378 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



antly in his Reminiscences of its origin. At a dinner party 

 several Senators were present the mortifying statement was made 

 that there was no large telescope in Washington. This fact so 

 interested Senator Hamlin of Maine that provision was made 

 almost immediately by Congress for the construction of a suitable 

 instrument. The necessary money was appropriated and to 

 Newcomb was assigned the duty of negotiating the contracts, and 

 later of supervising the construction of the object-glass. The 

 great 26-inch lens was made by Alvan Clark and Sons, and on 

 November 10, 1873, tne fi rst observations made with it, those 

 on the satellites of Neptune, were begun. It is interesting to 

 add that the famous discovery of the satellites of Mars by Asaph 

 Hall in August, 1877, was made with this instrument. According 

 to Newcomb: "The success of the Washington telescope excited 

 such interest the world over as to give a new impetus to the con- 

 struction of such instruments." Pleased with their success the 

 Clarks were ready to undertake much larger instruments, and it 

 may be said that a 30-inch telescope for the Pulkowa Observa- 

 tory in Russia, the 36-inch telescope of the Lick Observatory in 

 California, and, finally, the 40-inch of the Yerkes Observatory 

 in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, were the outcome of the movement. 



A description of the second event will occupy but a few words. 

 In 1871 Newcomb was appointed secretary of the commission 

 that was created by Congress for the purpose of observing the 

 transit of Venus on December 9, 1874, and under whose direction 

 the expeditions sent by the United States government were organ- 

 ized. He also had much to do with equipping the expeditions 

 that were sent to observe the transit in 1882, and he took charge 

 of the party that went to Cape of Good Hope. His comment on 

 the occasion is as follows: "The sky on the day of the transit was 

 simply perfect. Notwithstanding the intensity of the sun's rays, 

 the atmosphere was so steady that I have never seen the sun to 

 better advantage. So all our observations were successful." 



Early in 1874, the announcement was made that James Lick, 

 of San Francisco, had transferred his fortune to a board of trus- 

 tees in order to carry out certain public benefactions, one of which 



