a mass of light extending radially with no distinct dark spaces among the rays. The only prominences he noted were on the western limb of the moon just before the end of totality. He noted his times for the contacts: 1st: 12 h 58 m 42.5 s 2nd: 14 h 8 m 20.3 s 3rd: 14 h 10 m 48.0 s 4th: 15 h 14 m 18.7 s44 Stone tabulated the times of contact and other phenomena noted by himself and Upton in his Appendix of this report.45

 Cincinnati Daily Star, August 8, 1878.  Stone, “Report of Professor Ormond Stone,” 247. 44  Winslow Upton, “Report of Mr. Winslow Upton,” in United States Naval Observatory, Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880), 239–240. 45  Stone, “Report of Professor Ormond Stone,” 246. 42 43

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Volunteer astronomer Professor Samuel Alsop, Jr. from Haverford College included his description of this solar eclipse. His tasks were to “… note the duration of totality by means of a stop-watch, and to study the character of the corona…” He used the Cincinnati Observatory’s 4-inch Clark telescope. Alsop saw the crescent of the cusp as sharply defined, as did Upton, and felt he caught its sudden disappearance on the stop-watch within a fraction of a second. However he did not include contact times in this report. As did Stone and Upton, he saw four distinct portions of the corona. The polar rays were brighter than the east/west which were described by him as of a “… soft, pearly light, seemingly homogeneous in nature.” The polar portions were bundles of straight lines, curved into a fan shape at their sides. One might compare his description with that of Stone and Upton’s and correlate it with Fig. 5.7. He also made note of observations of prominences on the western limb.46 Even telegraph operator Mr. E. M. Herr submitted his observations to be included in Stone’s official report. He described changes in his surroundings, in particular the shadows cast by nearby mountains.47 Stone had also requested observations of totality by amateur observers along the Kansas Pacific Railroad. He published reports he credited to individuals at Box Elder, Kiowa, Aroya and Kit Carson in Appendix I of the report.48 Standard Time While at the Cincinnati Observatory, one of Ormond Stone’s major efforts was toward the establishment of standard time within his community of Cincinnati as well as within the nation.49 Accuracy in time computation was important to commerce and industry in an urban setting as it determined hours of operation of businesses, facilitated the precise initiation of assembly lines at factories and was necessary for the calculation of wages for workers. Nationally, it enabled scheduling of regular train service. In fact, in the 1840s Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel began to regulate the time used by the railroads in Cincinnati.50 Leland Hite described the importance of this last service: During the 1860s and 1870s, as the railway system expanded, trains were traveling through 49 city-centered solar time zones. For example, depots with more than one railroad passing through typically had a clock for each railway system, such as the depot in Kansas City,

 Samuel Alsop, Jr., “Report of Professor Samuel Alsop, Jr.,” in United States Naval Observatory, Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880), 243–244. 47  E. M. Herr, “Report of Mr. E. M. Herr,” in United States Naval Observatory, Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880), 245. 48  Stone, “Report of Professor Ormond Stone,” 248. 49   Luck, “Ormond Stone: 1847–1933,” 318; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 29. 50  “Standard Time in America,” Science 22, no. 558 (September 1905): 315. 46

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Missouri, with five clocks for its five railroad times. Consequently, depots had difficulty keeping their schedules on time, and that resulted in accidents and loss of life.51

In 1881 there was a business meeting of the Committee of Standard Time under the American Association for the Advancement of Science by the Committee of Standard Time. As Chairman of the committee, Ormond Stone had communicated with the transportation companies requesting their response to suggestions to such a plan. Two favored possibilities were presented. Stone preferred a single standard time to be used by all railroads in the United States and Canada. An alternative plan was recommended by the American Metrological Society, and was supported by Committee member Leonard Waldo (1852–1929). Instead of one standard time, they would favor several based on large regions, such as New York time for the east, and St. Louis for the Mississippi Valley.52 The New  York Times reported that the AAAS planned to revisit this question the following year.53 Meanwhile Stone struggled with standardizing time for the community of Cincinnati, important to the businesses there. It was common for localities with observatories to depend on these institutions to keep them apprised of the correct time. An arrangement was made whereby the Cincinnati Observatory would sell time service to its city. A clock was mounted on the corner of the Carlisle building (Fig. 5.8) in downtown Cincinnati with a time ball triggered by signals from the Observatory, which also had a time ball (See again Fig. 5.2) that could be seen from

Fig. 5.8  Carlisle Building. (From the Collection of Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library)  Leland Hite, How Time Balls Worked: Featuring the Cincinnati Observatory, Birthplace for American Astronomy, (2014): 9. 52  Ormond Stone, “Uniform Time,” Science, 1, no. 2 (July 10, 1880): 13. 53  “A General Time Standard,” The New York Times, (August 23, 1881). 51

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miles away, enabling citizens to know exactly when it was noon. The time ball at Mt. Lookout was dropped from 1879–1884. Charles Olivier states that Stone was indeed the “. .. first to establish standard time in an American city.”54 Leland Hite described the working of the time ball: Precisely 15 minutes before noon, the ball was raised, using a windlass, to half-mast, and, at 5 minutes to noon, the ball was lifted to the top, providing viewers with 15-minute and 5-minute advance notices. At astronomical noon in Cincinnati, the ball dropped free-fall style. A hand-operated Prony friction brake allowed the ball to stop gently before the end of its 30-foot travel.55

Communication from the Observatory to the Carlisle building was enabled through the generosity of the Kilgour family, who owned the telephone company. Time was transmitted over wires connecting the Observatory to the Carlisle building.56 Unfortunately, the ball in the Carlisle building did not always drop on time, due to communication problems with the Observatory, and the service to the city’s citizenry ended after only 15 months. Though the downtown time ball service ended, the clock, made by Ritchie and Son of Scotland, still kept excellent time and operated there until it was transferred to City Hall in 1913.57

5.4 Ormond Stone Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory In 1879 circumstances turned sour in Stone’s relationship with the University’s President. There were rumblings within the University Board about the failure of Stone to meet his responsibilities as a teacher. Stone had resisted traveling to the University to fulfill these tasks. The travel time involved would remove him from his work at the Observatory. He would have preferred that the students come to Mt. Lookout for instruction.58 In that same year the University established the Faculty of the Observatory which consisted of Ormond Stone, the Director; Rector Thomas Vickers, who had the authority of University President; and Henry Eddy, who had already been a professor there before Stone’s appointment as Director. Eddy had been Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering, but at this time Professor of Astronomy was added to his title. Having been associated with the University before Stone, Eddy had seniority. Ultimately Stone’s title of ‘Director’ was removed and he was referred

 Hite, “How Time Balls Worked,” 4–5; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 29–30; Olivier, “Ormond Stone,” 294. 55  Hite, “How Time Balls Worked,” 4. 56  Hite, “How Time Balls Worked,” 5; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 30. 57  Hite, “How Time Balls Worked,” 5–6. 58  Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 26 1879; Cincinnati Daily Star, February 26 1879. 54

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to simply as ‘astronomer.’ Also at this time, Stone’s salary from the Observatory Fund was cut to the benefit of Vickers and Eddy.59 Interestingly during this period, one might note another point of contention between Eddy and Stone. Eddy published an article in the American Journal of Mathematics, “On the Lateral Deviation of Spherical Projectiles,” i.e., the dynamics of a ‘curved ball.’ Applying such parameters as the fluid dynamics of the air, and the rotation, direction and force of the throw, in several pages of complex mathematics he attempted to describe the motion of the ball.60 Stone responded to this article in the September issue of the same journal that year. He simplified and corrected some of Eddy’s mathematics though he drew the same conclusions.61 In June of 1880, Stone made a request for more equipment that was denied. Several months later John Kilgour, ever the advocate for the Observatory, protested the use of the Observatory Fund to embellish the salaries of Vickers and Eddy in the court of Judge Jacob Burnet. Burnet ruled against him saying the University’s actions were reasonable, considering the municipal support received by the Observatory. Stone again made a request for equipment. This time it was referred to the Board of Directors. Again it was denied.62 In June of 1882 Ormond Stone resigned from the Cincinnati Observatory to accept a position at the new Leander McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia.63 Before he left, he recommended his astronomy assistant Herbert C. Wilson be appointed as a temporary replacement. The Faculty accepted Wilson with the understanding that he would conform to their policies.64 When Ormond Stone took up the directorship in Virginia he continued to survey the sky for double stars. With their 26-inch refractor, finally installed in 1885, compared to Cincinnati’s 11-inch, and a latitude even further south than that of Cincinnati, it was possible to find more and fainter objects.65 Stone retired from the University of Virginia, in 1912, after 30  years. While there, besides his research in double stars, he also conducted studies of nebulae, comets, planetary satellites, and variable stars. He published a catalog of southern nebulae in 1893.66 He taught classes in astronomy and inspired many individuals to pursue a profession in this subject.67 In 1884 he founded the Annals of Mathematics,  Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 261,879; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 31. 60  Henry Eddy, “On the Lateral Deviation of Spherical Projectiles,” American Journal of Mathematics, 2, no. 1 (March 1879): 185–88. 61  Ormond Stone, “On the Dynamics of a ‘Curved Ball’,” American Journal of Mathematics, 2, no. 3 (September 1879): 211–213. 62  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 31. 63  Luck, “Ormond Stone: 1847–1933,” 318; Matz, “Biography: Ormond Stone,” 300; Olivier, “Ormond Stone,” 296; Taibi, Charles Olivier, 10; Teare, “Stone, Ormond,” 1093. 64  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 32. 65  Matz, “Biography: Ormond Stone,” 300; Taibi, Charles Olivier, 14. 66  Teare, “Stone, Ormond,” 1093. 67  Olivier, “Ormond Stone,” 296. 59

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still in publication as of this writing. He personally subsidized this journal for the initial 12 years of its existence. In 1900 he again led a solar eclipse expedition, this time to South Carolina.68 After his wife Catherine’s death in 1914, he married Mary Florence Brennan in 1915.69 He died on 17 January 1933 after being hit by a car near his home.70 He had no children.71

5.5 Herbert Couper Wilson (Acting Director, 1882–1884) Herbert Couper Wilson (Fig. 5.9) was born to farmer Thomas Wilson and schoolteacher Ann Couper Wilson on 28 October 1858  in Lewiston, Minnesota. He received his A.B. degree in 1879 from Carleton College after which he began graduate study, in 1880, at the Cincinnati Observatory. In June of 1881 he was appointed

Fig. 5.9  Herbert Couper Wilson. (After Gingrich 1940: image following page 231)

 Luck, “Ormond Stone: 1847–1933,” 318–319.  Olivier, “Ormond Stone,” 297. 70  Luck, “Ormond Stone: 1847–1933,” 318–319. 71  Olivier, “Ormond Stone,” 295. 68 69

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as assistant astronomer. In December of 1882 he married Mary Ann (Mollie) Nichols.72 When Ormond Stone left for his new position in Virginia he left only Wilson, astronomer pro tempore, as the sole professional at the Observatory. Wilson’s only assistance came from his wife, Mollie, and the janitor, John Givens. Givens, in addition to his regular tasks of cleaning and painting, recorded weather observations, counted sunspots and searched for comets. Weather permitting, he also dropped the time ball for the city at noon. Givens and his family lived in the Observatory building.73 Wilson treaded lightly in this new position, so as not to rock the boat of a University Faculty under the leadership of the unpopular and controversial ‘Rector’ Rev. Thomas Vickers. He requested and received permission from the Faculty to publish in 1890 Stone’s latest double-star observations (Fig. 5.10). He continued the extant projects of cataloging new double-star observations, counting sun spots, monitoring weather, and keeping accurate time.74 When the new director, Jermain Porter, was appointed in 1884, Wilson continued as his assistant until June, 1886. He then left for a temporary position at the United States Naval Observatory (USNO), where he worked for one year reducing data obtained from observations of the 1882 transit of Venus.75 At his departure from Cincinnati, the new University President, Jacob Cox, recommended a Ph.D. for Wilson, “…for six years of faithful work at the University and his successful pursuit of post graduate studies.” This was the first Ph.D. conferred at the University of Cincinnati.76 After his year at the USNO, Wilson returned to his alma mater, Carleton College, to work with William Wallace Payne, where he remained for the remaining 40 years of his professional career. Here he distinguished himself through his many contributions. In education, he was a popular teacher of mathematics and astronomy. He also served in the college administration as the Dean of Faculty from 1906 to 1910. He was chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy from 1908 to 1926. He became the Director of Carleton College’s new Goodsell Observatory at the retirement of Payne where he continued the latter’s program of popularization with visitors’ nights. Here he did research and published in Publications of Goodsell Observatory. He led four solar eclipse expeditions in the years 1900, 1918, 1923, and 1925. He contributed to, and was sometimes editor of, various astronomical journals. In particular, he served as co-editor and then editor of the journal Popular Astronomy from 1896 to 1926.77

 Curvin Gingrich, “Herbert Couper Wilson: 1858–1940,” Popular Astronomy XLVIII, no. 5 (May 1940): 231–233; Greg Hand, Star Man (Cincinnati: Starbarf Publishing, 2008): 7. 73  Hand, Star Man, 7–8. 74  Hand, Star Man, 6–7. 75  Gingrich, “Herbert Couper Wilson: 1858–1940,” 233. 76  Hand, Star Man, 12. 77  Gingrich, “Herbert Couper Wilson: 1858–1940,” 236–237. 72

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Fig. 5.10  H. C. Wilson’s 1890 Publication of Double Stars Observed at the Cincinnati Observatory. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

References

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5.6 Conclusion Ormond Stone was the first Director of the Cincinnati Observatory at its new location on Mt. Lookout. During his years there he revived Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel‘s study of double stars, supplementing existing data with that of latitudes farther south. John Rodgers of the United States Naval Observatory recognized his experience and invited him to lead the total solar eclipse expedition of 1878. Certainly one of Stone’s biggest contributions was his part in the establishment of standard time. When he left for his new position in Virginia he recommended the able Herbert Couper Wilson as his temporary replacement. Stone’s formalization of ‘Visitors’ Nights’ recognized the Observatory’s obligation to the public and continues to the present day.

References Alsop, Jr, and Samuel. 1880. Report of Professor Samuel Alsop, Jr. In Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880, ed. United States Naval Observatory, 243–244. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Eddy, Henry. 1879. On the Lateral Deviation of Spherical Projectiles. American Journal of Mathematics 2 (1): 185–188. Gingrich, Curvin. 1940. Herbert Couper Wilson. Popular Astronomy 48 (1940): 231–240. Gollar, C. Walker. 2018. The Triumph of the Cross - President John Quincy Adams, Archbishop John Baptist Purcell, and the Reclamation of Cincinnati's Mount Adams as a Sacred Site. Ohio History 18 (2): 52–59. Hand, Greg. 2008. Star Man. Cincinnati: Starbarf Publishing. Herr, E.M. 1880. Report of Mr. E.  M. Herr. In Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880, ed. United States Naval Observatory, 245. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author). 1944. The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory. Cincinnati: The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati. Hite, Leland. 2014. How Time Balls Worked: Featuring the Cincinnati Observatory, Birthplace for American Astronomy. Humphreys, W.J. 1919. Biographical Memoir of Cleveland Abbe, 1838–1916. City of Washington: National Academy of Sciences. Luck, J.J. 1933. Ormond Stone: 1847–1933. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 39 (5): 318–319. Matz, F.P. 1895. Biography: Ormond Stone. The American Mathematical Monthly II (11): 299–301. Olivier, Charles P. 1933. Ormond Stone. Popular Astronomy 41: 294–298. Porter, Jermain. 1893. Historical Sketch of the Observatory of the University of Cincinnati. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. Rodgers, John. 1880. Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880, ed. United States Naval Observatory, xiii–xiv. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Slocum, Frederick. 1914. Winslow Upton. Popular Astronomy 22 (214): 208. Standard Time in America. 1905. Science 22(558): 315. Stern, Joseph, Jr. 1981. Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky. The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39 (4): 230–249.

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Stone, Ormond. 1876. Observations of Three of Saturn’s Satellites Made at the Cincinnati Observatory. Astronomische Nachrichten 87: 348–349. ———. 1877. Micrometrical Measurements of 166 Double and Triple Stars, Observed with the 11 Inch Refractor of the Cincinnati Observatory During the Years 1875-76. Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory. ———. 1878. Micrometrical Measurements of 517 Double Stars, Observed with the 11 Inch Refractor During the Year 1877, Under the Superintendence of Ormond Stone, A.M., Director. Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory. ———. 1879a. Micrometrical Measurements of 1054 Double Stars, Observed with the 11 Inch Refractor from January 1, 1878, to September 1, 1879, Under the Superintendence of Ormond Stone, A.M., Director. Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory. ———. 1879b. On the Dynamics of a ‘Curved Ball’. American Journal of Mathematics 2 (3): 211–213. ———. 1880a. Uniform Time. Science 1 (2): 13. ———. 1880b. Report of Professor Ormond Stone. In Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880, ed. United States Naval Observatory, 235–239. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. ———. 1881. Observations of Comets. Astronomische Nachrichten 101: 118–120. ———. 1882a. Cincinnati. Sidereal Messenger 1: 32–33. ———. 1882b. Micrometrical Measurements of 455 Double Stars, Observed with the 11 Inch Refractor During the Year Ending September 1, 1880, Under the Direction of Ormond Stone, A.M., Astronomer. Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory. Taibi, Richard. 2016. Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science. Cham: Springer. Teare, Scott. 2007. Stone, Ormond. In The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, ed. Thomas Hockey et al., 1093–1094. New York: Springer. Upton, Winslow. 1880. Report of Mr. Winslow Upton. In Reports on the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and January 11, 1880, ed. United States Naval Observatory, 239–240. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Warner, Deborah Jean, and Robert Ariail. 1996. Alvan Clark & Sons: Artists in Optics. Richmond: Willmann-Bell, Inc. Woodward, Charles. 1966. The History of the Cincinnati Observatory Since 1870. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. [unpublished, submitted toward fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts]. Yowell, Everett. n.d. The History of Mt. Lookout. Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, folder #2.

Chapter 6

45 Years of Classical Astronomy

6.1 Jermain Porter (Director, 1884–1930) Jermain Gildersleeve Porter (Fig.  6.1) was appointed as the new Director of the Cincinnati Observatory in 1884, as well as Professor of Astronomy at the University of Cincinnati.1 By this time compared to the previous directorships, the Observatory’s financial situation was more secure through its affiliation with the University, the specific Observatory tax, and increasing income from visitors’ nights.2 Jermain Gildersleeve Porter was born in Buffalo, New York on 8 January 1852 to Reverend John Jermain Porter and Mary Hall Porter. He graduated in Classics from Hamilton College in 1873 as salutatorian. During his last year at Hamilton, he spent much of his free time studying astronomy with C. H. F. Peters at the Litchfield Observatory. His knowledge of the classics would later be utilized in his publication The Stars in Song and Legend in 1902. He stated in the preface, “I have attempted in this little volume to present the legendary lore of the heavens in such a way as to attract the unprofessional reader.”3 He describes the nighttime skies with legends of ancient civilizations and the words of such poets as Tennyson, Browning and Longfellow. After graduation he went to the Royal Observatory in Berlin and continued his astronomical studies. In 1875 he returned to Hamilton to become Assistant Professor of Astronomy. He received his master’s degree there in 1876. In 1878 he accepted an appointment at the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey where he

 Everett Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” Popular Astronomy 41 (1933): 375; C. Ludwig, “Porter, Jermain Gildersleeve” [folder], Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Porter Collection, undated. 2  Charles Woodward. The History of the Cincinnati Observatory Since 1870 (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1966), 34, 36 [unpublished, submitted toward fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts]. 3  Jermain Porter, The Stars in Song and Legend (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1902). 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_6

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Fig. 6.1 Jermain Gildersleeve Porter. (Yowell 1933: 376)

remained for 6 years. While there he married Emily Snowden (Fig. 6.2) in 1879. Subsequently he was called to Cincinnati to be its new Director.4 Jermain Porter was hired as Director and University Professor in 1884 at a salary of $2500 per year. The Observatory at that time was equipped with the 11-inch Mitchel refractor and a 4-inch Clark refractor.5 When he arrived, landscaping on the grounds had already begun.6

6.2 Classical Astronomy Porter’s main interest was in classical astronomy. Much of his work was in cataloging stars. In 1887 he published his first catalog (Fig. 6.3) but felt a need for a better transit instrument for future observations. He found the right ascensions of his instrument ‘fair’ but the declinations ‘unsatisfactory.’7

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 39; Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933)”: 375. 5  Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” 375; Ludwig, “Porter, Jermain Gildersleeve.” 6  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 36. 7  Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” 375. 4

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Fig. 6.2  Emily Snowden, ca. 1885. (Dr. & Mrs. F. McNulty, Leeds, MA)

As he made his observations, he also noted numerous cases of stellar proper motion that he cataloged. The relative independence of the Observatory from the University allowed him to inaugurate a program for study of the motion of stars. Woodward states that he saw this as Porter’s “… pride and contribution to astronomy.”8 To accomplish this he needed and acquired precision instruments including a 3-1/2- inch Buff and Berger transit telescope in 1885 (Fig. 6.4) which was a telescope adjusted to determine the equatorial coordinates of a star; a chronograph to log time; and a filar micrometer for measuring small distances within an eyepiece.9 By 1888 he had replaced the Buff and Berger with a 5-inch Fauth meridian circle (Fig.  6.5) which he used in the creation of his next three catalogs for publication in 1892, 1895 and 1898 (Fig. 6.6).10 He described the Fauth instrument in an article in the Sidereal Messenger concluding with a statement of pride in the workmanship of an American company, “It is certainly pleasant for Americans to feel that even in such matters as instrument making and observatory equipment they

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 51.  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 50–51. 10  Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” 375–376. 8 9

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Fig. 6.3  Porter’s Star Catalog of 1887 (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

are scarcely behind the most renowned firms of the old world.”11 Meanwhile Porter received an honorary Ph.D. from Hamilton College in 1888, a title which he used in his identification as author in these catalogs.12 John Ventre, historian of the Cincinnati Observatory, confirms that the Observatory’s micrometers had spider web wires. Steve Turner, of the Smithsonian

 Jermain Porter, “The New Meridian Circle at Cincinnati Observatory,” Sidereal Messenger 8 (1889): 3–7. 12  Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” 377. 11

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Fig. 6.4  3-1/2-inch Buff and Berger Transit Telescope with the 4-inch Clark Comet Seeker in the rear and a chronograph on the table to the left. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Fig. 6.5  5-inch Fauth Meridian Circle. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

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Fig. 6.6  Porter Star Catalogs of 1892, 1895 and 1898. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Institute, describes these as durable fibers that were generated in uniform thickness. These were pliable and elastic. They were thin enough such that they did not obscure celestial observations.13 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel himself described his success with the use of such strands obtained from “… an artisan of wonderful dexterity.” Mitchel used a single strand for 3 years, and he opined that he might have continued to use it had he not been obliged to make other changes to his instrument.14 His work was not limited to his interest in star positions and proper motions. Among others, he published reports on the observations made at the Cincinnati Observatory of the transit of Mercury of 190815 and the solar eclipses of 1916, 1918, and 1925.16 In 1891 he also published charts and position measurements of nebulae made in 1884, 1885 and 1886 with the 11-inch Mitchel telescope (Fig. 6.7). Porter published numerous works on comets including one on Halley’s comet in 1911.17 In 1894 he had received the Astronomical Journal prize for comet observations.18

 Steven Turner, “Spiders in the Crosshairs: Cobwebs, Instrument Makers, and the Search for the Perfect Line,” Rittenhouse 6, no. 1 (November 1991): 1–10. 14   Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Popular Astronomy, And, The Orbs of Heaven (Boston: G. Routledge and Sons, 1860): 238. 15  Jermain Porter, “Observations of the Transit of Mercury at the Cincinnati Observatory,” Astronomical Journal 25 (1908): 196. 16  Jermain Porter, “Observations of the Solar Eclipse of Feb. 3, 1916,” Astronomical Journal 29 (1916): 124; Jermain Porter, “The Solar Eclipse, June 8, 1918,” Astronomical Journal 31 (1918): 148; Jermain Porter, “Observations of the Solar Eclipse, January 24, 1925,” Astronomical Journal 36 (1925): 83. 17  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 54; Porter, Jermain, “Observations of Halley’s Comet,” Astronomical Journal 26 (1911): 178. 18  Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” 377. 13

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Fig. 6.7  Porter’s Publication of Measurements of Nebulae made with the Mitchel Telescope. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Variation of Latitude In 1899 Porter began some collaborative work with the International Geodetic Association for the Variation of Latitude.19 This project was intended to precisely define how much the North Pole wandered at the turn of this century. As Porter stated:

19

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 54.

