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Title: Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy

Author: George Biddell Airy

Editor: Wilfrid Airy

Release date: January 1, 2004 [eBook #10655]
Most recently updated: October 28, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY ***

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

SIR GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY, K.C.B.,

M.A., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.R.A.S.,

HONORARY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, ASTRONOMER ROYAL
FROM 1836 TO 1881.

EDITED BY

WILFRID AIRY, B.A., M.Inst.C.E.

1896

PREFACE.

The life of Airy was essentially that of a hard-working, business man, and
differed from that of other hard-working people only in the quality and
variety of his work. It was not an exciting life, but it was full of interest, and
his work brought him into close relations with many scientific men, and
with many men high in the State. His real business life commenced after he
became Astronomer Royal, and from that time forward, during the 46 years
that he remained in office, he was so entirely wrapped up in the duties of his
post that the history of the Observatory is the history of his life. For writing
his business life there is abundant material, for he preserved all his
correspondence, and the chief sources of information are as follows:

(1) His Autobiography. (2) His Annual Reports to the Board of
Visitors. (3) His printed Papers entitled "Papers by G.B. Airy." (4)
His miscellaneous private correspondence. (5) His letters to his
wife. (6) His business correspondence.

(1) His Autobiography, after the time that he became Astronomer Royal,
is, as might be expected, mainly a record of the scientific work carried on at
the Greenwich Observatory: but by no means exclusively so. About the
time when he took charge of the Observatory there was an immense
development of astronomical enterprise: observatories were springing up in
all directions, and the Astronomer Royal was expected to advise upon all of
the British and Colonial Observatories. It was necessary also for him to

keep in touch with the Continental Observatories and their work, and this he
did very diligently and successfully, both by correspondence and personal
intercourse with the foreign astronomers. There was also much work on
important subjects more or less connected with his official duties—such as
geodetical survey work, the establishment of time-balls at different places,
longitude determinations, observation of eclipses, and the determination of
the density of the Earth. Lastly, there was a great deal of time and work
given to questions not very immediately connected with his office, but on
which the Government asked his assistance in the capacity of general
scientific adviser: such were the Correction of the Compass in iron ships,
the Railway Gauge Commission, the Commission for the Restoration of the
Standards of Length and Weight, the Maine Boundary, Lighthouses, the
Westminster Clock, the London University, and many other questions.

Besides those above-mentioned there were a great many subjects which
he took up out of sheer interest in the investigations. For it may fairly be
said that every subject of a distinctly practical nature, which could be
advanced by mathematical knowledge, had an interest for him: and his
incessant industry enabled him to find time for many of them. Amongst
such subjects were Tides and Tidal Observations, Clockwork, and the
Strains in Beams and Bridges. A certain portion of his time was also given
to Lectures, generally on current astronomical questions, for he held it as
his duty to popularize the science as far as lay in his power. And he attended
the meetings of the Royal Astronomical Society with great regularity, and
took a very active part in the discussions and business of the Society. He
also did much work for the Royal Society, and (up to a certain date) for the
British Association.

All of the foregoing matters are recorded pretty fully in his
Autobiography up to the year 1861. After that date the Autobiography is
given in a much more abbreviated form, and might rather be regarded as a

collection of notes for his Biography. His private history is given very fully
for the first part of his life, but is very lightly touched upon during his
residence at Greenwich. A great part of the Autobiography is in a somewhat
disjointed state, and appears to have been formed by extracts from a number
of different sources, such as Official Journals, Official Correspondence, and
Reports. In editing the Autobiography it has been thought advisable to omit
a large number of short notes relating to the routine work of the
Observatory, to technical and scientific correspondence, to Papers
communicated to various Societies and official business connected with
them, and to miscellaneous matters of minor importance. These in the
aggregate occupied a great deal of time and attention. But, from their
detached nature, they would have but little general interest. At various
places will be found short Memoirs and other matter by the Editor.

(2) All of his Annual Reports to the Board of Visitors are attached to his
Autobiography and were evidently intended to be read with it and to form
part of it. These Reports are so carefully compiled and are so copious that
they form a very complete history of the Greenwich Observatory and of the
work carried on there during the time that he was Astronomer Royal. The
first Report contained only four pages, but with the constantly increasing
amount and range of work the Reports constantly increased in volume till
the later Reports contained 21 pages. Extracts from these Reports relating to
matters of novelty and importance, and illustrating the principles which
guided him in his conduct of the Observatory, have been incorporated with
the Autobiography.

(3) The printed "Papers by G.B. Airy" are bound in 14 large quarto
volumes. There are 518 of these Papers, on a great variety of subjects: a list
of them is appended to this history, as also is a list of the books that he
wrote, and one or two of the Papers which were separately printed. They
form a very important part of his life's work, and are frequently referred to

in the present history. They are almost all to be found in the Transactions of
Societies or in newspapers, and extend over a period of 63 years (1822 to
1885). The progress made in certain branches of science during this long
period can very fairly be traced by these Papers.

(4) His private correspondence was large, and like his other papers it was
carefully arranged. No business letters of any kind are included under this
head. In this correspondence letters are occasionally found either dealing
with matters of importance or in some way characteristic, and these have
been inserted in this biography. As already stated the Autobiography left by
Airy is confined almost entirely to science and business, and touches very
lightly on private matters or correspondence.

(5) The letters to his wife are very numerous. They were written during
his occasional absences from home on business or for relaxation. On these
occasions he rarely let a day pass without writing to his wife, and
sometimes he wrote twice on the same day. They are full of energy and
interest and many extracts from them are inserted in this history. A great
deal of the personal history is taken from them.

(6) All correspondence in any way connected with business during the
time that he was Astronomer Royal is to be found at the Royal Observatory.
It is all bound and arranged in the most perfect order, and any letter
throughout this time can be found with the greatest ease. It is very bulky,
and much of it is, in a historical sense, very interesting. It was no doubt
mainly from this correspondence that the Autobiography, which so far as
related to the Greenwich part of it was almost entirely a business history,
was compiled.

The history of the early part of his life was written in great detail and
contained a large quantity of family matter which was evidently not
intended for publication. This part of the Autobiography has been

compressed. The history of the latter part of his life was not written by
himself at all, and has been compiled from his Journal and other sources. In
both these cases, and occasionally in short paragraphs throughout the
narrative, it has been found convenient to write the history in the third
person.

2, THE CIRCUS, GREENWICH.

NOTE.

The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press desire to express their
thanks to Messrs Macmillan & Co. for their courteous permission to use in
this work the steel engraving of Sir George Biddell Airy published in
Nature on October 31, 1878.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Personal Sketch of George Biddell Airy

CHAPTER II.

From his birth to his taking his B.A. Degree at Cambridge

CHAPTER III.

At Trinity College, Cambridge, from his taking his B.A. Degree to his
taking charge of the Cambridge Observatory as Plumian Professor

CHAPTER IV.

At Cambridge Observatory, from his taking charge of the Cambridge
Observatory to his residence at Greenwich Observatory as Astronomer
Royal

CHAPTER V.

At Greenwich Observatory, 1836-1846

CHAPTER VI.

At Greenwich Observatory, 1846-1856

CHAPTER VII.

At Greenwich Observatory, 1856-1866

CHAPTER VIII.

At Greenwich Observatory, 1866-1876

CHAPTER IX.

At Greenwich Observatory, from January 1st, 1876, to his resignation of
office on August 15th, 1881

CHAPTER X.

At the White House, Greenwich, from his resignation of office on
August 15th, 1881, to his death on January 2nd, 1892

APPENDIX.

List of Printed Papers by G.B. Airy, and List of Books written by
G.B. Airy

INDEX.

CHAPTER I.

PERSONAL SKETCH OF GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY.

The history of Airy's life, and especially the history of his life's work, is
given in the chapters that follow. But it is felt that the present Memoir
would be incomplete without a reference to those personal characteristics
upon which the work of his life hinged and which can only be very faintly
gathered from his Autobiography.

He was of medium stature and not powerfully built: as he advanced in
years he stooped a good deal. His hands were large-boned and well-formed.
His constitution was remarkably sound. At no period in his life does he
seem to have taken the least interest in athletic sports or competitions, but
he was a very active pedestrian and could endure a great deal of fatigue. He
was by no means wanting in physical courage, and on various occasions,
especially in boating expeditions, he ran considerable risks. In debate and
controversy he had great self-reliance, and was absolutely fearless. His eye-
sight was peculiar, and required correction by spectacles the lenses of which
were ground to peculiar curves according to formulae which he himself
investigated: with these spectacles he saw extremely well, and he
commonly carried three pairs, adapted to different distances: he took great
interest in the changes that took place in his eye-sight, and wrote several

Papers on the subject. In his later years he became somewhat deaf, but not
to the extent of serious personal inconvenience.

The ruling feature of his character was undoubtedly Order. From the time
that he went up to Cambridge to the end of his life his system of order was
strictly maintained. He wrote his autobiography up to date soon after he had
taken his degree, and made his first will as soon as he had any money to
leave. His accounts were perfectly kept by double entry throughout his life,
and he valued extremely the order of book-keeping: this facility of keeping
accounts was very useful to him. He seems not to have destroyed a
document of any kind whatever: counterfoils of old cheque-books, notes for
tradesmen, circulars, bills, and correspondence of all sorts were carefully
preserved in the most complete order from the time that he went to
Cambridge; and a huge mass they formed. To a high appreciation of order
he attributed in a great degree his command of mathematics, and sometimes
spoke of mathematics as nothing more than a system of order carried to a
considerable extent. In everything he was methodical and orderly, and he
had the greatest dread of disorder creeping into the routine work of the
Observatory, even in the smallest matters. As an example, he spent a whole
afternoon in writing the word "Empty" on large cards, to be nailed upon a
great number of empty packing boxes, because he noticed a little confusion
arising from their getting mixed with other boxes containing different
articles; and an assistant could not be spared for this work without
withdrawing him from his appointed duties. His arrangement of the
Observatory correspondence was excellent and elaborate: probably no
papers are more easy of reference than those arranged on his system. His
strict habits of order made him insist very much upon detail in his business
with others, and the rigid discipline arising out of his system of order made
his rule irksome to such of his subordinates as did not conform readily to it:
but the efficiency of the Observatory unquestionably depended mainly upon
it. As his powers failed with age the ruling passion for order assumed a

greater prominence; and in his last days he seemed to be more anxious to
put letters which he received into their proper place for reference than even
to master their contents.

His nature was eminently practical, and any subject which had a
distinctly practical object, and could be advanced by mathematical
investigation, possessed interest for him. And his dislike of mere theoretical
problems and investigations was proportionately great. He was continually
at war with some of the resident Cambridge mathematicians on this subject.
Year after year he criticised the Senate House Papers and the Smith's Prize
Papers question by question very severely: and conducted an interesting and
acrimonious private correspondence with Professor Cayley on the same
subject. His great mathematical powers and his command of mathematics
are sufficiently evidenced by the numerous mathematical treatises of the
highest order which he published, a list of which is appended to this
biography. But a very important feature of his investigations was the
thoroughness of them. He was never satisfied with leaving a result as a
barren mathematical expression. He would reduce it, if possible, to a
practical and numerical form, at any cost of labour: and would use any
approximations which would conduce to this result, rather than leave the
result in an unfruitful condition. He never shirked arithmetical work: the
longest and most laborious reductions had no terrors for him, and he was
remarkably skilful with the various mathematical expedients for shortening
and facilitating arithmetical work of a complex character. This power of
handling arithmetic was of great value to him in the Observatory reductions
and in the Observatory work generally. He regarded it as a duty to finish off
his work, whatever it was, and the writer well remembers his comment on
the mathematics of one of his old friends, to the effect that "he was too fond
of leaving a result in the form of three complex equations with three
unknown quantities." To one who had known, in some degree, of the
enormous quantity of arithmetical work which he had turned out, and the

unsparing manner in which he had devoted himself to it, there was
something very pathetic in his discovery, towards the close of his long life,
"that the figures would not add up."

His energy and business capacity were remarkable. He was made for
work and could not long be happy without it. Whatever subject he was
engaged upon, he kept his object clearly in view, and made straight for it,
aiming far more at clearness and directness than at elegance of periods or
symmetry of arrangement. He wrote his letters with great ease and rapidity:
and having written them he very rarely had occasion to re-write them,
though he often added insertions and interlineations, even in the most
important official letters. Without this it would have been impossible for
him to have turned out the enormous quantity of correspondence that he
did. He never dictated letters, and only availed himself of clerical assistance
in matters of the most ordinary routine. In his excursions, as in his work, he
was always energetic, and could not endure inaction. Whatever there was of
interest in the places that he visited he examined thoroughly and without
delay, and then passed on. And he thus accomplished a great deal in a short
vacation. His letters written to his wife, while he was on his excursions, are
very numerous and characteristic, and afford ample proofs of his incessant
energy and activity both of body and mind. They are not brilliantly written,
for it was not in his nature to write for effect, and he would never give
himself the trouble to study the composition of his letters, but they are
straight-forward, clear, and concise, and he was never at a loss for suitable
language to express his ideas. He had a wonderful capacity for enjoyment:
the subjects that chiefly interested him were scenery, architecture, and
antiquities, but everything novel or curious had an interest for him. He
made several journeys to the Continent, but by far the greater number of his
excursions were made in England and Scotland, and there were few parts of
the country which he had not visited. He was very fond of the Lake District
of Cumberland, and visited it very frequently, and each time that he went

there the same set of views had an eternal freshness for him, and he wrote
long descriptions of the scenery and effects with the same raptures as if he
had seen it for the first time. Many of his letters were written from Playford,
a village in a beautiful part of Suffolk, a few miles from Ipswich. Here he
had a small property, and generally stayed there for a short time once or
twice a year. He was extremely fond of this country, and was never tired of
repeating his walks by the well-known lanes and footpaths. And, as in
Cumberland, the Suffolk country had an eternal freshness and novelty for
him. Wherever he went he was indefatigable in keeping up his acquaintance
with his numerous friends and his letters abound in social reminiscences.

His memory was singularly retentive. It was much remarked at school in
his early days, and in the course of his life he had stored up in his memory
an incredible quantity of poetry, ballads, and miscellaneous facts and
information of all sorts, which was all constantly ready and at his service. It
is almost needless to add that his memory was equally accurate and
extensive in matters connected with science or business.

His independence of character was no doubt due to and inseparable from
his great powers. The value of his scientific work greatly depended upon his
self-reliance and independence of thought. And in the heavy work of
remodelling the Observatory it was a very valuable quality. This same self-
reliance made him in his latter years apt to draw conclusions too
confidently and hastily on subjects which he had taken up more as a
pastime than as work. But whatever he touched he dealt with ably and in the
most fearless truthseeking manner, and left original and vigorous opinions.

He had a remarkably well-balanced mind, and a simplicity of nature that
appeared invulnerable. No amount of hero-worship seemed to have the least
effect upon him. And from a very early time he was exposed to a great deal
of it. His mind was incessantly engaged on investigations of Nature, and

this seems to have been with him, as has been the case with others, a
preserving influence. This simplicity of character he retained throughout his
life. At the same time he was sensible and shrewd in his money matters and
attentive to his personal interests. And his practical good sense in the
general affairs of life, combined with his calm and steady consideration of
points submitted to him, made his advice very valuable. This was especially
recognized by his own and his wife's relations, who consulted him on many
occasions and placed the fullest confidence in his absolute sense of justice
as well as in his wise counsel. He was extremely liberal in proportion to his
means, and gave away money to a large extent to all who had any claim
upon him. But he was not in any sense reckless, and kept a most cautious
eye on his expenses. He was not indifferent to the honours which he
received in the scientific world, but he does not appear to have sought them
in any way, and he certainly did not trouble himself about them.

His courtesy was unfailing: no amount of trouble could shake it. Whether
it was the Secretary of the Admiralty, or a servant girl wanting her fortune
told: whether a begging-letter for money, or miscellaneous invitations: all
had their answer in the most clear and courteous language. But he would
not grant personal interviews when he could avoid it: they took up too much
of his time. His head was so clear that he never seemed to want for the
clearest and most direct language in expressing his meaning, and his letters
are models of terseness.

In all his views and opinions he was strongly liberal. At Cambridge at an
early date he was one of the 83 members of the Senate who supported the
application to permit the granting of medical degrees without requiring an
expression of assent to the religious doctrines of the Church of England.
And in 1868 he declined to sign a petition against the abolition of religious
declarations required of persons admitted to Fellowships or proceeding to
the degree of M.A. And he was opposed to every kind of narrowness and

exclusiveness. When he was appointed to the post of Astronomer Royal, he
stipulated that he should not be asked to vote in any political election. But
all his views were in the liberal direction. He was a great reader of theology
and church history, and as regarded forms of worship and the interpretation
of the Scriptures, he treated them with great respect, but from the point of
view of a freethinking layman. In the Preface to his "Notes on the Earlier
Hebrew Scriptures" he says, "In regard to the general tone of these notes, I
will first remark that I have nothing to say on the subject of verbal
inspiration. With those who entertain that doctrine, I can have nothing in
common. Nor do I recognize, in the professedly historical accounts, any
other inspiration which can exempt them from the severest criticism that
would be applicable to so-called profane accounts, written under the same
general circumstances, and in the same countries." And his treatment of the
subject in the "Notes" shews how entirely he took a rationalistic view of the
whole question. He also strongly sided with Bishop Colenso in his fearless
criticism of the Pentateuch, though he dissented from some of his
conclusions. But he was deeply imbued with the spirit of religion and
reflected much upon it. His whole correspondence conveys the impression
of the most sterling integrity and high-mindedness, without a trace of
affectation. In no letter does there appear a shadow of wavering on matters
of principle, whether in public or private matters, and he was very clear and
positive in his convictions.

