LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 2, 1899.

SIR: In compliance with the request contained in your letter of June 30, 1899, the undersigned have acted as a board of visitors to the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, and now submit their report, including subdivisions as follows:

I. Recommendations of the board of visitors.

II. Circumstances leading to the appointment of the board of visitors. III. Cost of Observatory.

IV. Comparison with other observatories.

V. Present condition and methods of Observatory work and the delay in printing its results.

VI. Historical sketch of the Observatory.

VII. Minutes of the proceedings of the board of visitors.

VIII. Appendix.

The several portions of the report were put in form by the astronomers, who are members of the board. The recommendations are made unanimously.

Very respectfully,

Hon. JOHN D. LONG,

Secretary of the Navy.

.WM. E. CHANDLER,

A. G. DAYTON,

EDWARD C. PICKERING,

GEO. C. COMSTOCK,
GEORGE E. HALE.

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS TO THE UNITED STATES NAVAL

OBSERVATORY.

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS.

In accordance with the instructions contained in the following letter, all the members of the board of visitors to the United States Naval Observatory therein named met at the Observatory in Washington on Friday, June 30, 1899, and organized by the selection of William E. Chandler as chairman and George C. Comstock as secretary.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, June 30, 1899.

GENTLEMEN: In accordance with previous correspondence and oral conversations, you are hereby requested to act as a board of visitors at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, convening there to-day, and to proceed to examine into the condition of that institution and to report to me your conclusions and recommendations. JOHN D. LONG, Secretary.

Very respectfully,

Hon. WILLIAM E. CHANDLER,

Hon. ALSTON G. DAYTON,

Prof. EDWARD C. PICKERING,

Prof. GEORGE C. COMSTOCK, and

Prof. GEORGE E. HALE.

Capt. Charles H. Davis, U. S. N., Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, presented to the board an informal statement of circumstances leading to the appointment of the board of visitors, and submitted correspondence relating thereto (Appendix, Exhibit A) and to a proposed reorganization of the Observatory (Appendix, Exhibit B). He also placed before the board a list of professors of mathematics upon the active list of the Navy (Appendix, Exhibit C), from which corps the staff of the Observatory is largely drawn, and a list of all persons performing duty at the Observatory, with their respective ranks (Appendix, Exhibit D).

At the request of Messrs. Chandler and Dayton, there was submitted to the board by its other members the correspondence conducted by them as a committee of the second annual conference of astronomers and astrophysicists for the purpose of obtaining the views of American astronomers and physicists upon the organization and work of the Naval Observatory. Mr. Pickering submitted to the board a statement regarding correspondence on the same subject conducted by a committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In view of the facts brought before the board at its several sessions, and after the best consideration which it has been able to give to the subject, the board of visitors reports and recommends as follows: The Naval Observatory, which was originally established as a scientific bureau, auxiliary to the needs of the naval service, has become, through half a century of growth and through the expenditure of large sums of money, as authorized by law, an astronomical observatory of the first rank in

respect of buildings, instruments, and equipment. But by far the larger and more valuable part of its equipment has little or no reference to any direct requirement of the naval service, and its existence can be justified only on the ground that Congress has intended to establish and maintain a national astronomical observatory. Under these changed circumstances its continued connection with the Navy Department has seemed to many of those whose views have been submitted to the board of visitors illogical and undesirable. In view, however, of the absence of a national university, a department of science and industries, or other department or bureau of the Government especially suited to the conduct of such scientific work, and in view of the diversity of opinion among American astronomers upon the question to which existing Department the Observatory could be wisely transferred, we believe it to be inexpedient for us at the present time to further consider the subject of such transfer.