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The co-ordinates of the observatory as fixed by the operations of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey were accurate enough for all practical purposes, and no new determination of latitude would have been undertaken with the view merely of bettering these values; but the discovery of a motion of the pole of the earth with a consequent oscillation of the latitude, introduced a new problem into the science of geodesy, and invested latitude observations with a fresh interest.20

Initially four observatories close to the 39th parallel participated. All within a few seconds of that latitude were Mizusawa, Japan; Carloforte, Italy; Gaithersburg, Maryland; and Ukiah, California. These four stations were fully funded for observatory construction and support for observers for 5 years and provided with identical visual zenith telescopes.21 Porter communicated with the Association the qualifications of the Cincinnati Observatory for participation: A small observatory, modeled after the plans sent from Potsdam, but constructed of wood, was erected on the grounds of the Cincinnati Observatory, 19.0 m West and 14.6 m South of the center of the dome. The Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey kindly loaned us a zenith-telescope for the prosecution of this work. It is one of Wanschaff’s instruments constructed on the same general lines as the somewhat larger instruments built for the four main stations. The focal length is 1.00 m aperture 81 mm, magnifying power 100 … 22

Frank Schlesinger of Ukiah stated: By a mere coincidence Cincinnati Observatory, which is in longitude 84° west of Greenwich, is only a few hundred feet north of this parallel. The director of this observatory, Professor J.G. Porter, has volunteered, which was readily accepted by the International Association.23

Porter described the location of the instrument in his final report: There being no suitable location for a zenith telescope in the main observatory, a wooden building three meters square was erected on the grounds. The walls are double, with openings above and below for ventilation, and the roof is constructed in two parts to roll east and west, giving a clear opening of a little over two meters. The pier for the support of the instrument is of brick, 0.63 m square, capped with sandstone. Its center is 19.05 m west and 14.61 m south of the center of the dome (Figs. 6.8 and 6.9).24

The Russian government likewise offered the support of a station at Tschardjui. Figure 6.10 is an approximate depiction of the longitude of the six stations expected to participate in 1899. The Russian station would nicely split the longitude difference between Mizusawa and Carloforte. The central line in this figure represents the

 Jermain Porter, Variation of Latitude – 1899–1906 (Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1908), 4. 21  Trudy Bell, “Wandering Pole, Wobbling Grid,” The Bent of Tau Beta Pi (Spring 2016): 17; Frank Schlesinger, “Programme of the International Geodetic Association for Observing Variation of Latitude,” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 71 (1899): 231. 22  Porter, Variation of Latitude, 4. 23  Schlesinger, “Programme of the International Geodetic Association,” 231. 24  Porter, Variation of Latitude, 4. 20

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Fig. 6.8  J.G. Porter at the International Latitude Station at the Cincinnati Observatory. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Fig. 6.9  Latitude Station’s Zenith Telescope at the Cincinnati Observatory. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Greenwich meridian.25 Cincinnati and Tschardjui were accepted and received partial funding and smaller, but similar, telescopes from the IGA (International Geodetic Association).26

25 26

 “The Variation of Latitude,” Cincinnati Observatory Astronomical Notes (June 1913).  Bell, “Wandering Pole,” 17.

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Fig. 6.10  Distribution of six Latitude Stations. (Schlesinger 1899: 231)

Each station had a list of stars to observe. As the latitude of one station’s observations would increase or decrease, that of another station should increase or decrease by an amount determined by its own longitude. For example, one station’s observation of a star at 180° difference in longitude from another station would decrease by the same amount as that of the first station’s increase.27 Porter had committed to the project for 5 years but as years progressed he turned it over to an assistant in 1907. He published the results in 1908 (Fig. 6.11).28 Porter then turned to charting and measuring nebulae with the Observatory’s new 16-inch Clark telescope and published these results in 1910. Porter’s favorite work was not forgotten. He published more catalogs of star positions and proper motions in 1905, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1922.29 In 1930, after his retirement, he published his final work on stars with large proper motions (Fig. 6.12).30 Everett Yowell and Elliott Smith, who contributed to this work, would later themselves become Directors of the Cincinnati Observatory. Expansion of the Cincinnati Observatory It was during Jermain Porter’s tenure that much of the expansion at Mt. Lookout was done. At first, with the relative independence of the Observatory from the University, and the funds available from the municipal tax, Porter could consider high quality instruments and upgrades to the structure. His frugal nature over the

 “The Variation of Latitude,” Cincinnati Observatory Astronomical Notes (June 1913)  Porter, Variation of Latitude, 4. 29  Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” 376. 30  Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” 376. 27 28

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Fig. 6.11  Porter’s Report on Latitude Studies at the Cincinnati Observatory. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

years also contributed to the accumulation of additional funds. In 1888 he had been able to purchase the new Fauth meridian circle (see again Fig. 6.5) and filar micrometer for his observations of stars and their proper motions. In 1892 a new sheet metal dome, designed by William Scherzer of Chicago, was added at the cost of $3500.31 This new dome at Mt. Lookout would be able to accommodate a larger telescope, and in 1904 Porter had a 16-inch refractor installed,

 22nd Annual Report of the Directors of the University of Cincinnati for the Year Ending December 31, A.D. 1892 (Cincinnati: The Commercial Gazette Job Print, 1893). 31

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Fig. 6.12  Porter’s last catalog of Proper Motions of Stars. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

from the respected American firm of Alvan Clark & Sons (Fig.  6.13).32 These improvements were not always accomplished without a struggle. The University President at the turn of the century, Howard Ayers, wanted the new telescope placed on campus. Porter, who strenuously objected, was put on the 1902 committee which considered this suggestion. After much debate and Ayers’ departure from the

 Jermain Porter, “The New Sixteen-inch Telescope of the Cincinnati Observatory,” Popular Astronomy 12 (1904): 437–439; Joseph Stern, Jr., 1981, “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39 (1981): 245. 32

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Fig. 6.13  16-inch Clark Telescope installed at the Cincinnati Observatory. (Porter, 1904: page preceding 438)

University, it was decided to place the new Clark instrument in the 1873 building, where the Mitchel refractor resided.33 In 1904 a second building, named the Mitchel Building, in honor of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, was constructed at Mt. Lookout, east of the 1873 Hannaford building, which was referred to as the Hannaford Observatory. The original Mitchel refractor was moved under the new dome of 23  feet diameter.34 At this time the Mitchel Building was just the small round observatory with a lobby attached (Fig. 6.14). Porter gave the opening address at the celebration of the building. He announced the plans for further additions to this building. There would be an auditorium and library. There would be a turret for the Clark 4-inch comet-seeker telescope.35 In 1907 the city raised its Observatory tax. With this increased revenue plus Porter’s saved funds, he was able to make an initial payment for some further construction as well as new equipment, including a Cook camera to be used with the Mitchel telescope by Dr. DeLisle Stewart. Stewart was to take charge of

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 55–56.  Commercial Tribune, July 12, 1903; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 59. 35  Jermain Porter, “Opening Address” (at exercises at the University of Cincinnati celebrating the opening of the Mitchel Observatory on October 29, 1912). 33 34

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Fig. 6.14  The Mitchel Building of the Cincinnati Observatory under construction circa 1904. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

photography.36 In 1909 the Observatory also obtained a system of Riefler clocks, from Munich, “… one of the best systems of clocks available for astronomical work” (Fig. 6.15).37 The construction of the clock was described in the Observatory’s Astronomical Notes: The clock-work is enclosed in a glass case, which is sealed up and made air-tight when the clock has been properly adjusted. Air must be pumped out of the case by a foot-pump shown in the cut. Pumping out air will make it run faster; admitting air will make it run slower.38

By 1912 the Mitchel Building was expanded to its current state. Besides the installation of the original Mitchel refractor, there was expansion for a library and a lecture room for ‘Visitors’ Nights.’ A Cone Observatory room for the comet seeker was added. The new building was dedicated on 29 October 1912.39 During the 19th century spectroscopy, in conjunction with the development of improved photographic methods, defined a new astronomy, i.e., astrophysics. Though not his primary interest, Porter recognized its value. Included in his request for the new building was that of “… facilities for photographic and spectroscopic

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 59.  Elliott Smith, “The Riefler Clock System of the Cincinnati Observatory,” Popular Astronomy, 19 (1911): 344–351. 38  Elliott Smith, “Accurate Time and Astronomy,” Cincinnati Observatory Astronomical Notes (June 1913). 39  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, fn. 68. 36 37

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Fig. 6.15  Riefler Clock with Vacuum Pump. (Smith, E., 1911)

work…”40 He envisioned that the Mitchel building would be devoted to celestial photography. The total cost of $100,000 would be financed by the Observatory Tax.41 This proposal was not incorporated due to the passage of the Smith Act in 1910 which limited taxation for any purpose. In April 1913, the legislature reinstated permission for tax levies and bond issues, however a discouraged Porter did not renew these requests.42 Chief Assistant Astronomer DeLisle Stewart was not so accepting of the situation. He was not satisfied with the 9.5-inch camera mounted on the Mitchel telescope. His relationship with Porter deteriorated and he lost his title as Chief Assistant to Everett Yowell. Yowell returned to this position in 1909 at the request of Jermain Porter.43 Yowell had previously left the Observatory in protest, in 1900, when

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 62.  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 60–63. 42  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 63–65. 43  Jermain Porter to Everett Yowell (Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell Collection, folder #10). 40 41

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Fig. 6.16  DeLisle Stewart’s planned observatory for the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. (Cincinnati Astronomical Society. Richardson, the Architect and the Chamber of Commerce Building 1914: 114)

University President Ayers reduced the salaries of astronomical staff. Stewart resigned from the Observatory in 1909.44 DeLisle Stewart then attempted to build his own observatory in Cincinnati. He had the support of the members of the city’s Chamber of Commerce including the Superintendent, Charles Murray, and other prominent citizens, who offered to finance the project. The shell of the proposed observatory (Fig. 6.16) was built over the next 25  years. The funds raised were expended for the storage of the stone, which was salvaged from the 1911 fire that destroyed the Chamber of Commerce building, and which was to be used for the new observatory’s facing. The Great Depression ended further fundraising efforts, and the death of Stewart on 8 February 1941 marked the end of the planned project. However, under the recycled name of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, this amateur group arose and now thrives. They have four observatory buildings, two dark-sky viewing sites and a new headquarters building.45 Realistically, the location of the Cincinnati Observatory at Mt. Lookout could not meet the requirements of the new astronomy. According to Woodward, “Consequently, as the new astronomy became more and more nationally accepted, the astronomical program in Cincinnati at the Observatory became only a cultural institution and department of the University.”46

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 65.  John E. Ventre and Edward J. Goodman, A Brief History of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society (Cincinnati: Cincinnati Astronomical Society, 1985); Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 65–66. 46  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 76–77. 44 45

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In 1914 additional funds were again available and this time a frustrated Porter’s only requests were for, “… a small filar micrometer for the Mitchel telescope, an enlarging lantern, and an arc lamp for the photographic room.”47

6.3 Jermain Porter Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory In 1920 Porter reached 70 years of age. He requested and received permission to remain as Director another 10 years. Little astronomical research other than that of star positions and proper motion was done in these last years, but the Observatory continued to exist.48 Indeed, during Porter’s last 15 years, “… the most flourishing activity was the visitors’ nights…”49 In 1930, Porter retired with a Carnegie Foundation pension.50 Jermain G. Porter died on 14 April 1933.51 He was survived by his wife Emily and two sons, John Jermain Porter and Harold Mitchel Porter.52 The Porters also had a daughter who they lost to diphtheria when she was 6 years old.53 John was Vice President and General Manager of the North American Cement Company and Harold was President of the Porter Chemical Company. The sons lived in Hagerstown, Maryland. Harold’s middle name ‘Mitchel’ was given in honor of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, founder of the Cincinnati Observatory.54

6.4 Conclusion Jermain Porter felt that his greatest contribution to astronomy was the determination of the position and motion of stars. In a letter to William Strunk, Chairman of the Observatory Committee, he expounds on the degree that observations at the Observatory contributed to the ‘great catalog’ of the National Observatory at Paris. The motions of 1187 stars out of 2675 were taken from the publications of Cincinnati.55

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 77.  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 77–78. 49  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 84. 50  28th Annual Report of President and Treasurer of the Carnegie Foundation, undated. 51  Cincinnati Times-Star, July 13, 1931; Yowell, “Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933),” 375. 52  Ludwig, “Porter, Jermain Gildersleeve.” 53  Spring Grove Cemetery, Removal Document of 1934. Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Porter Collection, Folder “Porter, Jermain Gildersleeve.” 54  Ludwig, “Porter, Jermain Gildersleeve.” 55  Cincinnati Enquirer, October 22, 1895. 47 48

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These contributions were indeed significant, but Porter did not neglect the Observatory’s obligation as an educational institution. The influence of Porter in the education of potential professionals is reflected in an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer of 20 June 1893. There one will find a list of individuals that had received their astronomical training at the Cincinnati Observatory and their current professional positions: Mr. Winslow Upton, Director of the Ladd Observatory, Brown University, Providence, R.I.; Mr. Herbert Howe, Director of the Chamberlin Observatory, University of Denver, CO; Mr. Albert Flint, assistant at the Washburn Observatory, Madison, WI; Mr. H.  V. Egbert, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Buchtel College, Akron, OH; Mr. Herbert Wilson, assistant at the Goodsell Observatory at Carleton College, Northfield, MN; Mr. F. P. Leavenworth, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; and Mr. Philip Isham, assistant at the Cincinnati Observatory. Public education, as always, was addressed on visitors’ nights. Indeed, the 1912 addition to the Mitchel building specifically included an auditorium for this use. When uncooperative skies denied the view of the stars to the public, groups could be entertained with lectures by Porter or one of his assistants, in the new building. These lectures might be embellished with a lantern and lantern slides.56 Intended for the public Porter published The Stars in Song and Legend, with Illustrations from the Drawings of Albrecht in 1901 and How to Find the Stars and Planets in 1920. In these works he describes astronomical sights, provides celestial maps, and included relevant anecdotes from his classical education.57

References 22nd Annual Report of the Directors of the University of Cincinnati for the Year Ending December 31, A.D. 1892. Cincinnati: The Commercial Gazette Job Print, 1893. 28th Annual Report of President and Treasurer of the Carnegie Foundation, undated. Anderson, William. Congratulatory Remarks (at exercises at the University of Cincinnati celebrating the opening of the Mitchel Observatory on October 29, 1912). Accurate Time and Astronomy. Cincinnati Observatory Astronomical Notes (June 1913). Bell, Trudy. 2016, Spring. Wandering Pole, Wobbling Grid. The Bent of Tau Beta Pi, 17. Ludwig, C. undated. Porter, Jermain Gildersleeve. [folder], Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Porter Collections. Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight. 1860. Popular Astronomy, and, the Orbs of Heaven. Boston: G. Routledge and Sons. Porter, Jermain. 1889. The New Meridian Circle at Cincinnati Observatory. Sidereal Messenger 8: 3–7. ———. 1902. The Stars in Song and Legend. Boston: Ginn & Company.

 William Anderson, “Congratulatory Remarks,” (at exercises at the University of Cincinnati celebrating the opening of the Mitchel Observatory on October 29, 1912). 57  Jermain Porter, How to Find the Stars and Planets (Cincinnati: Observatory of the University of Cincinnati, Series IV, vol. III, 1920); Jermain Porter, The Stars in Song and Legend, with Illustrations from the Drawings of Albrecht (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1901). 56

References

191

———. 1904. The New Sixteen-Inch Telescope of the Cincinnati Observatory. Popular Astronomy 12: 437–439. ———. 1908a. Observations of the Transit of Mercury at the Cincinnati Observatory. Astronomical Journal 25: 196. ———. 1908b. Variation of Latitude  – 1899–1906. Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory. ———. 1911. Observations of Halley’s comet. Astronomical Journal 26: 178. ———. “Opening Address” (at exercises at the University of Cincinnati celebrating the opening of the Mitchel Observatory on October 29, 1912). ———. 1916. Observations of the Solar Eclipse of Feb. 3, 1916. Astronomical Journal 29: 124. ———. 1918. The Solar Eclipse, June 8, 1918. Astronomical Journal 31: 148. ———. 1920. How to Find the Stars and Planets. Cincinnati: Observatory of the University of Cincinnati, Series IV, vol. III. ———. 1925. Observations of the Solar Eclipse, January 24, 1925. Astronomical Journal 36: 83. Schlesinger, Frank. 1899. Programme of the International Geodetic Association for Observing Variations of Latitude. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 71: 230–239. Smith, Elliott. 1913, June. Accurate Time and Astronomy. Cincinnati Observatory Astronomical Notes. ———. 1941. The Riefler Clock System of the Cincinnati Observatory. Popular Astronomy 19: 344–351. Spring Grove Cemetery, Removal Document of 1934. Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Porter Collection, Folder “Porter, Jermain Gildersleeve”. Stern, Joseph Jr. 1981. Cincinnati’s “Lighthouse” of the Sky. The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39: 230–249. Turner, Steven. 1991, November. Spiders in the Crosshairs: Cobwebs, Instrument Makers, and the Search for the Perfect Line. Rittenhouse 6(1): 1–10. The Variation of Latitude. Cincinnati Observatory Astronomical Notes (June 1913). Ventre, John E., and Edward J. Goodman. 1985. A Brief History of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Astronomical Society. Woodward, Charles. 1966. The History of the Cincinnati Observatory Since 1870. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. [unpublished, submitted toward fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts]. Yowell, Everett. 1943. One Hundred Years at the Cincinnati Observatory. Sky and Telescope 3 (2): 3–5. ———. 1933. Jermain G. Porter (1852–1933). Popular Astronomy 41: 375.

Chapter 7

Astronomy Survives the Depression

After the Stock Market crash of 1929, most of the decade of the 1930s was characterized by the economic straits of what was to be known as the ‘Great Depression.’ The Cincinnati Observatory was financially affected by this to some degree. There were little discretionary funds available for increase in staff or improved equipment. However, much was already in place to keep it functional for several years. On the staff of Jermain Porter were Everett Yowell and Elliott Smith (Fig. 7.1), both men knowledgeable in the use of the meridian circle and the computation of the proper motions of stars. See Porter’s last publication on the proper motion of stars where both are credited (see again Fig. 6.12). In 1930 the Observatory was under the University of Cincinnati’s Committee on Academic Affairs. It was in that year that Porter retired. He was 78 years old. There were no recruitment efforts to replace him. Yowell was appointed to this position, himself already 60 years of age. Yowell and Smith would continue to teach the same courses that Porter had, including those of a graduate level. Paul Herget was the only graduate assistant at the Observatory, and he would teach classes as well.1

7.1 Everett Yowell (Director, 1930–1940, 1943–1946) Everett I. Yowell was born on 2 January 1870 in Cincinnati to Richard Yowell, a school principal, and Sarah Lloyd Yowell.2 He graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in civil engineering in 1891. He travelled through Europe  Charles Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory Since 1870 (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1966), 86–87. [unpublished, submitted toward fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts]. 2  William Levere (Ed.), Who’s Who in SAE – A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Members of the Fraternity. (Evanston, Illinois: Evanston Index Company, 1912), 258; Woodward, The 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_7

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Fig. 7.1  Jermain Porter (seated), Everett Yowell (standing left), Elliott Smith (standing right). (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

and studied astronomy in Germany. On his return he taught mathematics at the University of Cincinnati until 1897 when he was appointed assistant astronomer at the Cincinnati Observatory. He worked as a computer and conducted the visitors’ nights. However, he left the Observatory in protest in 1900 when the University President, Howard Ayers, cut the salaries of astronomical staff members. That year, on 28 May, he would participate in the first of two total solar eclipse expeditions for the United States Naval Observatory. This was at Pinehurst, North Carolina.3 In 1901 he joined their staff in Washington D.C., as an assistant astronomer. He served as a computer and took part in a second eclipse expedition, this time to Spain on 30 August 1905. He describes all aspects of this successful expedition in an 8-page handwritten essay that might be found among his papers at the Cincinnati Observatory.4 He always enjoyed teaching and took an appointment as a mathematics instructor at the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1906. In 1909 Professor Porter called him back to Cincinnati to be Chief Astronomer at the Observatory. He

History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 42–43. 3  Everett Yowell, The Cincinnati Observatory Eclipse Expedition. (Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, first of two unnumbered folders, undated-a). 4  Everett Yowell, “3,000 Miles in Search of a Shadow,” (Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, undated-b, folder #2).

