History of the Harvard College Observatory During the Period 1840-1890

by Daniel W. Baker

THE DANA HOUSE.

The record indicates that an observatory did not cease to be a coveted object at any time during the 25 years prior to 1840. Two antecedent events, in themselves of importance, combined to bring the long cherished project to a happy issue,—the accession of Josiah Quincy to the presidency of the college and the action of Congress in authorizing what came to be popularly known as the “Wilkes Exploring Expedition.” The purpose of the expedition in part was to establish the latitudes and longitudes of uncharted places in distant parts of the world where American commerce was extending, and in part to investigate natural phenomena, including the facts of terrestrial magnetism. Having, after much delay, got an adequate appropriation, the naval department employed the best available talent of the country for the conduct of the enterprise.

Mr. Bond was engaged to make at his private observatory in Dorchester, Mass., investigations to fix a zero of longitude, whence final reference to Greenwich might be had, and to make a continuous record of magnetic observations at Dorchester for comparison with like records obtained at distant points by the expedition itself. As preliminary to the latter work, Mr. Bond tested in an isolated observatory in Dorchester the magnetic instruments with which the expedition was to be equipped.

Mr. Bond’s talents were as well known at Cambridge as at Washington. What Mr. Quincy did in the premises can best be stated in his own words: “Early in the year 1839, the exploring expedition then being in the Southern ocean, it occurred to the president of the university that if Mr. Bond could be induced to transfer his residence and apparatus to Cambridge and pursue his observations there, under the auspices of the university, it would have an important influence in clearing the way for an establishment of an efficient observatory in connection with that seminary, by the increase of the apparatus at its command, by the interest which the observations making by Mr. Bond were calculated to excite, and, by drawing the attention of the citizens of Boston and its vicinity to the great inadequacy of the means possessed by the university for efficient astronomical observations, create a desire and a disposition to supply them.”

This proposition, Mr. Quincy says in another connection, he made without having consulted with the corporation. That body sanctioned his action by making a formal contract with Mr. Bond, of date Nov. 30, 1839, the agreement on Mr. Bond’s part being to make the transfer as proposed. Steps were at once taken by the college authorities to secure a subscription of $100 each from 30 different gentlemen, which sum was applied, under Mr. Bond’s direction, in alterations and additions to a dwelling house owned by the college and known as the “Dana house.” It still stands upon its original site at the junction of Quincy and Harvard streets, the lot being the southeast corner of what are distinctively called “the college grounds.”

The cupola which crowns the roof is a reminder and proof of a part of these alterations: for within it was set up one of the telescopes of the first college observatory, the cupola when constructed being suitably domed for the purpose. Something practical in astronomy had always been taught in the college course. In this way, or possibly by Mr. Bond himself, the position of Harvard Hall on the college grounds had been determined. Thus, in a paper published by him in 1833 in the Memoirs of the American Academy, he gives the position of his observatory in Dorchester as “0°-3′-15″ east of Harvard Hall in Cambridge.”

That the astronomical equipment possessed by the college before Mr. Bond’s coming did not amount to the beginning of a proper observatory, sufficiently appears by a contemporary letter of Prof. Joseph Lovering, written in response to an official inquiry. He says that the college had at the time “no instrument of much value for determining either time or position, and no place more convenient for using instruments than an open field, or a window which might accidentally open in the right direction.” He gives the inventory, comprising an astronomical clock, which, he says, cannot be relied on for accurate time; a small transit instrument, which at one time was loaned to Dr. Bowditch, but returned, he having found it of little value; two reflecting telescopes of three feet and two feet focal length; and a refractor of three feet focal, which three, he says, “answered decently well for showing the moon, Jupiter’s satellites, Saturn’s ring, etc., to the students, but were very imperfect for any nice observation.” These, with an astronomical quadrant and a common quadrant, complete the list. The list of instruments brought by Mr. Bond does not appear in the printed records, but in the paper above referred to he names his instruments used at Dorchester as a Gregorian reflector of 30 inches focus, equatorially mounted, an achromatic telescope of 40 inches focus, a Borda’s circle, a Ramsden’s sextant, and two transit clocks. The clocks he describes as “excellent,” and says that they had mercurial pendulums.

In the early observations of Mr. Bond at Cambridge, priority was given to the work begun at Dorchester for the naval department. In the college record a considerable part of the routine is classed as meteorology, with reference, chiefly, to the earth’s magnetism. The scheme of observation in this department was, however, much broadened, and in this the observatory appears to have performed its first notable service to pure science and to have assumed a place that gave it international recognition. For these observations the best known apparatus was procured and put into service in a building on the college grounds set at a distance from the Dana house, but connected therewith by a covered way. It was known as the “Lloyd apparatus.” It consisted chiefly of three magnetometers, one for indicating declination, one for horizontal force and the third for vertical force.

It was the product of the same firm in England which had made like instruments for the British government for use at meteorological stations at Greenwich, Eng., Toronto, Can., St. Helena, Cape of Good Hope, Bombay, Madras, Singapore and Van Diemen’s Land. The magnetic observations at Cambridge were conducted according to the same formula as that in use at these British stations, with a purpose of co-operation. In this cosmical investigation the German Meteorological Association, having many observatories under its direction, and the Russian government, having magnetic stations at various points between the borders of China and the Arctic Circle, joined. This Lloyd apparatus was the gift of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, by vote of April 22, 1840, and was of the value of $1000.