April 20, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE\VS. 



36; 



glaciers on which the observations of Rinlc and Helland 

 were made are fair average samples or merely exceptional. 

 It is well known that the pace of Alpine glaciers varies 

 remarkably with slope, temperature, etc. 



But the most important factor of all is the supply of 

 sub-glacial water due to thawing above. Now this upper 

 thawing is especially great on arctic ice fields, owing to 

 the continuous summer sunshine, which produces singu- 

 larly hot summer weather with no cessation of thaw 

 during the night such as occurs in summer time on the 

 Alps. This accounts for much of the difference. 



investments acquired new value, and he ultimately be- 

 came immensely rich. He was a man of very secluded 

 habits, was a skilful mechanic, and, it is said, was espe- 

 cially fond of astronomy. Towards the end of his life 

 he lived near San Jose, in the Santa Clara Valley. In 

 1874 he made over by deed to a body of trustees the 

 sum of 2,000,000 dols., for various public and philan- 

 thropic uses, and in 1875 made a revised deed to the 

 same general effect. Besides various charitable dona- 

 tions, it included the following gifts: — 150,000 dols. for 

 free public baths in San Francisco ; 100,000 dols. for 



X 





The Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California. 



THE LICK OBSERVATORY OF THE 

 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.— I. 



JAMES LICK, whose name has already acquired a 

 world-wide fame as the establisher of the Lick 

 Observatory, was born in 1798, in Pennsylvania. He 

 led a somewhat adventurous life, and before he was 

 thirty years old accumulated a few thousand dollars. 

 This he had made principally in South America, where 

 he spent some years. In 1827 he went to California, 

 and visited the old mission town of San Francisco. The 

 splendid harbour, the only one on many miles of coast, 

 greatly impressed Mr. Lick, and he began purchasing 

 land. Twenty-one years later, when gold had been dis- 

 covered, and when the rush to California began, his 



statuary for the new City Hall of that city ; 60,000 dols. 

 for a monument to Francis Scott Key, the author of 

 " The Star-Spangled Banner " ; 540,000 dols. to endow 

 the California School of Mechanical Science in San 

 Francisco ; and 700,000 dols. for procuring for the 

 University of California " a telescope of greater power 

 than any yet made." The total value of the trust fund 

 was estimated at 5,000,000 dols. 



As the site for his observatory he selected Mount 

 Hamilton, near his home in the Santa Clara Valley. He 

 died October ist, 1876, aged 78 years. His body is in- 

 terred under the base of the great telescope, which rises 

 above his remains as a fitting monument to one of the 

 world's greatest benefactors and philanthropists. 



In administering their trust the custodians met with 