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received his Ph.D. in Cincinnati in 1911. It was in this year that he met his wife Elizabeth Carrington who had come to replace Louise Strautman as a computer at the Observatory when the latter left to marry Elliott Smith. The Yowells had four children, all future graduates of the University of Cincinnati. His son John graduated from law school and became a lawyer; his daughter Mary Tucker studied sociology and became a social worker; his daughter Elizabeth studied religious education and became a housewife and mother of three; his son Everett C. studied mathematics at Cincinnati and went on to get a doctorate in astronomy at Columbia University in New York.5 Yowell at the Cincinnati Observatory Everett Yowell loved teaching. He enjoyed story-telling and lecturing to visiting groups. He saw the visitors’ nights as an obligation of the Observatory as a return for municipal support. Visitors’ nights were free, but reservations had to be made beforehand at the City Hall. Groups of 20–25 people would meet at about 7:00 p.m. and view about five to six celestial objects. Yowell also gave speeches to groups such as the Kiwanis Club or ladies groups.6 At the Cincinnati Observatory Center, one may find the text of a talk he gave at the Kiwanis Club, “Astronomical Discovery” (see Appendix 1) as well as one of the radio talks transmitted for the benefit of the public (see Appendix 2). The philosophy of Yowell and Elliott Smith merged with that of the concurrent trend of the creation of amateur astronomy clubs. They organized an Observatory Club which met in the Mitchel building. The Club’s membership drew from many professions, mostly schoolteachers. They met four times a year. At these meetings would be educational talks with slides, frequently followed by observations through the telescopes. Another amateur group was that of the Telescope Makers Guild, which met in the basement of the Observatory where they could grind lenses.7 Yowell, like Porter and Smith, would travel by horse carriage to the University two to three times a week to teach astronomy. One victim of the economy of the Depression years was the cancellation of a plan for a dome and student observatory on campus, a disappointment to Yowell.8 During the tough financial years of the 1930s Yowell continued to work on updating the star catalogs as long as possible. He made his lesson plans for the University courses he taught, and observed at night through the Clark telescope. By 1935, however, he found the accuracy of the meridian circle to be slipping. He also found the city’s atmosphere was further deteriorating with the expanding population and the increase of concomitant pollution and streetlights negatively affecting any possibility of significant astronomical research and celestial photography.9

 T. Cameron, K. Caster, and Paul Herget, Transcription of “Memorial Tribute to Professor Everett Irving Yowell” read at the Faculty Meeting 9 April 1959. Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell Collection, unlabeled folder; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 42–44. 6  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 47 and 91. 7  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 95–96 8  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 89. 9  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 86, 92. 5

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Yowell Retires from the Cincinnati Observatory Yowell retired from the Observatory in 1940 at the age of 70 but continued to be active in astronomy. He still stopped by the Observatory for several hours most days and to write his regular column, “Astronomical Highlights,” for the Cincinnati Enquirer and Cincinnati Times-Star (Fig. 7.2).10 Yowell contributed a report on the total solar eclipse of 31 August 1932 to Popular Astronomy. This eclipse was visible in parts of New Hampshire and Maine.

Fig. 7.2  “The Month’s Astronomical Highlights”. (Cincinnati Times-Star, 3 December 1931)

 Cameron, Caster and Herget, Memorial Tribute; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 103. 10

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Fig. 7.3  Everett Yowell (left), Paul Herget (center) and Elliott Smith (right) at Total Solar Eclipse Expedition, 31 August 1932. The principal telescope behind the astronomers was the 9-1/2 inch T. Cooke & Sons astro-photographic camera. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

He obtained a grant from the University of $500 for participation in the event by a Cincinnati party. He and Elliott Smith were to arrive at the site of North Stratford, New Hampshire one month prior to the event to prepare. They would be joined by their graduate student Paul Herget (Fig. 7.3) and newly-graduated volunteer Willard Groene. Groene worked at the LeBlond Machine Tool Co. near Cincinnati, and provided attention to the mounting of the telescope.11 The chosen site was near the property of Mr. Niel Farnsworth, who Smith also acknowledged for the generous use of his tool shed as needed. Their station was visited by more than 100 people. Forty of them were Cincinnatians representing the Cincinnati Astronomy Club. The astronomers’ intentions were simply to note times of contact and to study the structure of the corona, which they would photograph with equipment from the Observatory and that borrowed from the United States Army Air Service. Unfortunately cloud cover defeated their scientific efforts, though Smith noted a brief moment of naked-eye visibility at the thinning of the clouds near the end of totality.12 The scientific work of the party was not as

 Everett Yowell, “The Total Solar Eclipse of August 31, 1932,” Popular Astronomy 40, no.7 (August–September 1932): 388. 12  Elliott Smith, “The Cincinnati Observatory Eclipse Expedition of August 31, 1932,” Popular Astronomy, 41, (1933): 148–151; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 94–98.; Yowell, The Cincinnati Observatory Eclipse Expedition. 11

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Fig. 7.4  Participants at Cincinnati Observatory’s Total Solar Eclipse Site at North Stratford, New Hampshire, 31 August 1932. Includes Everett Yowell (standing on left), Niel Farnsworth (standing in front of telescopes) and Everett Smith (standing behind the instruments). (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

satisfactory as might have been hoped but Yowell was pleased by the response of the non-­scientists, both locals and Cincinnatians to the educational opportunities available (Fig. 7.4): …During the week and a half that the Moon was visible in the evening we invited the residents to come up to our camp and view the Moon and Saturn through our four inch refractor. They seemed to enjoy this opportunity very much, as no one had ever looked through an astronomical telescope; one night we had 128 visitors…the Cincinnati people – especially the High School Science teachers – who visited our camp considered the spectacle sufficiently interesting to justify the long journey…13

In 1939, 1 year before his retirement, Yowell was Vice-President and Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a position that gave him great pride.14 In 1941 he revisited his interest in the motion of stars. In the journal Science of January of that year he published “The Motions of the Stars.”15

 Yowell, The Cincinnati Observatory Eclipse Expedition.  Cameron, Caster and Herget, Memorial Tribute; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 103. 15  Everett Yowell, “The Motion of the Stars,” Science 93, no. 2403 (January 1941): 50–53. 13 14

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7.2 Elliott Smith (Director, 1940–1943) Elliott Smith was born in Blue Earth County, Minnesota on 19 January 1875 to the Reverend Frank Y.  Smith and Amanda Cornish Smith. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in 1903. He studied astronomy with Professor F. P. Leavenworth (1858–1928) and assisted him in his senior year. From Minnesota he went to the Lick Observatory as an astronomy assistant. He worked with Professor Tucker at the University of California on the meridian circle. In 1907 he went to the Cincinnati Observatory to become second assistant to DeLisle Stewart. Professor Porter put him in charge of the meridian circle. He made observations and reduced data for proper motion of stars. A Ph.D. was conferred to him in 1910 in Cincinnati, subsequent to the delivery of his thesis “Personal Equation and Its Variation.”16 Smith married the first woman mathematician sent to the Observatory by the University, Louise Strautman. The Smiths had two children, son Stephen, a West Point graduate, who became a Lieutenant Colonel for the United States Army Engineer Corps, and daughter Harriet who married Dr. Paul Herget.17 Louise and Harriet, as well as Yowell’s wife Elizabeth, accompanied the astronomers on the eclipse expedition of 1932 to New Hampshire (Fig. 7.5). Smith initially lived at Mt. Lookout, and in 1916 moved to DeLisle Stewart’s former home behind the Observatory.18 Smith replaced Yowell as Director of the Cincinnati Observatory in 1940. Throughout his career at the Observatory, Smith published dozens of articles and monographs on historical and astronomical topics. Several years before he obtained his Ph.D. he published an article in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific on the cataloguing of stars.19 Years before he became the Director, he published numerous articles on the Observatory’s scientific work.20 In 1915 he published a monograph The Evolution of a Gravitating, Rotating, Condensing Fluid through the University of Cincinnati. On 25 January 1925, The Cincinnati Enquirer published an article on a solar eclipse, seen only as partial in Cincinnati. This article included a series of photographs taken there at 10-min intervals by Elliott Smith and his 11-year-old son Stephen. Smith also published an article on the total solar eclipse expedition of 1932  in New Hampshire.21 In anticipation of the upcoming  “Death of Dr. Elliott Smith,” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 21 (1943): 198; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 44; Everett Yowell, “Elliott S. Smith”, Popular Astronomy 52 (1944), 7. 17  Yowell, “Elliott S. Smith.” 18  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 44. 19  Elliott Smith, “Star Catalogues,” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 16, no. 98 (October 10, 1904): 193–201. 20  Elliott Smith, “The Riefler Clock System of the Cincinnati Observatory,” Popular Astronomy 19 (1911): 344–351; Elliott Smith, “The Scientific Work of the Cincinnati Observatory,” Popular Astronomy 21 (1913): 18–21. 21  “Cincinnatians Gain Clear View of Eclipse: Radio Reception Is Better During Period,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, January 25, 1925. 16

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Fig. 7.5  The 1932 Total Solar Eclipse Party at North Stratford, New Hampshire. Standing, left to right: Niel Farnsworth, Everett Yowell, Paul Herget, Louise Smith; Seated, left to right: Elliott Smith, Elizabeth Yowell, Harriet Smith. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

100th year anniversary of the Cincinnati Observatory, he published “Historical Background of the Cincinnati Observatory,” which was read at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society at Wellesley College on 14 September 1940.22 He was preparing for the publication of his catalog of stars at the time of his death. He was a member of numerous organizations and professional societies including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Astronomical Society and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.23 When Smith replaced Yowell in 1940, he began to phase out the use of the meridian circle though he continued to make enough observations to complete the catalog of results of the observatory since 1922. On the occasions when his computations revealed the likelihood of errors he had to repeat the observations.24 He also checked the accuracy of the Observatory’s clocks. He monitored the weather since, when conditions permitted, he would open the roof so the temperature of the meridian

 Elliott Smith, “Historical Background of the Cincinnati Observatory,” Popular Astronomy 49 (1941): 347–355. 23  Yowell, “Elliott Smith.” 24  Robert Black, “The Cincinnati Telescope,” in The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati (corporate author) (Cincinnati, Ohio: Court Index Press, Inc., 1944), 46; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 104. 22

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circle could equilibrate to that outdoors.25 He taught an astronomy class at the University three days a week, which during the war effort was changed and re-­ named to “Astronomy of Air and Marine Navigation.”26 Like his predecessor Yowell, Smith enjoyed teaching and sharing interesting topics of astronomy with visitors. He gave the lecture during his years of leadership at the Observatory, “Is Mars Inhabited?” With a bit of reference to history and some simple scientific considerations he concluded that, “… Mars would be a most inhospitable place for life as we live it.”27

7.3 The Centennial of the Cincinnati Observatory At the invitation of Dr. Elliott Smith, the 71st annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society was to be held in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 5–7  in 1943, to coincide with the centennial of the laying of the corner stone for the Observatory by John Quincy Adams. Tragically, as reported in The New York Times on 30 September, Smith had died suddenly on the previous day. The death of Elliott Smith left a temporary vacuum of leadership at the Observatory. This was not problematic as the Observatory had neither new equipment nor a new program. Yowell returned temporarily on a part-time basis to fulfill the responsibilities of the Director. The most significant activities of this period were those of the visitors’ nights program and the amateur clubs. Popularization of astronomy had always been dear to the hearts of both Yowell and Smith.28 As Smith’s death was just weeks before the celebration, retired Everett Yowell, as temporary Director, and Paul Herget stepped in to host on behalf of the Observatory (Fig. 7.6).29 The cover of the December 1943 issue of Sky and Telescope displayed an image of the two buildings of the Observatory at Mt. Lookout. Yowell wrote the relevant article, “One Hundred Years at the Cincinnati Observatory.” In three pages he related the rich history of the institution from the time of the visions of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel through the accomplishments of his successors to date.30 The members of the Society were met by Yowell and Herget at the Netherland Plaza Hotel. Herget conducted interested members of the party to the top of the 48-story building for a view of the city. After dinner and an initial business meeting  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 92–93.  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 104. 27  Elliott Smith, “Is Mars Inhabited?” (University of Cincinnati Archives, Inventory UA-79-43, July 6, unspecified year, Box 22, Folder 1). 28  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 104–106. 29  Dean McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting of the American Astronomical Society,” Popular Astronomy 52, no. 7 (August 1944): 2; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 105. 30  Everett Yowell, “One Hundred Years at the Cincinnati Observatory.” Sky and Telescope, 3 (1943): 3–5. 25 26

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Fig. 7.6  Invitation to the Celebration of the Centennial of the Cincinnati Observatory. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, folder #6).

the astronomers went by taxi cab to the Wilson Memorial Hall on the University Campus.31 The Observatory was celebrated on the first night with speeches by Dr. Raymond Walters, the President of the University of Cincinnati (Fig.  7.7); Mr. Robert Black, of the University Board of Directors; and Dr. Harlow Shapley, the Director of the Harvard College Observatory as well as President of the American Astronomical Society.32 Walters spoke first. He welcomed the Society and read a congratulatory letter from President Roosevelt. He announced that the new Director of the Observatory would be Dr. Paul Herget, pending completion of his obligation to the United States Naval Observatory doing war work.33 Black’s speech was a more detailed description of Mitchel’s quest to establish this Observatory, from the purchase of the instrument to the building of the structure that would house it. He then described the celebration held on its completion with the participation of former President John

 McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting,” 2–3.  McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting,” 3. 33  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary, 13–16. 31 32

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Fig. 7.7  Dr. Raymond Walters. (Archives and Rare Books Library, University of Cincinnati)

Fig. 7.8  Dr. Harlow Shapley. (Smith and Trimble 2007)

Quincy Adams.34 Dr. Harlow Shapley (Fig. 7.8) gave the keynote speech “A Cycle of Astronomy” (see Appendix 7.3).35 A reception was held following the presentation at the Annie Laws Memorial Room of the Teacher’s College where guests of honor included Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt and widow of Nicholas Longworth, the grandson of Nicholas Longworth who had donated the land that came to be known as Mt. Adams.36 On Saturday, the sixth of November, the astronomers would finally see the Observatory. They had a half-hour street car ride to Delta and Erie Avenues from which they had a short walk to Mt. Lookout. Herget welcomed the visitors and mentioned that they had already hosted 2000 visitors that year. Shapley expressed

 Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary, 17–46.  Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (corporate author), The Centenary, 47–56. 36  McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting,” 3–4. 34 35

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his surprise that so many could find their way as, “…even some good navigators had trouble.”37 About a dozen papers were presented and a group photograph was taken of the attendees (Fig. 7.9) who then proceeded to the Knox Presbyterian Church where a luncheon was served. Several attendees stopped on the way to pay their respects to Mrs. Elliott Smith. After lunch the astronomers returned to the Observatory to see the instruments and the original cornerstone.38 Dr. Joel Stebbins, President of the American Astronomical Society for 1940–1943 began the afternoon proceedings with his retirement address. The following symposium was on the topic of ‘Dwarf Stars and Planet-Like Companions’ to which

Fig. 7.9  Group Photograph of Centennial Attendees: Paul Herget, tall man at left of the front row; Everett Yowell, short man at center of the front row; Mrs. Paul Herget with daughter Marilyn, second from the right of the front row. (The Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics)

37 38

 McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting,” 4.  McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting,” 4.

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Everett Yowell was one of the contributors.39 After dinner, back at the Netherland Plaza Hotel, Shapley introduced the city’s Mayor James Garfield Smith who would speak on the early history of Cincinnati and the Observatory with a humorous spin, “According to the mayor, the Longworths got the land (which Nicholas Longworth donated to the observatory) in exchange for a still, and he suspects it was some of his own ancestors who got the still.”40 Sunday morning, at the hotel, there was a business meeting followed by another session of papers, after which the program ended at noon. Astronomer Dean McLaughlin concluded, “The Cincinnati meeting was an unqualified success…it proves that a satisfactory attendance can be expected at meetings, even in wartime.”41 Everett Yowell continued serving as the Observatory’s Acting Director, until Paul Herget returned from his Navy war service. Yowell passed away on 13 March 1959.42

7.4 Conclusion After its move to Mt. Lookout in 1873, the Cincinnati Observatory would be led by a few competent and dedicated individuals. The focus of research among them sometimes shifted, but they all answered to the responsibility of public education. All these Directors loved teaching to students and to the public. Although Stone resisted travelling to the University campus, because he felt the time involved interfered with his scientific research, he would happily have had students travel to Mt. Lookout for instruction. It was Stone that initiated ‘Visitors’ Nights,’ a service that would continue with Yowell and Smith. During his retirement, Yowell published monthly newspaper articles, “Astronomical Notes,” to keep the public apprised of what might be seen in the heavens. Yowell and Smith organized an Observatory Club to meet at the Mitchel building and the Telescope Maker’s Guild which met in the basement to grind lenses. Yowell and Smith organized an eclipse expedition to New Hampshire in 1932, during the tough times of the Depression, which included members of the Observatory Club. The 71st annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in 1943 was celebrated in Cincinnati to coincide with the Observatory’s Centennial. Professional papers were presented and the appointment of the new Director to the Observatory, Paul Herget, was announced. It was to be seen what agenda Herget would bring to this well-established and well-respected institution.

 McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting,” 4–5.  McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting,” 5. 41  McLaughlin, “The Seventy-First Meeting,” 6. 42  Cameron, Caster and Herget, Memorial Tribute. 39 40

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Appendices Appendix 1 Astronomical Discovery (prepared talk for the Kiwanis Club for the Chamber of Commerce Dinner, 20 October 1930[?], transcribed from Everett Yowell’s handwritten words, Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, folder #1) In looking over the history of astronomy, it is of interest to note the various causes that led to important discoveries. The invention of new instruments has always opened up new lines of work, the investigation of residuals, too large for errors of observation, has frequently led to discoveries: the spirit of the times has occasionally stirred men to greater effort: the investigation of one problem has led to the solution of others: the native genius of the individual has initiated new discoveries and sometimes chance has rewarded a lucky individual. It is more than mere coincidence that the favors of Dame Fortune are generally bestowed on the capable and industrious man. Up to the last 400 years, all ideas of astronomy were earth-centered: the Sun, Moon and planets revolved about it and were made for the benefit of Man. He held the supreme place in Nature, and considered all things in the universe to be created for his benefit. But among the philosophers, some speculated that the Sun might be the center about which the Earth revolved. To the mathematical mind, the apparent motion of the Sun through the heavens could be explained by the actual motion of the Earth about the Sun. But they argued, if the Earth move about the Sun, such a motion will make the stars appear to move back and forth in the sky. No such motion can be detected, so it was evident the Earth did not move. This apparent motion, due to the motion of the observer, we call parallactic, and to discover such a parallax for any of the fixed stars was an unsolved problem for centuries. We see an example of parallax whenever we drive along the highways: the nearer trees or buildings change their position with reference to the distant background. The attempt to find this parallax of a fixed star led to two important discoveries. Bradley [Astronomer Royal], two centuries ago, at Wanstead acquired a zenith sector, an instrument to measure zenith distances accurately. He carefully measured the zenith distance of a star that passed near his zenith, making the effect of refaction [sic] small. We can imagine his joy when he found that his measurements showed an appreciable displacement: and perhaps we can appreciate his disappointment on finding that they did not agree with his theory. His observed maximum displacements occurred where there was no parallactic displacement: and where the parallactic displacement should be a maximum, his observations showed no displacement. It was several years before he found an explanation – sailing with a pleasure party on the Thames, he noticed that a vane on the mast shifted a little every time they changed their course. A sailor told him the wind did not shift but the vane always shifted. This led him to suspect that the motion of the Earth, combined with the velocity of light from the star was the cause of the displacement. This solved the problem and the astronomer has to correct all his observations for this aberration of

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light. This was not the only great discovery Bradley made: for in working on his previous problem, he had considered the possibility that his plumb line wobbled: and he set to work to find out if this were so. After 19 years of observation, he found this was so, and called the phenomena nutation – it was due to the Moon’s attraction on the equatorial protuberance of the Earth. This same problem of stellar parallax attracted the attention of Sir William Herschel, and his idea was to find a bright and a faint star close together – a double star with components of different magnitudes. He believed the faint star would be much farther away, and that the bright star would be displaced with reference to it by the annual motion of the Earth about the Sun: by measuring the distance between the stars throughout the year, he hoped to detect the displacement. So in his sweeps he made note of every double star and measured the distance between the components. No parallactic displacement was found, but he did find that in some pairs, the faint star was revolving about the bright star. These double stars were binary systems, subject to gravitation like our own system. From the period of revolution we can compute the masses of the stars and it is the only method that gives us a conception of these masses. The Renaissance is an example of a period of time that stimulated the intellects of thinking man to greater activity and led to far reaching advances. To astronomy came the greatest revolution: Copernicus, a priest whose mathematical ability was universally recognized, laid the foundation. He assumed that the Earth revolved about the Sun: he traced out mathematically all the consequences of this motion and derived formulae for finding the places of Sun, Moon and planets. This monumental work he published under the title of “De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium.” Revolutionary in character, it needed the work of Galileo and Kepler to complete the overthrow of the old Ptolemaic system. Of these brilliant men of the Renaissance, Galileo, the physicist, owes his astronomical fame to the invention and use of a new instrument, the telescope. Spectacles for near and far sightedness had been in use for a couple of centuries: and by accident two lenses were held so as to give a clear, magnified image of a distant object. Jan Lippershey, of Middleburg, Holland, received a patent from the States-General for this optic tube, a toy for the nobility. But when the news penetrated to Italy and reached Galileo, he thought out the problem and that very night made him a telescope from lenses in his laboratory. He turned his telescope up to the starry heavens and in a short time made many a marvelous discovery. Around Jupiter revolved four satellites, like a miniature solar system: to Saturn was attached some sort of appendage: Venus passed through various phases like the Moon: the Moon’s surface was rough and mountainous: the perfect Sun was spotted and the Milky Way consisted of myriads of faint stars. Some of these discoveries were powerful arguments for the Copernican system: and in his “Dialogue on the two chief systems of the World” he used them with great cogency. To another of these brilliant thinkers, Johann Kepler, we owe the “Laws of Planetary Motion” that completed the Copernican system: It had always been believed that the motion of celestial bodies was perfect: that they moved with uniform speed in a circle. If a single circle would not do, they imagined the planet to

