Gillis

James Melvin, an American astronomer; born in George town, | 1811; entered the navy in 1827, soon obtained leave of _absence and was graduated at the University of Virginia, and then spent six months in Paris. He was in charge of the observation of occultations and transit observations made in connection with the Wilkes exploring expedition, Gillis making the observations at the Washington end at a little observatory on Capitol Hill. He had charge of the United States astronomical expedition to the Southern hemisphere, und in 1861 was appointed super in rend ent of the national observatory at a D. C. He died in Washington, D. C., Feb. 9, 1865.