The great secret of his long and successful official career was that he was
a good servant and thoroughly understood his position. He never set himself
in opposition to his masters, the Admiralty. He never hesitated to ask the
Admiralty for what he thought right, whether in the way of money grants
for various objects, or for occasional permission to give his services to
scientific matters not immediately connected with the Observatory.
Sometimes the Admiralty refused his requests, and he felt this very keenly,
but he was far too busy and energetic to trouble himself about such little

slights, and cheerfully accepted the situation. What was refused by one
Administration was frequently granted by another; and in the meantime he
was always ready to give his most zealous assistance in any matter that was
officially brought before him. This cheerful readiness to help, combined
with his great ability and punctuality in business matters, made him a very
valuable servant, and speaking generally he had the confidence of the
Admiralty in a remarkable degree. In many of his Reports to the Board of
Visitors he speaks gratefully of the liberality of the Admiralty in forwarding
scientific progress and research. In matters too which are perhaps of minor
importance from the high stand-point of science, but which are invaluable
in the conduct of an important business office, such for example as
estimates and official correspondence, he was orderly and punctual in the
highest degree. And, what is by no means unimportant, he possessed an
excellent official style in correspondence, combined with great clearness of
expression. His entire honesty of purpose, and the high respect in which he
was held both at home and abroad, gave great weight to his
recommendations.

With regard to his habits while he resided at the Observatory, his custom
was to work in his official room from 9 to about 2.30, though in summer he
was frequently at work before breakfast. He then took a brisk walk, and
dined at about 3.30. This early hour had been prescribed and insisted upon
by his physician, Dr Haviland of Cambridge, in whom he had great
confidence. He ate heartily, though simply and moderately, and slept for
about an hour after dinner. He then had tea, and from about 7 to 10 he
worked in the same room with his family. He would never retire to a private
room, and regarded the society of his family as highly beneficial in "taking
the edge off his work." His powers of abstraction were remarkable: nothing
seemed to disturb him; neither music, singing, nor miscellaneous
conversation. He would then play a game or two at cards, read a few pages
of a classical or historical book, and retire at 11. On Sundays he attended

morning service at church, and in the evening read a few prayers very
carefully and impressively to his whole household. He was very hospitable,
and delighted to receive his friends in a simple and natural way at his house.
In this he was most admirably aided by his wife, whose grace and skill
made everything pleasant to their guests. But he avoided dinner-parties as
much as possible—they interfered too much with his work—and with the
exception of scientific and official dinners he seldom dined away from
home. His tastes were entirely domestic, and he was very happy in his
family. With his natural love of work, and with the incessant calls upon
him, he would soon have broken down, had it not been for his system of
regular relaxation. Two or three times a year he took a holiday: generally a
short run of a week or ten days in the spring, a trip of a month or
thereabouts in the early autumn, and about three weeks at Playford in the
winter. These trips were always conducted in the most active manner, either
in constant motion from place to place, or in daily active excursions. This
system he maintained with great regularity, and from the exceeding interest
and enjoyment that he took in these trips his mind was so much refreshed
and steadied that he always kept himself equal to his work.

Airy seems to have had a strong bent in the direction of astronomy from
his youth, and it is curious to note how well furnished he was, by the time
that he became Astronomer Royal, both with astronomy in all its branches,
and with the kindred sciences so necessary for the practical working and
improvement of it. At the time that he went to Cambridge Physical
Astronomy was greatly studied there and formed a most important part of
the University course. He eagerly availed himself of this, and mastered the
Physical Astronomy in the most thorough manner, as was evidenced by his
Papers collected in his "Mathematical Tracts," his investigation of the Long
Inequality of the Earth and Venus, and many other works. As Plumian
Professor he had charge of the small Observatory at Cambridge, where he
did a great deal of the observing and reduction work himself, and became

thoroughly versed in the practical working of an Observatory. The result of
this was immediately seen in the improved methods which he introduced at
Greenwich, and which were speedily imitated at other Observatories. Optics
and the Undulatory Theory of Light had been very favourite subjects with
him, and he had written and lectured frequently upon them. In the
construction of the new and powerful telescopes and other optical
instruments required from time to time this knowledge was very essential,
for in its instrumental equipment the Greenwich Observatory was entirely
remodelled during his tenure of office. And in many of the matters referred
to him, as for instance that of the Lighthouses, a thorough knowledge of
Optics was most valuable. He had made a great study of the theory and
construction of clocks, and this knowledge was invaluable to him at
Greenwich in the establishment of new and more accurate astronomical
clocks, and especially in the improvement of chronometers. He had
carefully studied the theory of pendulums, and had learned how to use them
in his experiments in the Cornish mines. This knowledge he afterwards
utilized very effectively at the Harton Pit in comparing the density of the
Earth's crust with its mean density; and it was very useful to him in
connection with geodetic surveys and experiments on which he was
consulted. And his mechanical knowledge was useful in almost everything.

The subjects (outside those required for his professional work) in which
he took most interest were Poetry, History, Theology, Antiquities,
Architecture, and Engineering. He was well acquainted with standard
English poetry, and had committed large quantities to memory, which he
frequently referred to as a most valuable acquisition and an ever-present
relief and comfort to his mind. History and theology he had studied as
opportunity offered, and without being widely read in them he was much at
home with them, and his powerful memory made the most of what he did
read. Antiquities and architecture were very favourite subjects with him. He
had visited most of the camps and castles in the United Kingdom and was

never tired of tracing their connection with ancient military events: and he
wrote several papers on this subject, especially those relating to the Roman
invasions of Britain. Ecclesiastical architecture he was very fond of: he had
visited nearly all the cathedrals and principal churches in England, and
many on the Continent, and was most enthusiastic on their different styles
and merits: his letters abound in critical remarks on them. He was extremely
well versed in mechanics, and in the principles and theory of construction,
and took the greatest interest in large engineering works. This led to much
communication with Stephenson, Brunel, and other engineers, who
consulted him freely on the subject of great works on which they were
engaged: in particular he rendered much assistance in connection with the
construction of the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits. There were
various other subjects which he read with much interest (Geology in
particular), but he made no study of Natural History, and knew very little
about it beyond detached facts. His industry was untiring, and in going over
his books one by one it was very noticeable how large a number of them
were feathered with his paper "marks," shewing how carefully he had read
them and referred to them. His nature was essentially cheerful, and
literature of a witty and humourous character had a great charm for him. He
was very fond of music and knew a great number of songs; and he was well
acquainted with the theory of music: but he was no performer. He did not
sketch freehand but made excellent drawings with his Camera Lucida.

At the time when he took his degree (1823) and for many years
afterwards there was very great activity of scientific investigation and
astronomical enterprise in England. And, as in the times of Flamsteed and
Halley, the earnest zeal of men of science occasionally led to much
controversy and bitterness amongst them. Airy was by no means exempt
from such controversies. He was a man of keen sensitiveness, though it was
combined with great steadiness of temper, and he never hesitated to attack
theories and methods that he considered to be scientifically wrong. This led

to differences with Ivory, Challis, South, Cayley, Archibald Smith, and
others; but however much he might differ from them he was always
personally courteous, and the disputes generally went no farther than as
regarded the special matter in question. Almost all these controversial
discussions were carried on openly, and were published in the Athenaeum,
the Philosophical Magazine, or elsewhere; for he printed nearly everything
that he wrote, and was very careful in the selection of the most suitable
channels for publication. He regarded it as a duty to popularize as much as
possible the work done at the Observatory, and to take the public into his
confidence. And this he effected by articles communicated to newspapers,
lectures, numerous Papers written for scientific societies, reports, debates,
and critiques.

His strong constitution and his regular habits, both of work and exercise,
are sufficient explanation of the good health which in general he enjoyed.
Not but what he had sharp touches of illness from time to time. At one
period he suffered a good deal from an attack of eczema, and at another
from a varicose vein in his leg, and he was occasionally troubled with
severe colds. But he bore these ailments with great patience and threw them
off in course of time. He was happy in his marriage and in his family, and
such troubles and distresses as were inevitable he accepted calmly and
quietly. In his death, as in his life, he was fortunate: he had no long or
painful illness, and he was spared the calamity of aberration of intellect, the
saddest of all visitations.

CHAPTER II.
FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS TAKING HIS B.A. DEGREE AT CAMBRIDGE.

FROM JULY 27TH 1801 TO JANUARY 18TH 1823.

George Biddell Airy was born at Alnwick in Northumberland on July
27th 1801. His father was William Airy of Luddington in Lincolnshire, the
descendant of a long line of Airys who have been traced back with a very
high degree of probability to a family of that name which was settled at
Kentmere in Westmorland in the 14th century. A branch of this family
migrated to Pontefract in Yorkshire, where they seem to have prospered for
many years, but they were involved in the consequences of the Civil Wars,
and one member of the family retired to Ousefleet in Yorkshire. His
grandson removed to Luddington in Lincolnshire, where his descendants
for several generations pursued the calling of small farmers. George Biddell
Airy's mother, Ann Airy, was the daughter of George Biddell, a well-to-do
farmer in Suffolk.

William Airy, the father of George Biddell Airy, was a man of great
activity and strength, and of prudent and steady character. When a young
man he became foreman on a farm in the neighbourhood of Luddington,
and laid by his earnings in summer in order to educate himself in winter.
For a person in his rank, his education was unusually good, in matters of
science and in English literature. But at the age of 24 he grew tired of
country labour, and obtained a post in the Excise. After serving in various
Collections he was appointed Collector of the Northumberland Collection
on the 15th August 1800, and during his service there his eldest son George
Biddell Airy was born. The time over which his service as Officer and
Supervisor extended was that in which smuggling rose to a very high pitch,
and in which the position of Excise Officer was sometimes dangerous. He
was remarkable for his activity and boldness in contests with smugglers,
and made many seizures. Ann Airy, the mother of George Biddell Airy, was
a woman of great natural abilities both speculative and practical, kind as a
neighbour and as head of a family, and was deeply loved and respected. The
family consisted of George Biddell, Elizabeth, William, and Arthur who
died young.

William Airy was appointed to Hereford Collection on 22nd October
1802, and removed thither shortly after. He stayed at Hereford till he was
appointed to Essex Collection on 28th February 1810, and during this time
George Biddell was educated at elementary schools in writing, arithmetic,
and a little Latin. He records of himself that he was not a favourite with the
schoolboys, for he had very little animal vivacity and seldom joined in
active play with his schoolfellows. But in the proceedings of the school he
was successful, and was a favourite with his master.

On the appointment of William Airy to Essex Collection, the family
removed to Colchester on April 5th 1810. Here George Biddell was first
sent to a large school in Sir Isaac's Walk, then kept by Mr Byatt Walker, and
was soon noted for his correctness in orthography, geography, and
arithmetic. He evidently made rapid progress, for on one occasion Mr
Walker said openly in the schoolroom how remarkable it was that a boy 10
years old should be the first in the school. At this school he stayed till the
end of 1813 and thoroughly learned arithmetic (from Walkingame's book),
book-keeping by double entry (on which knowledge throughout his life he
set a special value), the use of the sliding rule (which knowledge also was
specially useful to him in after life), mensuration and algebra (from
Bonnycastle's books). He also studied grammar in all its branches, and
geography, and acquired some knowledge of English literature, beginning
with that admirable book The Speaker, but it does not appear that Latin and
Greek were attended to at this school. He records that at this time he learned
an infinity of snatches of songs, small romances, &c., which his powerful
memory retained most accurately throughout his life. He was no hand at
active play: but was notorious for his skill in constructing guns for shooting
peas and arrows, and other mechanical contrivances. At home he relates that
he picked up a wonderful quantity of learning from his father's books. He
read and remembered much poetry from such standard authors as Milton,
Pope, Gay, Gray, Swift, &c., which was destined to prove in after life an

invaluable relaxation for his mind. But he also studied deeply an excellent
Cyclopaedia called a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences in three volumes
folio, and learned from it much about ship-building, navigation,
fortification, and many other subjects.

During this period his valuable friendship with his uncle Arthur Biddell
commenced. Arthur Biddell was a prosperous farmer and valuer at Playford
near Ipswich. He was a well-informed and able man, of powerful and
original mind, extremely kind and good-natured, and greatly respected
throughout the county. In the Autobiography of George Biddell Airy he
states as follows:

"I do not remember precisely when it was that I first visited my uncle
Arthur Biddell. I think it was in a winter: certainly as early as the winter of
1812—13. Here I found a friend whose society I could enjoy, and I entirely
appreciated and enjoyed the practical, mechanical, and at the same time
speculative and enquiring talents of Arthur Biddell. He had a library which,
for a person in middle life, may be called excellent, and his historical and
antiquarian knowledge was not small. After spending one winter holiday
with him, it easily came to pass that I spent the next summer holiday with
him: and at the next winter holiday, finding that there was no precise
arrangement for my movements, I secretly wrote him a letter begging him
to come with a gig to fetch me home with him: he complied with my
request, giving no hint to my father or mother of my letter: and from that
time, one-third of every year was regularly spent with him till I went to
College. How great was the influence of this on my character and education
I cannot tell. It was with him that I became acquainted with the Messrs
Ransome, W. Cubitt the civil engineer (afterwards Sir W. Cubitt), Bernard
Barton, Thomas Clarkson (the slave-trade abolitionist), and other persons
whose acquaintance I have valued highly. It was also with him that I
became acquainted with the works of the best modern poets, Scott, Byron,

Campbell, Hogg, and others: as also with the Waverley Novels and other
works of merit."

In 1813 William Airy lost his appointment of Collector of Excise and was
in consequence very much straitened in his circumstances. But there was no
relaxation in the education of his children, and at the beginning of 1814
George Biddell was sent to the endowed Grammar School at Colchester,
then kept by the Rev. E. Crosse, and remained there till the summer of
1819, when he went to College. The Autobiography proceeds as follows:

"I became here a respectable scholar in Latin and Greek, to the extent of
accurate translation, and composition of prose Latin: in regard to Latin
verses I was I think more defective than most scholars who take the same
pains, but I am not much ashamed of this, for I entirely despise the system
of instruction in verse composition.

"My father on some occasion had to go to London and brought back for
me a pair of 12-inch globes. They were invaluable to me. The first stars
which I learnt from the celestial globe were alpha Lyrae, alpha Aquilae,
alpha Cygni: and to this time I involuntarily regard these stars as the birth-
stars of my astronomical knowledge. Having somewhere seen a description
of a Gunter's quadrant, I perceived that I could construct one by means of
the globe: my father procured for me a board of the proper shape with paper
pasted on it, and on this I traced the lines of the quadrant.

"My command of geometry was tolerably complete, and one way in
which I frequently amused myself was by making paper models (most
carefully drawn in outline) which were buttoned together without any
cement or sewing. Thus I made models, not only of regular solids, regularly
irregular solids, cones cut in all directions so as to shew the conic sections,
and the like, but also of six-gun batteries, intrenchments and fortresses of
various kinds &c.

"From various books I had learnt the construction of the steam-engine:
the older forms from the Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; newer forms from
modern books. The newest form however (with the sliding steam valve) I
learnt from a 6-horse engine at Bawtrey's brewery (in which Mr Keeling the
father of my schoolfellow had acquired a partnership). I frequently went to
look at this engine, and on one occasion had the extreme felicity of
examining some of its parts when it was opened for repair.

"In the mean time my education was advancing at Playford. The first
record, I believe, which I have of my attention to mechanics there is the
plan of a threshing-machine which I drew. But I was acquiring valuable
information of all kinds from the Encyclopaedia Londinensis, a work which
without being high in any respect is one of the most generally useful that I
have seen. But I well remember one of the most important steps that I ever
made. I had tried experiments with the object-glass of an opera-glass and
was greatly astonished at the appearance of the images of objects seen
through the glass under different conditions. By these things my thoughts
were turned to accurate optics, and I read with care Rutherford's Lectures,
which my uncle possessed. The acquisition of an accurate knowledge of the
effect of optical constructions was one of the most charming attainments
that I ever reached. Long before I went to College I understood the action of
the lenses of a telescope better than most opticians. I also read with great
zeal Nicholson's Dictionary of Chemistry, and occasionally made chemical
experiments of an inexpensive kind: indeed I grew so fond of this subject
that there was some thought of apprenticing me to a chemist. I also attended
to surveying and made a tolerable survey and map of my uncle's farm.

"At school I was going on successfully, and distinguished myself
particularly by my memory. It was the custom for each boy once a week to
repeat a number of lines of Latin or Greek poetry, the number depending
very much on his own choice. I determined on repeating 100 every week,

and I never once fell below that number and was sometimes much above it.
It was no distress to me, and great enjoyment. At Michaelmas 1816 I
repeated 2394 lines, probably without missing a word. I do not think that I
was a favourite with Mr Crosse, but he certainly had a high opinion of my
powers and expressed this to my father. My father entertained the idea of
sending me to College, which Mr Crosse recommended: but he heard from
some college man that the expense would be £200 a year, and he laid aside
all thoughts of it.

"The farm of Playford Hall was in 1813 or 1814 hired by Thomas
Clarkson, the slave-trade abolitionist. My uncle transacted much business
for him (as a neighbour and friend) in the management of the farm &c. for a
time, and they became very intimate. My uncle begged him to examine me
in Classical knowledge, and he did so, I think, twice. He also gave some
better information about the probable expenses &c. at College. The result
was a strong recommendation by my uncle or through my uncle that I
should be sent to Cambridge, and this was adopted by my father. I think it
likely that this was in 1816.