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move in a circle, whose center moved uniformly along a larger circle: and the astronomer had to determine the radii of the various circles used so that the motion would correspond to observation. The ablest observer of pre-telescopic times, Tycho Brahe, had accumulated an enormous number of planetary observations: and when Kepler became his assistant, he set him at work to redetermine the constants of the orbit of Mars, so that it would represent these observations. The problem proved difficult and baffling: no set of circles could he find that would accurately fit Tycho’s observations. In despair, he tried other curves and the ellipse gave him a satisfactory solution. A study of the motion of the other planets confirmed the result. The greatest discoveries made by two great astronomers, Herschel and Barnard, came by chance. These men were noted for the zeal with which they searched the Heavens. Herschel was a musician and as a boy played the oboe in a military band in Hannover: he disliked military campaigning, resigned and went to England to pursue his musical career. In this he was successful, and his studies in Harmony led him to study calculus and other mathematical subjects. Becoming interested in astronomy, he bought a small telescope: later he made his own reflectors of speculum metal, and became so skillful, that his were the best telescopes in the world. All his spare time, he spent observing. One night, he saw an object, entirely different in appearance from a star: he supposed it was a comet and confirmed its motion. Not until its orbit was computed and found to be almost circular, with the object twice as far away as Saturn, did they realize that a new planet had been found, that was named Uranus. It is a testimony to the excellence of Herschel’s telescope, that his contemporaries Lalande and Messier failed to see anything in the object to distinguish it from the stars, and Messier was famous for his discoveries of comets. Our own Barnard was a lover of stars from his boyhood: in spite of poverty, he acquired a small glass and then a larger one. After discovering a few comets: he was permitted to use the telescope at Vanderbilt University. His position there was unique: although taking undergraduate work as a special student, he was assistant instructor in Astronomy in charge of the Observatory. When the Lick Observatory staff was organized, Barnard was selected as the junior member and once a week had the use of the 36 inch, then the biggest and finest in the world. To such good advantage did he employ the glass that he found the fifth satellite of Jupiter in 1892. This discovery put him in the front rank of astronomers, a position he occupied with distinction until his death. Herschel’s discovery of Uranus, and the study of its motion, led to another discovery that is regarded as a most brilliant mathematical achievement. The early orbit permitted astronomers to trace the path of the planet backward, and they found it had been observed as a star over a dozen times. With these observations they could compute a better orbit and the planet slowly deviated from this orbit. So one was computed from the modern observations, but the planet refused to follow this one as closely as it should. So astronomers began to think that some unknown body was the cause of this deviation. Two young men undertook to solve the problem of locating a body, whose attraction would cause Uranus to deviate from its orbit by the observed amount. Each solved the problem: Adams sent his results to Airy, and Leverrier sent his to Berlin: at Berlin they had new maps of the region and picked

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up Neptune the first night within a degree of its predicted place. This was one of the greatest of mathematical achievements. Of course the discovery of Neptune raised the question of the possibility of other planets beyond Neptune. In recent years several astronomers have followed the footsteps of Leverrier and tried to locate a trans-Neptunian planet from the unexplained residuals in the motion of Uranus and Neptune: Failure was the result: but among these men was Percival Lowell who founded and supported the Observatory at Flagstaff for the study of the planets. After his death, his staff carried on the work and last spring on March 13 announced the finding of a new planet, for which the name Pluto seems to give general satisfaction. The date selected for announcing the discovery of Pluto was both the birthday anniversary of Lowell and the 149th anniversary of the discovery of Uranus by Herschel. How much credit should go to Lowell is not yet determined, for the planet seems too small to cause the deviations on which Lowell based his work. The zeal and perseverance of the Lowell Observatory staff in pursuing their quest certainly deserves the highest praise. Without the photographic plate, the discovery would not have been made: although not a new instrument, but an accessory used with any instrument, it has assisted the astronomer enormously. Two great values it has: first it accumulated faint activities of light and records them. No eye has ever seen the two outer satellites of Jupiter, or many nebulae whose pictures we study. Second, it records over its entire surface, but the eye can examine but one thing at a time. And third, the record is permanent: because we have found Pluto on photographs taken in 1919, we now know its orbit fairly well: that it is 40 astronomical units away from us, will be nearest to the sun in about 60 years and its orbit is more elongated than those of the planets. When nearest to the Sun it is about as far away as Neptune, and when farthest away, it is twice as distant. The outstanding example of the native genius of man finding its outlet in great discoveries is Sir Isaac Newton. Showing little of his great ability in early boyhood, he went to Cambridge and soon outstripped his instructors, taking his degree at the age of 22. In the next 2 years – those of the great plague of 1665–1666 – he found his theory of fluxions that we now call calculus, his theory of colors, and the idea of gravity. The well known apple story is based on fact, but the apple only forcibly reminded him of the problem on which he was working. He used his law of gravitation to explain Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion: But the crucial test was the motion of the Moon: when that was explained, his proof was complete. It is difficult to realize how many facts this law of gravitation correlated and explained: a few of them are the precession of the equinoxes, the tides, nutation. His published work, which we call for short the Principia, ranks as the greatest of all books in natural philosophy. Of Newton, Lagrange said “Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed, and the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish.”

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Appendix 2 The Value of Astronomy (Radio Talk #1 of 1931, Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, folder #4) Why did astronomy develop before the other sciences? Because certain astronomical phenomena are so frequent in occurrence and affect our daily lives so greatly that they impressed all thinking men and demanded explanation. Among these phenomena, I may mention the rotation of the Earth on its axis, giving us day and night; the revolution of the Earth about the Sun, bringing summer and winter, seedtime and harvest; the revolution of the Moon about the Earth, causing the various phases of the Moon and occasionally a total eclipse of either Sun or Moon. Each of these motions gave us an important unit of time: the day, the year, the month; and the month was used as the fundamental unit in most of the early civilizations. Many religious festivals occurred at the time of the new Moon or the full Moon; and the attempt of the early calendar makers to harmonize the lunar month and the year of the seasons (the year in which the seasons recur at the same part of the year) had its difficulties. As the interval between successive new moons was 29½ days, some months had 30 days, others 29, in order to have the month begin with the new Moon. A similar difficulty presented itself in trying to make the year consist of an integral number of months; twelve months amounted to but 354 days, so they had to insert an extra month frequently. We have abandoned the attempt to make the month represent one lunation, and are satisfied to keep the year in harmony with the seasons. Our newest calendar proposal is to reduce the length of the month to four weeks, so that there will be thirteen months to the year with one day over. This is to be called a holiday and is to become an outcast, belonging neither to the week nor to the month. Then will we have a perpetual calendar, and the printers of calendars can join the ranks of the unemployed. References to these motions appear in the early literatures and mythologies. Of one of the most ancient literatures, the Vedas, Professor Max Müller has written: “I look upon the sunrise and sunset, on the daily return of day and night, on the battle between light and darkness, on the whole solar drama in all its details that is enacted every day, every year, in heaven and in earth, as the principal subject.” The explanations of these motions in the various mythologies are fanciful, but in the Greek world we find an attempt to represent these motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets by mathematical laws. This attempt was partially successful and fourteen centuries elapsed before the present accepted system was outlined by Copernicus. Astronomy served early man by providing timepieces for him in the motions of the Sun, Moon, and stars. The positions of these bodies also served him as guide posts in his travels. These same services are rendered to us today, but in a far more complete fashion. Every day, telegraph and radio bring us the time, on whose accuracy is based much of our social fabric. The highways of the seas are traversed by many a ship, whose position is determined by astronomical observations. Boundaries between states and nations frequently have been located by astronomers. To run the celebrated Mason-Dixon line, the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania,

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we imported two English astronomers, Mason and Dixon, in our colonial days, and the boundary between Canada and the United States, from the Great Lakes to the Pacific, was located by a joint commission of Canadian and American astronomers. Many of our land surveys are based on lines previously determined by astronomical observations. But the greatest service to mankind is an intellectual one. From astronomy have grown other sciences, and its phenomena first called attention to the regularity existing in nature, a regularity that we may now term the Reign of Law in the Universe. Although astronomy has not today the same practical value as physics or chemistry, its discipline as a study is just as great. Now the value of the study of science is that it makes one careful in ascertaining the facts; it demands variations in experiments to eliminate first one source of error and then others; it teaches one to overcome his prejudices and to keep his mind open; it demands a careful weighing of evidence, and a seeking of just judgments. “It exalts truth and honestly seeks it;” and the student who can learn to be honest with himself and to be just in his judgments is forming character of the most valuable kind. Indirectly, the results of the applications of science have been the widespread use of comforts and conveniences, so that the necessities of today were luxuries a century ago. The shortening of the hours of labor, due to machine production, have given millions liberty to pursue other objects than the daily grind of work. The great advances in astronomy were due to the invention and development of two instruments, the telescope and the spectroscope, and the discovery of one great law, the law of gravitation. The telescope was not merely a big eye that enabled us to see faint objects; it was also a refined and adjustable retina, for the use of various eyepieces permits us to examine details and to magnify images to any suitable size. Of still greater value is the ability to put a measuring apparatus in the focal plane and obtain metrical relations among the points in the image. The observations of Tycho Brahe, made with the best instruments available before the invention of the telescope, enabled Kepler to prove that the paths of the planets were ellipses, not epicycles. Today with our meridian circles, we can make observations one hundred times as accurate as Tycho’s, and certain differential measures are a thousand times as accurate. The spectroscope, on the other hand, by analyzing light, gives us information concerning the constitution and temperature of a body, as well as its motion in the line of sight. The invention of the telescope by Galileo and its use in examining celestial objects at once resulted in a rapid extension of our knowledge. A careful study of Jupiter, revealed four moons revolving about it in different periods of time; the surface of our Moon was found to be rough, with a few mountain chains and plains, and a great number of craters. The surface of the Sun was spotted, these spots appearing and disappearing; the Milky Way consisted of innumerable faint stars; Venus showed phases just like the Moon. This latter fact proved that Venus, like the Moon, shines by light reflected from the Sun; it gave the world a new idea of a planet. Unlike a star, the planet emits no light, but depends on sunlight for its illumination. The thought of the world was enormously stimulated by these discoveries and this period of very rapid advance was closed by Newton’s discovery of the law of

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gravitation. This law explained the motions of the planets as well as other facts and is the very foundation of physical astronomy. This period also marks the beginning of the general use of the scientific method. Heretofore its use had been confined to a few men of great ability. To Galileo’s practice and teaching is due in a great measure the increased use of this method and the recognition of its value. Galileo believed that the investigator should lay aside his own opinions and prejudices, as far as possible, and determine the facts by experiment and observation. An oft-quoted example illustrates this. For centuries men had believed that the heavier of two weights should fall faster than the lighter. Galileo challenged this belief and proved its falsity by dropping two balls of different size from the leaning tower of Pisa. They reached the ground at the same instant. Some of his opponents refused to observe the experiment or to credit it; however, they found facts stubborn things with which to argue. Newton, at the conclusion of this age, illustrated this same method in testing the law of gravitation. According to his laws of motion, every body, if moving, continues to move in a straight line, unless compelled by some force to change its direction. Newton beheld the Moon, moving in a curved orbit about the Earth and conceived that some force, continually acting, was changing its motion. He found that a force proportional to the mass of the Earth and varying inversely as the square of the distance between the Earth and the Moon, would produce this change. The operation of this law of gravity was then extended to other objects and was found to account for the motions of the planets, as well as other phenomena, such as tides and the precession of the equinoxes. Two centuries later, the application of this same law of gravitation enabled mathematical astronomers to locate the position of an unknown planet, Neptune, which was disturbing the motion of Uranus. Astronomy offers a fertile field for the application of the scientific method, for a great body of its truths are determinate and accurate; in some of the newer lines of work, there is great stimulus to investigation. While it has contributed a great deal to mathematics, it has also been of value to other sciences. The great theory of evolution, so valuable to the biological sciences, had its first statement in the nebular hypothesis of Kant and Laplace, 50 years before Darwin. As the subject matter of astronomy embraces the entire physical universe, its past development and its future state, it is of unique value in broadening the intellectual outlook. Was not the discovery of Pluto ranked as one of the ten most important news items of the past year? And is not the extraordinary publicity given to the visit of Professor Einstein due to his relativity theory? The discovery by Kirchhoff, in the middle of the last century, of the laws of spectrum analysis, gave a new impulse to the growth of astronomy. He found that every element in the gaseous state and under low pressure, emitted certain definite vibrations, and these were emitted by no other element. Like the Bertillon system for identifying individuals, spectrum analysis gives us a way of identifying the chemical elements, when made luminous. Sodium, for example, gives a double line in the yellow; hydrogen, a series of lines, with one of the most important in the red; calcium, two in the violet, the most intense lines in the photographic solar spectrum. In the solar eclipse in 1868 was found a yellow line, near the sodium lines, for which

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no counterpart had been found in our laboratories. The element it represented was named helium, after the Greek word meaning the Sun. Nearly 30 years later its presence in our atmosphere was discovered by Ramsey. It is light, inert, and not inflammable. The World War emphasized its value for balloons and dirigibles. The improvements in photography, especially the change from the wet to the dry plate, enabled the investigator to make a permanent record of his observations as well as to record faint phenomena, too faint to see. The use of spectroscopy gave rise to astro-physics, a broad domain embracing physics as well as astronomy. Its study has given us an idea of the of the different elements present in the Sun and stars, the temperatures and internal conditions of these bodies, the way the elements are distributed throughout our visible universe, the interpretation of ionization. With all this unexplored domain before us, is it any wonder that most of our observatories are devoting their energies to astro-physics?

Appendix 3 On the Problem of Being Central (Historical and Philosophical Society: 47–56; Titled “A Cycle of Astronomy” in the Invitation to the Celebration of the Centennial of the Cincinnati Observatory. See Fig. 7.6; Shapley, 1944) I. On behalf of the American astronomers I am glad to be able on this occasion to salute the memory of those citizens of Cincinnati who 100 years ago did pioneer work in bringing knowledge of astronomy to the American people; and we salute and in person the Cincinnati citizens who now meet together to memorialize the century-old dedicatory exercise, and to register their pledge that the traditions and examples of devotion to public scientific education will continue in this community. We congratulate Dr. Paul Herget on his elevation to the directorship of the Observatory of the University of Cincinnati, which has just been announced by the President of the University; and knowing of the abilities, programs, and energy of Dr. Herget, we also congratulate the University of Cincinnati. About 100 years ago a famous English scientist pointed out to the citizens of Cincinnati what they should do to become the zero-point of the Western Hemisphere. Cincinnati would be to America, said the Astronomer Royal of England, what Greenwich is to England. It was only necessary to determine the latitude of the new observatory (which would be easy) and the longitude (which would be tedious) with high accuracy. To quote from the letter to Professor Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel from Sir George Airy: “Cincinnati will then be known as the place which must necessarily be taken as the zero-point of any of the great surveys which in our own lives or in ages to come may be expected to spread over the continent of North America.”

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But the plan of setting up the zero-point on Mount Adams did not come off, perhaps because Cincinnati did not want to be zero in anything. At the same time, however, there was much interest in Cincinnati concerning a new European theory that the zero-point or center of the universe is in the bright star cluster called the Pleiades. I propose, therefore, to devote my remarks not only to the announced topic, A Cycle of Astronomy, but more particularly to the Problem of Being Central. When one looks over the program of astronomy during the past hundred years he finds such striking changes in attitude and perspective that comparisons have little significance. To be sure, our knowledge of the solar system’s motions, and of the principles of celestial mechanics, has progressed only moderately, not sensationally. We have not added so very much to the size of recognizable population of the solar system; and although we have added knowledge about planetary atmospheres, the stuff of interplanetary space, and the population of the family of asteroids, we still have not solved the problems of the origin of the system, or of the intimate structure of its central body, the Sun, or the relationship between asteroids, comets, meteors, and zodiacal light. But at the time of the founding of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, photography of the stars was scarcely dreamed of, and now nine-tenths or more of astronomical observations are photographic. Then we knew practically nothing about astrophysics in the modern sense. The study of variable stars, which now occupies at least one-third of all astronomical observers, was barely started. The Astronomy of Galaxies was far advanced in terms of the telescopic equipment and sidereal information of those times; but it was essentially primitive in comparison with the Twentieth Century revelations by the large photographic reflectors. In noting these great contrasts in the content of astronomical science at the two ends of the century under review, one is led to wonder what the end of the next century will be like. Probably the ratio will be maintained. Our present profundity may look either like mental confusion or elementary propositions. More likely the former. The scientist of November, 2043, will doubtless have gained clarifying insight through instrumental development and observational revelation. He will wonder how we could have been misled by our own arguments. II. Let us turn our attention to the problem of centers. Primitive man probably did not bother about the question of where he stood in the universe, either biologically or geometrically. But somewhere along the line of human evolution from the Java ape-­ man to the present higher type – to, shall we say, the President of the University? – there came a time when egocentrism entered the Weltbild. Eventually the egocentric view was shattered by travel and meditation. The long history of living forms through the geological ages soon gave man biological evidence that he is not so much at the center as at the top. He is the highest, and that pleases the vanity as nicely as does the concept of being central.

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When egocentrism was displaced by lococentrism and eventually by geocentric views of the geometry of the world, the human thinker had reached the position where he included the Sun, planets and stars in his considerations. The Sun and Moon were especially involved in the cosmic philosophy. A number of the brave and free-thinking Greeks held to the hypothesis that the Earth was not central; but it took the giants of three or four centuries ago – Copernicus, Galileo, Tycho, Kepler, Newton – to establish firmly the heliocentric theory and fact of the solar system. In passing, we note that the center of the Earth itself is geometrically and gravitationally almost exactly on the Earth’s axis beneath the equator; but the center of mass of the Earth-Moon system is three thousand miles from the center of the Earth, only a thousand miles below the Earth’s surface. This fact, that the two bodies move around the common center of gravity, gives the Earth a tiny little orbit of its own in which it moves in a period of a month  – an orbit about six thousand miles in diameter. This is but one of the many “orbital” motions that we in Cincinnati at this moment experience. With one speed in one direction we rotate around the center of the Earth; at another speed and in another direction we move around the center of the Earth-­ Moon system; with other constants, around the Sun; and with the Sun we go off at high speed toward northern stars, and jointly with those stars we rotate around the great star clouds in Sagittarius. And that is not all – at least two or three other major motions can be specified, and on top of them a lot of little wiggles and perturbations. It is indeed a twisty, deviating, and not altogether known path that we travel through space; but practically it is not bothersome since we remain comfortably unaware of any of these motions, except indirectly of two of them through the daily “rising” and “setting” of the Sun, and the yearly coming and passing of the seasons. We have just suggested that yearly the Earth moves around the Sun. That is roughly true. It moves around a center of gravity. But the planets have masses that pull the center of the solar system clear out of the body of the Sun at times – this month for instance. The Earth-Moon pair annually revolve around a center of which the position is largely controlled by the mass of the Sun and the large planets Jupiter and Saturn. It was nearly a hundred years ago that O. M. Mitchel published in his newly-­ founded SIDEREAL MESSENGER a long and complicated paper, fairly technical and considerably oratorical, by Johann Heinrich von Mädler, who was at that time director of the famous Russian Observatory in Dorpat. It was a Russian observatory then, but much later it became Esthonian, and then Russian again, and now temporarily German. Already a hundred years ago the motion of the Sun among the stars was recognized. It was moving at what seemed to be incredible speed in the direction of the constellation of Hercules. What impels this great speed of our massive star?, was the question Mädler asked. The Earth’s own motion in its orbit is impelled by the gravitational action of the Sun. It does not move toward this impelling central body of the solar system, but practically at right angles to the direction to the Sun; that is, it moves in a nearly circular orbit.

