Bond, at Cambridge, as well
as Walker, and other astronomers at the Naval Observatory, all worked
at the apparatus; that Maury seconded their efforts with untiring zeal;
that it was used to determine the longitude of Baltimore as early as
1844 by Captain Wilkes, and that it was put into practical use in
recording observations at the Naval Observatory as early as 1846.

At the Cambridge Observatory the two Bonds, father and son, speedily
began to show the stuff of which the astronomer is made. A well-devised
system of observations was put in operation. The discovery of the dark
ring of Saturn and of a new satellite to that planet gave additional
fame to the establishment.

Nor was activity confined to the observational side of the science. The
same decade of which I speak was marked by the beginning of Professor
Pierce's mathematical work, especially his determination of the
perturbations of Uranus and Neptune. At this time commenced the work of
Dr. B. A. Gould, who soon became the leading figure in American
astronomy. Immediately on graduating at Harvard in 1845, he determined
to devote all the energies of his life to the prosecution of his
favorite science. He studied in Europe for three years, took the
doctor's degree at Gottingen, came home, founded the Astronomical
Journal, and took an active part in that branch of the work of the
Coast Survey which included the determination of longitudes by
astronomical methods.

An episode which may not belong to the history of astronomy must be
acknowledged to have had a powerful influence in exciting public
interest in that science. Professor O. M. Mitchell, the founder and
first director of the Cincinnati Observatory, made the masses of our
intelligent people acquainted with the leading facts of astronomy by
courses of lectures which, in lucidity and eloquence, have never been
excelled. The immediate object of the lectures was to raise funds for
establishing his observatory and fitting it out with a fine telescope.
The popular interest thus excited in the science had an important
effect in leading the public to support astronomical research. If
public support, based on public interest, is what has made the present
fabric of American astronomy possible, then should we honor the name of
a man whose enthusiasm leavened the masses of his countrymen with
interest in our science.

The Civil War naturally exerted a depressing influence upon our
scientific activity. The cultivat