248 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



It was in this way the attention of the Rev. W. R. Dawes of Eng- 

 land was first called to my seemingly incipient, obscure, and humble 

 labors. I have since sold him five object-glasses, of from seven and a 

 quarter to eight and a quarter inches' aperture, and his published re- 

 ports upon their qualities have brought orders enough, for a number of 

 years past, to secure for me, in making proficiency, the full benefit 

 of an abundant practice. 



The need of sympathy and co-operation from those nearer home, 

 •which was sometimes pressing at the outset, was thus, through the in- 

 fluence of Mr. Dawes, greatly alleviated. 



I never suffered from the lack of good wishes, but a lack of confi- 

 dence in my ability to prosecute such an art to successful results pre- 

 vailed for a time among those who had knowledge of my antecedents. 



In April, 1860, an order came from the University of Mississippi for 

 an object-glass of unusual dimensions. In undertaking this it became 

 necessary for me to remove to some more commodious place than the 

 one I had previously occupied. In the same month a site was select- 

 ed, and dwellings and a workshop erected in the course of the ensuing 

 summer. The material was ordered from Chance & Co. of Birming- 

 ham, and preparations made for the work. 



This lens was completed in the autumn of 1862, when all communi- 

 cation with Mississippi was cut off". Fortunately they had paid noth- 

 ing upon it, and I felt at liberty to put it in the market. 



George P. Bond manifested much interest in it, visiting me repeat- 

 edly while my rough proving tube was in such a position that he could 

 deliberately examine the great nebula in Orion through it ; and he 

 placed his opinion of it on record, at the next meeting of the visiting 

 committee, by recommending its purchase for the Cambridge Observa- 

 tory, and measures were soon on foot for raising the money. When 

 the sum of S 4,500 had been reached, and my expectations were centred 

 in that direction, I was suddenly and most unexpectedly called upon by 

 a purchaser from Chicago, with a tender of the full price I was to have 

 received from Mississippi. With the assistance of my sons I have 

 since made a mounting for it, and put the instrument up at the Chicago 

 Observatory, where Professor Saffbrd has it in charge. 



It was with this glass that my younger son, Alvan G. Clark, discov- 

 ered the companion of Sirius, on the first occasion of its being looked 

 for, and before the star had been in the field three seconds. Through 

 this business I have been made acquainted with many of the great and 