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By analogy, then, we might look for a great super-sun which compels the motion of our average star; if that motion also were in a circular orbit, we should look for the giant star at right angles to the direction of the motion. In Mädler’s time the astronomers knew that the stellar system was ‘laminated.’ The stars appeared to be arranged in layers. The flattened shape had been recognized through the researches and interpretations of Sir William Herschel. It seemed to be wheel-shaped, and if this wheel of stars comprises the whole of stellar creation, we might seek its center at the hub of the wheel. In our analogy the rim of the wheel is represented by the Milky Way stream of starlight. In looking for the center, which must lie at right angles to the direction of the Sun’s motion, Mädler naturally sought the center in the Milky Way. He had two choices – the direction toward the Pleiades and the opposite direction toward the large southern constellation Sagittarius. The Sagittarius region of the Milky Way appeared somewhat brighter, even to this observer in Dorpat; he therefore concluded that we must be nearer the rim of the wheel in Sagittarius and that the hub of the universe must lie distantly in the Pleiades’ direction. Something was known a century ago about the cross-motions of the stars with respect to each other in the regions around the Pleiades, and after some manipulating of the scanty information at hand, Mädler came up with the definite conclusion that the brightest star in the cluster of the Pleiades could well be that powerful mass around which the universe revolved. He did not consider it an all-powerful mass, excelling other stars as the Sun excels a planet. He only suggested that this majestic object is at the center of gravity of the whole system. We now know that this leading light of the Pleiades, Alcyone, is indeed an outstanding star, several times the luminosity and weight of the Sun; but scores of the naked-eye stars excel it. Professor Mitchel was enormously intrigued with the idea of a distant center of the universe and impressed by Mädler’s calculations that the Sun required some eighteen million years for one turn around the Pleiades. He recognized, however, that the hypothesis was as tentative as it was daring and impressive. Other professional writers in the field were more cautious, and it was not so very long before the students of the distribution and motions of the stars slipped back into the comfortable heliocentric hypothesis. The increasing evidence, moreover, conspired to substantiate the theory that the Sun is essentially at the center of the sidereal world. The Milky Way is a broken, slightly uneven band of light that centrally divides the sky, and the number of stars per unit volume appears to fall off with distance from the Sun in all directions. Simon Newcomb, B.A. Gould, and others began to find some minor asymmetries in stellar distribution. The Sun appeared to be not exactly in the plane of the laminated stellar system; but less than a generation ago, reinforced by the stellar studies of J. C. Kapteyn and A. S. Eddington, we were getting along reasonably well with the hypothesis that the Sun is near the center not only of the assemblage of the five thousand naked-eye stars, but also of the million times richer telescopic sidereal universe. The break-away to a new conception of the galactic center came rather suddenly through the study of the globular star clusters. The great cluster of Hercules, and other less conspicuous star swarms of this same sort, had long provided an unsolved

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puzzle. Some 30 years ago, Professor S. I. Bailey of Harvard systematically assembled from the catalogues, and especially from the Harvard photographs made at Arequipa, Peru, all the available material on globular clusters. Some were hard to classify, but he could show that there were more than fifty clusters in this one category, and that they did not differ greatly from each other in general structure. A considerable number of them had numerous variable stars among the brightest members, and it turned out that these variables, which belong to the Cepheid class, provided eventually the tool for solving the problem of the center of the stellar system. The 60-inch reflector at the Mount Wilson Observatory came seriously into the study of the globular star clusters in 1916. In the course of a few years it was shown that there are more than ninety globular clusters, that they are exceedingly distant objects, and that their peculiar distribution in the sky and in space could be taken to indicate that the stars also have a distribution much different from what appeared to be the situation up to that time. A bold assumption was made , which has been justified both by later observations and by its clarifying results, to the effect that the globular star clusters outline the framework of the wheel-shaped Milky Way system; that they indicate the skeleton of the body of the stellar system or rather, that they are the currants in the flattened bun. That hypothesis leads, however, to an astonishing result with regard to the center of the stellar system, for the globular clusters are not like the naked-eye stars, seemingly more or less equally numerous in all directions from the Earth. There are relatively few globular clusters in the north. They are numerous in southern constellations, especially along the Milky Way from Scutum at the equator to Centaurus and the Southern Cross. One single photographic plate of unusual effectiveness, which was made with one of Harvard’s southern patrol cameras, shows in Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius about one-third of all the clusters of the globular sort. The simple question is asked: why are they concentrated in this region of the sky? The simple answer is: because that is the direction toward the hub of the wheel. They are clustering around the center, which is extremely remote. The heliocentric theory of stellar distribution is at once finished. The Sun, the Earth, Cincinnati and the memories of Mädler, Mitchel, Newcomb, Kapteyn, are some thirty thousand light-years off center. The total diameter is not less than a hundred thousand light-­ years, the population, perhaps two hundred billion (200,000,000,000) stars. Returning to Mädler, we note that his arguments were good, his observational material too fragmentary. He chose the direction of the Pleiades, partly because there the Milky Way is dimmer. But now we know that Sagittarius is the brighter direction, not because it is near the rim, but because in it lies the enormously rich and massive hub of the wheel-shaped system – the bulge in the flattened organization that we call our Galaxy. It was something of an accident that the Sun’s motion known to Mädler should be roughly perpendicular to the direction of the Pleiades and of the Sagittarius center, for many of the near-by stars move quite otherwise with respect to their neighbors. But unknown to Mädler, there is also a twenty-times greater speed of the Sun, indicating a stellar drift that includes practically all of the neighboring stars, and

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which is, we now believe, the true motion of the stars of this part of the Galaxy around the center in Sagittarius. The now-adopted center, which lies on the galactic circle thirty degrees south of the celestial equator, is so far away that notwithstanding this speed of about two hundred miles a second, the complete revolution of the Sun will require something like two hundred million years. The stars far out beyond the Pleiades toward the edge of the wheel presumably have slower motions and longer paths, with “cosmic” years that are each equivalent to billions of years of the local Earth-around-the-­ Sun sort. III. Satisfied as we are that we now know accurately the direction to the galactic center and know approximately its distance, we are not certain that we know where lies the gravitational center of this part of the universe of galaxies, or the center of the total system of galaxies which we call the Metagalaxy. The researches of recent years have demonstrated the existence of a small cluster or group of galaxies in our part of metagalactic space. We are quite familiar with some of the fellow members – the Great Andromeda Nebula and its two small companions; the spiral Messier 33, which is only about two hundred thousand light-years from the Andromeda spiral; and the two clouds of Magellan – irregular galaxies in the southern sky. To these six easily-observed neighbors we now must add half a dozen others, all of them difficult and faint, even though not at all distant, as galaxies go. Their faintness reveals their low luminosities. They are dwarfs, and all but two or three of them are irregular in form. Our exploration of the local cluster of galaxies suggests that the dwarfish irregular star cloud is a fairly common type of galaxy; and since such a cloud cannot be seen easily except when within a few million light-years of the observer, we are left with the feeling that our catalogues are sadly incomplete – they favor the giant and supergiant galaxies that are easily found throughout metagalactic space. Much of the mass of the universe may be organized into units that are small compared with our own great Milky Way system or the Andromeda Nebula. The center of the local group of galaxies cannot yet be clearly specified. We do not yet know quite enough about the dwarfs. But it probably is not far out of the line that connects the center of our Galaxy with the center of the Andromeda Nebula – possibly about halfway between the two. We say this with some confidence because the evidence seems clear that these two great systems are supergiants in mass as well as in luminosity. But the orbital motions around the center of our ill-defined local cluster must be very slow, because the inter-system gravitational pull is slight. In fact, when galaxies get separated by as much as a few million light-years, the gravitational interaction, in the usual sense, disappears; a phenomenon now called cosmic repulsion takes its place, and the galaxies are observed to scatter from each other in all directions.

References

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The cosmic repulsion, revealed by the red-shift in the spectra of the light of distant galaxies, leads to the current concept of the Expanding Universe. I infer the temporariness of our cosmic speculations, chiefly to indicate that both theory and observation are young. When the picture is outlined more fully we may no longer emphasize the smallness of the local cluster of galaxies, and we may have a clearer description of the red-shift. Beyond the local system of galaxies the metagalactic field stretches indefinitely, populated by hundreds of millions of galaxies. Here and there we find doubles, and small groups like our own local cluster. There are also rich clusters of galaxies, and a few irregular clouds that contain thousands. For some of these distant groups we can easily indicate the geometrical centers, subject to our uncertainty concerning the number and distribution of their dwarf galaxies. But nowhere throughout the Metagalaxy, which we now explore out to distances of more than two hundred million light-years, do we find evidence of a central metagalactic nucleus, analogous to the center in Sagittarius for our own Milky Way system. Nowhere do we find one king of all galaxies, enormous in mass and superlative in brightness. In fact, we seek in vain for a metagalactic center. There is no thinning-out as we go deep into space, and no thickening-up; no very good evidence that the universe is infinite, or that it is finite. But if we accept the Expanding Universe hypothesis, we can look back in time a few thousand million years to when the scattering galaxies were apparently all close together. We can call that the zero of time, if we like, or the epoch of the origin of the expansion. And if we accept that the Relativistic Universe is demonstrated by the red-shift, we can make another contribution to the Problem of Being Central. For on that attractive hypothesis, which is as yet not quite convincingly demonstrated to all scientists, either in its atomic aspects or on the cosmic scale, the universe has no center in space. It is a “closed” world, of definite total mass (some billions of galaxies) and finite “extent”. We must introduce curved space to interpret and illustrate the geometry of the world. And in such a universe there is no one center and there is no terminating boundary, just as in the curved two-dimensional analogue of a spherical ball there is no center of the surface of the ball, and no end.

References Black, Robert. 1944. The Cincinnati Telescope. In The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory, 17–46. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati (corporate author). Cameron, T., K. Caster, and Paul Herget. Transcription of “Memorial Tribute to Professor Everett Irving Yowell” read at the Faculty Meeting 9 April 1959. Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell Collection, unlabeled folder. Death of Dr. Elliott Smith. 1943. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 21: 198. Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the University of Cincinnati (corporate author). 1944. The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory. Cincinnati: Court Index Press, Inc.

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Levere, William, ed. 1912. Who’s Who in SAE  – A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Members of the Fraternity. Evanston Index Company: Evanston. McLaughlin, Dean. 1944, August. The Seventy-First Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Popular Astronomy 52(7): 2–6. Smith, Elliott. Is Mars Inhabited? (University of Cincinnati Archives, Inventory UA-79-43, July 6, unspecified year, Box 22, Folder 1). ———. 1904, October 10. Star Catalogues. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 16(98): 193–201. ———. 1911. The Riefler Clock System of the Cincinnati Observatory. Popular Astronomy 19: 344–351. ———. 1913. The Scientific Work of the Cincinnati Observatory. Popular Astronomy 21: 18–21. ———. 1915. The Evolution of a Gravitating, Rotating, Condensing Fluid. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. ———. 1933. The Cincinnati Observatory Eclipse Expedition of August 31, 1932. Popular Astronomy 41: 148–151. ———. 1941. Historical Background of the Cincinnati Observatory. Popular Astronomy 49: 347–355. Smith, Horace A. and Virginia Trimble. 2007. Shapley, Harlow. In The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, ed. Thomas Hockey et al., 1048–1051. New York: Springer. Woodward, Charles. 1966. The History of the Cincinnati Observatory Since 1870. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. [unpublished, submitted toward fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts]. Yowell, Everett. undated-a. The Cincinnati Observatory Eclipse Expedition. (Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, first of two unnumbered folders). ———. undated-b. 3000 Miles in Search of a Shadow. (Cincinnati Observatory Center Archives, Yowell collection, folder #2). ———. 1932, August–September. The Total Solar Eclipse of August 31, 1932. Popular Astronomy 40(7): 388. ———. 1941, January. The Motion of the Stars. Science 93(2403): 50–53. ———. 1943. One Hundred Years at the Cincinnati Observatory. Sky and Telescope 3: 3–5. ———. 1944. Elliott S. Smith. Popular Astronomy 52: 7.

Chapter 8

Patriotism, Science and Pop Culture

8.1 Paul Herget (Director, 1946–1978) Paul Herget (Fig. 8.1) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 30 January 1908 to Conrad Fred and Clara Louise Brueckner Herget. His father was a German immigrant as were his maternal grandparents. When Paul was four years old his family moved to Oakley, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lived most of his young life. After World War I Conrad worked at the Cincinnati Bickford Tool Factory in Oakley, where Paul also worked for two summers during his high school years.1 During the Depression both Conrad and Paul took on additional part-time jobs when available.2 Paul participated in Boy Scouts and enjoyed bicycling. He had an erector set which he said was the best educational toy he ever had. He felt that all these activities contributed to his motor skills and geometrical thinking. As he lived near the Oakley Train Station, he became interested in model trains and crafted his own. He laid tracks in the family attic and even designed his own switch box.3 He felt the greatest personal influence in his life was his high school math teacher, Helen Swineford, more so than any of his university teachers. She so inspired him that he even considered becoming a math teacher. After he graduated from high school, however, he enrolled in engineering college. He could study civil engineering while earning money with a cooperative job to pay his expenses. Ultimately not content with this choice, he decided to return to his original plan. However, to study  Paul Herget, interview by David DeVorkin, April 19/20, 1977, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD. 2  Katherine Bracher. “Herget, Paul,” in The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, ed. Thomas Hockey et al. (New York: Springer, 2007), 487; Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Donald Osterbrock and P. Kenneth Seidelmann. “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (Washington D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1987), 60–61. 3  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time and Ours,” (Cincinnati: Cincinnati Observatory Center, 2019), 2. 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_8

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Fig. 8.1  Paul Herget. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

mathematics and education he would need money to attend the liberal arts college. To this end he dropped out of the engineering program to work for one year as a surveyor for the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company. At the University of Cincinnati he obtained an A.B. degree in mathematics and education in 1931. He received his teaching certificate and did one semester as a high school student teacher.4 America was still in the era of the Depression when Herget graduated. Choices were limited so he took the opportunity to work at the Cincinnati Observatory for $1020/year.5 This was enough money to pay his living expenses, and he could continue his studies as a part-time graduate student in mathematics. At the Observatory he worked full-time as a computer, reducing all the meridian circle observations made by Elliott Smith. Initially these tasks were performed manually but Herget convinced Yowell and Smith to procure an electric desk calculator which increased the speed and accuracy of the work.6 While at the Observatory he became interested in astronomy. He read the available Astronomical Journals and, in particular, developed an interest in the computation of orbits.7 Herget received his M.A. degree, majoring in mathematics, in 1933. By then he considered himself to be an astronomy student. He became interested in the work of Leslie J. Comrie, who used punch card technology for work in astronomy at the

 Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 60–61.  Herget, interview by DeVorkin. 6  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 61; Charles Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory Since 1870 (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1966), 94–95. [unpublished, submitted toward fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts]. 7  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 62; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 115. 4 5

8.1  Paul Herget (Director, 1946–1978)

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Nautical Almanac Office of Great Britain. This technology would prove to be useful in a multitude of Herget’s later endeavors during his career. In 1935 he received his Ph.D. His doctoral thesis was “The Computation of Orbits.”8 In particular he studied the orbit of the minor planet Biarmia. It had been discovered in 1929 and was not observed again until 1934. Herget related, “I put the two ends together and computed the perturbations.”9 His thesis would contribute to classes he later taught on celestial mechanics. In fact, he would later publish a textbook with this title, derived from his lectures on orbit computations (Fig. 8.2). Herget then took leave to accept a post-doctoral Morrison Fellowship at the Lick Observatory in California. Before he left for California in 1935 he married Harriet Smith, the daughter of Elliott Smith, his supervisor. Smith would later become the Director of the Observatory in 1940. As a research associate at the University of California he learned about the methods of orbit computation of Armin Leuschner. When he completed his fellowship, there was the possibility that he might take a position at the Griffith Observatory as a lecturer. This was not seriously considered since it would not involve research. In any case, he and Harriet wanted to return to Cincinnati.10 With Herget’s return to Cincinnati, arrangements were made for him to receive an increase in salary to $1650/year. He was also to assume the responsibilities of a Fig. 8.2 Herget’s self-­published textbook. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

 Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 62; “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time,” 5. 9  Paul Herget, interview by Henry Tropp, June, 1973. 10  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 63–64; “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time,” 3. 8

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teaching instructor at the University. By this time there was not much to do with computations of observations made on the meridian circle, so he was left to his own devices on choosing projects. In 1936 he chose for his first project the computation of the orbit of the asteroid 132 Aethra, which had been discovered by James C. Watson. This was an item on a list left over from his work at Lick. These early endeavors of computation were done using hand-operated calculators.11 He was promoted to assistant professor in 1940.12

8.2 The Submarine Book During 1942–1946, because of World War II, Herget left the Observatory to work for the Nautical Almanac Office of the United States Naval Observatory under Dr. Wallace Eckert (1902–1971; Fig. 8.3) of the Naval Research Laboratory. Eckert was an expert in electric computations by use of the IBM punch card machine.13 When Eckert first arrived at the Office in 1939 all calculations were done manually. He acquired the equipment necessary so that future computations could be made on such punch card machines. Herget would later say of Eckert, “…I am more indebted to him than to any other single individual in my whole professional career.”14 Fig. 8.3  Dr. Wallace Eckert. (The New York Times, 25 August 1971)

 Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 63–64; “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time,” 8. 12  Herget, interview by DeVorkin. 13  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 116. 14  Paul Herget, “The Minor Planet Center at the Cincinnati Observatory,” Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 24 (1964): 178. 11

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Herget’s first task in 1942 was to convert parts of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac using this equipment.15 Herget would later make use of this experience to the benefit of Allied efforts during the war. In an interview with Dr. David DeVorkin, which was just one year before he retired, Herget described the need for creating a means to protect Allied convoys that crossed the Atlantic to Europe. At the time 30% of these were sunk by attacks of enemy German submarines. Then spent of fuel, these submarines would wait, meanwhile reporting sightings of any other Allied ships. The Navy requested that Eckert and Herget devise a method to locate these immobile submarines by means of their radio signals. A punch card system was used to gather the data collected from 108 direction-finding antennae that had been placed by the Navy. Plotting the intersection from two signals received from German submarines would enable their detection within a five mile radius.16 The Allied sonar-equipped destroyers could then move within this radius and eliminate the submarines with depth charges. Allied casualties on these convoys dropped to about 6%. For this endeavor, Herget worked in his spare time at night, over a period of several months, and he completed this ‘submarine book’ for the Navy in November of 1943.17 One hundred of these books were printed. Once the project was completed, Herget requested, and was ultimately granted, a copy of this book, though it was still considered classified.18 Ironically, the word “submarine” is not included in the book. On 28 June 1977 after giving a talk on the history of the Cincinnati Observatory, and on these war efforts in particular, he presented his copy to the Nautical Almanac Office.19 See Appendix 1 for sample pages of the Submarine Book, now declassified. In 1943 Herget returned briefly to the Cincinnati Observatory to participate in the Centennial celebration of John Quincy Adams laying the cornerstone on Mt. Adams. It was then that the announcement was made that, once his obligations toward the war effort were satisfied, he would return to Cincinnati to become the new Director of the Observatory.20 He was only 35 years old at the time.21

8.3 The Minor Planet Center At his return to the Observatory in 1946, one of his earliest tasks was the publication of the final observations of his father-in-law, Elliott Smith (Fig. 8.4).  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 66.  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Joseph Stern, Jr., “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky,” The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 39, no. 4 (Winter 1981): 246. 17  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 65–66. 18  Herget, interview by Henry Tropp. 19  P. Kenneth Seidelmann, “Memo for Record.” June 29, 1977. 20  Raymond Walters, “The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory,” Science 98, no. 2556 (December 24, 1943): 553. 21  “Dr. Paul Herget Elected to Academy Membership,” University of Cincinnati News Record, May 3, 1962. 15 16

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Fig. 8.4  Last observations by Elliott Smith, published by Paul Herget in 1946. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Also in 1946 Herget dismantled the meridian circle which had been so important to the scientific work of the Observatory since the time of Director Jermain Porter. This was a logical step due to the deterioration of both the instrument and the clarity of the Cincinnati sky.22 After World War II Herget was asked by H. Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, at the suggestion of Dirk Brouwer, the President of Commission 20

22

 Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 117.

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of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), to take over the Minor Planet Center (MPC). The original MPC, until it was destroyed during the second World War, had been overseen by the Rechen Institute in Berlin-Dahlem. Herget accepted and established the new MPC for the IAU in Cincinnati, making him, as Director, responsible for the publication of an ephemeris of minor planets observed around the world.23 Observers were responsible for the identification of new asteroids and the calculation of their orbits. For these purposes, the Center initiated the use of punch card technology. For their first task they recorded all the observations made since 1939, which was where the Rechen Institute had left off. Their own observations began with astronomical photography. Specifically, they used a blink microscope enabling isolation of a minor planet from the stars by the superposition of two photographic plates covering the same region of the sky. A single IBM punch card was prepared by hand for each observation. The next task was more difficult. Herget stated that discovering asteroids was easy, but determining their orbits was not, as one had to assure the following of a particular asteroid from one region of the sky to another at different times. He stated in an interview with Henry Tropp in 1973 that at that time there were more than 50,000 asteroids identified. At that time sufficient data had only been collected on a little over 1800 which would enable reduction of future positions in their orbits. The MPC  went on to successfully determine and publish the orbits of many more.24 The establishment of the MPC in Cincinnati in 1947 was serendipitous to Herget and the Observatory, as a new field of specialization was made available to them at a time when astronomy seeing in Cincinnati precluded good observational research. University President Raymond Walters went to New York to meet with Dr. Wallace Eckert, and Thomas Watson, Sr., of IBM, to request a grant for this project. He received $30,000 and the Observatory was able to obtain and install a keypunch machine, tabulator, card sorter and multiplier. This enabled Herget to initiate application of the punch card system to his computations of minor planet orbits. In 1948 he recruited an assistant, Dr. Eugene Rabe (Fig. 8.5), who had supervised the previous minor planet circulars at the Rechen Institute and, in 1949, Dr. Peter Musen, from the Belgrade Research Association.25 Another grant was received in 1950 from the Office of Naval Research allowing for the continued use of IBM equipment at the Observatory for another year.26 To accomplish this work Herget entered into a cooperative arrangement with Dr. Frank K. Edmondson of the Kirkwood Observatory of Indiana University (IU) in Bloomington, Indiana. The International Astronomical Union had asked for  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Paul Herget, “Keeping Track of the Minor Planets,” ICSU Review 3 (1961): 125–129; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 64; “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time,” 8; P. Kenneth Seidelmann, “Paul Herget,” Physics Today 35 (January 1982): 86–87; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 117–118. 24  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Herget, interview by Tropp; Herget, “Keeping Track of the Minor Planets,” 125–129; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 64–65. 25  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 120. 26  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 122. 23

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Fig. 8.5  Dr. Eugene Rabe (on left) with Dr. Paul Herget. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

assistance from astronomers around the world in recovering orbit information on asteroids that was lost during World War II. Edmondson and a fellow researcher, returning post-doctoral student James Cuffey, responded to this request. Their early attempts were done at the Goethe Link Observatory, the private observatory of the surgeon and amateur astronomer Dr. Goethe Link, near Brooklyn, Indiana, which had been donated to IU in 1949. Initially they worked with the 36-inch telescope located there, but found it’s field of view was too small. Cuffey convinced the University of Cincinnati to loan its inactive 10-inch Cooke lens to Goethe Link indefinitely. The Cincinnati Observatory provided a 10-inch Cooke triplet astrographic camera. Edmondson built a blink machine and acquired the necessary measuring instrument. At the Goethe Link Observatory they successfully discovered 119 asteroids and provided accurate data to the MPC. The students of IU benefited from the learning experiences of participating in true research. The Indiana location was close enough to Cincinnati that carloads of students could be transported to see what was being done with their data.27 As Director, Herget was responsible for collecting observations of asteroids, calculating their positions and orbits, and publishing results, initially in the Minor

 Thomas Gehrels, “The Indiana Asteroid Program,” Astronomical Journal 63 (February 1958): 50; Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Ken Kingery, “Betting on a Sure Thing,” Indiana Alumni Magazine (September/October 2008): 46–47; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 64–65; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 119. 27

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Planet Circular, and later in scientific journals such as the American Ephemeris and the Astronomical Journal.28

8.4 Working with Local Companies In 1951 the Observatory began to find that it was short on adequate computer technology to accomplish its goals. Herget used personal contacts at General Electric, the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company and Procter and Gamble to obtain access to their more powerful computers. Typically, he would use these companies’ computers after their normal business hours, and work on his own projects into late in the evening. He would arrive at a site a little before their normal closing time, possibly at about 4:30 p.m. He would turn off the lights and lock up as he left when done with his evening’s work.29 There were numerous examples of Herget’s trading his expertise for such courtesies. He shared some specifics with interviewer Dr. David Devorkin. Herget shared one incident involving a researcher of the Kettering Laboratories at the University of Cincinnati. This gentleman had just completed a large cancer experiment involving rats. His experiment involved 27 variables which he wanted to correlate in all possible ways. He was plotting each variable against all the others and was finding the procedure daunting. Herget put all the data to punch cards, 3000 or 4000 as he remembered. With these he would be able to make plots on a tabulator. He then went to the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company, told them he had a request that would benefit cancer research, and got permission to use their tabulator for this project on a Saturday morning. Herget remembered this as taking place around 1953 or 1954. In this case his efforts were not even for the benefit of the Observatory work, or even the science of astronomy, but it established a positive relationship with the company, which happily participated in this humanitarian effort.30 Later in 1956 the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company got an IBM 560 to which Herget garnered approval for use. At the time they just used it for customer billing. Herget in turn gave lectures to the engineers enabling the company to make better use of this technology. In particular he cited that one engineer could then compute the system’s gas networks around the town.31 One enduring example of a payback contribution by Herget was his design for the shape of the Pringle potato “crisp/chip” in 1965. In line with his use of geometry in the computation of planetary orbits, he proposed the hyperbolic paraboloid shape (Fig. 8.6) for Procter and Gamble. Solids constructed with this rigid form were relatively stackable and sturdy. Rumors of his participation in this endeavor were

 Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 121.  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 67. 30  Herget, interview by DeVorkin. 31  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 67. 28 29

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Fig. 8.6  Hyperbolic Paraboloid. (Daniel Cottam, University of Kentucky)

confirmed by Dr. David DeVorkin. This fact came out in an informal conversation with Paul Herget, outside of the taped interviews.32 The equation of the hyperbolic paraboloid is: z = Ay2 − Bx2. In 1955 the increased workload at Cincinnati necessitated the need for further grants. Initially these were received from the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. After 1957 additional funds were received from the Naval Research Laboratory and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These funds were used to rent time on the IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC) in Washington until 1958. This electronic computing machine, the most powerful calculator of the time, had been developed by Herget’s previous mentor at the National Almanac Office, Wallace Eckert.33 Herget so appreciated the instrument’s value that he would later recognize it by naming an asteroid for it, 1625 “The NORC.”34 Besides his partner work with Indiana University, Herget collaborated with other significant astronomical institutions in their minor planet research. He served as advisor to the Gerard Kuiper survey at the MacDonald Observatory on minor

 “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time,” 9; David DeVorkin, email message to authors, January 2020.  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 68; Herget, interview by Tropp; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 121–124. 34  Brian Marsden, “History of the Minor Planet Center (MPC)” [IAU Information Bulletin], (June 2009): 6. 32 33

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planets as faint as sixteenth magnitude. He also advised at the Palomar-Leiden survey that obtained data on minor planets as faint as twentieth magnitude.35 From 1947 to 1978, data for approximately 4390 minor planets were published in the Minor Planet Circulars.36 These weekly circulars, generally batched two to three times a year, were single sheets of data collected from around the world and distributed for free upon request.37 Herget also applied his punch card system to studies on astronomical entities other than minor planets. He used it to improve data in the Astrographic Catalogue of the Bordeaux Zone, which was accumulated in 1890 at the Bordeaux Observatory.38 He also worked on an ephemeris of the outer satellites of Jupiter. This endeavor was unique as these observations were made outside of the orbit’s trajectory.39

8.5 The Space Program As a respected computer expert Herget became involved in numerous government projects. In 1944 and 1945, he consulted for the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In 1951, an early year in the Cold War, he was approached to consult for the Project Atlas Intercontinental Missile Project. He was specifically to work on a guidance system for the missile, enabling it to hit Moscow from Kansas. He worked on this project for one summer in 1953 for Convair Aircraft in San Diego.40 In 1955 President Eisenhower announced an American Space Program.41 The Russians launched their Sputnik on 4 October 1957. In 1957, with Dr. Musen, Herget consulted with the Naval Research Laboratory on a computer program for the Vanguard Project to launch an artificial satellite into an Earth orbit. Herget was responsible for making all the orbital computations.42 This same year he chaired the nine-member astronomy panel for the National Science Foundation which met to advise on astronomy research proposals worthy of support.43

 Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 71.  Bracher, “Herget, Paul,” 487; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 64–65. 37  Glen Becker, “Paul Herget, Guardian of the Asteroids”, unpublished essay for Swinburne University Online, 2014; Marsden, “History of the Minor Planet Center,” 7. 38  Paul Herget, “Revised Plate Constants for the Bordeaux Astrographic Zone,” Astronomical Journal 72 (June 1967): 575–581; Paul Herget, No. 24 – Plate Constants for the Bordeaux Zone of the Astrographic Catalogue (Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1973), 1–42. 39  Paul Herget, “Outer Satellites of Jupiter,” Astronomical Journal, 73 (October 1968): 737–742. 40  Herget, interview by DeVorkin. 41  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 67–68; “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time,” 8. 42  Constance Green and Milton Lomask, Vanguard: A History (Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1970), 159–161; Stern, “Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ in the Sky,” 247. 43  University of Cincinnati News Record, May 3, 1962. 35 36

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In 1958 Herget, along with Observatory staff members Rabe and Musen, attended a National Science Foundation meeting at Columbia University in New York. This meeting was to address the future of education in astronomy, in particular that relevant to space sciences. On his return Herget endeavored to establish a graduate program in dynamical astronomy, utilizing the current astronomy staff along with the computer technology of the NSF.44 The Dean of the Graduate School, Hoke Greene, said they should incorporate this program into a formal Institute of Space Studies which would include the College of Engineering. Greene anticipated that this would lead to increased government contracts. The Navy provided a grant of $54,000 commissioning the Institute to work on satellite problems. This was followed by a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the amount of $178,000 for research in celestial mechanics. The program included Herget’s methods of orbit computation by means of electrical calculators, and the celestial mechanics expertise of Rabe and Musen. The engineering aspect was provided in the person of Dr. Fred O’Flaherty. There were also contributions by visiting research scientists. The program lasted only four years, ending with the death of Dr. O’Flaherty and the resignation of Dr. Musen.45 A source of great pride to Herget was his participation in America’s Project Mercury. In 1959 he helped IBM write their successful proposal for the Mercury Computer Program Project. He subsequently set up the computer program to calculate the orbits for the launches.46 He would share his pride in anecdotes at speaking engagements. At a lecture he delivered to the American Astronomical Society on 18 June 1980 at the University of Maryland he shared the following: One final anecdote: on 1962 May 24, I was driving from Cincinnati to Ann Arbor during the time that Scott Carpenter was in flight on his Mercury mission; and I listened to the radio news broadcasts. On this flight Carpenter used up more of his little gas jet thrusters than had been expected, so that when it came time to fire the retro-rockets he could not attain the intended upward angle of attack for the attitude of his capsule. Thus he over-shot the recovery area by about 250 miles. The radio announcer on the recovery ship declared in grim and somber tones that Carpenter was ‘lost.’ I could not help but think to myself, “The computer knows exactly where Carpenter is. It is the radio announcer who is more ‘lost’ than is the Astronaut.”

 Cincinnati Enquirer, November 12, 1959; University of Cincinnati News Record, May 3, 1962.  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 69–70; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 127–128. 46  Bracher, “Herget, Paul,” 488; Herget interview by DeVorkin; Paul Herget, “The Second Dirk Brouwer Memorial Prize Lecture presented before the AAS on 1980,” June 18, 1980 at the University of Maryland; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 68; “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time and Ours,” 8; Seidelmann, “Paul Herget,” 87. 44 45

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8.6 Also During Paul Herget’s Years at the Cincinnati Observatory Herget was proud of the community of Cincinnati and proud of the history and contributions of its Observatory to society. On 28 October 1962 Herget gave the dedicatory address at a new exhibit at the Observatory honoring the Civil War success of General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel.47 Mitchel’s descendants donated the general’s Civil War sword (Fig. 8.7) and the Union flag which flew over Huntsville, after its capture. These items are still on display at the Observatory. Herget applied his computer expertise to improvements at the University of Cincinnati itself. He promoted the use of computers for education and research there.48 He improved administrative procedures with the introduction of the technology for record-keeping.49 He made a significant mark at the University of Cincinnati’s program in computer studies with the development of their facilities and its computer laboratory through the early 1970s.50 Herget’s reputation in science contributed to the prestige of the University. In 1952 he had been appointed to the American Astronomical Society Council. In 1954 he was on the National Science Foundation Panel on Astronomy and in 1957 he served on the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Panel for Scientific Computation. In 1959 the NSF’s Second World Astrometric Conference was Fig. 8.7 Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel’s Civil War sword. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

 University of Cincinnati News Record, November 1,1962.  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 70. 49  Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 147. 50  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 67. 47 48

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sponsored by the University and was attended by 24 astronomers from around the world. Papers presented were published in the 1960 edition of the Astronomical Journal.51 In 1962 he was elected to the National Academy of Science.52 In 1962 the Cincinnati Observatory was designated to hold the 300,000 observation cards for stars of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.53 Herget spent most of his time as Director with computer applications, but the Observatory, as always, responded to the public’s astronomical interests. ‘Seeing’ in Cincinnati was poor but non-problematic, as the necessary observations for the MPC were conducted in Indiana, at least until the program there was ended in 1967, due to the increased light pollution from Indianapolis. The Cincinnati Observatory telescopes were still used for visitors’ nights, which were held ten times a month. Post-war membership of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, on the west side of Cincinnati, drew visitors from a more interested and educated populace. Citizens had more leisure time. Increased car ownership enabled easier transportation options to the remote Observatory.54 Herget would share his enthusiasm for astronomy in multiple venues, even outside of Cincinnati (Fig.  8.8). Comments regarding this photo were provided by Marilyn Herget, daughter of Paul.

Fig. 8.8 Paul Herget educating fifth-graders in Arlington, Virginia. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)  K.  Aa. Strand and O.  G. Franz (eds.), “The Second Astrometric Conference,” Astronomical Journal 65 (May 1960): 167–168; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 128. 52  Bracher, “Herget, Paul,” 488. 53  Herget, interview by DeVorkin; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 129. 54  Kingery, “Betting on a Sure Thing,” 47; Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 68; Woodward, The History of the Cincinnati Observatory, 133. 51

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Dr. Paul Herget, Director of the Cincinnati Observatory, and one of the world’s leading astronomers, describes Explorer I satellite to fifth grade pupils of the Congressional School, Arlington, VA. Pupils were attending a special preview of the ‘Threshold of Space’ exhibit at the IBM Space Computing Center, 615 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington D.C. Dr. Herget is also a special consultant to the IBM Space Center for making orbital computations of U.S. and Russian satellites. (Marilyn Herget correspondence to second author)

In 1965 Herget’s wife Harriet was diagnosed with cancer. Again, using an IBM card system, Herget with doctors at the University Holmes Health Hospital created and maintained a Cancer Control Neoplastic Disease Registry. He personally donated a large sum of money toward the Cobalt Therapy Unit there, and solicited large donations from others. Harriet ultimately succumbed to her disease on 12 March 1972.55 In late 1972 Herget married Anne Lorbach, who had been secretary of the Cincinnati Observatory.56

8.7 Paul Herget Leaves the Cincinnati Observatory The financial situation at the University of Cincinnati again began to change in 1977. It was losing the support of local companies, who were beginning to recruit their engineers nationwide. Over Herget’s objections the University cut their dependence on the city and joined the state system. That same year the International Astronomical Union moved the MPC to the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the Directorship of Brian Marsden (1937–2010). This was a big disappointment to Herget. The new MPC inherited the Observatory’s nine-track magnetic tape with 200,000 minor-planet observations and a set of punch cards to go with them.57 The University merged the Observatory into a new Department of Physics and Astronomy and its future was unclear. Herget retired in the year 1978. The Observatory closed in June of that year.58 After his retirement, Herget continued work in classical astronomy. He published observations on the orbits of Jupiter’s moons. He proposed a project that would demonstrate the usefulness of astrographic catalogs.59 He continued his support of the Tumor Registry. Several weeks before his death, he worked on converting his original system to that of a newer format. He was also instrumental in finding a qualified person to take over the responsibility of maintaining it.60 Paul Herget died in his sleep in Cincinnati on 2 August 1981, survived by his widow Anne and his daughter Marilyn, a nurse, of Cleveland, Ohio.61

 Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 67, 75.  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 75. 57  Brian Marsden, “The Asteroid Collectors,” Astronomy 35 (July 2007): 40–43; Marsden, “History of the Minor Planet Center,” 6–8. 58  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 74–75. 59  P. Kenneth Seidelmann, “Paul Herget,” 87. 60  Paul Herget to Marilyn Herget, July 1, 1981. 61   Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 75 55 56

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8.8 Conclusion During Herget’s years at the Cincinnati Observatory he received several local awards in recognition of his contributions. In 1957 he was named the Engineer of the Year by the Cincinnati Technical and Scientific Council. In 1965 he received the William Howard Taft Medal from the Alumni Association as well as the Distinguished Professor of the University of Cincinnati. In 1973 he received the Ohio Governor’s Award. In 1974 he received the George Rieveschl Award for Scientific Research. When he retired in 1978 the University awarded him its Sc.D.62 He also received recognition from others in his profession. In 1962 he became only the sixth Ohioan to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.63 In 1965 he received the Academy’s James Craig Watson Gold Medal. In 1980 he received the Dirk Brouwer Award of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society.64 On 30 November 1979, the year after his retirement, Herget was honored at the Symposium on Star Catalogues, Positional Astronomy and Celestial Mechanics in Washington D.C. at the United States Naval Observatory. He was recognized by invitees from around the world. Congratulations were extended to him, in person or by letter, from England, Russia, Germany, France, Australia and the Netherlands. He also received a congratulatory communication from Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine. Sabin had also been associated with the University of Cincinnati.65 Copies of the program and correspondence are collected in a scrapbook stored in the archives of the Cincinnati Observatory Center. During his years as Director of the Cincinnati Observatory, Paul Herget assured that the institution was more than a popularization of astronomy. It became one of respected scientific research. However, he never forgot the Observatory’s service to the public. He calculated, “At one point I figured out that more people have looked through our telescopes than any other telescopes in the world.”66 He was also very proud of his ties to the city of Cincinnati. Biographer Seidelmann states, “Herget liked to tell that when he was being considered for the National Academy of Sciences, one of the arguments made in his favor was that he was able to do it all in Cincinnati.”67 In 1970 minor planet 1751 Herget was named after him. Other named asteroids associated with him include: 1373 Cincinnati (for the staff of the Cincinnati Observatory) 1486 Marilyn (for Herget’s daughter) 1625 The NORC (for the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator at Dahlgren, Virginia)  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 73.  University of Cincinnati News Record, May 3, 1962. 64  Osterbrock and Seidelmann, “Paul Herget (1908–1981),” 72–73. 65  P.  Kenneth Seidelmann, V.  G. Szebehely, and R.  L. Duncombe, “Preface to Symposium Proceedings,” Celestial Mechanics 22, no. 1 (July 1980): 3. 66  “Paul Herget: A Man of His Time and Ours,” 15. 67  Seidelmann, “Paul Herget: Tracker of the Stars,” 531. 62 63

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1744 Harriet (for Herget’s first wife) 1755 Lorbach (for Herget’s second wife)68 On 24 October 2004, the Cincinnati Observatory Center celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 16-inch Clark telescope (Fig.  8.9) and the dedication of the 1873 Observatory building, naming it the Herget Building (Fig. 8.10). Fig. 8.9  Invitation to the Dedication of the Herget Building and the 100th Anniversary of the 16-inch Alvan Clark Telescope (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Fig. 8.10  Herget Building. (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

 Brian Marsden, “History of the Minor Planet Center (MPC),” 6; (Russell E. McMahon, email message to second author, February 2, 2007); Lutz D.  Schmadel. Catalogue of Minor Planet Names and Discovery Circumstances. (Berlin: Springer, 2012), 138. 68

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Appendix The Submarine Book (The following five images of Paul Herget’s Final Coordinates, Tracking Charts [i.e., Submarine Book, declassified], 1943, are courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory Library. (VK 563.F55 1943 Spec. Coll.) (Figs.  8.A.1, 8.A.2, 8.A.3, 8.A.4, and 8.A.5)  Dr. Herget wrote his initials on the front cover.  Fig. 8.A.1 Submarine Book, Title Page, declassified

Appendix

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Fig. 8.A.2  Submarine Book, Page i, Naval Department letter from Chief of Naval Operations to Distribution List, declassified

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Fig. 8.A.3  Submarine Book, Page ii, List of Stations, declassified

Appendix

Fig. 8.A.4  Submarine Book, Page 1, Adelaide River (AA) Station, declassified

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Fig. 8.A.5  Submarine Book, Page 2, continuation of Adelaide River (AA) Station, declassified

References

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References Becker, Glen. 2014. Paul Herget, Guardian of the Asteroids. Unpublished essay for Swinburne University Online. Bracher, Katherine. 2007. Paul Herget. In The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, ed. Thomas Hockey et al., 487–488. New York: Springer. Gehrels, Thomas. 1958, February. The Indiana Asteroid Program. Astronomical Journal 63: 50. Green, Constance, and Milton Lomask. 1970. Vanguard: A History. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Herget, Paul. 1949. The Computation of Orbits. Cincinnati: Self-Published. ———. 1961. Keeping Track of the Minor Planets. ISCU Review 3: 125–129. ———. 1964. The Minor Planet Center at the Cincinnati Observatory. Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 24 (1964): 175–187. ———. 1967. Revised Plate Constants for the Bordeaux Astrographic Zone. Astronomical Journal 72: 575–581. ———. 1968. Outer Satellites of Jupiter. Astronomical Journal 73: 737–742. ———. Interview by David DeVorkin, April 19/20, 1977, Niels Bohr Library & Archives. College Park: American Institute of Physics. ———. 1973a, June. Interview by Henry Tropp. ———. 1973b. No. 24 – Plate Constants for the Bordeaux Zone of the Astrographic Catalogue. Cincinnati: Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory. ———. 1980, June 18. The Second Dirk Brouwer Memorial Prize. Lecture presented before the AAS on 1980, at the University of Maryland. Kingery, Ken. 2008, September/October. Betting on a Sure Thing. Indiana Alumni Magazine, 46–47. Marsden, Brian. 2007, June. The Asteroid Collectors. Astronomy 35: 40–43. ———. 2009, June. History of the Minor Planet Center (MPC). IAU Information Bulletin. Osterbrock, Donald, and P. Kenneth Seidelmann. 1987. Paul Herget (1908–1981) A Biographical Memoir, 58–86. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences. Paul Herget: A Man of His Time and Ours. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Observatory Center. 2019. Schmadel, Lutz D. 2012. Catalogue of Minor Planet Names and Discovery Circumstances. Berlin: Springer. Seidelmann, P. Kenneth. 1977, June 29. Memo for Record. ———. 1981, December. Paul Herget: Tracker of the Stars. Sky and Telescope, 531. ———. 1982. Paul Herget. Physics Today 35: 86–87. Seidelmann, P.  Kenneth, V.G.  Szebehely, and R.L.  Duncombe. 1980. Preface to Symposium Proceedings. Celestial Mechanics 22: 3. Stern, Joseph, Jr. 1981. Cincinnati’s ‘Lighthouse’ of the Sky. The Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 39: 230–249. Strand, K.Aa., and O.G.  Franz, eds. 1960. The Second Astrometric Conference. Astronomical Journal 65: 167–168. Walters, Raymond. 1943. The Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory. Science 98: 551–553. Woodward, Charles. 1966. The History of the Cincinnati Observatory Since 1870. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. [unpublished, submitted toward fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts].

Chapter 9

Saving the Observatory

9.1 Nathan Krumm (Director, 1981–1985) After Paul Herget’s retirement in 1978, several University of Cincinnati academic departments petitioned to oversee the Observatory, and eventually, the Physics Department was assigned its custody. In 1981 they hired radio astronomer Dr. Nathan Krumm. Besides academic duties he became the new Director of the Observatory. He taught introductory astronomy classes for 100–400 students and provided optional lab sessions for 15–20 of these, allowing them use of the four small telescopes on top of the Physics building.1 Before Krumm’s arrival to the Observatory, the Physics Department assigned their technical assistant, Paul Nohr, to determine what might be done with the historical telescopes to make them fully operational. During Krumm’s tenure Nohr, with the help of several Physics Department employees and students and volunteer Dale Streid, a retired General Electric Aircraft Engines engineering manager, disassembled, cleaned and, in some cases fabricated parts, to restore the beautiful telescopes to operational condition.2 Once restored, Krumm felt obliged to put these telescopes to good use. He offered some optional observing sessions to his students, those willing to make the trip of several miles from the University campus to the Observatory. It was also during the time of his leadership that the public programs of ‘Astronomy Thursdays’ were introduced. These were evening sessions that began with lectures and 35 mm slide presentations by either Krumm or Nohr. The audience of about 30 would then

 Nathan Krumm, “Recollections of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1981–1985,” Archives of the Cincinnati Observatory Center, unpublished. 2  Nathan Krumm, “Recollections of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1981–1985.” 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_9

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be split into two groups to observe through the two historic telescopes. Halfway through the observation sessions, the groups would switch to the alternate telescope.3 Krumm described one session exemplary of the excitement and inspiration that was generated in a particular public group: One evening viewing session was booked by a troop of Boy Scouts, many of whom were working on their ham radio merit badges. They had determined that on that particular ­evening at a particular time, the Space Shuttle would be flying directly overhead. In those days, astronauts on the Space Shuttle often monitored ham radio channels, so the boys set up their equipment on our lawn. Right on schedule, the bright point of light that was the Space Shuttle appeared in the southwest and flew directly over our heads, with the boys repeatedly attempting to make contact. When we got an acknowledgement from the Space Shuttle, cheers went up. Several merit badges were earned that night, in the most spectacular fashion ever!4

In 1985 Krumm resigned, and in 1986 Dr. Michael Sitko became the new Director of the Observatory.5

9.2 Paul Nohr Prior to Sitko’s arrival, during and after the Directorship of Nathan Krumm, and important to the continuity of the Cincinnati Observatory, was the presence of Paul Nohr (Fig. 9.1). Paul was born on 20 September 1939 in Cincinnati. His father, Paul Nohr, Sr. was a teacher and baseball coach at Western Hills High School, from which young Paul graduated in 1958. Paul Sr., actually coached the future baseball great Pete Rose.6 Paul’s interest in astronomy developed when he was a youngster. While in the fourth grade he was already reading books on the subject. While in the eighth grade he joined the Cincinnati Astronomical Society (CAS), where he learned to grind mirrors and to build his own telescope.7 He would later serve as the Society’s President for 3 years.8 Nohr later shared with Cincinnati Observatory Center members some events that generated his interest in astronomy at such a young age. In 1946 he observed a significant meteor storm. During elementary school he witnessed a lunar eclipse. Then there was the time a CAS member showed him Jupiter through a Clark telescope …9  Nathan Krumm, “Recollections of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1981–1985.”  Nathan Krumm, “Recollections of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1981–1985.” 5  Cincinnati Observatory Center Personnel Records. 6  John Ventre, “Remembering Paul,” (lecture presented at the Paul Nohr Memorial Sundial Groundbreaking Ceremony), June 21, 2008. 7  Western Breeze, March 20, 1958. 8  John Ventre, “Remembering Paul.” 9  John Ventre, “Remembering Paul.” 3 4