"In December 1816, Dealtry's Fluxions was bought for me, and I read it
and understood it well. I borrowed Hutton's Course of Mathematics of old
Mr Ransome, who had come to reside at Greenstead near Colchester, and
read a good deal of it.

"About Ladyday 1817 I began to read mathematics with Mr Rogers
(formerly, I think, a Fellow of Sidney College, and an indifferent
mathematician of the Cambridge school), who had succeeded a Mr Tweed
as assistant to Mr Crosse in the school. I went to his house twice a week, on
holiday afternoons. I do not remember how long I received lessons from
him, but I think to June, 1818. This course was extremely valuable to me,
not on account of Mr Rogers's abilities (for I understood many things better

than he did) but for its training me both in Cambridge subjects and in the
Cambridge accurate methods of treating them. I went through Euclid (as far
as usually read), Wood's Algebra, Wood's Mechanics, Vince's Hydrostatics,
Wood's Optics, Trigonometry (in a geometrical treatise and also in
Woodhouse's algebraical form), Fluxions to a good extent, Newton's
Principia to the end of the 9th section. This was a large quantity, but I read
it accurately and understood it perfectly, and could write out any one of the
propositions which I had read in the most exact form. My connexion with
Mr Rogers was terminated by his giving me notice that he could not
undertake to receive me any longer: in fact I was too much for him. I
generally read these books in a garret in our house in George Lane, which
was indefinitely appropriated to my brother and myself. I find that I copied
out Vince's Conic Sections in February, 1819. The first book that I copied
was the small geometrical treatise on Trigonometry, in May, 1817: to this I
was urged by old Mr Ransome, upon my complaining that I could not
purchase the book: and it was no bad lesson of independence to me."

During the same period 1817-1819 he was occupied at school on
translations into blank verse from the Aeneid and Iliad, and read through the
whole of Sophocles very carefully.

The classical knowledge which he thus gained at school and
subsequently at Cambridge was sound, and he took great pleasure in it:
throughout his life he made a practice of keeping one or other of the
Classical Authors at hand for occasional relaxation. He terminated his
schooling in June 1819. Shortly afterwards his father left Colchester and
went to reside at Bury St Edmund's. The Autobiography proceeds as
follows:

"Mr Clarkson was at one time inclined to recommend me to go to St
Peter's College (which had been much enriched by a bequest from a Mr

Gisborne). But on giving some account of me to his friend Mr James D.
Hustler, tutor of Trinity College, Mr Hustler urged upon him that I was
exactly the proper sort of person to go to Trinity College. And thus it was
settled (mainly by Mr Clarkson) that I should be entered at Trinity College.
I think that I was sent for purposely from Colchester to Playford, and on
March 6th, 1819, I rode in company with Mr Clarkson from Playford to
Sproughton near Ipswich to be examined by the Rev. Mr Rogers, incumbent
of Sproughton, an old M.A. of Trinity College; and was examined, and my
certificate duly sent to Mr Hustler; and I was entered on Mr Hustler's side
as Sizar of Trinity College.

"In the summer of 1819 I spent some time at Playford. On July 27th,
1819 (my birthday, 18 years old), Mr Clarkson invited me to dinner, to meet
Mr Charles Musgrave, Fellow of Trinity College, who was residing for a
short time at Grundisburgh, taking the church duty there for Dr Ramsden,
the Rector. It was arranged that I should go to Grundisburgh the next day (I
think) to be examined in mathematics by Mr Musgrave. I went accordingly,
and Mr Musgrave set before me a paper of questions in geometry, algebra,
mechanics, optics, &c. ending with the first proposition of the Principia. I
knew nothing more about my answers at the time; but I found long after
that they excited so much admiration that they were transmitted to
Cambridge (I forget whether to Mr Musgrave's brother, a Fellow of Trinity
College and afterwards Archbishop of York, or to Mr Peacock, afterwards
Dean of Ely) and were long preserved.

"The list of the Classical subjects for the first year in Trinity College was
transmitted to me, as usual, by Mr Hustler. They were—The Hippolytus of
Euripides, the 3rd Book of Thucydides, and the 2nd Philippic of Cicero.
These I read carefully and noted before going up. Mr Hustler's family lived
in Bury; and I called on him and saw him in October, introduced by Mr
Clarkson. On the morning of October 18th, 1819, I went on the top of the

coach to Cambridge, knowing nobody there but Mr Hustler, but having
letters of introduction from Mr Charles Musgrave to Professor Sedgwick,
Mr Thomas Musgrave, and Mr George Peacock, all Fellows of Trinity
College.

"I was set down at the Hoop, saw Trinity College for the first time, found
Mr Hustler, was conducted by his servant to the robe-maker's, where I was
invested in the cap and blue gown, and after some further waiting was
installed into lodgings in Bridge Street. At 4 o'clock I went to the College
Hall and was introduced by Mr Hustler to several undergraduates, generally
clever men, and in the evening I attended Chapel in my surplice (it being St
Luke's day) and witnessed that splendid service of which the occasional
exhibition well befits the place.

"As soon as possible, I called on Mr Peacock, Mr Musgrave, and
Professor Sedgwick. By all I was received with great kindness: my
examination papers had been sent to them, and a considerable reputation
preceded me. Mr Peacock at once desired that I would not consider Mr C.
Musgrave's letter as an ordinary introduction, but that I would refer to him
on all occasions. And I did so for several years, and always received from
him the greatest assistance that he could give. I think that I did not become
acquainted with Mr Whewell till the next term, when I met him at a
breakfast party at Mr Peacock's. Mr Peacock at once warned me to arrange
for taking regular exercise, and prescribed a walk of two hours every day
before dinner: a rule to which I attended regularly, and to which I ascribe
the continuance of good general health.

"I shewed Mr Peacock a manuscript book which contained a number of
original Propositions which I had investigated. These much increased my
reputation (I really had sense enough to set no particular value on it) and I
was soon known by sight to almost everybody in the University. A

ridiculous little circumstance aided in this. The former rule of the
University (strictly enforced) had been that all students should wear drab
knee-breeches: and I, at Mr Clarkson's recommendation, was so fitted up.
The struggle between the old dress and the trowsers customary in society
was still going on but almost terminated, and I was one of the very few
freshmen who retained the old habiliments. This made me in some measure
distinguishable: however at the end of my first three terms I laid these
aside.

"The College Lectures began on Oct. 22: Mr Evans at 9 on the
Hippolytus, and Mr Peacock at 10 on Euclid (these being the Assistant
Tutors on Mr Hustler's side): and then I felt myself established.

"I wrote in a day or two to my uncle Arthur Biddell, and I received from
him a letter of the utmost kindness. He entered gravely on the consideration
of my prospects, my wants, &c.: and offered at all times to furnish me with
money, which he thought my father's parsimonious habits might make him
unwilling to do. I never had occasion to avail myself of this offer: but it was
made in a way which in no small degree strengthened the kindly feelings
that had long existed between us.

"I carefully attended the lectures, taking notes as appeared necessary. In
Mathematics there were geometrical problems, algebra, trigonometry
(which latter subjects the lectures did not reach till the terms of 1820). Mr
Peacock gave me a copy of Lacroix's Differential Calculus as translated by
himself and Herschel and Babbage, and also a copy of their Examples. At
this time, the use of Differential Calculus was just prevailing over that of
Fluxions (which I had learnt). I betook myself to it with great industry. I
also made myself master of the theories of rectangular coordinates and
some of the differential processes applying to them, which only a few of the
best of the university mathematicians then wholly possessed. In Classical

subjects I read the Latin (Seneca's) and English Hippolytus, Racine's Phèdre
(which my sister translated for me), and all other books to which I was
referred, Aristotle, Longinus, Horace, Bentley, Dawes &c., made verse
translations of the Greek Hippolytus, and was constantly on the watch to
read what might be advantageous.

"Early in December Mr Hustler sent for me to say that one of the
Company of Fishmongers, Mr R. Sharp, had given to Mr John H. Smyth,
M.P. for Norwich, the presentation to a small exhibition of £20 a year,
which Mr Smyth had placed in Mr Hustler's hands, and which Mr Hustler
immediately conferred on me. This was my first step towards pecuniary
independence. I retained this exhibition till I became a Fellow of the
College.

"I stayed at Cambridge during part of the winter vacation, and to avoid
expense I quitted my lodgings and went for a time into somebody's rooms
in the Bishop's Hostel. (It is customary for the tutors to place students in
rooms when their right owners are absent.) I took with me Thucydides and
all relating to it, and read the book, upon which the next term's lectures
were to be founded, very carefully. The latter part of the vacation I spent at
Bury, where I began with the assistance of my sister to pick up a little
French: as I perceived that it was absolutely necessary for enabling me to
read modern mathematics.

"During a part of the time I employed myself in writing out a paper on
the geometrical interpretation of the algebraical expression sqrt(-1). I think
that the original suggestion of perpendicular line came from some book (I
do not remember clearly), and I worked it out in several instances pretty
well, especially in De Moivre's Theorem. I had spoken of it in the preceding
term to Mr Peacock and he encouraged me to work it out. The date at the
end is 1820, January 21. When some time afterwards I spoke of it to Mr

Hustler, he disapproved of my employing my time on such speculations.
About the last day of January I returned to Cambridge, taking up my abode
in my former lodgings. I shewed my paper on sqrt(-1) to Mr Peacock, who
was much pleased with it and shewed it to Mr Whewell and others.

"On February 1 I commenced two excellent customs. The first was that I
always had upon my table a quire of large-sized scribbling-paper sewn
together: and upon this paper everything was entered: translations into Latin
and out of Greek, mathematical problems, memoranda of every kind (the
latter transferred when necessary to the subsequent pages), and generally
with the date of the day. This is a most valuable custom. The other was this:
as I perceived that to write Latin prose well would be useful to me, I wrote
a translation of English into Latin every day. However much pressed I
might be with other business, I endeavoured to write at least three or four
words, but if possible I wrote a good many sentences.

"I may fix upon this as the time when my daily habits were settled in the
form in which they continued for several years. I rose in time for the chapel
service at 7. It was the College regulation that every student should attend
Chapel four mornings and four evenings (Sunday being one of each) in
every week: and in this I never failed. After chapel service I came to my
lodgings and breakfasted. At 9 I went to College lectures, which lasted to
11. Most of my contemporaries, being intended for the Church, attended
also divinity lectures: but I never did. I then returned, put my lecture notes
in order, wrote my piece of Latin prose, and then employed myself on the
subject which I was reading for the time: usually taking mathematics at this
hour. At 2 or a little sooner I went out for a long walk, usually 4 or 5 miles
into the country: sometimes if I found companions I rowed on the Cam (a
practice acquired rather later). A little before 4 I returned, and at 4 went to
College Hall. After dinner I lounged till evening chapel time, 1/2 past 5, and
returning about 6 I then had tea. Then I read quietly, usually a classical

subject, till 11; and I never, even in the times when I might seem most
severely pressed, sat up later.

"From this time to the close of the annual examination (beginning of
June) I remained at Cambridge, stopping there through the Easter Vacation.
The subjects of the mathematical lectures were ordinary algebra and
trigonometry: but Mr Peacock always had some private problems of a
higher class for me, and saw me I believe every day. The subjects of the
Classical lectures were, the termination of Hippolytus, the book of
Thucydides and the oration of Cicero. In mathematics I read Whewell's
Mechanics, then just published (the first innovation made in the Cambridge
system of Physical Sciences for many years): and I find in my scribbling-
paper notes, integrals, central forces, Finite Differences, steam-engine
constructions and powers, plans of bridges, spherical trigonometry, optical
calculations relating to the achromatism of eye-pieces and achromatic
object-glasses with lenses separated, mechanical problems, Transit of
Venus, various problems in geometrical astronomy (I think it was at this
time that Mr Peacock had given me a copy of Woodhouse's Astronomy 1st
Edition), the rainbow, plans for anemometer and for a wind-pumping
machine, clearing lunars, &c., with a great number of geometrical
problems. I remark that my ideas on the Differential Calculus had not
acquired on some important points the severe accuracy which they acquired
in a few months. In Classics I read the Persae of Aeschylus, Greek and
Roman history very much (Mitford, Hooke, Ferguson) and the books of
Thucydides introductory to that of the lecture subject (the 3rd): and
attended to Chronology. On the scribbling-paper are verse-translations from
Euripides, careful prose-translations from Thucydides, maps, notes on
points of grammar &c. I have also little MS. books with abundant notes on
all these subjects: I usually made a little book when I pursued any subject in
a regular way.

"On May 1st Mr Dobree, the head lecturer, sent for me to say that he
appointed me head-lecturer's Sizar for the next year. The stipend of this
office was £10, a sum upon which I set considerable value in my anxiety for
pecuniary independence: but it was also gratifying to me as shewing the
way in which I was regarded by the College authorities.

"On Wednesday, May 24th, 1820, the examination began. I was anxious
about the result of the examination, but only in such a degree as to make my
conduct perfectly steady and calm, and to prevent me from attempting any
extraordinary exertion.

"When the Classes were published the first Class of the Freshman's Year
(alphabetically arranged, as is the custom) stood thus: Airy, Boileau,
Childers, Drinkwater, Field, Iliff, Malkin, Myers, Romilly, Strutt, Tate,
Winning. It was soon known however that I was first of the Class. It was
generally expected (and certainly by me) that, considering how great a
preponderance the Classics were understood, in the known system of the
College, to have in determining the order of merit, Field would be first.
However the number of marks which Field obtained was about 1700, and
that which I obtained about 1900. No other competitor, I believe, was near
us."—In a letter to Airy from his College Tutor, Mr J. D. Hustler, there is
the following passage: "It is a matter of extreme satisfaction to me that in
the late examination you stood not only in the First Class but first of the
first. I trust that your future exertions and success will be commensurate
with this honourable beginning."

"Of the men whom I have named, Drinkwater (Bethune) was afterwards
Legal Member of the Supreme Court of India, Field was afterwards Rector
of Reepham, Romilly (afterwards Lord Romilly) became Solicitor-General,
Strutt (afterwards Lord Belper) became M.P. for Derby and First
Commissioner of Railways, Tate was afterwards master of Richmond

Endowed School, Childers was the father of Childers who was subsequently
First Lord of the Admiralty.

"I returned to Bury immediately. While there, some students (some of
them men about to take their B.A. degree at the next January) applied to me
to take them as pupils, but I declined. This year of my life enabled me to
understand how I stood among men. I returned to Cambridge about July
11th. As a general rule, undergraduates are not allowed to reside in the
University during the Long Vacation. I believe that before I left, after the
examination, I had made out that I should be permitted to reside: or I wrote
to Mr Hustler. I applied to Mr Hustler to be lodged in rooms in College: and
was put, first into rooms in Bishop's Hostel, and subsequently into rooms in
the Great Court.

"The first affair that I had in College was one of disappointment by no
means deserving the importance which it assumed in my thoughts. I had
been entered a Sizar, but as the list of Foundation Sizars was full, my
dinners in Hall were paid for. Some vacancies had arisen: and as these were
to be filled up in order of merit, I expected one: and in my desire for
pecuniary independence I wished for it very earnestly. However, as in
theory all of the first class were equal, and as there were some Sizars in it
senior in entrance to me, they obtained places first: and I was not actually
appointed till after the next scholarship examination (Easter 1821).
However a special arrangement was made, allowing me (I forget whether
others) to sit at the Foundation-Sizars' table whenever any of the number
was absent: and in consequence I received practically nearly the full
benefits.

"Mr Peacock, who was going out for the vacation, allowed me access to
his books. I had also (by the assistance of various Fellows, who all treated
me with great kindness, almost to a degree of respect) command of the

University Library and Trinity Library: and spent this Long Vacation, like
several others, very happily indeed.

"The only non-mathematical subjects of the next examination were The
Gospel of St Luke, Paley's Evidences, and Paley's Moral and Political
Philosophy. Thus my time was left more free to mathematics and to general
classics than last year. I now began a custom which I maintained for some
years. Generally I read mathematics in the morning, and classics for
lectures in the afternoon: but invariably I began at 10 o'clock in the evening
to read with the utmost severity some standard classics (unconnected with
the lectures) and at 11 precisely I left off and went to bed. I continued my
daily translations into Latin prose as before.

"On August 24th, 1820, Rosser, a man of my own year, engaged me as
private tutor, paying at the usual rate (£14 for a part of the Vacation, and
£14 for a term): and immediately afterwards his friend Bedingfield did the
same. This occupied two hours every day, and I felt that I was now
completely earning my own living. I never received a penny from my
friends after this time.

"I find on my scribbling-paper various words which shew that in reading
Poisson I was struggling with French words. There are also Finite
Differences and their Calculus, Figure of the Earth (force to the center),
various Attractions (some evidently referring to Maclaurin's), Integrals,
Conic Sections, Kepler's Problem, Analytical Geometry, D'Alembert's
Theorem, Spherical Aberration, Rotations round three axes (apparently I
had been reading Euler), Floating bodies, Evolute of Ellipse, Newton's
treatment of the Moon's Variation. I attempted to extract something from
Vince's Astronomy on the physical explanation of Precession: but in despair
of understanding it, and having made out an explanation for myself by the
motion round three axes, I put together a little treatise (Sept. 10, 1820)

which with some corrections and additions was afterwards printed in my
Mathematical Tracts. On Sept. 14th I bought Woodhouse's Physical
Astronomy, and this was quite an epoch in my mathematical knowledge.
First, I was compelled by the process of "changing the independent
variable" to examine severely the logic of the Differential Calculus.
Secondly, I was now able to enter on the Theory of Perturbations, which for
several years had been the desired land to me.

