given Rumford Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 61 

 The Rumford Medal was awarded to Clark in general recognition 

 of his ability to figure nearly perfect lenses, and in particular for his 

 method of local correction. Several stories, indicative of Clark's per- 

 sonality, were told about this prize. Anyone who was being considered 

 by the Rumford Committee was required to submit an essay describing 

 his work. According to one source, Alvan Clark was unwilling to waste 

 time preparing this essay. Instead, he invited the committee to his work- 

 shop where he gave them a demonstration of his methods. 62 According 

 to Alvan Clark himself, the Rumford Committee asked him to write 

 on his original methods; he then invited the committee to his shop 

 because since he knew so little of the way others had made lenses, he 

 could not say which of his devices were unique with him. 63 In much 

 the same vein, around 1847 Alvan Clark told Dr. Jacob Bigelow, who 

 had recently been in Munich where the Harvard equatorial had been 

 made, that he was interested in making astronomical lenses. Bigelow 

 brusquely commented that if he wished to learn to make telescopes, he 

 must go where they were made. Twenty years later, Bigelow was present 

 when Alvan Clark received the Rumford Medal. Clark reminded him 

 of their previous conversation, and said that he had indeed gone to where 

 telescopes were made — to Cambridgeport ! 64 



Many people — sightseers as well as customers — visited the Clark fac- 

 tory and were shown every detail of the process; since the factory no 

 longer exists and the Clarks left no records, all of our knowledge of the 

 Clarks' methods comes from visitors' reports. One visitor to the Clark 

 workshop thought the appliances both few and rude compared with 

 those used by European artisans; he attributed the Clarks' success to 

 skillful manipulation and personal supervision rather than reliance on 

 precise mechanisms. 65 Another visitor was shown an old hen setting in 

 a corner as an example of a manufactory quite as wonderful as the tele- 



61 "Remarks by Alvan Clark on Receipt of Rumford Medal," Proc, American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 7 (1865- 1868), pp. 244-249. 



62 Obituary of Alvan Clark, Boston Post, 20 August 1887, p. 8. 



63 Alvan Clark autobiography, op. cit., p. 116. 



64 Ibid. 



65 Ralph Copeland, "Notes on a Recent Visit to Some North American Observa- 

 tories," Copernicus, vol. 3 (1884), p. 138. 



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