9.2  Paul Nohr

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Fig. 9.1  Paul Nohr. (Pam Nohr)

After graduating from Western Hills, Nohr studied astronomy at Ohio State University. From 1962 to 1966 he was in the United States Air Force, where he was an electronics technician. On his return to Cincinnati, he studied physics at the University of Cincinnati. At UC he was a lecture demonstrator for the Physics Department.10 He joined the staff of the Cincinnati Observatory in 1979, before Krumm’s tenure. His first assignment was to restore the neglected telescopes.11 Nohr loved teaching astronomy. He loved to share his excitement for the subject with children as well adults. One adult, Friends of the Observatory (FOTO) member Chuck Strubbe, shared his remembrances of Nohr. Strubbe was at a point in his life when he was looking for something new and fulfilling to do with his personal time. He came across a catalog listing University of Cincinnati Communiversity classes. One of these was called “Heaven in Your Hands” taught by Basil Rowe and Paul Nohr. Strubbe recalled Nohr as being “… witty, extremely knowledgeable and very down to earth. He was willing to answer any question with undying patience and understanding.”12 When Nohr passed away on 27 June 2006 the Observatory suffered a great loss. A groundbreaking ceremony was conducted on 21 June 2008 for the dedication of the Paul Nohr Memorial Planispheric Sundial (Fig. 9.2).13

 Cincinnati Observatory Center Personnel Records.  Graydon DeCamp, “Restoring the Great Cincinnati Telescope,” Enquirer Magazine (March 22, 1981): 12–14, 16, 18, 22 & 24. 12  Chuck Strubbe, “Paul Nohr, Reflections from a Member of the Friends of the Observatory (FOTO),” Archives of the Cincinnati Observatory Center, unpublished. 13  John Ventre, “Remembering Paul.” 10 11

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Fig. 9.2  Paul Nohr Memorial Planispheric Sundial (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

Nohr’s name was successfully submitted by FOTO member Fred Bowman to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to have an asteroid named for him.14 As stated in the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names: 197707 Paulnohr  – As observatory coordinator, Paul Nohr (1939–2006) restored the Cincinnati Observatory’s two great telescopes: the 1845 Merz and Mahler and the 1904 Alvan Clark. His role in the restoration led to the observatory’s becoming a National Historic Landmark. The name was suggested by F. Bowman.15

9.3 Citizens to the Rescue With the retirement of Paul Herget and the relocation of the Minor Planet Center, there were rumors in the Observatory’s neighborhood that the University’s long-­ range plan was to close or potentially demolish the Observatory. Principally, it was  John Ventre, email message to Craig Niemi, June 10, 2009.  Lutz D.  Schmadel, Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, 6th ed., vol. 2 (Heidelberg: Springer, 2012), 1289. 14 15

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the neighbors who lived on Observatory Place, the small road that leads to the Observatory, that responded by finding the means to have the structure, its grounds, and the surrounding areas deemed a National Historic District. It was so designated on 20 September 1978.16 While such a designation does not prevent demolition, it certainly would have inhibited such an action. By the early 1990s, the rumors became more intense. Now there was the additional possibility of the bulldozing of the Observatory to make room for the erection of high-rise condominiums.17 Consequently, neighbors that had successfully worked towards the National Historic District designation now worked toward a second designation from the city of Cincinnati. In particular, Patty Moeggenberg sent out a letter to her neighbors on 22 May 1991, headed “The Observatory Preservation Association (OPA) regarding the pros and cons of a local designation. Such a designation would necessitate a “Certificate of Appropriateness” be added as a requirement to the usual building permit. This might be an advantage as it would protect the character of the neighborhood on a local level besides providing the federal tax credits on the national level. Paul Nohr followed up with a letter to neighbors, inviting them to a meeting on 23 June, where questions might be answered about the future of the University of Cincinnati Observatory. The OPA was successful in obtaining the second (Historic District) designation on 28 April 1993.18

9.4 Michael Sitko (Director, 1986–1998) Michael Sitko became the new Director of the Cincinnati Observatory after the departure of Nathan Krumm in 1986. He had received his Ph.D. in Classical Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1980. He pursued post-­ doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota for 4 years and another 2 years at Kitt Peak in Arizona. It was then that he was hired by Dr. Richard Newrock, head of the Physics Department. As Director, in 1989, Sitko coordinated the University of Cincinnati’s efforts in having its Observatory included in the United States Department of Interior’s list of observatories to be designated as National Historic Landmarks. He was also involved in fundraising for the Observatory by means of grants from NASA and other available sources. Dr. Sitko’s directorship of the Observatory ended on 31 December 1998 when the newly formed Cincinnati Observatory Center assumed control. He continued as an educator and researcher at the University of Cincinnati until 2019. He became

 Owen Lorriek, Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places (St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999), 640–641.  John Ventre, “Remembering Paul.” 18  “Observatory Historic District  – Designation Report” (Cincinnati: Cincinnati City Planning Department, Historic Conservation Office, March 1993). 16 17

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involved with the Space Science Institute and became an official member in 2005 (Interview with second author on 2 June 2021).

9.5 Restoration of the Cincinnati Observatory Pre Cincinnati Observatory Center - The 1990s were turbulent years relating to the continuation of the Observatory. The historic buildings were in a deplorable state and the Physics Department did not have adequate funds to support the public education program. Director Michael Sitko had the unenviable task of taking on these issues while continuing the existing programs. On 18 February 1991 he wrote to Thomas A. Cruse, the Associate Vice Provost for Space Planning, regarding projects that needed immediate response. He reminded Cruse that the Observatory was a source of education and information to the community in the form of tours, courses and programs for schools and college classes. To continue, the Observatory structure was in desperate need of repair and the facilities needed updated equipment. The Robert Bicknaver Architects firm was commissioned to evaluate the condition of the Observatory buildings and to recommend short and long-term solutions for the necessary renovation. The short-term solutions were recommended to be completed as soon as possible to halt any further deterioration. The long-term solutions were to encompass the entire renovation of both buildings to restore the historical, astronomical, and architectural aspects of each building. They also worked with the Physics Department and Observatory staff on a proposed Astronomy Science Center. This would be an entirely new structure on the grounds of the Observatory. It would consist of 17,000 square feet including classrooms, display rooms, a planetarium, an auditorium and workshops. A roof level would give access to an observatory with a 24-inch reflecting telescope and several smaller telescopes. The estimated cost for the completed project was $5,482,250.19 The University rejected this latter proposal.20 No action was taken on renovations or upgrades at this time. In June of 1991, the Physics Department did not have a budget to support the Observatory’s public educational program. Director Michael Sitko, Paul Nohr and Basil Rowe, a part-time employee of the Physics Department and Observatory, formed the Friends of the Observatory (FOTO) to obtain funds and volunteers to support these programs. Specifically, they wanted to purchase telescope eyepieces, filters, an LCD projector, and upgrade their 35 mm astronomical slide collection. FOTO’s annual dues were $25 for an individual, $40 for a family, and membership included their newsletter, the “Cincinnati Observatory Newsletter.” FOTO also

 Robert Bicknaver Associates, “Building Restoration at the Cincinnati Observatory for the University of Cincinnati, April 1991.” 20  John Ventre, “Remembering Paul.” 19

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provided a cadre of volunteers to assist with the public viewing sessions.21 Prior to FOTO’s formation, from the early 1980s, Paul Nohr had maintained the public programs with the assistance of four volunteers: Fred Bowman, Basil Rowe, Carol Wissel and the second author.22 By the mid-1990s the closing of the Observatory seemed imminent. Other than the two principal telescopes that were restored by Paul Nohr in the early 1980s, essentially nothing in or on the two deteriorating observatory buildings (122 and 91 years old) was repaired or restored. A local TV station aired an exposé on the deplorable physical condition of the buildings. This media exposure re-energized the neighbors, members of FOTO and the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, and a few interested citizens. They conducted a number of ‘Save the Observatory’ meetings.23 During these turbulent years, the interested parties, i.e., the ‘public,’ became as important to the Observatory’s existence as they were during the years of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. The Save the Observatory group was chaired by one of the FOTO members (the second author). Paul Nohr served as the motivator. Several meetings were conducted to determine how they might assume control of the Observatory and, if successful, what would be done with it. At one of the meetings a couple of University representatives proposed that a planetarium and a Challenger Center (i.e., a mini space camp) be incorporated into the proposed science building. It was anticipated that these expansion plans might draw as many as 40,000 visitors a year. The neighbors objected as they thought the addition of such a building would be excessive for their quiet neighborhood. They withdrew from the coalition and formed their own group to take control of the operations away from the University. The chair of the new group was neighbor Dr. Juan Santamarina, a University of Dayton professor who moved to Cincinnati in 1996. The neighbors group invited the chair of the first group, the second author, to join them as a representative of FOTO and the area’s amateur astronomers.24 Post Cincinnati Observatory Center - The newly formed neighbor’s group called themselves the Cincinnati Observatory Center (COC), and Tricia Bevan, a neighbor and COC Board member, initially proposed to save the Observatory by converting it to a museum of American astronomy, rather than an expanded educational facility. One of the members, attorney John Pinney, arranged for their Articles of Incorporation and Code of Regulations to be completed, and eventually assisted

 “Cincinnati Observatory Newsletter,”vol. 1, nos. 1 & 2, June 1991.  Recollection of the second author; Chris Curran, “Deal offers shining future to astronomy’s U.S. birthplace,” The University of Cincinnati Currents (April 9, 1999): 5. 23  Recollection of the second author; John Ventre, “Save the Observatory,” Sidereal Messenger (February 1998): 3–4. 24  Recollection of the second author; Dana DiFilippo, “Historic observatory in new hands,” Hometown/East (March 31, 1999); Angela Koenig, “Star Wars,” Cincinnati Magazine (October 1997): 39–41; Dan Monk, “Shooting Stars,” Cincinnati Business Courier (December 6, 1999):14–15; Mary Niehaus, “Historic jewels get another chance to sparkle,” University of Cincinnati Horizons (July 1998): 32–33. 21 22

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with the drafting of the lease with the University. Meanwhile it became obvious that the Observatory lacked sufficient space to be a museum of American astronomy. Hence, they opted to convert it to a more modest museum of the Cincinnati Observatory.25 The members of the University’s Board of Trustees had been shocked at the deplorable condition of the Observatory buildings as revealed by the TV exposé. They requested that the University President work to facilitate the transfer of the control of the Observatory to the new Cincinnati Observatory Center. To do this the President appointed Dale McGirr, Vice President of Finance, who turned out to be a miracle worker in accomplishing this difficult task. The University of Cincinnati hired the Roth Partnership, Inc., a Cincinnati architectural firm, to provide cost estimates for renovating the old Cincinnati Observatory.26 The COC Charter Board members included Robert H. Anning, Patricia Bevan, Dale L. McGirr, Dr. Juan C. Santamarina, Naomi Tucker Stoehr, Mark Townsend and the second author; all were Observatory neighbors except for McGirr and the second author. Their Articles of Incorporation were approved by Bob Taft, Secretary of State of Ohio, on 12 May 1998. Bob Taft was the great grandson of Alphonso Taft who was the President of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society on Mt. Adams in 1867 and 1871.27 Since none of the new Charter Board members had any experience in operating an astronomical observatory, they formulated an Advisory Board of 20 members to assist them. The Advisory Board members included an architectural historian (William Langsam), astronomers (David Levy, Dr. Ray McNeil and Dr. Michael Sitko), an attorney (John Pinney), a family member of a retired Director (Marilyn Herget), museum managers (De Vere Burt and David Duszynski), a nature center manager (William Hopple III)), observatory and planetarium directors (Tom Burns, Pam Bowers and Lew Spurlock), a politician (Tim Burke), a preservation society president (Beth Sullebarger), a representative of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society (Jonathan Jennings), a science museum educator (Bronwyn Bevan), university astronomy and science professors (Dr. Larry Cooper, Dr. Richard Davis and Dr. T.  Michael Flick), and a fund-raising consultant (Lyn Marsteller). The Advisory Board functioned as a pool of experts from which individuals might be consulted as expertise was required.28 It was obvious that the COC was starting from a zero financial base. Here is where the University of Cincinnati saved the day. The Board of Trustees formulated a plan to restore the two severely deteriorated observatory buildings and their approximately 12 surrounding acres. Jack Gore, an architect who specialized in  Recollection of the second author; Koenig, “Star Wars,” 39–41.  Recollection of the second author; Grace DeGregorio, “Collaborative effort underway to save historic Observatory,” Hyde Park Living (January 1998): 24–25; Monk, “Shooting Stars,” 14–15; Roth Partnership (Judi Cline-Kadetz, contact), “The University of Cincinnati has hired Roth Partnership, Inc.,” (press release of February 3, 1998). 27  Recollection of the second author; Mark Skertic, “New lease on landmark’s life,” The Cincinnati Enquirer Metro (April 19, 1998). 28  Recollection of the second author; Ventre, “Save the Observatory,” 3–4. 25 26

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historic restoration, joined the Board, and contributed significantly to the project. Bob Casey and Jim Neumeister, the Observatory’s Directors during this period, led the project, along with the Board members, the University’s Dale McGirr, architects, planners, facilities personnel and restoration team members. The building restoration study that had been performed by the Bicknaver firm in 1991 was updated, and it was estimated that the complete restoration of both buildings would cost about $2.5 million.29 The University agreed to take on the expenses of the waterproofing of the buildings, which was the highest cost of the restoration. They also funded the installation of the American Disabilities Act guidelines. They agreed to financially bridge the project for its first 10 years by paying Paul Nohr’s salary as the Observatory’s new astronomer, which would allow Nohr to retain his UC pension. They provided a stipend for the services of the University’s architect and landscape architect, plus utility and yard maintenance expenses.30 The COC also obtained $100,000 from the Ohio State capital budget and donations of $70,000 from local foundations.31 The 1873 Paul Herget Building, the main building, received a new copper roof. The ground surrounding the stone foundation was excavated and waterproof sealant was applied. The 30-foot diameter sheet-metal dome that covered the telescope had its lower row of corroded sheet-metal replaced. The large double-hung windows were removed, rotten wood replaced, paint stripped and then stained, and the glass re-paned. The wooden floors were re-finished. The wooden baseboards and molding were stripped and then stained. The round library room walls were restored to their original faux-ashlar finish. The electrical, plumbing and lighting systems were replaced. A rest room was installed. The interior and exterior surfaces of the building were repainted. The deteriorated stone entrance steps were replicated. The exterior stone and bricks were cleaned. An elevator was installed. Fire detection and security systems were installed.32 Following the restoration of the main building, the smaller 1904 Mitchel Building was restored. Three windows that were previously bricked up were re-installed. The wooden floors were refinished and the basement’s dirt floor was concreted. All rooms were painted. Two restrooms were relocated and restored. The electrical, plumbing, and lighting systems were replaced. Fire detection and security systems were installed. A bricked handicap access ramp was added to the side of the building and a new, side entrance door was installed.33 The restoration of the grounds included the installation of a new circular driveway like the original configuration of 1873. A new, brick walkway linked the two buildings. Many overgrown bushes and trees were removed and replaced. These

 Recollection of the second author; Koenig, “Star Wars,” 39–41.  Recollection of the second author; Monk, “Shooting Stars,” 14–15. 31  Dan Monk, “Shooting Stars.” 32  Recollection of the second author. 33  Recollection of the second author. 29 30

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ground projects were overseen by the University’s Landscape Architect, Len Thomas.34 In addition to the University’s support, funding was provided by nominal state and federal contributions, Observatory fund-raising efforts, and the generosity of local individuals and foundations.35 The COC and the University signed a 40-year lease, effective on 1 January 1999, and allowed the COC to extend the lease for an additional 40 years, at the rate of one dollar a year. At the same time the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding that established the on-going relationship with the University’s Physics Department, the use and maintenance of the telescopes, the use and care of the fine art and library collection, and general maintenance of the buildings.36 During the period when the control of the Observatory was being transferred from the Physics Department to the Cincinnati Observatory Center, Paul Nohr was transferred to the Physics Department on the main campus. Eventually he was returned to the Observatory where he served as the Observatory’s astronomer. He and the second author served as the Observatory’s first educators. The Observatory’s education policy was based on a planetarium’s education policy, i.e., entertain first and education will follow. As the education load increased Dean Regas was hired as the Observatory’s astronomy educator.37 In 2002 The Cincinnati Observatory Center obtained a National Endowment of the Humanities grant. The COC would use some of these funds to obtain expertise in the evaluation of their astronomy collection, i.e. how it might best be presented to the public, and how it might be preserved. Consultants included Steven Turner from the Smithsonian Institute; Dr. Patricia S. Whitesell from the Detroit Observatory; and Raymond Shubinski from the East Kentucky Science Center. Secondarily, some funds would be used to permit Observatory staff to visit institutions with historical exhibits of a similar nature. Visits were made to the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin; the Detroit Observatory in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These visits provided insights into unique situations regarding their various target audiences and the degree of community support. Successes of this NEH project are currently evident in the existence of the displayed Observatory collection as well as the creation of public programs. Significant contacts have also been made to ensure the maintenance of its valuable collection in the future.38

 Recollection of the second author.  Recollection of the second author; “MLCC February Meeting Hosted By, Focused On Astronomy,” Mt. Lookout Observer (March 1999) 36  Curran, “Deal offers shining future,” 5; “Lease Between University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Observatory Center, Lessee, Dated as of January 1, 1999.” 37  Recollection of the second author. 38   Bob Casey, Jim Neumeister and Patricia Bevan, Cincinnati Observatory Center, NEH Consultation Grant, Final Performance Report, November 22, 2002; Jim Neumeister, “Program Notes,” What’s Up! News from the ‘O’ (Fall 2003). 34 35

References

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9.6 Conclusion The Cincinnati Observatory Center now flourishes. Since the retirement of Michael Sitko in 1998, it has continued under the leadership of successive Directors (John Ventre, Anita Howard, Bob Casey, Jim Neumeister, Craig Niemi, and Anna Hehman) with programs in multiple aspects of astronomy, including those of science and history.

References Casey, Bob, Jim Neumeister, and Patricia Bevan. 2002, November 2. Cincinnati Observatory Center, NEH Consultation Grant, Final Performance Report. Curran, Chris. 1991, April 9. Deal offers shining future to astronomy’s U.S. birthplace. The University of Cincinnati’s Currents, 5. DeCamp, Graydon. 1981, March 22. Restoring the Great Cincinnati Telescope. Enquirer Magazine, 12–14, 16, 18, 22, 24. DeGregorio, Grace. 1998, January. Collaborative Effort Underway to Save Historic Observatory. Hyde Park Living, 24. Difilippo, Dana. 1991, March. Historic Observatory in New Hands. Hometown/East. Koenig, Angela. 1997, October. Star Wars. Cincinnati Magazine, 39–41. Krumm, Nathan. unpublished. Recollections of the Cincinnati Observatory, 1981–1985. Archives of the Cincinnati Observatory Center. Lease Between University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Observatory Center, Lessee, Dated as of January 1, 1999. Lorriek, Owen. 1999. Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places. St. Clair Shores: Somerset. MLCC February Meeting Hosted By, Focused On Astronomy. Mt. Lookout Observer (1999, March). Monk, Dan. 1999, December 3. Shooting Stars. Cincinnati Business Courier 16: 14–15. Niehaus, Mary. 1998, July. Historic jewels get another chance to sparkle. University of Cincinnati Horizons, 32–33. Neumeister, Jim. 2003, Fall. Program Notes. What’s Up! News from the ‘O’. Observatory Historic District  – Designation Report. 1993, March. Cincinnati: Cincinnati City Planning Department, Historic Conservation Office. Robert Bicknaver Associates. 1991, April. Building Restoration at the Cincinnati Observatory for the University of Cincinnati. Roth Partnership (Judi Cline-Kadetz, contact). The University of Cincinnati has hired Roth Partnership, Inc., (Press release of February 3, 1998). Schmadel, Lutz D. 2012. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Vol. 2. 6th ed, 1289. Heidelberg: Springer. Skertic, Mark. 1998, April 19. New lease on landmark’s life. The Cincinnati Enquirer Metro. Strubbe, Chuck. unpublished. Paul Nohr, Reflections from a Member of the Friends of the Observatory (FOTO). Archives of the Cincinnati Observatory Center. Ventre, John. 2008. Remembering Paul. Lecture presented at the Paul Nohr Memorial Sundial Groundbreaking Ceremony, June 21, 2008. ———. 1998, February. Save the Observatory. Sidereal Messenger 92: 3–4.

Chapter 10

Concluding Remarks

The Cincinnati Observatory, now the Cincinnati Observatory Center, has existed since its initiation in 1842 through multiple trials. In 1842 it was Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel who inspired the citizens of this young, western American city to build their own observatory. Naïve in their knowledge of astronomy, they raised the funds to send Mitchel to Europe to purchase the Merz and Mahler telescope and to gain the necessary knowledge to utilize it. Additional donations to build a structure and the land upon which to place it were necessary. Again the citizens stepped up to provide what was needed. Besides the initial financial issues, the Observatory would have to overcome other issues over the next 150 years. Over time the environment was less favorable for ‘seeing’ due to the increasing air and light pollution. Thus the Observatory had to be moved to a more favorable location. There were the distracting events of the Civil War and the two World Wars. There was the undependable financial support from the University and of the government, aggravated by the national financial crisis associated with the Depression. The community has responded to all trials and the Observatory has become a flourishing institution of education in the twenty-first century. The value of the Cincinnati Observatory was far-reaching and recognized by entities outside of the city. Mention has been made of the marks made by some of its leaders on the national level. Director Cleveland Abbe was instrumental in the creation of the United States Weather Bureau. Ormond Stone contributed to the creation of national time zones. When he left Cincinnati he moved to the Leander McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia, from which he retired after 30  years of teaching, research and publishing. His temporary replacement at the Cincinnati Observatory, Herbert Couper Wilson, eventually returned to his alma mater, Carleton College, where he remained for 40 years doing research, publishing and participating in public education. While Director at the Observatory, Paul Herget saved many American lives through the creation of his submarine book. On the international level he contributed to the science of astronomy at the request of

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0_10

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Fig. 10.1  George Willis Ritchey, with a mirror disk, when he was in Paris, 1927 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific)

the International Astronomical Union, when he took over the leadership of the Minor Planet Center. Not previously mentioned is Cincinnatian George Willis Ritchey (1864–1945), significant in the history of American astronomy (Fig. 10.1). He was never Director of the Cincinnati Observatory, but he did some of his early astronomical work there. He studied at the University of Cincinnati for several years and financial records at the Observatory noted a payment to him of $20.00 in 1886 and another payment of $200.00 in 1887 as ‘Assistant to the Astronomer.’ On 8 April 1886 he married Lillie May Gray. In need of financial support over the next few years, in Cincinnati, and later after their move to Chicago, he worked variously as a cabinet maker and a high school shop teacher. Meanwhile he saved money for research in personal astronomical laboratories. It was on his own that he worked toward the perfection of the optics of telescopes. His reputation in this work grew and he was ultimately hired by the Yerkes Observatory, north of Chicago, to be their Superintendent of instrumental construction. When George Willis and Lillie moved to California, he again took the title of Superintendent of instrumental construction, this time at the Mt. Wilson Observatory. He was continually working toward the perfection of telescope lenses and astronomical photography. He ultimately cut all ties to big institutions, and, again in a private laboratory, worked toward even greater refinements of his instruments. In 1923 he accepted an invitation from France to have his own laboratory at the Paris Observatory, where he received much professional and financial support from his fellow scientists. By 1927, his most significant invention then is said to have been his “Fixed, Vertical Universal Telescope,” an assemblage of instruments. The 174-foot tube was ‘vertical’ and ‘fixed’ as it sat partly below the ground.

