A well-devised system of observations was put in operation. The
discovery of the dark ring of Saturn and of a new satellite to
that planet gave additional fame to the establishment.
Nor was activity confined to the observational side of the
science. The same decade of which I speak was marked by the
beginning of Professor Pierce's mathematical work, especially his
determination of the perturbations of Uranus and Neptune. At this
time commenced the work of Dr. B. A. Gould, who soon became the
leading figure in American astronomy. Immediately on graduating at
Harvard in 1845, he determined to devote all the energies of his
life to the prosecution of his favorite science. He studied in
Europe for three years, took the doctor's degree at Gottingen,
came home, founded the Astronomical Journal, and took an active
part in that branch of the work of the Coast Survey which included
the determination of longitudes by astronomical methods.
An episode which may not belong to the history of astronomy must
be acknowledged to have had a powerful influence in exciting
public interest in that science. Professor O. M. Mitchell, the
founder and first director of the Cincinnati Observatory, made the
masses of our intelligent people acquainted with the leading facts
of astronomy by courses of lectures which, in lucidity and
eloquence, have never been excelled.
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