The Reminiscences of an Astronomer

The Reminiscences of an
Astronomer, by Simon

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Title: The Reminiscences of an Astronomer
Author: Simon Newcomb

Release Date: September 17, 2006 [eBook #19309]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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REMINISCENCES OF AN ASTRONOMER***
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THE REMINISCENCES OF AN ASTRONOMER

by
SIMON NEWCOMB
1903

PREFACE
The earlier chapters of this collection are so much in the nature of an
autobiography that the author has long shrunk from the idea of
allowing them to see the light during his lifetime. His repugnance has
been overcome by very warm expressions on the subject uttered by
valued friends to whom they were shown, and by a desire that some at
least who knew him in youth should be able to read what he has
written.
The author trusts that neither critic nor reader will object because he
has, in some cases, strayed outside the limits of his purely personal
experience, in order to give a more complete view of a situation, or to
bring out matters that might be of historic interest. If some of the
chapters are scrappy, it is because he has tried to collect those
experiences which have afforded him most food for thought, have been
most influential in shaping his views, or are recalled with most
pleasure.

CONTENTS
I THE WORLD OF COLD AND DARKNESS Ancestry.--Squire
Thomas Prince.--Parentage.--Early Education.-- Books read.
II DR. FOSHAY A Long Journey on Foot.--A Wonderful Doctor.--The
Botanic System of Medicine.--Phrenology.--A Launch into the
World.--A Disillusion.-- Life in Maryland.--Acquaintance with
Professor Henry.--Removal to Cambridge.

III THE WORLD OF SWEETNESS AND LIGHT The American
Astronomical Ephemeris.--The Men who made it.-- Harvard in the
Middle of the Century.--A Librarian of the Time.-- Professor
Peirce.--Dr. Gould, the "Astronomical Journal," and the Dudley
Observatory.--W. P. G. Bartlett.--John D. Runkle and the
"Mathematical Monthly."--A Mathematical Politician.--A Trip to
Manitoba and a Voyage up the Saskatchewan.--A Wonderful Star.
IV LIFE AND WORK AT AN OBSERVATORY A Professor, United
States Navy.--The Naval Observatory in 1861.-- Captain Gilliss and his
Plans.--Admiral Davis.--A New Instrument and a New
Departure.--Astronomical Activity.--The Question of Observatory
Administration.--Visit from the Emperor of Brazil.-- Admiral John
Rodgers.--Efforts to improve the Work of the Observatory.
V GREAT TELESCOPES AND THEIR WORK Curious Origin of the
Great Washington Telescope.--Congress is induced to act.--A Case of
Astronomical Fallibility.-- The Discovery of the Satellites of
Mars.--The Great Telescope of the Pulkova Observatory.--Alvan Clark
and his Sons.--A Sad Astronomical Accident.
VI THE TRANSITS OF VENUS Old Transits of Venus.--An
Astronomical Expedition in the 18th Century.--Father Hell and his
Observations.--A Suspected Forger vindicated.--The American
Commission on the Transit of Venus.-- The Photographic Method to be
applied.--Garfield and the Appropriation Committee.--Weather
Uncertainties.--Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope.--The Transit of
1882.--Our Failure to publish our Observations.
VII THE LICK OBSERVATORY James Lick and his Ideas.--Mr. D. O.
Mills.--Plans for the Lick Observatory.--Edward E. Barnard.--Professor
Holden.--Wonderful Success of the Observatory.
VIII THE AUTHOR'S SCIENTIFIC WORK The Orbits of the
Asteroids.--The Problems of Mathematical Astronomy.--The Motion of
the Moon and its Perplexing Inequalities.--A Visit to the Paris
Observatory to search for Forgotten Observations.--Wonderful Success
in finding Them.-- The Paris Commune.--The History of the Moon's

Motion carried back a Century.--The Harvard Observatory.--The
"Nautical Almanac" Office and its Work.--Mr. George W. Hill and his
Work.--A Wonderful Algebraist.--The Meridian Conference of 1884,
and the Question of Universal Time.--Tables of the Planets
completed.-- The Astronomical Constants.--Work unfinished.
IX SCIENTIFIC WASHINGTON Professor Henry and the
Smithsonian Institution.-- Alumni Associations.--The Scientific
Club.--General Sherman.-- Mr. Hugh McCulloch.--A Forgotten
Scientist.--The National Academy of Sciences.--The Geological Survey
of the Territories.--The Government Forestry System.--Professor O. C.
Marsh.--Scientific Humbugs.-- Life on the Plains.
X SCIENTIFIC ENGLAND My First Trip to Europe.--Mr. Thomas
Hughes.--Mr. John Stuart Mill. --Mr. Gladstone and the Royal Society
Dinner.--Other Eminent Englishmen.--Professors Cayley and
Adams.--Professor Airy and the Greenwich Observatory.--A Visit to
Edinburgh.
XI MEN AND THINGS IN EUROPE A Voyage to Gibraltar with
Professor Tyndall.--The Great Fortress. --"Whispering Boanerges."--A
Winter Voyage in the Mediterranean.-- Malta and Messina.--Advantage
of not understanding a Language.-- German Astronomers.--The
Pulkova Observatory.--A Meeting which might have been
Embarrassing.--From Germany to Paris at the Close of the
War.--Experiences at Paris during the Commune.--The Greatest
Astronomer of France.--The Paris Observatory.
XII THE OLD AND THE NEW WASHINGTON Washington during
the Civil War.--Secretary Stanton.-- The Raid of General Early.--A
Presidential Levee in 1864.-- The Fall of Richmond.--The
Assassination of President Lincoln.-- Negro Traits and
Education.--Senator Sumner.--An Ambitious Academy. --President
Garfield and his Assassination.--Cooling the