With reference to the organization of the Observatory under naval administration, the board of visitors disapproves of those parts of the "Proposed organization of the Naval Observatory" (Appendix, Exhibit B), submitted under date September 7, 1897, by "F. E. Chadwick, Chief of Bureau of Equipment, and C. H. Davis, Superintendent United States Naval Observatory," which require the establishment of a formal observatory council, with nominal functions, and which by omission practically abolish the office of astronomical director. We are by no means objecting to the assembling in conference of the astronomers engaged in observatory work, but the proposed transfer of duties and responsibilities from a single director to a committee of five appears to us a step in the wrong direction; and when, as under the proposed scheme, an absolute power of veto upon all action by the council is lodged in the hands of one of its members, the usefulness of the body seems to approach the vanishing point. In the history of observatories we have been unable to find a case of successful administration without a competent astronomer in immediate supervision of the work, and we believe that the ideal conditions for the successful administration of an astronomical observatory are most nearly realized when a professional astronomer is made the responsible director of the work. This system, which is adopted in every great national observatory, the board of visitors believes to be the one best suited to secure the astronomical efficiency of the Naval Observatory.

If the Naval Observatory as a shore station, charged with the performance of certain functions assumed to have a relation to the Navy, is to continue under the command of a line officer, we recommend that the astronomical staff of the Naval Observatory shall consist of an astronomical director, four astronomers, three assistant astronomers, and such computers and other minor officers as may be provided by law. The astronomical directors and astronomers, whether professors of mathematics or taken from civil life, and the assistant astronomers, should be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to hold their offices until their successors are appointed.

The Nautical Almanac Office, which was formerly a distinct bureau, is now administered by departmental regulations as a part of the Naval Observatory, and it appears from the evidence submitted to the board of visitors that the successful administration of the observatory is much impeded by reason of imposing upon its astronomical director the duties of director of the Nautical Almanac. Each of these offices furnishes abundant employment for the entire time of an able astrono

mer, and we therefore recommend that there shall be a director of the Nautical Almanac appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to hold office until his successor is appointed.

We also recommend that provision be made for the continuation of the admirable series of memoirs published under the title "Professional Papers of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac.”

A criticism frequently and forcibly urged against the administration of the Naval Observatory, not limited to the present time but covering almost the entire period of its existence, is that its astronomical work has not been prosecuted with that vigor and continuity of purpose which should be shown in a national observatory. The possibility of conducting well-planned researches with unvarying regularity over long series of years should constitute the great advantage of a national observatory, an advantage which is not fully realized in the history of the Naval Observatory, where each principal astronomer seems to have been left to choose his own line of work and to alter it from time to time or abandon it. This is perhaps inevitable in a system which places at the head of an observatory an officer who is not a technical expert in astronomical work; and therefore in order to secure continuity in the prosecution of work well chosen and coordinated with that of other observatories, and also to obtain for the observatory and the Department advice and criticism which shall be both disinterested and responsible, we recommend the establishment of a permanent board of visitors, substantially as follows:

There shall be appointed by the President from persons not officers of the United States, a board of nine visitors to the Naval Observatory, six to be astronomers of high professional standing and three to be eminent citizens of the United States. Appointments to this board shall be made for periods of three years, but provision shall be made by initial appointments for shorter terms so that two astronomers and one member of the board not an astronomer shall retire in each year. Members of this board shall serve without compensation, but the Secretary of the Navy shall pay the actual expenses necessarily incurred by members of the board in the discharge of such duties as are assigned them by the Secretary of the Navy or are otherwise imposed upon them. The board of visitors shall make an annual visitation to the Naval Observatory at a date to be determined by the Secretary of the Navy, and may make such other visitations not exceeding two in number annually by the full board, or by a duly appointed committee as may be deemed needful or expedient by a majority of the board.

The board of visitors shall report to the Secretary of the Navy at least once in each year the result of its examinations of the Naval Observatory as respects the condition of buildings, instruments and apparatus, and the efficiency with which its scientific work is prosecuted. The board of visitors shall prepare and submit to the Secretary of the Navy regulations prescribing the scope of the astronomical and other researches of the Naval Observatory and the duties of its staff with reference thereto. When appointments or details are to be made to the office of astronomical director, director of the nautical almanac, astronomer, or assistant astronomer in the Naval Observatory, the board of visitors may recommend to the Secretary of the Navy suitable persons to fill such offices, but such recommendations shall be determined only by a majority vote of the members present at a regularly called meeting of the board held in the city of Washington.

Special attention is at this point called to the fact that the appoint