386 ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES. 



(g) Clods : One mean time ; makers, Seth Thomas Clock Com- 

 pany : one sidereal ; maker, HoHWtr, of Amsterdam. 



(Ji) Chronometers: One sidereal; maker, Bliss, Xo. 278G ; one side- 

 real break-circuit, Bliss, ^o. 2791. 



Mount Hamilton, California. 



Liclc Observatory of tJie University of California. 



Longitude from Washington, 2'' 58"^ 14.G» W. 



Latitude, 37o 21' 3" N. 



Director : Edward S. H olden, 1885. 



The Lick Observatory of the University of California owes its origin 

 to the bequest of the late James Lick, of California, who bequeathed 

 to the University of California " a telescope of greater power than any 

 yet made." As the site of his observatory he selected Mount Hamilton, 

 in the Santa Clara Valley. 



The following description of the establishment of the observatory is 

 taken from the Scientific American (New York), March 17, 1888: 



In administering their trust the custodians met with legal obstacles 

 and suits brought by his relatives. These delayed tlie carrying out of 

 his plans, but eventually a settlement was reached. On June 30, 1883, 

 the corner-stone of the observatory to which this article is devoted 

 was hiid, and to-day the work is ])ractically complete. When Mount 

 Hamilton was selected as the site for the Lick Observatory, in order to 

 test its atmospheric conditions Prof. S. W. Burnham, tlie discoverer of 

 many double stars, was invited to observe there in 1879. Owing to the 

 dryness of the air and its excellent quality for astronomical work, 

 his G-iuch telescope described many stars, catalogued bj' Prof. Otto 

 Struve as double, into triple stars. Mr. Lick died in 1876, and the 

 original plans for the observatory were determined by Capt. Richard 

 S. Floyd, president of the trustees, and Mr. T. E. Eraser, superin- 

 tendent of construction, acting under the advice of Prof. Edward S. 

 Holden, and Prof. Simon Newcomb, of the Naval Observatory, in 

 Washington. Many noted astronomers have been interested in the 

 work, and this will probably be the most famous observatory in the 

 world. It owns about 1,550 acres of. land, a portion of which will event- 

 ually be made into a public ])ark, and the graded road of 26 miles leatl- 

 ing to the summit of Mount Hamilton from San Jose may, perhaps, be- 

 come a direct route to the Yosemite Valley. Since 1880, when the work 

 was first begun, 7,000 tons of rock and earth have been removed to 

 level a plateau upon which the buildings stand. They are constructed 

 of solid masonry, and are of simple but etiective architecture, and in- 

 clude the main building, 287 feet long, containing the directors' and 

 secretary's offices, the library, clock-rooms, etc., with the large dome 

 at its southern end for the large telescope, and a smaller dome for the 

 12inch equatorial at the northwest corner, the meridian-circle house, 

 the transit house, the photographic laboratory, and several temporary 

 wooden w<nicshops. The dwelling house of the astronomers, 03 by 60 

 feet, stands below the summit and is connected with the plateau by a 

 bridge. The surrounding peaks-have been named from several famous 

 astronomers. 