"At the Fellowship Election of Oct. 1st, Sydney Walker (among other
persons) was elected Fellow. He then quitted the rooms in which he had
lived (almost the worst in the College), and I immediately took them. They
suited me well and I lived very happily in them till I was elected Scholar.
They are small rooms above the middle staircase on the south side of
Neville's Court. (Mr Peacock's rooms were on the same staircase.) I had
access to the leads on the roof of the building from one of my windows.
This was before the New Court was built: my best window looked upon the
garden of the College butler.

"I had brought to Cambridge the telescope which I had made at
Colchester, and about this time I had a stand made by a carpenter at
Cambridge: and I find repeated observations of Jupiter and Saturn made
in this October term.

"Other mathematical subjects on my scribbling-paper are: Geometrical
Astronomy, Barometers (for elevations), Maclaurin's Figure of the Earth,
Lagrange's Theorem, Integrals, Differential Equations of the second order,
Particular Solutions. In general mathematics I had much discussion with
Atkinson (who was Senior Wrangler, January 1821), and in Physics with
Rosser, who was a friend of Sir Richard Phillips, a vain objector to
gravitation. In Classics I read Aeschylus and Herodotus.

"On October 5th I received notice from the Head Lecturer to declaim in
English with Winning. (This exercise consists in preparing a controversial
essay, learning it by heart, and speaking it in Chapel after the Thursday
evening's service.) On October 6th we agreed on the subject, "Is natural
difference to be ascribed to moral or to physical causes?" I taking the latter
side. I spoke the declamation (reciting it without missing a word) on
October 25th. On October 26th I received notice of Latin declamation with
Myers: subject agreed on, "Utrum civitati plus utilitatis an incommodi
afferant leges quae ad vitas privatorum hominum ordinandas pertinent"; I
took the former. The declamation was recited on November 11, when a
curious circumstance occurred. My declamation was rather long: it was the
first Saturday of the term on which a declamation had been spoken: and it
was the day on which arrived the news of the withdrawal of the Bill of
Pains and Penalties against Queen Caroline. (This trial had been going on
through the summer, but I knew little about it.) In consequence the
impatience of the undergraduates was very great, and there was such an
uproar of coughing &c. in the Chapel as probably was never known. The
Master (Dr Wordsworth, appointed in the beginning of the summer on the
death of Dr Mansell, and to whom I had been indirectly introduced by Mrs
Clarkson) and Tutors and Deans tried in vain to stop the hubbub. However I
went on steadily to the end, not at all frightened. On the Monday the Master
sent for me to make a sort of apology in the name of the authorities, and
letters to the Tutors were read at the Lectures, and on the whole the
transaction was nowise disagreeable to me.

"On the Commemoration Day, December 15th, I received my Prize
(Mitford's Greece) as First-Class man, after dinner in the College Hall.
After a short vacation spent at Bury and Playford I returned to Cambridge,
walking from Bury on Jan. 22nd, 1821. During the next term I find in
Mathematics Partial Differential Equations, Tides, Sound, Calculus of
Variations, Composition of rotary motions, Motion in resisting medium,

Lhuillier's theorem, Brightness of an object as seen through a medium with
any possible law of refraction (a good investigation), star-reductions,
numerical calculations connected with them, equilibrium of chain under
centripetal force (geometrically treated, as an improvement upon Whewell's
algebraical method), investigation of the magnitude of attractive forces of
glass, &c., required to produce refraction. I forget about Mathematical
Lectures; but I have an impression that I regularly attended Mr Peacock's
lectures, and that he always set me some private problems.

"I attended Mr Evans's lectures on St Luke: and I find many notes about
the history of the Jews, Cerinthus and various heresies, Paley's Moral
Philosophy, Paley's Evidences, and Biblical Maps: also speculations about
ancient pronunciations.

"For a week or more before the annual examination I was perfectly lazy.
The Classes of my year (Junior Sophs) were not published till June 11. It
was soon known that I was first with 2000 marks, the next being
Drinkwater with 1200 marks. After a short holiday at Bury and Playford I
returned to Cambridge on July 18th, 1821. My daily life went on as usual. I
find that in writing Latin I began Cicero De Senectute (retranslating
Melmoth's translation, and comparing). Some time in the Long Vacation the
names of the Prizemen for Declamations were published: I was
disappointed that not one, English or Latin, was assigned to me: but it was
foolish, for my declamations were rather trumpery.

"My former pupil, Rosser, came again on August 14th. On August 29th
Dr Blomfield (afterwards Bishop of London) called, to engage me as Tutor
to his brother George Beecher Blomfield, and he commenced attendance on
Sept. 1st. With these two pupils I finished at the end of the Long Vacation:
for the next three terms I had one pupil, Gibson, a Newcastle man,

recommended by Mr Peacock, I believe, as a personal friend (Mr Peacock
being of Durham).

"The only classical subject appointed for the next examination was the
5th, 6th and 7th Books of the Odyssey: the mathematical subjects all the
Applied Mathematics and Newton. There was to be however the
Scholarship Examination (Sizars being allowed to sit for Scholarships only
in their 3rd year: and the Scholarship being a kind of little Fellowship
necessary to qualify for being a candidate for the real Fellowship).

"When the October term began Mr Hustler, who usually gave lectures in
mathematics to his third-year pupils, said to me that it was not worth my
while to attend his lectures, and he or Mr Peacock suggested that
Drinkwater, Myers, and I should attend the Questionists' examinations. The
Questionists are those who are to take the degree of B.A. in the next
January: and it was customary, not to give them lectures, but three times a
week to examine them by setting mathematical questions, as the best
method of preparing for the B.A. examination. Accordingly it was arranged
that we should attend the said examinations: but when we went the
Questionists of that year refused to attend. They were reported to be a weak
year, and we to be a strong one: and they were disposed to take offence at
us on any occasion. From some of the scholars of our year who sat at table
with scholars of that year I heard that they distinguished us as 'the impudent
year,' 'the annus mirabilis' &c. On this occasion they pretended to believe
that the plan of our attendance at the Questionists' examinations had been
suggested by an undergraduate, and no explanation was of the least use. So
the Tutors agreed not to press the matter on them: and instead of it,
Drinkwater, Myers, and I went three times a week to Mr Peacock's rooms,
and he set us questions. I think that this system was also continued during
the next two terms (ending in June 1822) or part of them, but I am not
certain.

"In August 1821 I copied out a M.S. on Optics, I think from Mr Whewell:
on August 24th one on the Figure of the Earth and Tides; and at some other
time one on the motion of a body round two centers of force; both from Mr
Whewell. On my scribbling paper I find—A problem on the vibrations of a
gig as depending on the horse's step (like that of a pendulum whose support
is disturbed), Maclaurin's Attractions, Effect of separating the lenses of an
achromatic object-glass (suggested by my old telescope), Barlow's theory of
numbers, and division of the circle into 17 parts, partial differentials, theory
of eye-pieces, epicycloids, Figure of the Earth, Time of body in arc of
parabola, Problem of Sound, Tides, Refraction of Lens, including thickness,
&c., Ivory's paper on Equations, Achromatism of microscope, Capillary
Attraction, Motions of Fluids, Euler's principal axes, Spherical pendulum,
Equation b²(d²y/dx²)=(d²y/dt²), barometer, Lunar Theory well worked out,
ordinary differential equations, Calculus of Variations, Interpolations like
Laplace's for Comets, Kepler's theorem. In September I had my old
telescope mounted on a short tripod stand, and made experiments on its
adjustments. I was possessed of White's Ephemeris, and I find observations
of Jupiter and Saturn in October. I planned an engine for describing ellipses
by the polar equation A/(1 + e cos theta) and tried to make a micrometer
with silk threads converging to a point. Mr Cubitt called on Oct. 4 and Nov.
1; he was engaged in erecting a treadmill at Cambridge Gaol, and had some
thoughts of sending plans for the Cambridge Observatory, the erection of
which was then proposed. On Nov. 19 I find that I had received from Cubitt
a Nautical Almanac, the first that I had. On Dec. 11 I made some
experiments with Drinkwater: I think it was whirling a glass containing oil
on water. In Classics I was chiefly engaged upon Thucydides and Homer.
On October 6th I had a letter from Charles Musgrave, introducing Challis,
who succeeded me in the Cambridge Observatory in 1836.

"At this time my poor afflicted father was suffering much from a severe
form of rheumatism or pain in the legs which sometimes prevented him

from going to bed for weeks together.

"On the Commemoration Day, Dec. 18th, I received my prize as first-
class man in Hall again. The next day I walked to Bury, and passed the
winter vacation there and at Playford.

"I returned to Cambridge on Jan. 24th, 1822. On Feb. 12th I kept my first
Act, with great compliments from the Moderator, and with a most unusually
large attendance of auditors. These disputations on mathematics, in Latin,
are now discontinued. On March 20th I kept a first Opponency against
Sandys. About this time I received Buckle, a Trinity man of my own year,
who was generally supposed to come next after Drinkwater, as pupil. On
my sheets I find integrals and differential equations of every kind,
astronomical corrections (of which I prepared a book), chances, Englefield's
comets, investigation of the brightness within a rainbow, proof of Clairaut's
theorem in one case, metacentres, change of independent variable applied to
a complicated case, generating functions, principal axes. On Apr. 8th I
intended to write an account of my eye: I was then tormented with a double
image, I suppose from some disease of the stomach: and on May 28th I find
by a drawing of the appearance of a lamp that the disease of my eye
continued.

"On Feb. 11th I gave Mr Peacock a paper on the alteration of the focal
length of a telescope as directed with or against the Earth's orbital motion
(on the theory of emissions) which was written out for reading to the
Cambridge Philosophical Society on Feb. 24th and 25th. [This Society I
think was then about a year old.] On Feb. 1 my MS. on Precession, Solar
Inequality, and Nutation, was made complete.

"The important examination for Scholarships was now approaching. As I
have said, this one opportunity only was given to Sizars (Pensioners having
always two opportunities and sometimes three), and it is necessary to be a

Scholar in order to be competent to be a candidate for a Fellowship. On
Apr. 10th I addressed my formal Latin letter to the Seniors. There were 13
vacancies and 37 candidates. The election took place on Apr. 18th, 1822. I
was by much the first (which I hardly expected) and was complimented by
the Master and others. Wrote the formal letter of thanks as usual. I was now
entitled to claim better rooms, and I took the rooms on the ground floor on
the East side of the Queen's Gate of the Great Court. Even now I think of
my quiet residence in the little rooms above the staircase in Neville's Court
with great pleasure. I took possession of my new rooms on May 27th.

"The Annual Examination began on May 30th. The Classes were
published on June 5th, when my name was separated from the rest by two
lines. It was understood that the second man was Drinkwater, and that my
number of marks was very nearly double of his. Having at this time been
disappointed of a proposed walking excursion into Derbyshire with a
college friend, who failed me at the last moment, I walked to Bury and
spent a short holiday there and at Playford.

"I returned to Cambridge on July 12th, 1822. I was steadily busy during
this Long Vacation, but by no means oppressively so: indeed my time
passed very happily. The Scholars' Table is the only one in College at which
the regular possessors of the table are sure never to see a stranger, and thus
a sort of family intimacy grows up among the Scholars. Moreover the
Scholars feel themselves to be a privileged class 'on the foundation,' and
this feeling gives them a sort of conceited happiness. It was the duty of
Scholars by turns to read Grace after the Fellows' dinner and supper, and at
this time (1848) I know it by heart. They also read the Lessons in Chapel on
week days: but as there was no daily chapel-service during the summer
vacation, I had not much of this. In the intimacy of which I speak I became
much acquainted with Drinkwater, Buckle, Rothman, and Sutcliffe: and we
formed a knot at the table (first the Undergraduate Scholars' table, and

afterwards the Bachelor Scholars' table) for several years. During this
Vacation I had for pupils Buckle and Gibson.

"I wrote my daily Latin as usual, beginning with the retranslation of
Cicero's Epistles, but I interrupted it from Sept. 27th to Feb. 8th. I believe it
was in this Vacation, or in the October term, that I began every evening to
read Thucydides very carefully, as my notes are marked 1822 and 1823. On
August 27 I find that I was reading Ovid's Fasti.

"In Mathematics I find the equation x + y = a, x^q + y^q = b, Caustics,
Calculus of Variations, Partial Differentials, Aberration of Light, Motions of
Comets, various Optical constructions computed with spherical aberrations,
Particular Solutions, Mechanics of Solid Bodies, Attractions of Shells,
Chances, Ivory's attraction-theorem, Lunar Theory (algebraical), Degrees
across meridian, theoretical refraction, Newton's 3rd Book, Investigation of
the tides in a shallow equatoreal canal, from which I found that there would
be low-water under the moon, metacentres, rotation of a solid body round
three axes, Attractions of Spheroids of variable density, finite differences,
and complete Figure of the Earth. There is also a good deal of investigation
of a mathematical nature not connected with College studies, as musical
chords, organ-pipes, sketch for a computing machine (suggested by the
publications relating to Babbage's), sketch of machine for solving
equations. In August there is a plan of a MS. on the Differential Calculus,
which it appears I wrote then: one on the Figure of the Earth written about
August 15th; one on Tides, Sept. 25th; one on Newton's Principia with
algebraical additions, Nov. 1st. On Sept. 6th and 10th there are Lunar
Distances observed with Rothman's Sextant and completely worked out; for
these I prepared a printed skeleton form, I believe my first. On December
13th there are references to books on Geology (Conybeare and Phillips, and
Parkinson) which I was beginning to study. On July 27th, being the day on
which I completed my 21st year, I carefully did nothing.

"Another subject partly occupied my thoughts, which, though not (with
reference to practical science) very wise, yet gave me some Cambridge
celebrity. In July 1819 I had (as before mentioned) sketched a plan for
constructing reflecting telescopes with silvered glass, and had shewn it
afterwards to Mr Peacock. I now completed the theory of this construction
by correcting the aberrations, spherical as well as chromatic. On July 13th,
1822, I drew up a paper about it for Mr Peacock. He approved it much, and
in some way communicated it to Mr (afterwards Sir John) Herschel. I was
soon after introduced to Herschel at a breakfast with Mr Peacock: and he
approved of the scheme generally. On August 5th I drew up a complete
mathematical paper for the Cambridge Philosophical Society, which I
entrusted to Mr Peacock. The aberrations, both spherical and chromatic, are
here worked out very well. On Nov. 25th it was read at the meeting of the
Philosophical Society, and was afterwards printed in their Transactions: this
was my first printed Memoir. Before this time however I had arranged to try
the scheme practically. Mr Peacock had engaged to bear the expense, but I
had no occasion to ask him. Partly (I think) through Drinkwater, I
communicated with an optician named Bancks, in the Strand, who
constructed the optical part. I subsequently tried my telescope, but it would
not do. The fault, as I had not and have not the smallest doubt, depends in
some way on the crystallization of the mercury silvering. It must have been
about this time that I was introduced to Mr (afterwards Sir James) South, at
a party at Mr Peacock's rooms. He advised me to write to Tulley, a well-
known practical optician, who made me some new reflectors, &c. (so that I
had two specimens, one Gregorian, the other Cassegrainian). However the
thing failed practically, and I was too busy ever after to try it again.

"During the October term I had no pupils. I kept my second Act on
Nov. 6 (opponents Hamilton, Rusby, Field), and an Opponency against
Jeffries on Nov. 7. I attended the Questionists' Examinations. I seem
to have lived a very comfortable idle life. The Commemoration Day was

Dec. 18th, when I received a Prize, and the next day I walked to
Bury. On Jan. 4th, 1823, I returned to Cambridge, and until the
B.A. Examination I read novels and played cards more than at any other
time in College.

"On Thursday, Jan. 9th, 1823, the preliminary classes, for arrangement of
details of the B.A. Examination, were published. The first class, Airy,
Drinkwater, Jeffries, Mason. As far as I remember, the rule was then, that
on certain days the classes were grouped (in regard to identity of questions
given to each group) thus: 1st, {2nd/3rd}, {4th/5th} &c., and on certain
other days thus: {1st/2nd}, {3rd/4th}, &c. On Saturday, Jan. 11th, I paid
fees. On Monday, Jan. 13th, the proceedings of examination began by a
breakfast in the Combination Room. After this, Gibson gave me breakfast
every day, and Buckle gave me and some others a glass of wine after
dinner. The hours were sharp, the season a cold one, and no fire was
allowed in the Senate House where the Examination was carried on (my
place was in the East gallery), and altogether it was a severe time.

"The course of Examination was as follows:

"Monday, Jan. 13th. 8 to 9, printed paper of questions by Mr Hind
(moderator); half-past 9 to 11, questions given orally; 1 to 3, ditto; 6 to 9,
paper of problems at Mr Higman's rooms.

"Tuesday, Jan. 14th. 8 to 9, Higman's paper; half-past 9 to 11, questions
given orally; 1 to 3, ditto; 6 to 9, paper of problems in Sidney College Hall.

"Wednesday, Jan. 15th. Questions given orally 8 to 9 and 1 to 3, with
paper of questions on Paley and Locke (one question only in each was
answered).

"Thursday, Jan. 16th. We went in at 9 and 1, but there seems to have been
little serious examination.

"Friday, Jan. 17. On this day the brackets or classes as resulting from the
examination were published, 1st bracket Airy, 2nd bracket Jeffries, 3rd
bracket Drinkwater, Fisher, Foley, Mason, Myers.

