There are usually from sixty to one hundred chronometers on trial at the Observatory, and the apartment in which they are kept is one of the most interesting in the establishment.
The researches connected with the famous “Wind-and-Current-Charts,” begun and prosecuted so successfully by Lieutenant Matthew F. Maury, whose services were lost to the country by his participation in the Rebellion, are conducted here, and also those connected with “The Habits of the Whale,” and other ocean phenomena.
The Equatorial, which is the largest telescope in the Observatory, is mounted in the revolving dome which rises above the main building. It has a fourteen-feet refractor, and an object-glass nine inches in diameter. Its movements are most ingenious, being regulated by machinery and clock-work. Its powers are so great, that it renders stars visible at midday, and, if directed at a given star in the morning, its machinery will work so accurately, that it will follow with perfect exactness the path of the star, which will be visible through it as long as the star is above the horizon. The Meridian and Mural Circles are in one of the rooms below.
The Transit-Instrument is placed in the west wing of the building, under a slit twenty inches wide, extending across the roofs, and down the wall of the apartment on each side, to within four or five feet of the floor. It was made by Estel & Son, Munich, and is a seven-foot achromatic, with a clear aperture of 5.3 inches. The mounting consists of two granite piers, seven feet high, each formed of a solid block of that stone, let down below the floor and imbedded in a stone foundation eight feet deep, and completely isolated from the building. Midway between the piers, and running north and south, is the artificial horizon composed of a slab of granite ten feet long, nineteen inches deep, and thirteen inches broad; it rests on the foundation, and is isolated from the floor, with the level of which the top of it is even, with a space all round it of half an inch. In the middle of this slab, and in the nadir of the telescope, there is a mortise, nine inches square and ten inches deep, in which the artificial horizon is placed to protect it from the wind during the adjustment for collimation, or the determination of the error of collimation of level, and the adjustment for stellar focus, verticality of wires, and the other uses of the collimating eye-piece.
The great Astronomical Clock, or “Electro-Chronograph” is placed in the same room with the Transit-Instrument, and is used in connection with it to denote sidereal time. It was invented by Professor John Locke, of Cincinnati, and is one of the most remarkable instruments in the world. By means of an electrical battery in the building, the movements of this clock can be repeated by telegraph in any city or town in the land to which the wires extend. With the wires connected with it, its ticks may be heard in any part of the country, and it will record the time so accurately that an astronomer in Portland or New Orleans can tell with exactness the time of day by this clock. It also regulates the time for the city. There is a flag-staff on top of the dome, upon which a black ball is hoisted at ten minutes before noon, every day. This is to warn persons desiring to know the exact time to examine their watches and clocks. Just as the clock records the hour of twelve, the ball drops, and thus informs the city that it is high noon.
The officials of the Naval Observatory have nearly completed the plan of operation for observing the transit of Venus, which will occur in December, 1874. Eight parties of five persons each will be dispatched; four to stations in the Southern Hemisphere, and the others to the Northern. Those going south of the Equator will leave New York next spring in a naval vessel, specially prepared and fitted for their accommodation, while others will probably proceed to their stations by mail-steamer. The posts in the Southern Hemisphere will be on the Kerguelen Islands, Auckland and Van Diemen’s Land. In the northern station they will be located at Yokohama, Nangasaki, Shanghai, and near the Siberian border.
After the transit, the observers in the Southern Hemisphere will be collected by a Government ship, transported to Japan, and sent home by mail-steamer. The whole expedition will probably occupy a year at least. Each party will include astronomers and photographer, with a complete equipment and apparatus for obtaining perfect observations and a record of the transit. Prof. Harkness will have charge of the parties and observations in the Southern Hemisphere, and Prof. Newcomb of those in the Northern. The object of the observation, for which Congress has appropriated $150,000, is to determine more accurately the distance between the earth and the sun, and the Professors at the head of the expedition expect to be able to settle the distance within half a million of miles.
In July, 1789, Congress organized a “Department of Foreign Affairs,” and placed it in charge of a secretary, who was called the “Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs.” He was required to discharge his duties “conformably to the instructions of the President,” but as his powers were derived from Congress, he was required to hold himself amenable to that body, to attend its sessions, and to “explain all matters pertaining to his province.” In September, 1779, Congress changed the title of the department to the “Department of State,” and made a definite enumeration of the duties of the Secretary.
The head of the Department is the Secretary-of-State. His subordinates are: an Assistant Secretary-of-State, a Chief-Clerk, a Superintendent of Statistics, a Translator, a Librarian, and as many clerks as are needed. The Secretary receives a salary of $8,000 per annum. He conducts all the intercourse of this Government with the governments of foreign countries, and is frequently required to take a prominent part in the administration of domestic affairs. He countersigns all proclamations and official documents issued by the President. If popular rumor be correct, the Secretaries-of-State have frequently written the messages and inaugurals of the Presidents, and thus have kept those august personages from making laughing-stocks of themselves.
The duties of the office require the exercise of the highest ability, and the Secretaries-of-State have usually been among the first statesmen of our country. The first incumbent of the office was Thomas Jefferson, and the present Secretary is the Hon. Hamilton Fish, of New York.