Abstract
THE Lick Observatory, in its present condition on the A 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 Science, 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 theoretical 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. And besides, the evidence derived from the two most famous expeditions— 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.
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The Lick Observatory 1 . Nature 32, 320–321 (1885). https://doi.org/10.1038/032320a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/032320a0