Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1849-04-19
Iron, The Boston Post.
Miss Mitchell, the Astronomer.

This young lady, to whom the King
of Denmark has awarded the comet
medal" is at present in our city, in COM
pany with her father, who is one Of the
Executive Council" She is under
twenty years of age, modest and retiring
in the highest degree, and seems almost
panied at the attentions he receives:
"In the year 1881, gold medal Of
the value of twenty dtcatS, was founded
by Frederick VI, King of Denmark, ia
be awarded to any person who should
first discover "teIescopic comet. This
! foundation was offered with the follow
| ing conditions:
LIST. The medal was TO be given to the
lst discoverer of amy Genet. which at
the time al its discovery, was inv isiblo,
to the naked eye, and whose period was
| unknown.
2nd. The discovery must be made
! known by the first post afterdhe discov
Syy, to the Astronomer Royal at London.
If no regular mail left the place OF dis
covery, it must be sent by the first OPP
portunity Of another kind. An exact
CONF lance was indispensable and tho
medal would be given TO the diScovcrer
who cal liest complied with the condi-
ton.
3rd. The exact position of the comet
must be described, and the. direction in
! which it is moving.
4th. ObservaNon Sufficient to settle
| these points must be made, and ~'ch OBJ
servation sent of, the hrst without watt
ing for che second, the second without
waiting for the third DC.
! 5th. The medal to be assigned IN
twelve months after the discovery;
Messrs. Bailey d Schumacher to decide
if discovery has been made. If they
differ, Mr.. Gauss of Gottingen, to de-
eide and these gentlemen agreed to co!h-
munlcate mutually to each other ANY an
no,ncement Of q discovery.
On the LIST of October, 1s47, at half
past ten o'clock, P. NJ, Miss Maria
Mitchell, of Nantucket discovered q
telescope comet" On the Sd of Oc-
tober, at l-2, p. NJ, Father de Vicor
saw it at Rome. On the 7th of Oct,
8, 2Om., Mr.. Davies saw it at Clanbrook,
Kent, in England and ON the 18th OF
Oct, Madame Rumker scoyeed is at
Hamburg,
I Mr.. Mitchell took no steps to obtain
the medal for his daughter, not thinking
it athll probable that she had ant:apn-
ted others. But he transmitted by the
first mail that left the Island of Nantuck-
ct, information of the discovery to W.
G. Bond, ESQ.,, Director of the Obser-
vatory at Cambridge. The priority of
Miss Mitchell's discovery was admitted
throughout all Europe. President Ev-
erett, of Harvard University. was anx-
ious that the claims of Miss Mitchell
should be presented, and he took the
matter earnestly in hand. One difficult
ty stood in the way-the condition had
not been compiled with. The earliest
mail that left Nantucket after the discov-
cry, did inform Mr. Bond of the fact.
But Mr.. Bond was not the Royal Pro-
fessor of Astronomy at London and the
gentlemen with whom the award rested,
decided that as the condition was not
complied with, Miss Mitchell could not
have the medal. ~
Gov. Everett was not discouraged.
He seat all>the letters and documents
touching the case-the letter to Mr..
Bond, bearing the post-mark of Oct. s
to r, p FlankeR, Esq, Charged At
fairs Of the United States at Copenha-
oen This gentlemen obtained an audi
ence with the King of Denmark. He re-
ferred the whole matter to Prof. Schu-
maeker, with an order to report at once.
Ths report vas favorable to the claims of
our fair country woman. The King was
pleased to regard the letter to MIR. Bond,
as compliance in spirit with the condi-
ton. He ordered the information to be
sent to Miss Mitch ell, that as soon as the