Alvan Clark sent a small object-glass to Amherst College, which he 

 claimed to have reworked by his own hands entirely. 115 The following 

 year Edward S. Holden found him "wonderfully well preserved" and 

 noted almost with surprise that he could no longer do optical work. 116 

 Although he probably had little to do with the actual figuring of the 

 Lick objective, Alvan Clark was alert and vigorous enough to participate 

 in the testing of it in the summer of 1 886 ! Charles A. Young reported 

 that one time when he was in Cambridgeport Clark not only remained 

 present during the whole evening, but also "examined every object, even 

 when the position required was such as to cramp and try younger limbs 

 and muscles. His eye seems to have lost little of its original keenness, 

 though trembling hands and easy weariness no longer permit him to do 

 much actual labor." 117 Around 1885 the "venerable old man" returned 

 to his paint brushes, which he had not touched for twenty-five years; 

 he painted at least three large oil portraits — of his two sons, and of his 

 only grandson, Alvan Clark III. 118 



George was much less robust than his father and survived him by only 

 four years. As early as 1887 an observer thought that Alvan Graham was 

 the responsible and active member of the firm, "if his movements can be 

 called by that title." 119 In the fall of 1891 the brothers dissolved their 

 partnership because George felt physically unable to continue working. 120 

 Alvan Graham did most of the work on the Lick lens; after that he seems 

 to have merely supervised the construction of Clark lenses while Lundin 

 did the actual work. Alvan Graham's last project, in the spring of 1897, 

 was to accompany the 4.0-inch lens to the Yerkes Observatory and super- 

 intend its mounting there. 



After the death of Alvan Graham, the Alvan Clark & Sons Company 

 continued, without any Clarks, for another sixty years. George Clark 

 and his sisters were childless; Alvan Graham's only son died at the age 



115 Alvan Clark to David Todd, 7 October 1884 (letter in Todd Papers, Yale 

 University Archives). 



116 Edward S. Holden to Richard S. Floyd, 23 June 1885 (letter in Lick Observa 

 tory Archives). 



117 Charles A. Young, "A Look Through the Great Object-Glass, " The Popuar- 

 Science News, vol. 20 (1886), p. 138. 



118 Science, vol. 7 (1886), pp. 303-304. 



119 Charles Plum to the Lick Trust, 21 May 1887 (letter in Lick Observatory 

 Archives). 



120 Publications, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, vol. 3 ( 189 1 ), p. 377. 



36 



