SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1885. 



THE LICK OBSERVATORY. 



The Lick observatory, in its present con- 

 dition on the summit of Mount Hamilton, 

 California, is so nearly completed, with the 

 exception of the great telescope, that the in- 

 stitution may now be sketched to advantage 

 in its permanent form. In an early issue of 

 Science, therefore, this enterprise will be traced 

 through its various stages, from the incep- 

 tion onward. Astronomers have been slow to 

 avail themselves of the great advantages of 

 mountain elevation and isolation in the prose- 

 cution 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 impor- 

 tance, and, on good theoretical grounds, the 

 meteorological conditions of such stations ap- 

 peared likely to be so unfavorable as to coun- 

 terbalance fully the advantages to be derived 

 from mere elevation. And besides, the evi- 

 dence derived from the two most famous ex- 

 peditions — 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 is not possible to say how far Mr. James 

 Lick was acquainted with these endeavors of 

 scientific men ; nor need the immediate circum- 

 stances or events which impelled him to his 

 extraordinary astronomical bequest be con- 

 sidered here. Professor Newcomb points out 

 the fact that his movement followed close upon 

 the completion of the great Washington tele- 

 scope 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, 



Vn 124. — 1885. 



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, however, as verj 7 often before, a little 

 experience has proven to be worth more than 

 an indefinite amount of scientific theorizing. 

 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 abun- 

 dant 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 proven it a 

 matter for sincere gratulation in astronomical 

 circles, that he ever regarded either the ob- 

 servatory or the telescope at all ; for, had 

 not the prospective researches with the great 

 telescope arrested his attention, there is very 

 little reason for believing that, in so far as 

 he was concerned, astronomical science would 

 ever have been in a position to reap benefit 

 from the splendidly equipped observato^ 

 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 

 wagon -journey of some forty miles or more, 

 reclining on a mattress, all for the sake of in- 

 vestigating 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- astrononrv 

 had been greater, he would have given every 

 penny of his vast fortune for the great tele- 

 scope, and the observator}- and its endowment. 

 He would have recognized, too, the great im- 

 probability of such an institution being com- 

 pleted within a period of a few short years. 



