Excerpt from Publications of the United States Naval Observatory, Vol. 1 The present volume of observations of the United States Naval Observatory constitutes Volume I of the Second Series, which begins with the resumption of work after the removal from the old site and the remounting of the instruments at the new observatory. It will be seen that it makes a departure from the former custom of issuing the volumes annually, as it contains all the transit circle observations of the Sun, Moon, planets, and miscellaneous stars made during the years 1894 to 1899, except those of the Astronomische Gesellschaft zone, - 13 Degrees 50' to - 180 Until December 17, 1899, the date of his retirement, these observations were made under the direction of Prof. William harkness, U. S. N., Astronomical Director. By the regulations for the government of the Observatory, adopted by the Navy Department September 20, 1894, the Astronomical Director is in charge of and responsible for the direction, scope, character, quantity, and preparation for publi cation of all work purely astronomical which is performed at the Naval Observatory, and he has charge of all instruments and accessories used in his department, together with their construction, remounting, and repairs. Upon the assumption of the duties Of Astronomical Director by Prof. S. J. Brown, U. S. N., the observations contained in this volume were found nearly ready for publication up' to 1898, arranged for appearance in annual volumes of Washington Observations according to previous custom. For many reasons it was decided to abandon this plan Of publishing, and here after the work Of the Observatory will appear in volumes at suitable intervals depending upon the kind and amount of material available. The small number Of Observations previous to 1897 is due to the fact that the time Of the Observing force was largely occupied with the prosecution of the work 011 the Astronomische Gesellschaft zone above referred to, and also that the work was suspended at different times for the execution of alterations and repairs. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.