Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/529

 SCIENCE

���FRIDAT, JUNE 19. 18S5.

��THE LICK OBSERVATORY. [ The Lick ohaervatory. in iU present con- . clUion ou the summil of Mount Hamilton, California, is so nearly complctefl, with the exception of the great telescope, that the in- BtllDtion maj' now be sketched to advantage in its permanent form. In an early issue of Science, therefore, this enterprise will be traced through its variona stages, from the incep- tion onward. Astronomers have been slow to avail themselves of the great advantages of mountain elevation and isolation in the prose- cution of astronomical research, partly because of the pecuniary outlay attending the necessary expeditions, but chiefly because some of the earlier expeditions to mountain summits were not attended with results of especial impor- tance, and, on good theoretical grounds, the meteorological conditions of such stations ap- peared likely to be so unfavorable as to coun- t£rhalance fully the advantages to be derived from mere elevation. And besides, the evi- dence denved from the two most famous ex- peditions — that of Pi-of. C, Hazzi Smythe to the Peak of Teneriffe, and of Mr. William Lassell to Malta — was so contradictory in character as to alTord very good ground for abandutiing the hope of immediate advantage to astronomy fVom superior elevations.

It is not possible to say how far Mr. James Lick was acquainted with these endeavors of scientific men ; nor need the immediate circum- stances or events which impelled him to his extraordinary astronomical bequest be con- sidered here. Professor N'ewcomb points out the fact that his movement followed close upon the completion of the great Washington tele- scope in 1873, then the lai^est in existence. Had Mr. Lick known the opinions of the best astronomers on the subject of mountain observBlortes, and the likelihood of securing,

��on elevated and isolated t^aks, results at all commensurate with the trouble and expense of occupying such stations, he would have found very little to encourage the project. In this case, however, as very often before, a little experience has proven to be worth more than an indefinite amount of seicntiGc theorizing. It has been said that the scheme of building " a powerful telescope, superior to and more powerful than any yet made," was tlie nearest of all to the heart of Mr. Lick : there is abun- dant evidence that this is true ; and it may be also true that he regarded the observatory as an appendage of the telescoiw. But the course of subsequent events has proven it a matter for sincere gratulation in astronomical circles, that he ever reganled either the ob- servatory or the telescope at all ; for, had not the prospective researches with the great telescope arrested his attention, there is very little reason fur believing that, in so far as be was concerned, aslrononiical science would ever have been in a |K>silinn to reap benefit from the splendidly equipjied observatory which already exists on the summit of Mount Hamilton.

That Mr. Lick was bound, heart and soul, in the project, not only of a great telescope. but of the best possible location for it, is evident from the fact, that when neanng hie eightieth year, and although oppressed with physical infirmity, he resolutely undertook a wagon-journey of some forty miles or more, reclining on a mattress, all for the sake of in- vestigating a proposed mountain site in person. Ills solicitous concern for the enterprise was very marked. Those who knew him Iwst say, that, if his practical knowledge of astronomy had been greater, he would have given every penny of his vast fortune for the great tele- 8CO]>e, and the obser^'atory and its endowment. He would have recc^nized, too, the groat im- probability of such an institution being com- plele<l within a period of a few short years.

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