"On Saturday, Jan. 18th, the degrees were conferred in the usual way. It
had been arranged that my brother and sister should come to see me take
my degree of B.A., and I had asked Gibson to conduct them to the Senate
House Gallery: but Mr Hawkes (a Trinity Fellow) found them and stationed
them at the upper end of the Senate House. After the preliminary
arrangements of papers at the Vice-Chancellor's table, I, as Senior Wrangler,
was led up first to receive the degree, and rarely has the Senate House rung
with such applause as then filled it. For many minutes, after I was brought
in front of the Vice-Chancellor, it was impossible to proceed with the
ceremony on account of the uproar. I gave notice to the Smith's Prize
Electors of my intention to 'sit' for that prize, and dined at Rothman's rooms
with Drinkwater, Buckle, and others. On Monday, Jan. 20th, I was
examined by Professor Woodhouse, for Smith's Prize, from 10 to 1. I think
that the only competitor was Jeffries. On Tuesday I was examined by Prof.
Turton, 10 to 1, and on Wednesday by Prof. Lax, 10 to 1. On Thursday, Jan.
23rd, I went to Bury by coach, on one of the coldest evenings that I ever
felt.

"Mr Peacock had once recommended me to sit for the Chancellor's medal
(Classical Prize). But he now seemed to be cool in his advice, and I laid
aside all thought of it."

*****

It seems not out of place to insert here a copy of some "Cambridge
Reminiscences" written by Airy, which will serve to explain the Acts and
Opponencies referred to in the previous narrative, and other matters.

THE ACTS.

The examination for B.A. degrees was preceded, in my time, by keeping
two Acts, in the Schools under the University Library: the second of them
in the October term immediately before the examination; the first (I think)
in the October term of the preceding year.

These Acts were reliques of the Disputations of the Middle Ages, which
probably held a very important place in the discipline of the University.
(There seems to be something like them in some of the Continental
Universities.) The presiding authority was one of the Moderators. I
apprehend that the word "Moderator" signified "President," in which sense
it is still used in the Kirk of Scotland; and that it was peculiarly applied to
the Presidency of the Disputations, the most important educational
arrangement in the University. The Moderator sent a summons to the
"Respondent" to submit three subjects for argument, and to prepare to
defend them on a given day: he also named three Opponents. This and all
the following proceedings were conducted in Latin. For my Act of 1822,
Nov. 6, I submitted the following subjects:

"Recte statuit Newtonus in Principiis suis Mathematicis, libro primo,
sectione undecimâ."

"Recte statuit Woodius de Iride."

"Recte statuit Paleius de Obligationibus."

The Opponents named to attack these assertions were Hamilton of St
John's, Rusby of St Catharine's, Field of Trinity. It was customary for the
Opponents to meet at tea at the rooms of the Senior Opponent, in order to
discuss and arrange their arguments; the Respondent was also invited, but
he was warned that he must depart as soon as tea would be finished: then
the three Opponents proceeded with their occupation. As I have acted in
both capacities, I am able to say that the matter was transacted in an earnest
and business-like way. Indeed in the time preceding my own (I know not
whether in my own time) the assistance of a private tutor was frequently
engaged, and I remember hearing a senior M.A. remark that my College
Tutor (James D. Hustler) was the best crammer for an Act in the University.

At the appointed time, the parties met in the Schools: the Respondent
first read a Latin Thesis on any subject (I think I took some metaphysical
subject), but nobody paid any attention to it: then the Respondent read his
first Dogma, and the first Opponent produced an argument against it, in
Latin. After this there were repeated replies and rejoinders, all in vivâ voce
Latin, the Moderator sometimes interposing a remark in Latin. When he
considered that one argument was disposed of, he called for another by the
words "Probes aliter." The arguments were sometimes shaped with
considerable ingenuity, and required a clear head in the Respondent. When
all was finished, the Moderator made a complimentary remark to the
Respondent and one to the first Opponent (I forget whether to the second
and third). In my Respondency of 1822, November 6, the compliment was,
"Quaestiones tuas summo ingenio et acumine defendisti, et in rebus
mathematicis scientiam planè mirabilem ostendisti." In an Opponency (I
forget when) the compliment was, "Magno ingenio argumenta tua et
construxisti et defendisti."

The Acts of the high men excited much interest among the students. At
my Acts the room was crowded with undergraduates.

I imagine that, at a time somewhat distant, the maintenance of the Acts
was the only regulation by which the University acted on the studies of the
place. When the Acts had been properly kept, license was given to the
Father of the College to present the undergraduate to the Vice-Chancellor,
who then solemnly admitted him "ad respondendum Quaestioni." There is
no appearance of collective examination before this presentation: what the
"Quaestio" might be, I do not know. Still the undergraduate was not B.A.
The Quaestio however was finished and approved before the day of a
certain Congregation, and then the undergraduate was declared to be
"actualiter in artibus Baccalaureum."

Probably these regulations were found to be insufficient for the control of
education, and the January examination was instituted. I conjecture this to
have been at or shortly before the date of the earliest Triposes recorded in
the Cambridge Calendar, 1748.

The increasing importance of the January examination naturally
diminished the value of the Acts in the eyes of the undergraduates; and, a
few years after my M.A. degree, it was found that the Opponents met, not
for the purpose of concealing their arguments from the Respondent, but for
the purpose of revealing them to him. This led to the entire suppression of
the system. The most active man in this suppression was Mr Whewell: its
date must have been near to 1830.

The shape in which the arguments were delivered by an Opponent,
reading from a written paper, was, "Si (quoting something from the
Respondent's challenge), &c., &c. Cadit Quaestio; Sed (citing something
else bearing on the subject of discussion), Valet Consequentia; Ergo
(combining these to prove some inaccuracy in the Respondent's challenge),
Valent Consequentia et Argumentum." Nobody pretended to understand
these mystical terminations.

Apparently the original idea was that several Acts should be kept by each
undergraduate; for, to keep up the number (as it seemed), each student had
to gabble through a ridiculous form "Si quaestiones tuae falsae sint, Cadit
Quaestio:—sed quaestiones tuae falsae sunt, Ergo valent Consequentia et
Argumentum." I have forgotten time and place when this was uttered.

THE SENATE-HOUSE EXAMINATION.

The Questionists, as the undergraduates preparing for B.A. were called in
the October term, were considered as a separate body; collected at a
separate table in Hall, attending no lectures, but invited to attend a system
of trial examinations conducted by one of the Tutors or Assistant-Tutors.

From the Acts, from the annual College examinations, and (I suppose)
from enquiries in the separate Colleges, the Moderators acquired a general
idea of the relative merits of the candidates for honours. Guided by this, the
candidates were divided into six classes. The Moderators and Assistant
Examiners were provided each with a set of questions in manuscript (no
printed papers were used for Honours in the Senate House; in regard to the
[Greek: hoi polloi] I cannot say). On the Monday on which the examination
began, the Father of the College received all the Questionists (I believe), at
any rate all the candidates for honours, at breakfast in the Combination
Room at 8 o'clock, and marched them to the Senate House. My place with
other honour-men was in the East Gallery. There one Examiner took charge
of the 1st and 2nd classes united, another Examiner took the 3rd and 4th
classes united, and a third took the 5th and 6th united. On Tuesday, one
Examiner took the 1st class alone, a second took the 2nd and 3rd classes
united, a third took the 4th and 5th classes united, and a fourth took the 6th
class alone. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the changes were similar.
And, in all, the questioning was thus conducted. The Examiner read from

his manuscript the first question. Those who could answer it proceeded to
write out their answers, and as soon as one had finished he gave the word
"Done"; then the Examiner read out his second question, repeating it when
necessary for the understanding by those who took it up more lately. And so
on. I think that the same process was repeated in the afternoon; but I do not
remember precisely. In this manner the Examination was conducted through
five days (Monday to Friday) with no interruption except on Friday
afternoon. It was principally, perhaps entirely, bookwork.

But on two evenings there were printed papers of problems: and the
examination in these was conducted just as in the printed papers of the
present day: but in the private College Rooms of the Moderators. And there,
wine and other refreshments were offered to the Examinees. How this
singular custom began, I know not.

The order of merit was worked out on Friday afternoon and evening, and
was in some measure known through the University late in the evening. I
remember Mr Peacock coming to a party of Examinees and giving
information on several places. I do not remember his mentioning mine
(though undoubtedly he did) but I distinctly remember his giving the
Wooden Spoon. On the Saturday morning at 8 o'clock the manuscript list
was nailed to the door of the Senate-House. The form of further
proceedings in the presentation for degree (ad respondendum quaestioni) I
imagine has not been much altered. The kneeling before the Vice-
Chancellor and placing hands in the Vice-Chancellor's hands were those of
the old form of doing homage.

The form of examination which I have described was complicated and
perhaps troublesome, but I believe that it was very efficient, possibly more
so than the modern form (established I suppose at the same time as the
abolition of the Acts). The proportion of questions now answered to the

whole number set is ridiculously small, and no accurate idea of relative
merit can be formed from them.

THE COLLEGE HALL.

When I went up in 1819, and for several years later, the dinner was at 1/4
past 3. There was no supplementary dinner for special demands. Boat-clubs
I think were not invented, even in a plain social way, till about 1824 or
1825; and not in connection with the College till some years later. Some of
the senior Fellows spoke of the time when dinner was at 2, and regretted the
change.

There was supper in Hall at 9 o'clock: I have known it to be attended by a
few undergraduates when tired by examinations or by evening walks; and
there were always some seniors at the upper table: I have occasionally
joined them, and have had some very interesting conversations. The supper
was cold, but hot additions were made when required.

One little arrangement amused me, as shewing the ecclesiastical
character of the College. The Fasts of the Church were to be strictly kept,
and there was to be no dinner in Hall. It was thus arranged. The evening
chapel service, which was usually at 5-1/2 (I think), was held at 3; and at 4
the ordinary full meal was served in Hall, but as it followed the chapel
attendance it was held to be supper; and there was no subsequent meal.

There were no chairs whatever in Hall, except the single chair of the
vice-master at the head of the table on the dais and that of the senior dean at
the table next the East wall. All others sat on benches. And I have heard
allusions to a ludicrous difficulty which occurred when some princesses (of
the Royal Family) dined in the Hall, and it was a great puzzle how to get
them to the right side of the benches.

The Sizars dined after all the rest; their dinner usually began soon after 4.
For the non-foundationists a separate dinner was provided, as for
pensioners. But for the foundationists, the remains of the Fellows' dinner
were brought down; and I think that this provision was generally preferred
to the other.

The dishes at all the tables of undergraduates were of pewter, till a certain
day when they were changed for porcelain. I cannot remember whether this
was at the time when they became Questionists (in the October Term), or at
the time when they were declared "actualiter esse in artibus Baccalaureos"
(in the Lent Term).

Up to the Questionist time the undergraduate Scholars had no mixture
whatever; they were the only pure table in the Hall: and I looked on this as
a matter very valuable for the ultimate state of the College society. But in
the October term, those who were to proceed to B.A. were drafted into the
mixed body of Questionists: and they greatly disliked the change. They
continued so till the Lent Term, when they were formally invited by the
Bachelor Scholars to join the upper table.

MATHEMATICAL SUBJECTS OF STUDY AND EXAMINATION.

In the October Term 1819, the only books on Pure Mathematics were:—
Euclid generally, Algebra by Dr Wood (formerly Tutor, but in 1819 Master,
of St John's College), Vince's Fluxions and Dealtry's Fluxions, Woodhouse's
and other Trigonometries. Not a whisper passed through the University
generally on the subject of Differential Calculus; although some papers
(subsequently much valued) on that subject had been written by Mr
Woodhouse, fellow of Caius College; but their style was repulsive, and they
never took hold of the University. Whewell's Mechanics (1819) contains a
few and easy applications of the Differential Calculus. The books on

applied Mathematics were Wood's Mechanics, Whewell's Mechanics,
Wood's Optics, Vince's Hydrostatics, Vince's Astronomy, Woodhouse's
Plane Astronomy (perhaps rather later), The First Book of Newton's
Principia: I do not remember any others. These works were undoubtedly
able; and for the great proportion of University students going into active
life, I do not conceal my opinion that books constructed on the principles of
those which I have cited were more useful than those exclusively founded
on the more modern system. For those students who aimed at the mastery of
results more difficult and (in the intellectual sense) more important, the
older books were quite insufficient. More aspiring students read, and
generally with much care, several parts of Newton's Principia, Book I., and
also Book III. (perhaps the noblest example of geometrical form of
cosmical theory that the world has seen). I remember some questions from
Book III. proposed in the Senate-House Examination 1823.

In the October term 1819, I went up to the University. The works of
Wood and Vince, which I have mentioned, still occupied the lecture-rooms.
But a great change was in preparation for the University Course of
Mathematics. During the great Continental war, the intercourse between
men of science in England and in France had been most insignificant. But
in the autumn of 1819, three members of the Senate (John Herschel, George
Peacock, and Charles Babbage) had entered into the mathematical society
of Paris, and brought away some of the works on Pure Mathematics
(especially those of Lacroix) and on Mechanics (principally Poisson's). In
1820 they made a translation of Lacroix's Differential Calculus; and they
prepared a volume of Examples of the Differential and Integral Calculus.
These were extensively studied: but the form of the College Examinations
or the University Examinations was not, I think, influenced by them in the
winter 1820-1821 or the two following terms. But in the winter 1821-1822
Peacock was one of the Moderators; and in the Senate-House Examination,
January 1822, he boldly proposed a Paper of important questions entirely in

the Differential Calculus. This was considered as establishing the new
system in the University. In January 1823, I think the two systems were
mingled. Though I was myself subject to that examination, I grieve to say
that I have forgotten much of the details, except that I well remember that
some of the questions referred to Newton, Book III. on the Lunar Theory.
To these I have already alluded.

No other work occurs to me as worthy of mention, except Woodhouse's
Lunar Theory, entirely founded on the Differential Calculus. The style of
this book was not attractive, and it was very little read.

CHAPTER III.
AT TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, FROM HIS TAKING HIS B.A. DEGREE TO HIS
TAKING CHARGE OF THE CAMBRIDGE OBSERVATORY AS PLUMIAN PROFESSOR.

FROM JANUARY 18TH, 1823, TO MARCH 15TH, 1828.

"On Jan. 30th, 1823, I returned to Cambridge. I had already heard that I
had gained the 1st Smith's Prize, and one of the first notifications to me on
my return was that the Walker's good-conduct prize of £10 was awarded to
me.

"I remember that my return was not very pleasant, for our table in hall
was half occupied by a set of irregular men who had lost terms and were
obliged to reside somewhat longer in order to receive the B.A. degree. But
at the time of my completing the B.A. degree (which is not till some weeks
after the examination and admission) I with the other complete bachelors
was duly invited to the table of the B.A. scholars, and that annoyance
ended.

"The liberation from undergraduate study left me at liberty generally to
pursue my own course (except so far as it was influenced by the preparation
for fellowship examination), and also left me at liberty to earn more money,
in the way usual with the graduates, by taking undergraduate pupils. Mr
Peacock recommended me to take only four, which occupied me four hours
every day, and for each of them I received 20 guineas each term. My first
pupils, for the Lent and Easter terms, were Williamson (afterwards Head
Master of Westminster School), James Parker (afterwards Q.C. and Vice-
Chancellor), Bissett, and Clinton of Caius. To all these I had been engaged
before taking my B.A. degree.

"I kept up classical subjects. I have a set of notes on the [Greek: Ploutos]
and [Greek: Nephelai] of Aristophanes, finished on Mar. 15th, 1823, and I
began my daily writing of Latin as usual on Feb. 8th. In mathematics I
worked very hard at Lunar and Planetary Theories. I have two MS. books of
Lunar Theory to the 5th order of small quantities, which however answered
no purpose except that of making me perfectly familiar with that subject. I
worked well, upon my quires, the figure of Saturn supposed homogeneous
as affected by the attraction of his ring, and the figure of the Earth as
heterogeneous, and the Calculus of Variations. I think it was now that I
wrote a MS. on constrained motion.

"On Mar. 17th, 1823, I was elected Fellow of the Cambridge
Philosophical Society. On May 9th a cast of my head was taken for Dr
Elliotson, an active phrenologist, by Deville, a tradesman in the
Strand.

"I had long thought that I should like to visit Scotland, and on my once
saying so to my mother, she (who had a most kindly recollection of
Alnwick) said in a few words that she thought I could not do better. I had
therefore for some time past fully determined that as soon as I had sufficient

spare time and money enough I would go to Scotland. The interval between
the end of Easter Term and the usual beginning with pupils in the Long
Vacation offered sufficient time, and I had now earned a little money, and I
therefore determined to go, and invited my sister to accompany me. I had
no private introductions, except one from James Parker to Mr Reach, a
writer of Inverness: some which Drinkwater sent being too late. On May
20th we went by coach to Stamford; thence by Pontefract and Oulton to
York, where I saw the Cathedral, which then disappointed me, but I suppose
that we were tired with the night journey. Then by Newcastle to Alnwick,
where we stopped for the day to see my birthplace. On May 24th to
Edinburgh. On this journey I remember well the stone walls between the
fields, the place (in Yorkshire) where for the first time in my life I saw rock,
the Hambleton, Kyloe, Cheviot and Pentland Hills, Arthur's Seat, but still
more strikingly the revolving Inch Keith Light. At Edinburgh I hired a horse
and gig for our journey in Scotland, and we drove by Queensferry to
Kinross (where for the first time in my life I saw clouds on the hills, viz. on
the Lomond Hills), and so to Perth. Thence by Dunkeld and Killicrankie to
Blair Athol (the dreariness of the Drumochter Pass made a strong
impression on me), and by Aviemore (where I saw snow on the mountains)
to Inverness. Here we received much kindness and attention from Mr
Reach, and after visiting the Falls of Foyers and other sights we went to
Fort Augustus and Fort William. We ascended Ben Nevis, on which there
was a great deal of snow, and visited the vitrified fort in Glen Nevis. Then
by Inverary to Tarbet, and ascended Ben Lomond, from whence we had a
magnificent view. We then passed by Loch Achray to Glasgow, where we
found James Parker's brother (his father, of the house of Macinroy and
Parker, being a wealthy merchant of Glasgow). On June 15th to Mr Parker's
house at Blochairn, near Glasgow (on this day I heard Dr Chalmers preach),
and on the 17th went with the family by steamer (the first that I had seen) to
Fairly, near Largs. I returned the gig to Edinburgh, visited Arran and Bute,

and we then went by coach to Carlisle, and by Penrith to Keswick (by the
old road: never shall I forget the beauty of the approach to Keswick). After
visiting Ambleside and Kendal we returned to Cambridge by way of Leeds,
and posted to Bury on the 28th June. The expense of this expedition was
about £81. It opened a completely new world to me.

