e discovery of an asteroid and ten or twelve telescopic comets; in the
resolution of nebulae which had defied every thing in Europe but Lord
Rosse's great reflector; in the application of electricity to the
measurement of differences in longitude; in the ascertainment of the
velocity of the electro-magnetic fluid, and its truly wonderful uses in
recording astronomical observations. These are but a portion of the
achievements of American astronomical science within fifteen or twenty
years, and fully justify the most sanguine anticipations of its further
progress.

How far our astronomers may be able to pursue their researches, will
depend upon the resources of our public institutions, and the liberality
of wealthy individuals in furnishing the requisite means. With the
exception of the observatories at Washington and West Point, little can
be done, or be expected to be done, by the government of the Union or
the States; but in this, as in every other department of liberal art and
science, the great dependence,--and may I not add, the safe
dependence?--as it ever has been, must continue to be upon the bounty of
enlightened, liberal, and public-spirited individuals.

THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY.

It is by a signal exercise of this bounty, my Friends, that we are
called together to-day. The munificence of several citizens of this
ancient city, among whom the first place is due to the generous lady
whose name has with great propriety been given to the institution, has
furnished the means for the foundation of the Dudley Observatory at
Albany. On a commanding elevation on the northern edge of the city,
liberally given for that purpose by the head of a family in which the
patronage of science is hereditary, a building of ample dimensions has
been erected, upon a plan which combines all the requisites of solidity,
convenience, and taste. A large portion of the expense of the structure
has been defrayed by Mrs. Blandina Dudley; to whose generosity, and that
of several other public-spirited individuals, the institution is also
indebted for the provision which has been made for an adequate supply of
first-class instruments, to be executed by the most eminent makers in
Europe and America; and which, it is confidently expected, will yield to
none of their class in any observatory in the world.[A]

[Footnote A: Prof. Loomis, in _Harper's Magazine_ for June, p. 49.]

With a liberal supply of instrumental powe