observers were assisted chiefly by Mr. H. K. Palmer, and in smaller degree by Messrs. Joel Stebbins, C. G. Dall, R. H. Curtiss and Sebastian Albrecht.

Professor Keeler’s photographs enabled him to make two discoveries of prime importance, not to mention several that are scarcely secondary to them.

1st.—“Many thousands of unrecorded nebulæ exist in the sky. A conservative estimate places the number within reach of the Crossley reflector at about 120,000. The number of nebulæ in our catalogues is but a small fraction of this.” [The number already discovered and catalogued did not exceed 13,000. Later observations with the Crossley reflector, with longer exposure-times and more sensitive plates, render it probable that the number of nebulæ discoverable with this powerful instrument is of the order of half a million.]

2d.—“Most of these nebulæ have a spiral structure.”

The photographs of the one hundred and four subjects contain the images of 744 nebulæ not previously observed. A catalogue of these is published in the present volume. Their positions, which are thought to be accurate within 1″, were determined by Messrs. Palmer, Curtiss, and Albrecht.

The main purpose of this volume is to reproduce and make available for study, the larger and more interesting nebulæ and clusters on the programme, sixty-eight in number. The thirty-six subjects not reproduced are for the most part small or apparently not of special interest. The difficulties attending the reproduction of astronomical photographs by mechanical processes are well-known to all who have made the attempt. It seems necessary to recognize, at least at present, that delicate details of structure will be lost, and that contrasts between very bright and very faint regions will be changed, especially if a good sky background is preserved; in other words, that the best obtainable reproductions fall far short of doing justice to the original photographs. Technical studies should be based upon the original negatives or upon copies on glass.

After considerable experimental work, involving several methods and several firms, the making of the heliogravure plates and the hand-press prints was entrusted to The Photogravure and Color Company of New York City. To this firm’s continued interest and willingness to act on constructive criticism is due much of the excellence of the results.

The expensive reproductions could hardly have been undertaken without the generous assistance of the donors mentioned on a preceding page.

Professor Keeler’s description of the Crossley reflector, of his methods of observing, and of the chief results obtained, was written only a short time before his death. It is here republished. Other results of his work are described in the several papers to which the footnotes refer.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

THE CROSSLEY REFLECTOR OF THE LICK OBSERVATORY.[1]

By James E. Keeler.

The Crossley reflector, at present the largest instrument of its class in America, was made in 1879 by Dr. A. A. Common, of London, in order to carry out, and test by practical observation, certain ideas of his respecting the design of large reflecting telescopes. For the construction of the instrument embodying these ideas, and for some fine astronomical photographs obtained with it, Dr. Common was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1884.

In 1885, Dr. Common, wishing to make a larger telescope on a somewhat similar plan, sold the instrument to Edward Crossley, Esq., F. R. A. S., of Halifax, England. Mr. Crossley provided the telescope with a dome of the usual form, in place of the sliding roof used by its former owner, and made observations with it for some years; but the climate of Halifax not being suitable for the best use of such a telescope, he consented, at the request of Dr. Holden, then Director of the Lick Observatory, to present it to this institution. The funds for transporting the telescope and dome to California, and setting them up on Mount Hamilton, were subscribed by friends of the Lick Observatory, for the most part citizens of California. The work was completed, and the telescope housed in a suitable observatory building, in 1895.[2]

On taking charge of the Lick Observatory in 1898, I decided to devote my own observing time to the Crossley reflector, although the whole of my previous experience had been with refracting telescopes. I was more particularly desirous of testing the reflector with my own hands, because such preliminary trials of it as had been made had given rise to somewhat conflicting opinions as to its merits.[3] The result of my experience is given in the following article, which is written chiefly with reference to American readers. If I have taken occasion to point out what I regard as defects in the design or construction of the instrument, I have done so, not from any desire to look a gift horse in the mouth, but in the interest of future improvement, and to make intelligible the circumstances under which the work of the reflector is now being done and will be done hereafter. The most important improvements which have suggested themselves have indeed already