have something to say." 148 The truth of Newcomb's comment is con- 

 firmed by the existing Clark correspondence, all of which is consistently 

 direct. When Alvan Graham was in California for the installation of the 

 telescope, James Keeler found him "a terrible old blow and grumbler" 

 who insisted that "the only decent thing about the telescope is the object 

 glass, that the dome is worthless and the shutter the same." 149 



Besides the 36-inch, the Clarks worked on several other Lick instru- 

 ments: the 1 2 -inch equatorial refractor which had belonged to Henry 

 Draper (q.v. ) ; three 6-inch lenses for the telescope and two collimators of 

 the Repsold meridian circle — one of which also served as the object glass 

 of a Warner & Swasey portable equatorial; an excellent 4-inch objective 

 for a Fauth transit instrument; a 4-inch comet seeker which employed a 

 reflecting prism to send the light in one horizontal plane; and a photo- 

 heliograph essentially identical to the American Transit of Venus instru- 

 ments (q.v.). 150 In addition, the Lick Observatory inherited the 5-inch 

 aperture visual/photographic refractor the Clarks had made for Richard 

 S. Floyd (q.v.). 



The history of the 12-inch refractor illustrates some of the problems 

 encountered in identifying a well-pirated instrument. Before sending this 

 telescope to California the Clarks, acting on Simon Newcomb's instruc- 

 tions, altered its drive mechanism. They replaced the original spring gov- 

 ernor, which they found more reliable in practiced hands, with the more 

 durable rotary pendulum. A few years later, by the time the Lick astron- 

 omers had decided in favor of the original regulator, the Clarks had fitted 

 it to the drive of the equatorial they were making for the United States 

 Military Academy (q.v.). 151 



In 1877 the Clarks completed an 1 i-inch refractor, with a photographic 

 correcting lens, for the Lisbon Observatory. The mount for this was 

 described as stable and elegant. 152 This instrument never reached its 

 Portuguese destination and was sold to Henry Draper (q.v.) . 



148 Simon Newcomb to Richard S. Floyd, 6 July 1880 (ibid.). 



149 James Keeler to Edward S. Holden, 6 January 1888 (ibid.). 



150 For descriptions of the original Lick instruments see Publications, Lick Observa- 

 tory, vol. 1 (1887). 



151 Alvan Clark & Sons to Richard S. Floyd, 2 August [1883] (letter in Lick 

 Observatory Archives). 



152 Edward S. Holden, "Astronomy," Annual Record of Science and Industry (1877), 

 p. 28. 



76 



