ing their work
was adapted to attain success. The Navy Department also desired to
obtain some expressions of opinion on the subject. The result was
a discussion and an official paper, not emanating from the admiral,
however, in which the duty of the head of the observatory was defined
in the following terms:--

"The superintendent of the observatory should be a line officer of
the navy, of high rank, who should attend to the business affairs
of the institution, thus leaving the professors leisure for their
proper work."

Although he did not entirely commit himself to this view, he was under
the impression that to get the best work out of the professors their
hearts must be in it; and this would not be the case if any serious
restraint was placed upon them as to the work they should undertake.

After Rodgers's death Vice-Admiral Rowan was appointed superintendent.
About this time it would seem that the department was again disposed
to inquire into the results of the liberal policy heretofore pursued.
Commander (since Rear-Admiral) William T. Sampson was ordered to the
observatory, not as its head, but as assistant to the superintendent.
He was one of the most proficient men in practical physics that the
navy has ever produced. I believe that one reason for choosing
so able and energetic an officer for the place was to see if any
improvement could be made on the system. As I was absent at the
Cape of Good Hope to observe the transit of Venus during the most
eventful occasion of his administration, I have very little personal
knowledge of it. It seems, however, that newspaper attacks were made
on him, in which he was charged with taking possession of all the
instruments of the observatory but two, and placing them in charge
of naval officers who were not proficient in astronomical science.
In reply he wrote an elaborate defense of his action to the "New
York Herald," which appeared in the number for February 13, 1883.
The following extract is all that need find a place in the present
connection.

When I came here on duty a little more than a year since,
I found these instruments disused. The transit instrument
had not been used since 1878, and then only at intervals for
several years previous; the mural circle had not been used
since 1877; the prime vertical had not been used since 1867.
These instruments had been shamefully neglected and much
injured thereby. . . . The small equatorial and comet
seek