Yet another example, showing what great results may be obtained
with limited means, is afforded by the Lick Observatory, on Mount
Hamilton, California. During the ten years of its activity its
astronomers have made it known the world over by works and
discoveries too varied and numerous to be even mentioned at the
present time.
The astronomical work of which I have thus far spoken has been
almost entirely that done at observatories. I fear that I may in
this way have strengthened an erroneous impression that the seat
of important astronomical work is necessarily connected with an
observatory. It must be admitted that an institution which has a
local habitation and a magnificent building commands public
attention so strongly that valuable work done elsewhere may be
overlooked. A very important part of astronomical work is done
away from telescopes and meridian circles and requires nothing but
a good library for its prosecution. One who is devoted to this
side of the subject may often feel that the public does not
appreciate his work at its true relative value from the very fact
that he has no great buildings or fine instruments to show. I may
therefore be allowed to claim as an important factor in the
American astronomy of the last half-century an institution of
which few have heard and which has been overlooked because there
was nothing about it to excite attention.
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