ASTRONOMY. 177 



described in tbese reports and elsewhere, bnt it may not perhaps be su- 

 perfluous to recapitubite briefly here, relerring for details to Vol. 1 of 

 the observatory publications, or to an article by Professor Holdeu in 

 the Sidereal Messeuger for February, 1888. The mounting of the 30- 

 iiicli equatorial is referred to at some length in the present report under 

 the heading " Instruments." 



The njain observatory building is 287 feet loug, including the 75 foot 

 dome at its southern end, and contains a hall 1.5 feet wide running the 

 whole length, offices and computing rooms, the library, clock-room, 

 visitors' room, etc., and at the northwest corner stands the 25-foot dome 

 for the 12-inch equatorial. The other buildings on the mountain sum- 

 mit are the meridian-circle house, transit-house, photoheliograph, lab- 

 oratory, several temporary workshops, and the dwelling for the astrono- 

 mers. The instrumental equipment consists of the 30-inch, 12 inch, 

 and GJ inch equatorials, 4 inch comet-seeker, C inch meridian-circle, 

 4-inch transit and zenith telescope, 2 inch universal instrument, photo- 

 heliograph, declinograph, five clocks, several chronometers, four "chro- 

 nographs, and minor apparatus. The costof theinstruments'with their 

 mountings and transi)ortation, aggregated about $200,000; bnildings 

 and other expenses amounted to about $375,000; leaving in the neigh- 

 borhood of $125,000 for a permanent endowment fund. In addition to 

 what may be derived from the investment of this sum, the^observatory 

 is to be allowed for its maintenance as a department of the University 

 of California the sum of $19,188 a year. The astroiu^mical staff con- 

 sists of E. S. Ilolden, director and astronomer; S. ^Y. Burnham, J. M. 

 Schaeberle, J. E. Keeler, E. E. Barnard, astronomers; C. B. Hill, assist- 

 ant astronomer, secretary, and librarian. The first volumetof "Publi- 

 cations" appeared before the real work of the observatory nad begun, 

 and it is, therefore, mainly historical and descriptive. It contains Mr. 

 Lick's deeds of trust. Professor Newcomb's report on glass for object- 

 ives, Mr. Burnham's reports upon the site in 1879' and 1881, -descrip- 

 tions of the buildings and instruments, an account of theiengiueering 

 and building at Mount Hamilton in the years 1880-1885, observations 

 of the transit of Mercury in 1881 and of Venus in 1882, geological re- 

 ports, meteorological observations, 1880-1885, and an extensive series 

 of reduction tables for the latitude of the observatory. There have 

 been published in scientific journals and in the daily press interesting 

 notes u[)on nebuliT3 and planetary markings as shown by the 3G-inch 

 refractor, and the discoveries of new comets and double stars. Pro- 

 fessor Holden attributes the steady-seeing at Mount Hamilton to the 

 coast fogs, which roll in from the sea every afternoon in the summer, 

 rising 1,500 to 2,000 feet, covering the hot valley and preventing radia- 

 tion from it. The nights of summer and autumn — April to October or 

 Novend)er — are fonnd to be excellent both as to clearness and steadi- 

 ness; the daylight hours are less satisfactory, and in winter the seeing 

 is not much better than at lower altitudes. 



Li^ge {Oupr^^n). — See Cointe. 

 H. Mis. 142 12 



