der Professor Yarnall,
to whose care I was then confided.

As the existence of a corps of professors of mathematics is peculiar
to our navy, as well as an apparent, perhaps a real, anomaly,
some account of it may be of interest. Early in the century--one
hardly knows when the practice began--the Secretary of the Navy,
in virtue of his general powers, used to appoint men as professors
of mathematics in the navy, to go to sea and teach the midshipmen
the art of navigation. In 1844, when work at the observatory was
about to begin, no provision for astronomers was made by Congress.
The most convenient way of supplying this want was to have the
Secretary appoint professors of mathematics, and send them to the
observatory on duty.

A few years later the Naval Academy was founded at Annapolis, and a
similar course was pursued to provide it with a corps of instructors.
Up to this time the professors had no form of appointment except
a warrant from the Secretary of the Navy. Early in the history of
the academy the midshipmen burned a professor in effigy. They were
brought before a court-martial on the charge of disrespect to a
superior officer, but pleaded that the professor, not holding a
commission, was not their superior officer, and on this plea were
acquitted. Congress thereupon took the matter up, provided that
the number of professors should not exceed twelve, and that they
should be commissioned by the President by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate. This raised their rank to that of a
commissioned corps in the navy. They were to perform such duty as
the Secretary of the Navy might direct, and were, for the most part,
divided between the Naval Academy and the Observatory.

During the civil war some complaint was made that the midshipmen
coming from the academy were not well trained in the duties of a
seagoing officer; and it was supposed that this was due to too much
of their time being given to scientific studies. This was attributed
to the professors, with the result that nearly all those attached to
the academy were detached during the four years following the close
of the civil war and ordered elsewhere, mostly to the observatory.
Their places were taken by line officers who, in the intervals between
their turns of sea duty, were made heads of departments and teachers
of the midshipmen in nearly every branch.

This state of things led to the enactment of a law (in 1869, I think),
"that hereaf