ent to the Observatory, which, though
unpretending in its external appearance, is said to be the finest in the
world next to the one at St. Petersburgh; so at least says the
Washington Guide Book, for I like to give our authority for what we
ourselves should not have supposed to be the case. Mr. Erskine
introduced himself, and then us, to Lieutenant Maury, who is at the
head of it, and is well known as a writer on meteorological subjects. He
is a most agreeable man, and we talked much about the comet, meteoric
stones, &c.; we asked him what he thought of Professor Silliman's notion
about the comet's tail being an electric phenomenon, but he seemed to
think little was known on the subject. He said this comet had never been
seen before, and might never return again, as its path seemed parabolic,
and not elliptical; but he said that what was peculiarly remarkable
about it was the extreme agitation observed in the tail, and even in the
nucleus, the motion appearing to be vibratory. With regard to meteoric
stones, he said the one we saw at New Haven, though of such a prodigious
size, being 200 lbs. heavier than the one in the British Museum, was a
fragment only of a larger stone. We asked permission to go to the top of
the observatory, and at a hint from papa, I expressed the great desire I
had to see Venus by daylight, through the great telescope; whereupon, he
sent for Professor B----, and asked him to take us up to the
observatory, and to direct the great telescope to Venus. We mounted
accordingly, and I was somewhat alarmed when the whole room in which we
were placed, began to revolve upon its axis.

Setting the telescope takes some minutes, and the Professor ejected us
from the room at the top of the building on to a balcony, from which we
had a most lovely view of the neighbouring country. By means of a very
good small telescope placed on a swivel, we could see most distinctly
the Military Retreat (the Chelsea of America), beautifully situated upon
a high hill about three miles off. We saw also through this telescope
the Smithsonian Institute, which we were glad to be able to study in
this way in detail, as we found we should not have time to go to it. It
is a very large building of the architecture of the twelfth century, and
the only attempt at Mediaeval architecture which we have seen in the
United States.

The view of the Potomac and of the hill and buildings of George Town was
very extensive and remarkable; but b