"I had little time to rest at Bury. In the preceding term Drinkwater,
Buckle, and myself, had engaged to go somewhere into the country with
pupils during the Long Vacation (as was customary with Cambridge men).
Buckle however changed his mind. Drinkwater went to look for a place,
fixed on Swansea, and engaged a house (called the Cambrian Hotel, kept by
a Captain Jenkins). On the morning of July 2nd I left Bury for London and
by mail coach to Bristol. On the morning of July 3rd by steamer to
Swansea, and arrived late at night. I had then five pupils: Parker, Harman
Lewis (afterwards Professor in King's College, London), Pierce Morton,
Gibson, and Guest of Caius (afterwards Master of the College). Drinkwater
had four, viz. two Malkins (from Bury), Elphinstone (afterwards M.P.), and
Farish (son of Professor Farish). We lived a hard-working strange life. My
pupils began with me at six in the morning: I was myself reading busily. We
lived completely en famille, with two men-servants besides the house
establishment. One of our first acts was to order a four-oared boat to be
built, fitted with a lug-sail: she was called the Granta of Swansea. In the
meantime we made sea excursions with boats borrowed from ships in the
port. On July 23rd, with a borrowed boat, we went out when the sea was
high, but soon found our boat unmanageable, and at last got into a place
where the sea was breaking heavily over a shoal, and the two of the crew
who were nearest to me (A. Malkin and Lewis), one on each side, were
carried out: they were good swimmers and we recovered them, though with
some trouble: the breaker had passed quite over my head: we gained the
shore and the boat was taken home by land. When our own boat was
finished, we had some most picturesque adventures at the Mumbles,

Aberavon, Caswell Bay, Ilfracombe, and Tenby. From all this I learnt
navigation pretty well. The mixture of hard study and open-air exertion
seemed to affect the health of several of us (I was one): we were covered
with painful boils.

"My Latin-writing began again on July 25th: I have notes on
Demosthenes, Lucretius, and Greek History. In mathematics I find Chances,
Figure of the Earth with variable density, Differential Equations, Partial
Differentials, sketch for an instrument for shewing refraction, and Optical
instruments with effects of chromatic aberration. In August there occurred
an absurd quarrel between the Fellows of Trinity and the undergraduates, on
the occasion of commencing the building of King's Court, when the
undergraduates were not invited to wine, and absented themselves from the
hall.

"There were vacant this year (1823) five fellowships in Trinity College.
In general, the B.A.'s of the first year are not allowed to sit for fellowships:
but this year it was thought so probable that permission would be given,
that on Sept. 2nd Mr Higman, then appointed as Tutor to a third 'side' of the
College, wrote to me to engage me as Assistant Mathematical Tutor in the
event of my being elected a Fellow on Oct. 1st, and I provisionally engaged
myself. About the same time I had written to Mr Peacock, who
recommended me to sit, and to Mr Whewell, who after consultation with
the Master (Dr Wordsworth), discouraged it. As there was no absolute
prohibition, I left Swansea on Sept. 11th (before my engagement to my
pupils was quite finished) and returned to Cambridge by Gloucester,
Oxford, and London. I gave in my name at the butteries as candidate for
fellowship, but was informed in a day or two that I should not be allowed to
sit. On Sept. 19th I walked to Bury.

"I walked back to Cambridge on Oct. 17th, 1823. During this October
term I had four pupils: Neate, Cankrein, Turner (afterwards 2nd wrangler
and Treasurer of Guy's Hospital), and William Hervey (son of the Marquis
of Bristol). In the Lent term I had four (Neate, Cankrein, Turner, Clinton).
In the Easter term I had three (Neate, Cankrein, Turner).

"My daily writing of Latin commenced on Oct. 27th. In November I
began re-reading Sophocles with my usual care. In mathematics I find
investigations of Motion in a resisting medium, Form of Saturn, Draft of a
Paper about an instrument for exhibiting the fundamental law of refraction
(read at the Philosophical Society by Mr Peacock on Nov. 10th, 1823),
Optics, Solid Geometry, Figure of the Earth with variable density, and much
about attractions. I also in this term wrote a MS. on the Calculus of
Variations, and one on Wood's Algebra, 2nd and 4th parts. I have also notes
of the temperature of mines in Cornwall, something on the light of oil-gas,
and reminiscences of Swansea in a view of Oswick Bay. In November I
attended Professor Sedgwick's geological lectures.

"At some time in this term I had a letter from Mr South (to whom I
suppose I had written) regarding the difficulty of my telescope: he was
intimately acquainted with Tulley, and I suppose that thus the matter had
become more fully known to him. He then enquired if I could visit him in
the winter vacation. I accordingly went from Bury, and was received by him
at his house in Blackman Street for a week or more with great kindness. He
introduced me to Sir Humphrey Davy and many other London savans, and
shewed me many London sights and the Greenwich Observatory. I also had
a little practice with his own instruments. He was then on intimate terms
with Mr Herschel (afterwards Sir John Herschel), then living in London,
who came occasionally to observe double stars. This was the first time that I
saw practical astronomy. It seems that I borrowed his mountain barometer.
In the Lent term I wrote to him regarding the deduction of the parallax of

Mars, from a comparison of the relative positions of Mars and 46 Leonis, as
observed by him and by Rumker at Paramatta. My working is on loose
papers. I see that I have worked out perfectly the interpolations, the effects
of uncertainty of longitude, &c., but I do not see whether I have a final
result.

"In Jan. 1824, at Playford, I was working on the effects of separating the
two lenses of an object-glass, and on the kind of eye-piece which would be
necessary: also on spherical aberrations and Saturn's figure. On my quires at
Cambridge I was working on the effects of separating the object-glass
lenses, with the view of correcting the secondary spectrum: and on Jan. 31st
I received some numbers (indices of refraction) from Mr Herschel, and
reference to Fraunhofer's numbers.

"About this time it was contemplated to add to the Royal Observatory of
Greenwich two assistants of superior education. Whether this scheme was
entertained by the Admiralty, the Board of Longitude, or the Royal Society,
I do not know. Somehow (I think through Mr Peacock) a message from Mr
Herschel was conveyed to me, acquainting me of this, and suggesting that I
should be an excellent person for the principal place. To procure
information, I went to London on Saturday, Feb. 7th, sleeping at Mr
South's, to be present at one of Sir Humphrey Davy's Saturday evening
soirées (they were then held every Saturday), and to enquire of Sir H. Davy
and Dr Young. When I found that succession to the post of Astronomer
Royal was not considered as distinctly a consequence of it, I took it coolly,
and returned the next night. The whole proposal came to nothing.

"At this time I was engaged upon differential equations, mountain
barometer problem and determination of the height of the Gogmagogs and
several other points, investigations connected with Laplace's calculus,
spherical aberration in different planes, geology (especially regarding

Derbyshire, which I proposed to visit), and much of optics. I wrote a draft
of my Paper on the figure of Saturn, and on Mar. 15th, 1824, it was read at
the Philosophical Society under the title of 'On the figure assumed by a
fluid homogeneous mass, whose particles are acted on by their mutual
attraction, and by small extraneous forces,' and is printed in their Memoirs.
I also wrote a draft of my Paper on Achromatic Eye-pieces, and on May
17th, 1824, it was read at the Philosophical Society under the title of 'On the
Principles and Construction of the Achromatic Eye-pieces of Telescopes,
and on the Achromatism of Microscopes,' including also the effects of
separating the lenses of the object-glass. It is printed in their Memoirs.

"Amongst miscellaneous matters I find that on Mar. 22nd of this year I
began regularly making extracts from the books of the Book Society, a
practice which I continued to March 1826. On Mar. 27th, a very rainy day, I
walked to Bury to attend the funeral of my uncle William Biddell, near
Diss, and on Mar. 30th I walked back in rain and snow. On Feb. 24th I
dined with Cubitt in Cambridge. On May 21st I gave a certificate to Rogers
(the assistant in Crosse's school, and my instructor in mathematics), which
my mother amplified much, and which I believe procured his election as
master of Walsall School. On June 23rd I went to Bury. The speeches at
Bury School, which I wished to attend, took place next day."

At this point of his Autobiography the writer continues, "Now came one
of the most important occurrences in my life." The important event in
question was his acquaintance with Richarda Smith, the lady who
afterwards became his wife. The courtship was a long one, and in the
Autobiography there are various passages relating to it, all written in the
most natural and unaffected manner, but of somewhat too private a nature
for publication. It will therefore be convenient to digress from the straight
path of the narrative in order to insert a short memoir of the lady who was
destined to influence his life and happiness in a most important degree.

Richarda Smith was the eldest daughter of the Rev. Richard Smith, who
had been a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, but was at this time
Private Chaplain to the Duke of Devonshire, and held the small living of
Edensor, near Chatsworth, in Derbyshire. He had a family of two sons and
seven daughters, whom he had brought up and educated very carefully.
Several of his daughters were remarkable both for their beauty and
accomplishments. Richarda Smith was now in her 20th year, and the writer
of the Autobiography records that "at Matlock we received great attention
from Mr Chenery: in speaking of Mr Smith I remember his saying that Mr
Smith had a daughter whom the Duke of Devonshire declared to be the
most beautiful girl he ever saw." This was before he had made the
acquaintance of the family. Airy was at this time on a walking tour in
Derbyshire with his brother William, and they were received at Edensor by
Mr Smith, to whom he had letters of introduction. He seems to have fallen
in love with Miss Smith "at first sight," and within two days of first seeing
her he made her an offer of marriage. Neither his means nor his prospects at
that time permitted the least idea of an immediate marriage, and Mr Smith
would not hear of any engagement. But he never had the least doubt as to
the wisdom of the choice that he had made: he worked steadily on, winning
fame and position, and recommending his suit from time to time to Miss
Smith as opportunity offered, and finally married her, nearly six years after
his first proposal. His constancy had its reward, for he gained a most
charming and affectionate wife. As he records at the time of his marriage,
"My wife was aged between 25 and 26, but she scarcely appeared more
than 18 or 20. Her beauty and accomplishments, her skill and fidelity in
sketching, and above all her exquisite singing of ballads, made a great
sensation in Cambridge."

Their married life lasted 45 years, but the last six years were saddened by
the partial paralysis and serious illness of Lady Airy. The entire
correspondence between them was most carefully preserved, and is a record

of a most happy union. The letters were written during his numerous
journeys and excursions on business or pleasure, and it is evident that his
thoughts were with her from the moment of their parting. Every opportunity
of writing was seized with an energy and avidity that shewed how much his
heart was in the correspondence. Nothing was too trivial or too important to
communicate to his wife, whether relating to family or business matters.
The letters on both sides are always full of affection and sympathy, and are
written in that spirit of confidence which arises from a deep sense of the
value and necessity of mutual support in the troubles of life. And with his
active and varied employments and his numerous family there was no lack
of troubles. They were both of them simple-minded, sensible, and practical
people, and were very grateful for such comforts and advantages as they
were able to command, but for nothing in comparison with their deep
respect and affection for one another.

Both by natural ability and education she was well qualified to enter into
the pursuits of her husband, and in many cases to assist him. She always
welcomed her husband's friends, and by her skill and attractive courtesy
kept them well together. She was an admirable letter-writer, and in the
midst of her numerous domestic distractions always found time for the
duties of correspondence. In conversation she was very attractive, not so
much from the wit or brilliancy of her remarks as from the brightness and
interest with which she entered into the topics under discussion, and from
the unfailing grace and courtesy with which she attended to the views of
others. This was especially recognized by the foreign astronomers and men
of science who from time to time stayed as guests at the Observatory and to
whom she acted as hostess. Although she was not an accomplished linguist
yet she was well able to express herself in French and German, and her
natural good sense and kindliness placed her guests at their ease, and made
them feel themselves (as indeed they were) welcomed and at home.

Her father, the Rev. Richard Smith, was a man of most cultivated mind,
and of the highest principles, with a keen enjoyment of good society, which
the confidence and friendship of his patron the Duke of Devonshire amply
secured to him, both at Chatsworth and in London. He had a deep
attachment to his Alma Mater of Cambridge, and though not himself a
mathematician he had a great respect for the science of mathematics and for
eminent mathematicians. During the long courtship already related Mr
Smith conceived the highest respect for Airy's character, as well as for his
great repute and attainments, and expressed his lively satisfaction at his
daughter's marriage. Thus on January 20th, 1830, he wrote to his intended
son-in-law as follows: "I have little else to say to you than that I continue
with heartfelt satisfaction to reflect on the important change about to take
place in my dear daughter's situation. A father must not allow himself to
dilate on such a subject: of course I feel confident that you will have no
reason to repent the irrevocable step you have taken, but from the manner in
which Richarda has been brought up, you will find such a helpmate in her
as a man of sense and affection would wish to have, and that she is well
prepared to meet the duties and trials (for such must be met with) of
domestic life with a firm and cultivated mind, and the warm feelings of a
kind heart. Her habits are such as by no means to lead her to expensive
wishes, nor will you I trust ever find it necessary to neglect those studies
and pursuits upon which your reputation and subsistence are chiefly
founded, to seek for idle amusements for your companion. I must indulge
no further in speaking of her, and have only at present to add that I commit
in full confidence into your hands the guardianship of my daughter's
happiness." And on April 5th, 1830, shortly after their marriage, he wrote to
his daughter thus: "If thinking of you could supply your place amongst us
you would have been with us unceasingly, for we have all of us made you
the principal object of our thoughts and our talk since you left us, and I
travelled with you all your journey to your present delightful home. We had

all but one feeling of the purest pleasure in the prospect of the true domestic
comfort to which we fully believe you to be now gone, and we rejoice that
all your endearing qualities will now be employed to promote the happiness
of one whom we think so worthy of them as your dear husband, who has
left us in the best opinion of his good heart, as well as his enlightened and
sound understanding. His late stay with us has endeared him to us all. Never
did man enter into the married state from more honourable motives, or from
a heart more truly seeking the genuine happiness of that state than Mr Airy,
and he will, I trust, find his reward in you from all that a good wife can
render to the best of husbands, and his happiness be reflected on yourself."
It would be difficult to find letters of more genuine feeling and satisfaction,
or more eloquently expressed, than these.

The narrative of the Autobiography will now be resumed.

"I had been disappointed two years before of an expedition to
Derbyshire. I had wished still to make it, and my brother wished to go: and
we determined to make it this year (1824). We were prepared with walking
dresses and knapsacks. I had well considered every detail of our route, and
was well provided with letters of introduction, including one to the Rev. R.
Smith of Edensor. On June 29th we started by coach to Newmarket and
walked through the Fens by Ramsay to Peterborough. Then by Stamford
and Ketton quarries to Leicester and Derby. Here we were recognized by a
Mr Calvert, who had seen me take my degree, and he invited us to
breakfast, and employed himself in shewing us several manufactories, &c.
to which we had been denied access when presenting ourselves
unsupported. We then went to Belper with an introduction from Mr Calvert
to Jedediah Strutt: saw the great cotton mills, and in the evening walked to
Matlock. Up to this time the country of greatest interest was the region of
the fens about Ramsay (a most remarkable district), but now began beauty
of scenery. On July 9th we walked by Rowsley and Haddon Hall over the

hills to Edensor, where we stayed till the 12th with Mr Smith. We next
visited Hathersage, Castleton, and Marple (where I wished to see the canal
aqueduct), and went by coach to Manchester, and afterwards to Liverpool.
Here Dr Traill recommended us to see the Pontycyssylte Aqueduct, and we
went by Chester and Wrexham to Rhuabon, saw the magnificent work, and
proceeded to Llangollen. Thence by Chester and Northwich (where we
descended a salt-mine) to Macclesfield. Then to the Ecton mine (of which
we saw but little) through Dovedale to Ashbourn, and by coach to Derby.
On July 24th to Birmingham, where we found Mr Guest, lodged in his
house, and were joined by my pupil Guest. Here we were fully employed in
visiting the manufactures, and then went into the iron country, where I
descended a pit in the Staffordshire Main. Thence by coach to Cambridge,
where I stopped to prepare for the Fellowship Examination.

"I had two pupils in this portion of the Long Vacation, Turner and Dobbs.
On August 2nd my writing of Latin began regularly as before. My principal
mathematics on the quires are Optics. On August 25th I made experiments
on my left eye, with good measures, and on Aug. 26th ordered a cylindrical
lens of Peters, a silversmith in the town, which I believe was never made.
Subsequently, while at Playford, I ordered cylindrical lenses of an artist
named Fuller, living at Ipswich, and these were completed in November,
1824.

