Excerpt from Reports of Observations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, August 7, 1869 Sir: In response to recommendations In my annual report in October, 1868, and the representations of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston, the American Philosophical Society and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and of others interested in the promotion of science, Congress appropriated for observations of the eclipse 'of the sun in August, 1869, under the direction of the superintendent of the Nautical Almanac. The appropriation was desired for defraying expenses of observers, of moving instruments of sufficient power to the line of central eclipse, and of preparing for abun dant photographic records and spectroscopic observations. 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.