362 GEORGE BASSETT CLARK. 



of the instrument required, he would readily undertake the solution of 

 the frequently perplexing problems which presented themselves when 

 its actual construction was begun. When it was finished, he was 

 equally indefatigable in experimenting with it, not only before it left 

 the workshop, but after it had been delivered to the purchaser, until 

 it had been brought into such condition as fully to answer its purpose. 

 He was indifferent to the mere external appearance of his work, but 

 spared no pains to make the results to be obtained with it as perfect 

 as possible. 



Upon the criterion laid down by Solomon, few men have ever been 

 as well qualified as Mr. Clark to stand before kings ; for he was pre- 

 eminently a man diligent in his business. This virtue, no doubt, had 

 the corresponding defect, that he was almost incapable of allowing 

 himself reasonable time for rest and recreation. The holidays of his 

 workmen were usually spent by him in solitary labor, directed to 

 testing and improving the instruments in course of construction, or in 

 consultation with some scientific customer upon the best means of 

 evading the difficulties which were hindering the execution of some 

 new plan. When an important order was in the hands of the firm, 

 he could not rest till the work was accomplished. Thus, when the 

 instruments for the national observations of the transit of Venus in 

 1874 were to be constructed, and, owing to delay in the receipt of 

 definite orders the time for their execution was very limited, Mr. 

 Clark labored so unremittingly to accomplish what was required that 

 as soon as the instruments were sent off he was prostrated by illness, 

 from the effects of which, it is apprehended, he never fully recovered. 

 Still, notwithstanding weariness and imperfect health, the remainder 

 of his life exhibited the same continuous industry which had previously 

 marked it. During this period, the equipment of the Observatory of 

 Harvard College was largely increased. Numbers of new instru- 

 ments applicable to new forms of observation were called for from 

 the firm of Alvan Clark and Sons ; and Mr. George B. Clark devoted 

 to supplying these needs, not merely the attention due to a customer, 

 but the interest of a friend. Such men will always be overworked, 

 for their willingness and ability naturally overwhelm them with calls 

 for their assistance. 



To enumerate the important instruments in the construction of which 

 Mr. Clark took part would be merely to give a list of the celebrated 

 telescopes and other pieces of apparatus which have been furnished 

 during the last forty years by the firm of Alvan Clark and Sons. But 

 attention may be called particularly to those instruments in which in- 