"My letter to the Examiners, announcing my intention of sitting for
Fellowship (which like all other such documents is preserved on my quires)
was delivered on Sept 21st. The Examination took place on Sept. 22nd and
the two following days. On Oct. 1st, 1824, at the usual hour of the morning,
I was elected Fellow. There were elected at the same time T.B. Macaulay
(afterwards Lord Macaulay), who was a year senior to me in College, and I
think Field of my own year. I drew up my letter of acknowledgment to the
Electors. On Oct. 2nd at 9 in the morning I was admitted Fellow with the

usual ceremonies, and at 10 I called on the Electors with my letter of
acknowledgment. I immediately journeyed to Derbyshire, paid a visit at
Edensor, and returned by Sheffield.

"On Oct. 11th (it having been understood with Mr Higman that my
engagement as Assistant Mathematical Tutor stood) the Master sent for me
to appoint me and to say what was expected as duty of the office. He held
out to me the prospect of ultimately succeeding to the Tutorship, and I told
him that I hoped to be out of College before that time.

"About this time the 'Athenaeum,' a club of a scientific character, was
established in London, and I was nominated on it, but I declined" (Oct.
14th). In this year (1824) I commenced account with a banker by placing
£110 in the hands of Messrs Mortlock and Co. On Oct. 16th I walked to
Bury, and after a single day's stay there returned to Cambridge.

"On Oct. 23rd, 1824,1 began my lectures as Mathematical Assistant
Tutor. I lectured the Senior Sophs and Junior Sophs on Higman's side. The
number of Senior Sophs was 21. Besides this I took part in the
'Examinations of the Questionists,' a series of exercises for those who were
to take the Bachelor's degree in the next January. I examined in Mechanics,
Newton, and Optics. I had also as private pupils Turner, Dobbs, and Cooper.
I now ceased from the exercise which I had followed with such regularity
for five years, namely that of daily writing Latin. In its stead I engaged a
French Master (Goussel) with whom I studied French with reasonable
assiduity for the three terms to June, 1825.

"Among mathematical investigations I find: Theory of the Moon's
brightness, Motion of a body in an ellipse round two centres of force,
Various differential equations, Numerical computation of sin pi from series,
Numerical computation of sines of various arcs to 18 decimals, Curvature
of surfaces in various directions, Generating functions, Problem of sound. I

began in the winter a Latin Essay as competing for the Middle Bachelors'
Prize, but did not proceed with it. I afterwards wished that I had followed it
up: but my time was fully occupied.

"On Jan. 28th, 1825, I started for Edensor, where I paid a visit, and
returned on Feb. 2nd. On Feb. 4th I wrote to Mr Clarkson, asking his advice
about a profession or mode of life (the cares of life were now beginning to
press me heavily, and continued to do so for several years). He replied very
kindly, but his answer amounted to nothing. About the same time I had
some conversation of the same kind with Mr Peacock, which was equally
fruitless.

"On Feb. 4th I have investigations of the density of light near a caustic
(on the theory of emissions). On Feb. 5th I finished a Paper about the defect
in my eye, which was communicated to the Cambridge Philosophical
Society on Feb. 21st. Mr Peacock or Mr Whewell had some time previously
applied to me to write a Paper on Trigonometry for the Encyclopaedia
Metropolitana, and I had been collecting some materials (especially in
regard to its history) at every visit to London, where I read sometimes at the
British Museum: also in the Cambridge libraries. I began this Paper
(roughly) on Feb. 8th, and finished it on Mar. 3rd. The history of which I
speak, by some odd management of the Editors of the Encyclopaedia, was
never published. The MS. is now amongst the MSS. of the Royal
Observatory, Greenwich. Other subjects on my quires are: Theory of
musical concords, many things relating to trigonometry and trigonometrical
tables, achromatic eye-pieces, equation to the surface bounding the rays that
enter my left eye, experiments on percussion. Also notes on Cumberland
and Wales (I had already proposed to myself to take a party of pupils in the
Long Vacation to Keswick), and notes on history and geology.

"I had been in correspondence with Dr Malkin (master of Bury School),
who on Feb. 8th sent a certificate for my brother William, whom I entered
at Trinity on Peacock's side. On Mar. 25th I changed my rooms, quitting
those on the ground-floor east side of Queen Mary's Gate for first-floor
rooms in Neville's Court, south side, the easternmost rooms. In this term my
lectures lasted from Apr. 18th to May 14th. Apparently I had only the
Senior Sophs, 19 in number, and the same four pupils (Turner, Dobbs,
Cooper, Hovenden) as in the preceding term. The only scientific subjects on
which I find notes are, a Paper on the forms of the Teeth of Wheels,
communicated to the Philosophical Society on May 2nd; some notes about
Musical Concords, and some examination of a strange piece of Iceland
Spar. On Apr. 29th I was elected to the Northern Institution (of Inverness);
the first compliment that I received from an extraneous body.

"On May 14th I have a most careful examination of my money accounts,
to see whether I can make an expedition with my sister into Wales. My
sister came to Cambridge, and on Monday, May 23rd, 1825, we started for
Wales, equipped in the lightest way for a walking expedition. We went by
Birmingham to Shrewsbury: then to the Pontycyssylte Aqueduct and by
various places to Bala, and thence by Llanrwst to Conway. Here the
suspension bridge was under construction: the mole was made and the
piers, but nothing else. Then on to Bangor, where nine chains of the
suspension bridge were in place, and so to Holyhead. Then by Carnarvon to
Bethgelert, ascending Snowdon by the way, and in succession by Festiniog,
Dolgelly, and Aberystwyth to Hereford (the first time that I had visited it
since my father left it). From thence we went by coach to London, and I
went on to Cambridge on the 23rd of June.

"I had arranged to take a party of pupils to Keswick, and to take my
brother there. Mr Clarkson had provided me with introductions to Mr
Southey and Mr Wordsworth. On Wednesday, June 29th, 1825, we started,

and went by Leicester, Sheffield, Leeds, and Kendal, to Keswick, calling at
Edensor on the way. My pupils were Cleasby, Marshman, Clinton, Wigram,
Tottenham, and M. Smith. At Keswick I passed three months very happily. I
saw Mr Southey's family frequently, and Mr Wordsworth's occasionally. By
continual excursions in the neighbourhood, and by a few excursions to
places as distant as Bowness, Calder Bridge, &c. (always climbing the
intermediate mountains), I became well acquainted with almost the whole
of that beautiful country, excepting some of the S. W. dales. A geological
hammer and a mountain barometer were very interesting companions. I had
plenty of work with my pupils: I worked a little Lunar Theory, a little of
Laplace's Equations, something of the Figure of the Earth, and I wrote out
very carefully my Trigonometry for the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. I
read a little of Machiavelli, and various books which I borrowed of Mr
Southey. On Friday, Sept. 30th, my brother and I left for Kendal, and after a
stay of a few days at Edensor, arrived at Cambridge on Oct. 11th.

"On Oct. 21st my Lectures to the Junior Sophs began, 39 names, lasting
to Dec. 13th. Those to the Senior Sophs, 16 names, Oct 29th to Dec. 10th. I
also examined Questionists as last year. I have notes about a Paper on the
connection of impact and pressure, read at the Philosophical Society on
Nov. 14th, but not printed, dipping-needle problems, curve described round
three centres of force, barometer observations, theory of the Figure of the
Earth with variable density, and effect on the Moon, correction to the
Madras pendulum, wedge with friction, spots seen in my eyes, density of
rays near a caustic. In this term I accomplished the preparation of a volume
of Mathematical Tracts on subjects which, either from their absolute
deficiency in the University or from the unreadable form in which they had
been presented, appeared to be wanted. The subjects of my Tracts were,
Lunar Theory (begun Oct. 26th, finished Nov. 1st), Figure of the Earth (1st
part finished Nov. 18th), Precession and Nutation (my old MS. put in
order), and the Calculus of Variations. I applied, as is frequently done, to

the Syndicate of the University Press for assistance in publishing the work;
and they agreed to give me paper and printing for 500 copies. This notice
was received from Professor Turton on Nov. 29th, 1825. It was probably
also in this year that I drew up an imperfect 'Review' of Coddington's
Optics, a work which deserved severe censure: my review was never
finished.

"In the Long Vacation at Keswick I had six pupils at £42 each. In the
October term I had Marshman and Ogilby at £105 for three terms, and
Dobbs at £75 for three terms. I had, at Mr Peacock's suggestion, raised my
rate from 60 to 100 guineas for three terms: this prevented some from
applying to me, and induced some to withdraw who had been connected
with me: but it did me no real hurt, for engrossment by pupils is the worst
of all things that can happen to a man who hopes to distinguish himself. On
Dec. 17th I went to Bury, and returned to Cambridge on Jan. 30th, 1826.

"I have the attendance-bills of my Lectures to Senior Sophs (16) from
Feb. 3rd to Feb. 23rd, and to Freshmen (40) from Feb. 27th to Mar. 15. It
would appear that I gave but one college-lecture per day (my belief was that
I always had two). The tutor's stipend per term was £50. On my quires I
find, Investigations for the ellipticity of a heterogeneous spheroid when the
density is expressed by sin qc/qc (the remarkable properties of which I
believe I discovered entirely myself, although they had been discovered by
other persons), Theoretical Numbers for precession, nutation, &c., some
investigations using Laplace's Y, hard work on the Figure of the Earth to the
2nd order,'Woodhouse's remaining apparatus,' Notes about Lambton's and
Kater's errors, Depolarization, Notes of Papers on depolarization in the Phil.
Trans., Magnetic Investigations for Lieut. Foster, Isochronous Oscillations
in a resisting medium, Observations on a strange piece of Iceland Spar. On
Mar. 7th forwarded Preface and Title Page for my Mathematical Tracts.

"Some time in this term I began to think of the possibility of observing
the diminution of gravity in a deep mine, and communicated with Whewell,
who was disposed to join in experiments. My first notion was simply to try
the rate of a clock, and the Ecton mine was first thought of. I made
enquiries about the Ecton mine through Mr Smith (of Edensor), and visited
the mine, but in the meantime Whewell had made enquiries in London and
found (principally from Dr Paris) that the mine of Dolcoath near Camborne
in Cornwall would be a better place for the experiment. Dr Paris wrote to
me repeatedly, and ultimately we resolved on trying it there. In my papers
on Mar. 21st are various investigations about attractions in both mines. On
Apr. 3rd I went to London, principally to arrange about Dolcoath, and
during April and May I was engaged in correspondence with Sir H. Davy
(President of the Royal Society), Mr Herschel, and Dr Young (Secretary of
the Board of Longitude) about the loan of instruments and pendulums. On
Apr. 23rd I was practising pendulum-observations (by coincidence); and
about this time repeatedly practised transits with a small instrument lent by
Mr Sheepshanks (with whom my acquaintance must have begun no long
time before) which was erected under a tent in the Fellows' Walks. On my
quires I find various schemes for graduating thermometers for pendulum
experiments.

"I find also Notes of examination of my brother William, who had come
to College last October; and a great deal of correspondence with my mother
and sister and Mr Case, a lawyer, about a troublesome business with Mr
Cropley, an old friend of G. Biddell, to whom my father had lent £500 and
whose affairs were in Chancery.

"My lectures in this term were to the Junior Sophs from Apr. 10th to May
13th: they were six in number and not very regular. On Apr. 28th I sent to
Mawman the copy of my Trigonometry for the Encyclopaedia
Metropolitana, for which I received £42. I received notice from the Press

Syndicate that the price of my Mathematical Tracts was fixed at 6s. 6d.: I
sold the edition to Deighton for £70, and it was immediately published.
About this time I have letters from Mr Herschel and Sir H. Davy about a
Paper to be presented to the Royal Society—I suppose about the Figure of
the Earth to the 2nd order of ellipticity, which was read to the Royal Society
on June 15th.

"On Saturday, May 13th, 1826, I went to London on the way to Dolcoath,
and received four chronometers from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. I
travelled by Devonport and Falmouth to Camborne, where I arrived on May
20th and dined at the count-house dinner at the mine. I was accompanied by
Ibbotson, who was engaged as a pupil, and intended for an engineer. On
May 24th Whewell arrived, and we took a pendulum and clock down, and
on the 30th commenced the observation of coincidences in earnest. This
work, with the changing of the pendulums, and sundry short expeditions,
occupied nearly three weeks. We had continued the computation of our
observations at every possible interval. It is to be understood that we had
one detached pendulum swinging in front of a clock pendulum above, and
another similarly mounted below; and that the clocks were compared by
chronometers compared above, carried down and compared, compared
before leaving, and brought up and compared. The upper and lower
pendulums had been interchanged. It was found now that the reliance on the
steadiness of the chronometers was too great; and a new method was
devised, in which for each series the chronometers should make four
journeys and have four comparisons above and two below. This
arrangement commenced on the 19th June and continued till the 20th. On
the 26th we packed the lower instruments, intending to compare the
pendulum directly with the upper one, and sent them up the shaft: when an
inexplicable occurrence stopped all proceedings. The basket containing all
the important instruments was brought up to the surface (in my presence)
on fire; some of the instruments had fallen out with their cases burning.

Whether a superstitious miner had intentionally fired it, or whether the snuff
of a candle had been thrown into it, is not known. Our labour was now
rendered useless. On the 28th I packed up what remained of instruments,
left for Truro, and arrived at Bury on July 1st. During our stay in Cornwall I
had attended a 'ticketing' or sale of ore at Camborne, and we had made
expeditions to the N.W. Coast, to Portreath and Illogan, to Marazion and St
Michael's Mount, and to Penzance and the Land's End. On July 3rd I saw
Mr Cropley in Bury gaol, and went to Cambridge. On the 4th I was
admitted A.M., and on the 5th was admitted Major Fellow.

"I had engaged with four pupils to go to Orléans in this Long Vacation:
my brother William was also to go. One of my pupils, Dobbs, did not join:
the other three were Tinkler, Ogilby, and Ibbotson. We left London on July
9th, and travelled by Brighton, Dieppe, Rouen, and Paris to Orléans. At
Paris I saw Bouvard, Pouillet, Laplace and Arago. I had introductions from
Mr Peacock, Mr South, Mr Herschel, Dr Young; and from Professor
Sedgwick to an English resident, Mr Underwood. On the 19th I was
established in the house of M. Lagarde, Protestant Minister. Here I received
my pupils. On the 28th I commenced Italian with an Italian master: perhaps
I might have done more prudently in adhering to French, for I made no
great progress. On Aug. 2nd I saw a murderer guillotined in the Place
Martroi. The principal investigations on my quires are—Investigations
about pendulums, Calculus of Variations, Notes for the Figure of the Earth
(Encyc. Metrop.) and commencement of the article, steam-engine
machinery, &c. I picked up various French ballads, read various books, got
copies of the Marseillaise (this I was obliged to obtain rather secretly, as the
legitimist power under Charles X. was then at its height) and other music,
and particulars of farm wages for Whewell and R. Jones. The summer was
intensely hot, and I believe that the heat and the work in Dolcoath had
weakened me a good deal. The family was the old clergyman, his wife, his
daughter, and finally his son. We lived together very amicably. My brother

lodged in a Café in the Place Martroi; the others in different families. I left
Orléans on Sept. 30th for Paris. Here I attended the Institut, and was present
at one of Ampère's Lectures. I arrived at Cambridge on Oct. 14th.

"On Oct. 16th Whewell mentioned to me that the Lucasian Professorship
would be immediately vacated by Turton, and encouraged me to compete
for it. Shortly afterwards Mr Higman mentioned the Professorship, and
Joshua King (of Queens') spoke on the restriction which prevented College
tutors or Assistant tutors from holding the office. About this time Mr
Peacock rendered me a very important service. As the emolument of the
Lucasian Professorship was only £99, and that of the Assistant Tutorship
£150, I had determined to withdraw from the candidature. But Mr Peacock
represented to me the advantage of position which would be gained by
obtaining the Professorship (which I then instantly saw), and I continued to
be a candidate. I wrote letters to the Heads of Colleges (the electors) and
canvassed them personally. Only Dr Davy, the Master of Caius College, at
once promised me his vote. Dr French, Master of Jesus College, was a
candidate; and several of the Heads had promised him their votes. Mr
Babbage, the third candidate, threatened legal proceedings, and Dr French
withdrew. The course was now open for Mr Babbage and me.

"In the meetings of the Philosophical Society a new mode of proceeding
was introduced this term. To enliven the meetings, private members were
requested to give oral lectures. Mine was the second, I think, and I took for
subject The Machinery of the Steam Engines in the Cornish mines, and
especially of the Pumping Engines and Pumps. It made an excellent lecture:
the subjects were at that time undescribed in books, and unknown to
engineers in general out of Cornwall.

"My College lectures seem to have been, Oct. 21st to Dec. 14th to 31
Junior Sophs, Dec. 4th to 12th to 12 Senior Sophs. I assisted at the

examinations of the Questionists. I had no private pupils. On Nov. 26th I
communicated to the Cambridge Philosophical Society a Paper on the
Theory of Pendulums, Balances, and Escapements: and I find applications
of Babbage's symbolism to an escapement which I proposed. I have various
investigations about the Earth, supposed to project at middle latitudes above
the elliptical form. In November an account of the Dolcoath failure (by
Whewell) was given to the Royal Society.

"At length on Dec. 7th, 1826, the election to the Lucasian Professorship
took place: I was elected (I think unanimously) and admitted. I believe that
this gave great satisfaction to the University in general. My uncle, Arthur
Biddell, was in Cambridge on that evening, and was the first of my friends
who heard of it. On the same page of my quires on which this is mentioned,
there is a great list of apparatus to be constructed for Lucasian Lectures,
notes of experiments with Atwood's Machine, &c. In December,
correspondence with Dollond about prisms. I immediately issued a printed
notice that I would give professorial lectures in the next Term.

