490 PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE SERVtCE OF ASTRONOMY. 



delay which is foreseen, and which is already in some decree dis- 

 counted. So great result, and so unexpected, acquired in so short a 

 time — is not this the most brilliant guaranty of the future? At the 

 same time telescopes are perfected and attain colossal dimensions. 

 The greatest at the present time is the refractor of 0.90'" in aperture 

 which is to he installed on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in Califor- 

 nia, where stands, 1,300 meters above the sealevel of the Pacitic, an 

 observatory founded by James Lick. This old manufacturer of organs, 

 made rich by fortunate speculations, and desirous of i^erpetuating his 

 name in the memory of men, had for a long time hesitated between a 

 pyramid under which to be interred, and an observatory which should 

 be erected above the clouds. It was said to him that a pyramid, 

 which he wished to be located at the entrance of the harbor of San 

 Francisco, would be taken in case of war for a mark by the enemy, 

 and he decided upon the observatory, where he reposes under the 

 great telescope. There have been spent, in constructing it and in mak- 

 ing a road to it, more than $700,000. The bequest is not sufScient for 

 it, and the State has been obliged to intervene. But its atmosphere 

 has a purity unknown elsewhere; it has at least two days of fine 

 weather out of three. 