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Fig. 10.2  Child looking at the Sun through the 1845 Merz and Mahler telescope (The Cincinnati Observatory Center)

It was ‘universal’ in that its focal length could be quickly changed. There were also refinements to the photographic plates which increased the sensitivity by several magnitudes. For his accomplishments, Ritchey was awarded the Legion of Honor Ribbon and the Janssen Medal for Astronomy.1,2 In 1930 Ritchey constructed his first successful Ritchey-Chrétien telescope, co-­ invented with, and on principles largely due to, the French astronomer Henri Chrétien (1879–1956). It is an improved astronomical design that is incorporated in many research telescopes, including the Hubble Space and Keck telescopes.3 Lasting marks of the Cincinnati Observatory have indeed been far-reaching. As of 2021, the Observatory has seven full-time employees, 130 volunteers, and the many members of the various interest groups and committees, reminiscent of the support provided by the original charter members of 1842. Their current purpose, as stated in their published mission statement, is much as it was in 1842: The mission of the Cincinnati Observatory is to maintain the integrity and heritage of an historic 19th century observatory and to educate, engage, and inspire our community about astronomy and science.

 Nella Harper, “Wizard of the Telescope,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 30, 1920.  Donald Osterbrock, Pauper & Prince: Ritchey, Hale, & Big American Telescopes (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2004), 8–14. 3  James Lequeux and Yvon Georgelin, “A History of Astronomical Optics in France,” Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 25, no.10 (2022): 24–25; Osterbrock, Pauper & Prince, 207. 1 2

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In the future, one may again expect opportunities to learn about astronomy at the beautiful site of the Observatory through regular programming and hands-on opportunities, such as star-gazing through the historic telescopes (Fig. 10.2) or participation in organized viewing at dark-sky sites at a state park. Classes are available on site in all aspects of astronomy, including those of special celestial events, for young and old, for school and university groups, and for the public.

References Lequeux, James, and Yvon Georgelin. 2022. A History of Astronomical Optics in France. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 25 (10): 3–53. Osterbrock, Donald. 2004. Pauper & Prince: Ritchey, Hale, & Big American Telescopes. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Index

A Abbe, C., 106, 121–140, 153, 257 Abbe, C.C., 122 Abbe, G.W., 121 Abbe, R., 126 Academy of Music, 100 Actinometer, 128 Adams, J.Q., 12–14, 17, 29–82, 86, 91–93, 154, 155, 201, 203, 225 Airy, G.B., 14, 18, 19, 95, 98, 105, 208, 213 Albany, 101–103 Allegheny Observatory, 254 Alsop, S. Jr., 162, 164 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 11, 133, 165, 198, 200 American Astronomical Society, 139, 200–202, 204, 205, 232, 236 American Ephemeris, 225, 229 American Journal of Science and Arts, 132, 133 American Metrological Society, 165 American Space Program, 231 Annals of Mathematics, 167 Anning, R.H., 252 Arago, F.D.J., 15, 20 Army Signal Corps, 137 Association for the Advancement of Science, 11, 133, 165, 198, 200 Asteroid 132 Aethra, 224 Asteroid 197707 Paulnohr, 248 Astrographic Catalogue of the Bordeaux Zone, 231 Astronomical Discovery, 54, 69, 195, 206

Astronomical Journal, 93, 178, 222, 228, 229, 231, 234 Astronomical Notes, 186, 205 Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 180, 199, 200, 258 Astronomische Nachrichten, 87, 125, 160 Astronomy of Air and Marine Navigation, 201 Astronomy Science Center, 250 Ayers, H., 184, 188, 194 B Bache, A.D., 13–15, 96, 97, 99 Baker, E., 87, 88 Baker, N, 88 Beecher Stowe, H., 9, 38 Beecher, L., 9, 38, 39 Benediktbeuern glassworks, 17 Bevan, B. 252 Bevan, T, 251 Bickford Tool Factory, 221 Black, R., 200, 202 Bowers, P., 252 Bowman, F., 248, 251 Boy Scouts, 221, 246 Broadway Tabernacle, 89, 91, 109–117 Brouwer, D. 226, 232, 236 Buchtel College, 190 Buff and Berger transit, 175, 177 Burke, T., 252 Burnet, J., 12, 13, 20, 33–35, 37–40, 87, 92, 167 Burns, T., 252

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. Cottam, J. E. Ventre, Cincinnati Observatory, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46034-0

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262 Burritt, E., 95 Burt, D., 252 C Cambridge, MA, 235 Cancer Control Neoplastic Disease Registry, 235 Carleton College, 168, 169, 190, 257 Carlisle building, 165, 166 Carloforte, Italy, 180 Carpenter, S., 232 Carrington, E., 195 Casey, B., 253–255 Catholic Telegraph, 154 Centennial of the Cincinnati Observatory, 201–205, 213 Centennial of the Observatory, 201–205, 213–219 Challenger Center, 251 Chamberlin Observatory, 190 Chicago Board of Trade, 133 Chrétien, H., 259 Chronograph, Herbst’s, 162 Chronograph, Ingersoll’s, 162 Cincinnati Astronomical Society, 11–21, 23–25, 33–35, 37, 41–77, 86, 89, 91–94, 98, 99, 106, 109, 121, 123, 124, 137, 153, 154, 188, 214, 234, 246, 251, 252 Cincinnati Astronomy Club, 197 Cincinnati Chronicle, 7, 88 Cincinnati College, 8, 9, 12, 86, 87, 89, 108 Cincinnati Commercial, 126, 127, 132, 134, 158 Cincinnati Enquirer, 34, 37, 135, 155, 156, 189, 190, 196, 199, 232, 252, 259 Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company, 222, 229 Cincinnati Gazette, 18, 19, 38, 40, 86 Cincinnati Observatory Center, 23, 36, 40, 78, 93, 155, 156, 159, 161, 170, 176–179, 181, 183, 184, 186, 189, 194, 195, 197, 198, 200, 202, 206, 210, 221–223, 226, 228, 233, 234, 236, 237, 246–249, 251, 252, 254, 255, 257, 259 Cincinnati Observatory Newsletter, 250, 251 Cincinnati Time-Star, 189, 196 Civil War, 66, 100, 104–107, 122, 124, 233, 257 Civil War Sword, 233 Clark comet seeker, 162, 177

Index Clark refractor, 162, 174 Clark, A., 157, 184, 237, 248 Clocks, sidereal, 97 Clocks, solar, 97 Coast and Geodetic Survey, 99, 173, 180 Cobalt Therapy Unit, 235 Colored People’s Speech, 77–82 Coltan, G.L., 100, 101 Columbia University, 195, 232 Commission 20 of the International Astronomical Union, 226–227 Committee of Academic Affairs, University of Cincinnati, 193 Compton, A.G., 127, 128, 130, 131 Computation of Orbits, The, 222, 223 Comrie, L.J., 222 Cone Observatory, 186 Congressional School, 235 Convair Aircraft, 231 Cooke lens, 228 Cooper, L., 252 Cornerstone, 33–40, 204 Cranch, E., 39, 40 Cruse, T.A., 250 Cuffey, J., 228 Cycle of Astronomy, A, 203, 213, 214 Cypher for the Use of the Daily Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory, 135, 143 D Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory, 135, 141–151 Davis, R., 252 Davis, W., 106, 121, 123 Dean, A., 102 Detroit Observatory, 122, 254 DeVorkin, D., v, 221–225, 227–232, 234 Dexter, J., 137 Dick, S., 32 Dirk Brouwer Award, 236 Double stars, 74, 91, 95, 158–160, 167, 169–171, 207 Dudley Observatory, 98, 101–103, 105 Dudley, B., 101 “Dummy”, 156, 158 Duszynski, D., 252 Dwarf Stars and Planet-Like Companions, 204 E East Kentucky Science Center, 254 Eckert, W, 224, 225, 227, 230

Index Eddy, H., 166, 167 Edmondson, F.K., 227, 228 Egbert, H.V., 159, 190 Electro-chronograph, 96–99 Elementary Treatise on Algebra, 87 Evolution of a Gravitating, Rotating, Condensing Fluid, The, 199 Explorer I Satellite, 235 F Farnsworth, N., 197, 198, 200 Fauth meridian circle, 175, 177, 183 Filar micrometer, 175, 183, 189 Financial support, 85–94, 257, 258 Fixed, Vertical Universal Telescope, 258 Flick, T.M., 252 Flint, A., 190 Foote, J., 11 Fort Dakota, 127, 130 Fort Marion, 7 Fort Mitchell, KY, 107, 108 Fraunhofer’s Optical Institute, 16 Friends of the Observatory (FOTO), 247, 248, 250, 251 G Gaithersburg, md, 180 Gano, J., 126 Garcelon, A., 3 General Electric, 239, 245 Geography of the Heavens, 95 George Rieveschl Award for Scientific Research, 236 Gilliss, J.M., 32 Givens, J., 169 Goethe Link Observatory, 228 Goldfarb, S., 10, 99, 106, 121 Goodsell Observatory, 169, 190 Gore, J., 252 Gould, B.A., 93, 103, 122, 134, 216 Great Depression, 188, 193 Great Western, 18, 22 Greene, H., 34, 232 Groene, W., 197 H Haines, J., 127–129 Hamilton College, 173, 176 Hancock, W., 3 Hannaford, S., 155 Harvard College, 12, 29, 31, 41

263 Harvard College Observatory, 99 Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 235 Haverford College, 162, 164 Hehman, A., v, 255 Hencke, K.L., 91 Henrie House, 35, 38–40, 77 Herget Building, 237, 253 Herget, H., 235 Herget, M., 252 Herget, P., 137, 193, 195–205, 213, 221–238, 245, 248, 252, 257 Herr, E.M., 162, 164 Hite, L., 164–166 Holden, E.S., 1, 107 Hooper, W., 121, 123, 125, 137 Hopple III, W., 252 Hough, G.W., 103–105 Howard, A., 255 Howe, H., 158, 190 Hubble Space Telescope, 259 Huggins, Wm., 128 Humphreys, W.J., 122, 124–126, 134, 136, 139, 140, 153 Huntsville, AL, 105, 233 Hyperbolic paraboloid, 229, 230 I IBM punch card, 224, 227 Indiana University, 227, 230 Ingersoll, W.H., 162 Instructions for Observers Reporting to the Daily Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory, 135, 141 International Geodetic Association, 179–181 Irwin, M.J., 37 Isham, P., 190 J James Craig Watson Gold Medal, 236 Janssen Medal for Astronomy, 259 Jennings, J., 252 Jupiter, 49, 52, 54, 60, 63, 64, 71, 92, 158, 207–209, 211, 215, 231, 235, 246 K Keck telescope, 259 Kendall, E.O., 259 Kilgour Jr., J., 154 Kilgour, J., 167 King, S.A., 138

264 Kirkwood Observatory, 227 Knox Presbyterian Church, 204 Krumm, N., 245–247, 249 Kuiper, G., 230 L Langsam, W., 252 Langston, G.Q., 39, 77, 78 Lantern slides, 190 Lapham, Increase, 126 Leander McCormick Observatory, 167, 257 Leavenworth, F.P., 134, 190, 199 Legion of Honor Ribbon, 259 Levy, D., 155 Lick Observatory, 107, 199, 208, 223 Lighthouse of the Sky, 38 Little Miami Railroad, 8 Longworth, A.R., 203 Longworth, N., 20, 37, 86, 92, 137, 153, 203, 205 Lorbach, A., 235, 237 Loyola, I., 154 M Magic lantern, 10 Maine, 3, 196 Manhattan Project, 231 Mansfield, E., 7, 9, 10, 12, 88 Mars, 52, 54, 60, 63, 69, 70, 107, 158, 201, 208 Marsden, B., 230, 231, 235, 237 Marsteller, Lyn, v, 252 McDonald Observatory, 230 McGirr, D., 252, 253 McLaughlin, D., 201–205 McLean, J., 5 McNeil, R., 252 Mercury Computer Program Project, 232 Mercury Mission, 232 Merz & Mahler, 14, 16, 18, 20, 95, 157, 248, 257, 259 Merz, G., 16 Meteorology, 124, 125, 134, 136–139, 153 Micrometrical measurements, 96, 158–160 Minor Planer 1486, Marilyn Herget, 236 Minor Planet 1373, Cincinnati Observatory Staff, 236 Minor Planet 1625, The NORC, 230, 236 Minor Planet 1744, Harriet Herget, 237 Minor Planet 1751, Paul Herget, 236 Minor Planet 1755, Lorbach Herget, 237

Index Minor Planet Center, 224–231, 235, 237, 248, 258 Minor Planet Circular, 227, 231 Mitchel building, 185–187, 190, 195, 205, 253 Mitchel, F., 4–8, 11, 12, 14–18, 20, 33, 86, 89, 90, 94–96, 100, 103–105 Mitchel, L., 97, 101 Mitchel, O.M., 4–18, 20–22, 33, 35, 39, 40, 85–91, 93–109, 121, 122, 127, 133, 135, 137, 153, 158, 159, 164, 171, 174, 178, 179, 185–187, 189, 190, 195, 201, 202, 205, 213, 215–217, 251, 253, 257 Mitchell, IN, 33 Mitchelville, SC, 107 Mizusawa, Japan, 180 Month’s Astronomical Highlights, The, 196 Morrison Fellowship, 223 Mount Adams, 40, 87, 155, 214 Mountains of Mitchel, 107 Mt. Ida, 20, 37, 92 Mt. Lookout, 153–158, 166, 171, 182, 183, 185, 188, 199, 201, 203, 205, 254 Mt. Wilson Observatory, 217, 258 Musen, P., 227 N National Academy of Science, 122, 139, 153, 221, 234, 236 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 230–232, 234 National Committee of Standard Time, 165 National Endowment of the Humanities Grant, 254 National Historic District, 249 National Historic Landmark, 248, 249 National Science Foundation, 230–233 Nature, 5, 6, 31, 43–46, 49, 50, 53, 56–59, 61, 62, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 77, 79–82, 90–92, 94, 122, 132, 139, 164, 182, 206, 211, 252, 254 Nautical Almanac Office of Great Britain, 223 Nautical Almanac Office of the United States Naval Observatory, 224 Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC), 230, 236 Naval Research Laboratory, 224, 230, 231 Neal, F.M., 125 Nebulae measurements, 178, 179, 182 Neptune, 63, 91, 94, 96, 105, 209, 212 Neumeister, J., 253–255 New England Society, 4

Index New York Times, 165, 201, 224 Newcomb, S., 157, 216, 217 Newrock, R., 249 Niemi, C., v, 248, 255 Nohr, P., 245–251, 253, 254 North Stratford, New Hampshire, 197, 198, 200 O O’Flaherty, F., 232 Observatory Place, 249 Observatory Preservation Association (OPA), 249 Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, 94 Ohio Governor’s Award, 236 Ohio Mechanics Institute, 33, 37 Ohio State University, 247 Old Stars, 41, 105, 106 On the Problem of Being Central, 213 P Palomar-Leiden Survey, 231 Paris Observatory, 16, 258 Paul Nohr Memorial Planispheric Sundial, 246–248 Payne, W.W., 169 Peters, C.H.F., 103, 173 Philadelphia Model High School (Central High School), 13 Photometer, 128, 129, 137 Pike’s Peak, 138 Pinehurst, NC, 194 Pinney, J., 251, 252 Planetarium, 250–252, 254 Popular Astronomy, 10, 86, 94, 157, 159, 169, 173, 178, 184, 186, 196, 197, 199–201 Porter, J.G., 86, 95, 106, 107, 137, 154, 169, 173–176, 178–190, 193–195, 199, 226 Portolano, M., 31, 32, 41 Powell, W., 92, 93 Pringle, 229 Procter and Gamble, 229 Project Atlas Intercontinental Missile Project, 231 Project Mercury, 232 Pulkovo Observatory, 29, 95, 122 Purcell, E., 154, 155 Purcell, J., 155

265 R Rabe, E., 227, 228, 232 Rechen Institute, 227 Refractor, 14, 74, 75, 95, 100, 157, 158, 160, 162, 167, 174, 183, 185, 186, 198 Regas, D., v, 254 Revolving disk chronograph, 98 Ribbon badge, 35, 36 Riefler clock, 186, 187, 199 Ritchey, G.W., 258, 259 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope, 259 Robert Bicknaver Architects, 250 Rowe, B., v, 247, 250, 251 Russell, J., 127, 131 S Sabin, A., 236 Santamarina, J., v, 251, 252 Save the Observatory (STO), 251, 252 Schuyler Co., 162 Semi-Colon Club, 9 Shapley, H., 202, 203, 205, 213 Shoemaker, P., 4–12, 14–16, 18, 20, 21, 33, 35, 85, 87, 89, 93–98, 100, 102, 104–106 Shubinski, R., 254 Sidereal Messenger, 12, 88, 90–94, 160, 175, 176, 215, 251 Sioux Falls City, 127, 128 Sitko, M., v, 246, 249, 250, 252, 255 Smith, E., 182, 186, 187, 193–195, 197, 199–201, 204, 222, 223, 225, 226 Smith, H., 200, 223 Smithson, J., 12, 31, 32, 41 Smithsonian Institute, 1, 2, 13, 254 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 2, 4, 9 Space Science Institute, 250 Space Shuttle, 246 Spencer, J.H., 35, 226 Spurlock, L., 252 Sputnik, 231 St. Petersburg, 29, 31, 73, 75, 95, 122 Standard time, 164–166, 171 Star catalogs, 161, 176, 178, 195, 199, 236 Stars in Song and Legend, The, 173, 190 Stebbins, J., 204 Stellar proper motion, 175 Stewart, D., 185, 187, 188, 199 Stoehr, N.T., 252 Stone, O., 96, 156–169, 171, 205, 257 Strautman, L., 195, 199

266 Strubbe, C., 247 Struve, F.G.W., 95, 96 Struve, O.W., 122, 123 Submarine book, 224–225, 238–242, 257 Sullebarger, B., 252 Swineford, H., 221 Symposium on Star Catalogues, Positional Astronomy and Celestial Mechanics, 236 T Taft, A., 123, 153, 252 Taft, B., 252 Taft, W.H., 123, 153, 236 Taylor, W.C., 127–131 T. Cooke & Sons astro-photographic camera, 197 Telegraph, 96, 97, 105, 126, 134, 136, 162, 164, 210 Telescope Maker’s Guild, 205 Thomas, L., 254 Time ball, 165, 166, 169 Total solar eclipse of 1806, 30 Total solar eclipse of 1869, 126–133, 157 Total solar eclipse of 1878, 160–164 Total solar eclipse of 1889, 138 Total solar eclipse of 1932, 196, 197, 199, 200 Townsend, M., 252 Transit of Venus of 1882, 169 Trollope, F., 3, 4 Tschardjui, Russia, 180, 181 Tucker, L., 3, 4, 8, 9, 20, 22 Tumor registry, 235 Turner, S., 176, 178, 254 Twitchell, H., 89, 90, 98, 103, 104, 106, 121, 127, 131 U Ukiah, California, 180 Union Flag, 233 United States Coastal Survey, 95, 96, 99, 103, 122 United States Naval Observatory (USNO), 32, 33, 123, 157, 160, 162–164, 169, 171, 194, 202, 224, 236, 238 United States Weather Bureau, 133–138, 140, 257 University Holmes Health Hospital, 235 University of Cincinnati, 10, 36, 85, 86, 89, 124, 128, 129, 131, 132, 135, 137, 153, 154, 159, 169, 173, 183, 185, 193–195, 199–203, 213, 222, 225,

Index 228, 229, 231–233, 235, 236, 245, 247, 249–252, 254, 258 University of Dayton, 251 University of Maryland, 232 University of Minnesota, 190, 199, 249 Upton, W., 159, 160, 162–164, 190 V Value of Astronomy, The, 210 Ventre, J.E., 176, 188, 246–252, 255 Vickers, T., 166, 167, 169 “Visitor’s Nights”, 158, 169, 171, 173, 186, 189, 190, 194, 195, 201, 205, 234 von Lamont, J., 16, 21 von Maedler, J.H., 91 von Schubert, T., 29 W Waldo, L., 165 Walker, S., 14, 19, 39, 95, 97 Walters, R., 202, 203, 225, 227 Warder, R., 127, 129, 131, 133 Washburn Observatory, 190 Watson, J.C. Sr., 224 Watson, T., 227 Weather Bulletin, 134, 135, 141, 143 Weather prediction, 124, 126, 134 Weather report, 124, 134, 136, 139 Wellesley College, 200 Wesley Chapel, 10, 11, 38 West Point Military Academy, 5 Western Union Telegraph Company, 134 Whitesell, P., 254 William Howard Taft Medal, 236 Wilson, H.C., 167, 168, 171, 190, 257 Winder, D.K., 127, 131 Wissel, C., 251 Woodward, C.H., 137, 153, 155, 159, 160, 164, 166, 167, 174, 175, 178, 179, 186–189, 193, 195–201, 222, 224, 226–230, 233, 234 World War II, 224, 226, 228 Y Yorktown, 86, 108 Yowell, Elizabeth, 199, 200 Yowell, Everett, 10, 11, 14, 17, 86, 126, 134, 135, 156, 173–176, 178, 182, 186, 187, 189, 193–201, 204–206, 210, 222