September 4, 1885.] 



SCIENCE, 



189 



tion of this interior (fig. 4) , is shown a covered 

 carriage on rails, which serves the purpose of 

 additional protection to the instrument when 

 not in use. 



At the centre of the ' near view' ffig. 3), is 

 shown the permanent dwelling for the director 

 of the observatory- and his colleagues. It is 

 built of brick, just below the observatory pla- 

 teau, and faces the north-east, with a frontage 

 of fifty feet. It contains thirty rooms, and ex- 

 tends toward the mountain to a depth of sixty 

 feet ; and a short bridge from the third story 

 of the house lands on the summit plateau, near 

 the entrance to the meridian-circle room. 



It will be seen that the observatory is al- 



outfit of lathes and tools ; and an astronomical 

 library containing a choice selection of works 

 of an exclusively technical character. This 

 latter has already necessitated an expense of 

 about five thousand dollars. 



Popular interest in the observatory now 

 centres chiefly in the remaining work of the 

 trustees, which is threefold, — the making of 

 the object-glass of the great telescope ; the 

 construction of the mounting or mechanical 

 portions of this instrument ; and the building 

 of the enormous dome, which will be required 

 to cover the telescope, and permit its most un- 

 constrained use. Upon the construction of the 

 dome and the mounting, the future usefulness 



Fig. 



■The Lick observatort. NEAii view 



OM THE NORTH-EAST. 



ready in a position, so far as the outfit of the 

 establishment is concerned, to proceed at once 

 with astronomical research. In addition to the 

 instruments alread}^ mentioned, its equipment 

 consists of a four-inch transit-instrument by 

 Fauth ; a four-inch comet-seeker by Clark ; a 

 measuring-engine by Stackpole, reading either 

 rectangular or polar co-ordinates ; five clocks 

 by Dent, Frodsham, Hohwii, and Howard, 

 and four chronometers by Negus ; a system of 

 electric connections involving all the observ- 

 ing and clock rooms ; a six and one-third 

 inch equatorial telescope ; a two-inch Repsold 

 vertical circle ; a workshop, with a complete 



of the great telescope will very largely depend. 

 The contract for the object-glass — amount- 

 ing to about one-half the cost of the entire 

 telescope — was placed with the Messrs. Clark 

 nearty five j^ears ago. Two years later they 

 received from the glass-maker, Mr. Fell of 

 Paris, a disk of flint-glass of the required per- 

 fection, and thirt^^-eight inches in diameter. 

 This glass has already stood in their workshop 

 at Cambridgeport nearl}- three j'ears, and it 

 is inexpedient for them to attempt to work 

 it to the proper curvatures until its com- 

 panion disk of crown-glass is secured : in 

 fact, these curvatures cannot be definitely 



