Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Longstreth, Miers Fisher

LONGSTRETH, Miers Fisher, astronomer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 15 March, 1819. He was educated in the schools of the Society of Friends, and was graduated at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1856. During the early part of his life he was a merchant, but devoted his leisure to the study of astronomy, having charge of the Friends' observatory in Philadelphia till 1856. He then removed to Sharon Hill, Pa., where he has since practised medicine. Dr. Longstreth has devoted most of his life to study, and his contributions to astronomy have been valuable. They have appeared in the “Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,” of which he has been a member since 1848, and he was also one of the original members of the National academy of science. He has always declined public office, although for more than forty years he has been a member of private and public educational boards.