320 
NATURE 
| dugust 6, 1885 
and what each one should refrain from doing, the whole 
execution of the work decided upon being left completely 
in the hands of the regular authorities. We see no reason 
why this should be “ irksome” to the heads of the depart- 
ments. We also feel that Major Powell assigns undue 
importance to the influence of the single military officer 
proposed by the Academy as one of the nine members of 
the Commission. It is not so clear to us, as it seems to 
be to him, that one such officer could leaven the whole 
lump of the Commission with ideas of military discipline 
unsuitable to the conduct of a scientific bureau. 
But however favourably we may view the plan of this 
Commission, we must hold that the consolidation of the 
bureaus under a single head, or in a single department, 
would give far more assurance of efficiency. Especially 
is this the case with the two national surveys. Their 
work now covers the same fields, and their mutual inter- 
dependence is such that they should work under a com- 
mon plan. The Geological Survey requires for its proper 
execution certain geodetic and astronomical work, the 
execution of which is not within the proper province of 
the geologist. It is absolutelynecessary that this geodetic 
and astronomical work should be so planned and executed 
as to meet the wants of the Geological Survey, and at 
the same time it is the proper function of the geodetic 
survey. We are informed by Major Fowell that he makes 
use of all the coast-survey results so far as they are avail- 
able, but he does not indicate what fraction of his labour 
is thus saved; and it goes without saying that he has no 
authority, directly or indirectly, to require that the coast 
and geodetic survey shall do anything which he may want 
done. 
Among the suggestions made by Major Powell was one 
that all the scientific bureaus should be placed under the 
general direction of the regents of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion. This does not appear to have been considered practic- 
able, and was not further urged by the director himself. 
One of the possible plans is to place all these bureaus 
under the interior department. The principal objection to 
this course is that that departmentis already overloaded with 
work, so that its head could not give the proper consider- 
ation to the subject. Yet this is the simplest course, and 
would certainly be an improvement on the present state 
of things. The more effective course would be to form a 
separate department of science and public works, To 
this there seems to be no positive and serious obstacle 
except the difficulty of getting any measure of the sort 
enacted into a law. The question whether the head of 
the department should be a scientific expert or a public 
administrator is an ulterior one, which need not be dis- 
cussed at present. In the latter case the question of its 
being regarded as a cabinet office would arise. There 
will be little hesitation in deciding this question in the 
negative. 
THE LICK OBSERVATORY} 
HE Lick Observatory, in its present condition on the 
summit of Mount Hamilton, California, is so nearly 
completed, with the exception of the great telescope, that 
the institution may now be sketched to advantage in its 
permanent form. In an early issue of Sczezce, therefore, 
this enterprise will be traced through its various stages, 
from the inception onward. Astronomers have been slow 
to avail themselves of the great advantages of mountain 
elevation and isolation in the prosecution of astronomical 
research, partly because of the pecuniary outlay attending 
the necessary expeditions, but chiefly because some of the 
earlier expeditions to mountain summits were not attended 
with results of especial importance, and, on good theoreti- 
cal grounds, the meteorological conditions of such stations 
appeared likely to be so unfavourable as to counterbalance 
fully the advantages to_be derived from mere elevation. 
* From Science. 
And besides, the evidence derived from the two most 
famous expeditions—that of Prof. C. Piazzi Smythe to the 
Peak of Teneriffe and of Mr. William Lassell to Malta— 
was so contradictory in character as to afford very good 
ground for abandoning the hope of immediate advantage 
to astronomy from superior elevations. 
It isnot possible to say how far Mr. James Lick was 
acquainted with these endeavours of scientific men; nor 
need the immediate circumstances;or events which im- 
pelled him to his extraordinary astronomical bequest be 
considered here. Prof. Newcomb points out the fact that 
his movement followed close upon the completion of the 
great Washington telescope in 1873, then the largest in 
existence. Had Mr. Lick known the opinions of the best 
astronomers on the subject of mountain observatories, 
and the likelihood of securing, on elevated and isolated 
peaks, results at all commensurate with the trouble and 
expense of occupying such stations, he would have found 
very little to encourage the project. In this case, how- 
ever, as very often before, a little experience has proved 
to be worth more than an indefinite amount of scientific 
theorising. It has been said that the scheme of building 
‘“‘a powerful telescope, superior to and more powerful 
than any yet made,” was the nearest of all to the heart 
of Mr. Lick: there is abundant evidence that this is true ; 
and it may be also true that he regarded the Observatory 
as an appendage of the telescope. But the course of 
subsequent events has proved it a matter for sincere 
gratulation in astronomical circles that he ever regarded 
either the Observatory or the telescope at all; for, had 
not the prospective researches with the great telescope 
arrested his attention, there is very little reason for be- 
lieving that, in so far as he was concerned, astronomical 
science would ever have been in a position to reap benefit 
from the splendidly equipped Observatory which already 
exists on the summit of Mount Hamilton. 
That Mr. Lick was bound, heart and soul, in the 
project, not only of a great telescope, but of the best 
possible location for it, is evident from the fact that, when 
nearing his eightieth year, and although oppressed with 
physical infirmity, he resolutely undertook a waggon 
journey of some forty miles or more, reclining on a 
mattress, all for the sake of investigating a proposed 
mountain site in person. His solicitous concern for the 
enterprise was very marked. Those who knew him best 
say that, if his practical knowledge of astronomy had 
been greater, he would have given every penny of his vast 
fortune for the great telescope, and the Observatory and 
its endowment. He would have recognised, too, the 
great improbability of such an institution being com- 
pleted within a period of a few short years, and would 
thus have been led to provide for the reasonable use of 
the instrumental equipment as fast as it was put in place 
on the mountain. The failure to make such provision 
constitutes the chief point of unfavourable criticism on 
the part of astronomers, and is in many respects unfor- 
tunate ; but sundry advantages also have arisen from it, 
which may be recognised with more profit, particularly as 
this condition of things must remain unalterable until the 
great telescope is completed, and the entire institution 
comes under the administration of the University of 
California, in full accord with the terms of Mr. Lick’s 
bequest. 
Five years ago no one could have anticipated that the 
year 1886 must pass with the great telescope still un- 
finished. It is worthy of note, however, that, while the 
delay in obtaining the necessary glass for the objective 
has proved so great an embarrassment to the work of the 
opticians, it has not as yet sensibly impeded the pro- 
gress of the construction of the Observatory itself. To 
this fact we alluded at p. 377 of the current volume of 
Science, stating as well the very reasonable grounds for 
the belief that the plans of the Lick trustees, in so far as 
| they pertain to the construction of the great telescope 
