I
THE WORLD OF COLD AND DARKNESS
Ancestry.—Squire Thomas Prince.—Parentage.—Early Education.—
Books read.

II
DR. FOSHAY
A Long Journey on Foot.—A Wonderful Doctor.—The Botanic System of
Medicine.—Phrenology.—A Launch into the World.—A Disillusion.—
Life in Maryland.—Acquaintance with Professor Henry.—Removal
to Cambridge.

III
THE WORLD OF SWEETNESS AND LIGHT
The American Astronomical Ephemeris.—The Men who made it.—
Harvard in the Middle of the Century.—A Librarian of the Time.—
Professor Peirce.—Dr. Gould, the "Astronomical Journal," and the
Dudley Observatory.—W. P. G. Bartlett.—John D. Runkle and the
"Mathematical Monthly."—A Mathematical Politician.—A Trip to
Manitoba and a Voyage up the Saskatchewan.—A Wonderful Star.

IV
LIFE AND WORK AT AN OBSERVATORY
A Professor, United States Navy.—The Naval Observatory in 1861.—
Captain Gilliss and his Plans.—Admiral Davis.—A New Instrument
and a New Departure.—Astronomical Activity.—The Question of
Observatory Administration.—Visit from the Emperor of Brazil.—
Admiral John Rodgers.—Efforts to improve the Work of the
Observatory.

V
GREAT TELESCOPES AND THEIR WORK
Curious Origin of the Great Washington Telescope.—Congress
is induced to act.—A Case of Astronomical Fallibility.—
The Discovery of the Satellites of Mars.—The Great Telescope
of the Pulkova Observatory.—Alvan Clark and his Sons.—A Sad
Astronomical Accident.

VI
THE TRANSITS OF VENUS
Old Transits of Venus.—An Astronomical Expedition in the 18th
Century.—Father Hell and his Observations.—A Suspected Forger
vindicated.—The American Commission on the Transit of Venus.—
The Photographic Method to be applied.—Garfield and the
Appropriation Committee.—Weather Uncertainties.—Voyage to
the Cape of Good Hope.—The Transit of 1882.—Our Failure to
publish our Observations.

VII
THE LICK OBSERVATORY
James Lick and his Ideas.—Mr. D. O. Mills.—Plans for the Lick
Observatory.—Edward E. Barnard.—Professor Holden.—Wonderful
Success of the Observatory.

VIII
THE AUTHOR'S SCIENTIFIC WORK
The Orbits of the Asteroids.—The Problems of Mathematical
Astronomy.—The Motion of the Moon and its Perplexing
Inequalities.—A Visit to the Paris Observatory to search for
Forgotten Observations.—Wonderful Success in finding Them.—
The Paris Commune.—The History of the Moon's Motion carried back
a Century.—The Harvard Observatory.—The "Nautical Almanac" Office
and its Work.—Mr. George W. Hill and his Work.—A Wonderful
Algebraist.—The Meridian Conference of 1884, and the Question
of Universal Time.—Tables of the Planets completed.—
The Astronomical Constants.—Work unfinished.

IX
SCIENTIFIC WASHINGTON
Professor Henry and the Smithsonian Institution.—
Alumni Associations.—The Scientific Club.—General Sherman.—
Mr. Hugh McCulloch.—A Forgotten Scientist.—The National Academy of
Sciences.—The Geological Survey of the Territories.—The Government
Forestry System.—Professor O. C. Marsh.—Scientific Humbugs.—
Life on the Plains.

X
SCIENTIFIC ENGLAND
My First Trip to Europe.—Mr. Thomas Hughes.—Mr. John Stuart Mill.
—Mr. Gladstone and the Royal Society Dinner.—Other Eminent
Englishmen.—Professors Cayley and Adams.—Professor Airy and
the Greenwich Observatory.—A Visit to Edinburgh.

XI
MEN AND THINGS IN EUROPE
A Voyage to Gibraltar with Professor Tyndall.—The Great Fortress.
—"Whispering Boanerges."—A Winter Voyage in the Mediterranean.—
Malta and Messina.—Advantage of not understanding a Language.—
German Astronomers.—The Pulkova Observatory.—A Meeting which
might have been Embarrassing.—From Germany to Paris at the Close
of the War.—Experiences at Paris during the Commune.—The Greatest
Astronomer of France.—The Paris Observatory.

XII
THE OLD AND THE NEW WASHINGTON
Washington during the Civil War.—Secretary Stanton.—
The Raid of General Early.—A Presidential Levee in 1864.—
The Fall of Richmond.—The Assassination of President Lincoln.—
Negro Traits and Education.—Senator Sumner.—An Ambitious Academy.
—President Garfield and his Assassination.—Cooling the White House
during his Illness.—The Shepherd RÉgime in Washington.

XIII
MISCELLANEA
The Great Star-Catalogue Case.—Professor Peters and the
Almagest of Ptolemy.—Scientific Cranks.—The Degrees of the
French Universities.—A Virginia Country School.—Political Economy
and Education.—Exact Science in America before the Johns Hopkins
University.—Professor Ely and Economics.—Spiritualism and
Psychic Research.—The Georgia Magnetic Girl.