Morning journal and courier., 1893-11-17
THE LARGE TELESCOPE.
That Is to Go 10 the University of ChI-
 cago The Workshop cT AIvan

That Is to C 10 the University of ChI-
 cago The Workshop cT AIvan
 CIarkss Sons.
 Of Henry street in Cambrfdgeport. says the Boston Transcript, is brick building which stands in the midst of an orchard of pear snd other fruit trees. It Is sn unpTe tentious looking little building. and yet the work that Is done there is known all over the civilized world and wherever men of scientific attachments have made their homes. It is the factory of Alvsn Clark & Sons, and 1t is there that the lenses for the great telescope presented by Mir. Yerkes to the university of Chicago gre being msnu- factured. The greater part of work On these lenses is already completed. They stand in a case at the side of the cellar, each in 8 wooden frame, glittering like diamonds, and looking to the eye of lay man as though nothing could possibly be done to make them perfect. Not even an expert, go Mr. Clark says, could tell by K animation or by measurement that they are not perfect In every way, and 1t Is on- ly by actually testing the lenses thst any slight local impsrfections could be detect sd It is in the removing of theee local impsrfections that ths remainder of the work lies, and the work is one which re- auires the utmost care snd nicety of which the most skilled workmen are capable. The shaping of the lens aud part of the polishing is done with an siuminium disc, on which Is rubbed emery, varying in fins- ness the as ltns approaches completion; but the local correction which Is now being msde must be done entirely with the hand, and is pr0c-s- of great length.
 It seems straDEe in these days Of care fully perfected machinery, and of turning out articles by the hundred st 8 tims, to hear of work being done by hand in this way, and taking months and months of skilled and careful labor withost producing 2 an effect which is di-cernsbl- by eyesight or measurement While this work Is go- | ing on the lenses mnst be frequently tested, and it Is this in part that mskes so much | time necessary. This testing is done part | ly in lone room in the shop and partly in & tube which will be set up in the yard. | The buttress where the tuhs will rest is now Eoccupied by the one used in testing | the lenses of the great Lick telescope, | which is at present the largest in the \ world; but this Is not large enough for the \ new wonder and special tube will have to | be set up. The ultimate completion of the \ lenses will not be for some time yet. MT. Clark's contract has Etill about eight months to run, snd although he could fiBish The work In much lass time. 1t is not likely th at he will do so. The tabs snd the oper- atfpg machinery, wbieh were manufactured bv Warner Swasey & Co. of Cleveland. o. |, are all finished. and, in fact, are now on exhibition in Chicago; but the building which is to contain the telescope st the univ srrity of Chicago will not be complet- ed for some time yet, 90 that the lsnses will be kept st Cambridge and constant | Iy worked until the whole is ready to be | set mp.
 I always ft.el, :" said MT. Clark, "that SO | long ss hsva & lcnse in the chop I can. by | keeping at work on 1t, make it little bet | fer. so shall not send these out until it is | necessary. Moreover. we do no more work | than we can help during the extreme cold | of winter, as there Is alwAys s possibility \ of danger in handling the glars in such
 weather, and in a work of such importance ! we must eliminate even this slight chance. The lenses will probably be done some time in the course of next summer" The en. | fire work on helenses Is done under the i'm | mediate supervision of MT. Clark, and, in | fact ts done either by bimsslf or by one oi ! the workmen who has been with him for 6 | great many years, and who has the high
 est kind of 8 reputation in work of thi'
 kind.
 These lenses which are being made fol
 the university of Chicsgo, were originally
 intended for the university of southern California When the great Lick telsscop' I was set up, the people of southern Califor | mia immediately resolved not to be outdon' , and determined 10 place still larger on'
 on the summit of Wilson's peak, near Lo
 Angeles. The boom in that section of thu | ., untry was st its height at that time, st
 tb Ut the money was quickly subscribed
 inc slsss disc obtained from Paris sud th
 Cls, Is given the order to make them int
 Iense4. 2ut meantime the boom fattsnet
 out, as Call .sornia booms sometimes will
 and the meney which had been subscribe
 was not Forthcoming. The discs remAine
 soms time in Mir Clsrk's shop, but th
 matter fin.Ily coming to the knowledge c
 Professor Hale of the hsnwond ooserv'
 .orv Inf the university of Chicago. ws brought before the pstrous ot the univers
 tv. with fine result that the discs were pu lchsssd. MT. Clark was instructed to