"On Dec. 13th I have a letter from Mr Smith informing me of the
dangerous illness (fever) which had attacked nearly every member of his
family, Richarda worst of all. On Dec. 23rd I went to Bury. The affairs with
Cropley had been settled by the sale of his property under execution, and
my father did not lose much of his debt. But he had declined much in body
and mind, and now had strange hallucinations.

"The commencement of 1827 found me in a better position (not in money
but in prospects) than I had before stood in: yet it was far from satisfactory.
I had resigned my Assistant Tutorship of £150 per annum together with the
prospect of succeeding to a Tutorship, and gained only the Lucasian
Professorship of £99 per annum. I had a great aversion to entering the
Church: and my lay fellowship would expire in 7 years. My prospects in the

law or other professions might have been good if I could have waited: but
then I must have been in a state of starvation probably for many years, and
marriage would have been out of the question: I much preferred a moderate
income in no long time, and I am sure that in this I judged rightly for my
happiness. I had now in some measure taken science as my line (though not
irrevocably), and I thought it best to work it well, for a time at least, and
wait for accidents.

"The acceptance of the Lucasian Professorship prevented me from being
pressed by Sedgwick (who was Proctor this year) to take the office of
moderator: which was a great relief to me. As Lucasian Professor I was ipso
facto Member of the Board of Longitude. A stipend of £100 a year was
attached to this, on condition of attending four meetings: but I had good
reason (from intimations by South and other persons in London) for
believing that this would not last long. The fortnightly notices of the
meetings of the Board were given on Jan. 18th, Mar. 22nd, May 24th and
Oct. 18th.

"On Jan. 2nd, 1827, I came from London to Bury. I found my father in a
very declining state (the painful rheumatism of some years had changed to
ulcerations of the legs, and he was otherwise helpless and had distressing
hallucinations). On Jan. 8th I walked to Cambridge. At both places I was
occupied in preparations for the Smith's Prize Examination and for lectures
(for the latter I obtained at Bury gaol some numerical results about tread-
mills).

"Of the Smith's Prize I was officially an Examiner: and I determined to
begin with—-what had never been done before—making the examination
public, by printing the papers of questions. The Prize is the highest
Mathematical honour in the University: the competitors are incepting
Bachelors of Arts after the examination for that Degree. My day of

examination (apparently) was Jan. 21st. The candidates were Turner,
Cankrein, Cleasby, and Mr Gordon. The first three had been my private
pupils: Mr Gordon was a Fellow-commoner of St Peter's College, and had
just passed the B.A. examination as Senior Wrangler, Turner being second.
My situation as Examiner was rather a delicate one, and the more so as,
when I came to examine the papers of answers, Turner appeared distinctly
the first. Late at night I carried the papers to Whewell's rooms, and he on
inspection agreed with me. The other examiners (Professors Lax and
Woodhouse, Lowndean and Plumian Professors) generally supported me:
and Turner had the honour of First Smith's Prize.

"On Jan. 30th my mother wrote, asking if I could see Cropley in London,
where he was imprisoned for contempt of Chancery. I attended the meeting
of the Board of Longitude on Feb. 1st, and afterwards visited Cropley in the
Fleet Prison. He died there, some time later. It was by the sale of his effects
under execution that my father's debt was paid.

"On Feb. 15th I communicated to the Royal Society a Paper on the
correction of the Solar Tables from South's observations. I believe that I had
alluded to this at the February meeting of the Board of Longitude, and that
in consequence Mr Pond, the Astronomer Royal, had been requested to
prepare the errors of the Sun's place from the Greenwich observations:
which were supplied some months later. With the exception of South's Solar
Errors, and some investigations about dipping-needles, I do not find
anything going on but matters connected with my approaching lectures.
There are bridges, trusses, and other mechanical matters, theoretical and
practical, without end. Several tradesmen in Cambridge and London were
well employed. On Feb. 13th I have a letter from Cubitt about groins: I
remember studying those of the Custom-house and other places. On Feb.
20th my Syllabus of Lectures was finished: this in subsequent years was
greatly improved. I applied to the Royal Society for the loan of Huyghens's

object-glass, but they declined to lend it. About this time I find observations
of the spectrum of Sirius.

"There had been no lectures on Experimental Philosophy (Mechanics,
Hydrostatics, Optics) for many years. The University in general, I believe,
looked with great satisfaction to my vigorous beginning: still there was
considerable difficulty about it. There was no understood term for the
Lectures: no understood hour of the day: no understood lecture room. I
began this year in the Lent Term, but in all subsequent years I took the
Easter Term, mainly for the chance of sunlight for the optical experiments,
which I soon made important. I could get no room but a private or retiring
room (not a regular lecture room) in the buildings at the old Botanic
Garden: in following years I had the room under the University Library.
The Lectures commenced on some day in February 1827: I think that the
number who attended them was about 64. I remember very well that the
matter which I had prepared as an Introductory Lecture did not last above
half the time that I had expected, but I managed very well to fill up the
hour. On another occasion I was so ill-prepared that I had contemplated
giving notice that I was unable to complete the hour's lecture, but I saw in
the front row some strangers, introduced by some of my regular attendants,
very busy in taking notes, and as it was evident that a break-down now
would not do, I silently exerted myself to think of something, and made a
very good lecture.

"On Mar. 1st, as official examiner, I received notices from 14 candidates
for Bell's Scholarships, and prepared my Paper of questions. I do not
remember my day of examination; but I had all the answers to all the
examiners' questions in my hands, when on Mar. 27th I received notice that
my father had died the preceding evening. This stopped my Lectures: they
were concluded in the next term. I think that I had only Mechanics and

imperfect Optics this term, no Hydrostatics; and that the resumed Lectures
were principally Optical. They terminated about May 14th.

"With my brother I at once went to Bury to attend my father's funeral. He
was buried on Mar. 31st, 1827, in the churchyard of Little Whelnetham, on
the north side of the church. Shortly afterwards I went to London, and on
Apr. 5th I attended a meeting of the Board of Longitude, at which Herschel
produced a Paper regarding improvements of the Nautical Almanac.
Herschel and I were in fact the leaders of the reforming party in the Board
of Longitude: Dr Young the Secretary resisted change as much as possible.
After the meeting I went to Cambridge. I find then calculations of
achromatic eye-pieces for a very nice model with silk threads of various
colours which I made with my own hands for my optical lectures.

"On Apr. 7th Herschel wrote to me that the Professorship held by Dr
Brinkley (then appointed Bishop of Cloyne) at Dublin would be vacant, and
recommended it to my notice, and sent me some introductions. I reached
Dublin on Apr. 15th, where I was received with great kindness by Dr
Brinkley and Dr MacDonnell (afterwards Provost). I there met the then
Provost Dr Bartholomew Lloyd, Dr Lardner, Mr Hamilton (afterwards Sir
W. R. Hamilton) and others. In a few days I found that they greatly desired
to appoint Hamilton if possible (they did in fact overcome some difficulties
and appoint him in a few months), and that they would not make such an
augmentation as would induce me to offer myself as a candidate, and I
withdrew. I have always remembered with gratitude Dr MacDonnell's
conduct, in carefully putting me on a fair footing in this matter. I returned
by Holyhead, and arrived at Birmingham on Apr. 23rd. While waiting there
and looking over some papers relating to the spherical aberration of eye-
pieces, in which I had been stopped some time by a geometrical difficulty, I
did in the coffee-room of a hotel overcome the difficulty; and this was the
foundation of a capital paper on the Spherical Aberration of Eye-pieces.

This paper was afterwards presented to the Cambridge Philosophical
Society.

"About this time a circumstance occurred of a disagreeable nature, which
however did not much disconcert me. Mr Ivory, who had a good many
years before made himself favourably known as a mathematician,
especially by his acquaintance with Laplace's peculiar analysis, had adopted
(as not unfrequently happens) some singular hydrostatical theories. In my
last Paper on the Figure of the Earth, I had said that I could not receive one
of his equations. In the Philosophical Magazine of May he attacked me for
this with great heat. On May 8th I wrote an answer, and I think it soon
became known that I was not to be attacked with impunity.

"Long before this time there had been some proposal about an excursion
to the Lake District with my sister, and I now arranged to carry it out. On
May 23rd I went to Bury and on to Playford: while there I sketched the
Cumberland excursion. On June 5th I went to London, I believe to the
Visitation of the Greenwich Observatory to which I was invited. I also
attended the meeting of the Board of Longitude. I think it was here that
Pond's Errors of the Sun's place in the Nautical Almanac from Greenwich
Observations were produced. On June 7th I went by coach to Rugby, where
I met my sister, and we travelled to Edensor. We made a number of
excursions in Derbyshire, and then passed on by Penrith to Keswick, where
we arrived on June 22nd. From Keswick we made many excursions in the
Lake District, visited Mr Southey and Mr Wordsworth, descended a coal
mine at Whitehaven, and returned to Edensor by the way of Ambleside,
Kendal, and Manchester. With sundry excursions in Derbyshire our trip
ended, and we returned to Cambridge on the 21st July.

"During this Long Vacation I had one private pupil, Crawford, the only
pupil this year, and the last that I ever had. At this time there is on my

papers an infinity of optical investigations: also a plan of an eye-piece with
a concave lens to destroy certain aberrations. On Aug. 20th I went to
Woodford to see Messrs Gilbert's optical works. From Aug. 13th I had been
preparing for the discussion of the Greenwich Solar Errors, and I had a man
at work in my rooms, engaged on the calculation of the Errors. I wrote to
Bouvard at Paris for observations of the sun, but he recommended me to
wait for the Tables which Bessel was preparing. I was busy too about my
Lectures: on Sept. 29th I have a set of plans of printing presses from
Hansard the printer (who in a visit to Cambridge had found me making
enquiries about them), and I corresponded with Messrs Gilbert about optical
constructions, and with W. and S. Jones, Eastons, and others about pumps,
hydraulic rams, &c. On Sept. 25th occurred a very magnificent Aurora
Borealis.

"I do not find when the investigation of Corrections of Solar Elements
was finished, or when my Extracts from Burckhardt, Connaissance des
Temps 1816, were made. But these led me to suspect an unknown
inequality in the Sun's motion. On Sept. 27th and 28th I find the first
suspicions of an inequality depending on 8 × mean longitude of Venus—13
× mean longitude of Earth. The thing appeared so promising that I
commenced the investigation of the perturbation related to this term, and
continued it (a very laborious work) as fast as I was able, though with
various interruptions, which in fact were necessary to keep up my spirits.
On Oct. 30th I went to London for the Board of Longitude meeting. Here I
exhibited the results of my Sun investigations, and urged the correction of
the elements used in the Nautical Almanac. Dr Young objected, and
proposed that Bouvard should be consulted. Professor Woodhouse, the
Plumian Professor, was present, and behaved so captiously that some
members met afterwards to consider how order could be maintained. I
believe it was during this visit to London that I took measures of
Hammersmith Suspension Bridge for an intended Lecture-model.

Frequently, but not always, when in London, I resided at the house of Mr
Sheepshanks and his sister Miss Sheepshanks, 30 Woburn Place. My quires,
at this time, abound with suggestions for lectures and examinations.

"On some day about the end of November or beginning of December
1827, when I was walking with Mr Peacock near the outside gate of the
Trinity Walks, on some mention of Woodhouse, the Plumian Professor, Mr
Peacock said that he was never likely to rise into activity again (or using
some expression importing mortal illness). Instantly there had passed
through my mind the certainty of my succeeding him, the good position in
which I stood towards the University, the probability of that position being
improved by improved lectures, &c., &c., and by increased reputation from
the matters in which I was now engaged, the power of thus commanding an
increase of income. I should then have, independent of my Fellowship,
some competent income, and a house over my head. I was quite aware that
some time might elapse, but now for the first time I saw my way clearly.
The care of the Observatory had been for two or three years attached to the
Plumian Professorship. A Grace was immediately prepared, entrusting the
temporary care of the Observatory to Dr French, to me, Mr Catton, Mr
Sheepshanks, and Mr King (afterwards Master of Queens' College). On
Dec. 6th I have a note from Mr King about going to the Observatory.

"On Dec. 6th my Paper on corrections of the elements of the Solar Tables
was presented to the Royal Society. On Dec. 9th, at 1 h. 4 m. a.m. (Sunday
morning), I arrived at the result of my calculations of the new inequality. I
had gone through some fluctuations of feeling. Usually the important part
of an inequality of this kind depends entirely on the eccentricities of the
orbits, but it so happened that from the positions of the axes of the orbits,
&c., these terms very nearly destroyed each other. After this came the
consideration of inclinations of orbits; and here were sensible terms which
were not destroyed. Finally I arrived at the result that the inequality would

be about 3"; just such a magnitude as was required. I slipped this into
Whewell's door. This is, to the time of writing (1853), the last improvement
of any importance in the Solar Theory. Some little remaining work went on
to Dec. 14th, and then, being thoroughly tired, I laid by the work for
revision at some future time. I however added a Postscript to my Royal
Society Paper on Solar Errors, notifying this result.

"On Dec. 19th I went to Bury. While there I heard from Whewell that
Woodhouse was dead. I returned to Cambridge and immediately made
known that I was a candidate for the now vacant Plumian Professorship. Of
miscellaneous scientific business, I find that on Oct. 13th Professor Barlow
of Woolwich prepared a memorial to the Board of Longitude concerning his
fluid telescope (which I had seen at Woodford), which was considered on
Nov. 1st, and I had some correspondence with him in December. In June
and August my Trigonometry was printing.

"On Jan. 5th, 1828, I came from London. It seems that I had been
speculating truly 'without book' on perturbations of planetary elements, for
on Jan. 17th and 18th I wrote a Paper on a supposed error of Laplace, and
just at the end I discovered that he was quite right: I folded up the Paper and
marked it 'A Lesson.' I set two papers of questions for Smith's Prizes (there
being a deficiency of one Examiner, viz. the Plumian Professor).

"Before the beginning of 1828 Whewell and I had determined on
repeating the Dolcoath experiments. On Jan. 8th I have a letter from Davies
Gilbert (then President of the Royal Society) congratulating me upon the
Solar Theory, and alluding to our intended summer's visit to Cornwall. We
had somehow applied to the Board of Longitude for pendulums, but Dr
Young wished to delay them, having with Capt. Basil Hall concocted a
scheme for making Lieut. Foster do all the work: Whewell and I were
indignant at this, and no more was said about it. On Jan. 24th Dr Young, in

giving notice of the Board of Longitude meeting, informs me that the clocks
and pendulums are ready.

"I had made known that I was a candidate for the Plumian Professorship,
and nobody thought it worth while to oppose me. One person at least
(Earnshaw) had intended to compete, but he called on me to make certain
that I was a candidate, and immediately withdrew. I went on in quality of
Syndic for the care of the Observatory, ingrafting myself into it. But
meantime I told everybody that the salary (about £300) was not sufficient
for me; and on Jan. 20th I drafted a manifesto or application to the
University for an increase of salary. The day of election to the Professorship
was Feb. 6th. As I was officially (as Lucasian Professor) an elector, I was
present, and I explained to the electors that I could not undertake the
responsibility of the Observatory without augmentation of income, and that
I requested their express sanction to my application to the University for
that purpose. They agreed to this generally, and I was elected. I went to
London immediately to attend a meeting of the Board of Longitude and
returned on Feb. 8th. On Feb. 15th I began my Lectures (which, this year,
included Mechanics, Optics, Pneumatics, and Hydrostatics) in the room
below the University Library. The number of names was 26. The Lectures
terminated on Mar. 22nd.

"On Feb. 25th I received from Mr Pond information on the emoluments
at Greenwich Observatory. I drew up a second manifesto, and on Feb. 26th
I wrote and signed a formal copy for the Plumian electors. On Feb. 27th I
met them at Caius Lodge (the Master, Dr Davy, being Vice-Chancellor). I
read my Paper, which was approved, and their sanction was given in the
form of a request to the Vice-Chancellor to permit the paper to be printed
and circulated. My paper, with this request at the head, was immediately
printed, and a copy was sent to every resident M.A. (more than 200 went
out in one day). The statement and composition of the paper were generally

approved, but the University had never before been taken by storm in such
a manner, and there was some commotion about it. I believe that very few
persons would have taken the same step. Mr Sheepshanks wrote to me on
Mar. 7th, intimating that it was desperate. I had no doubt of success.
Whewell told me that some people accused me of bad faith, in omitting
allusion to the £100 a year received as Member of the Board of Longitude,
and to the profits of Lectures. I wrote him a note, telling him that I had most
certain information of the intention to dissolve the Board of Longitude
(which was done in less than six months), and that by two years' Lectures I
had gained £45 (the expenses being £200, receipts £245). This letter was
sent to the complaining people, and no more was said. By the activity of
Sheepshanks and the kindness of Dr Davy the business gradually grew into
shape, and on Mar. 21st a Grace passed the Senate for appointing a
Syndicate to consider of augmentation. Sheepshanks was one of the
Syndicate, and was understood to represent, in some measure, my interests.
The progress of the Syndicate however was by no means a straightforward
one. Members of the Senate soon began to remark that before giving
anything they ought to know the amount of the University revenue, and
another Syndicate was then appointed to enquire and report upon it. It was
more than a year before my Syndicate could make their recommendation:
however, in fact, I lost nothing by that delay, as I was rising in the
estimation of the University. The Observatory house was furnished, partly
from Woodhouse's sale, and partly from new furniture. My mother and
sister came to live with me there. On Mar. 15th 1828 I began the
Observatory Journal; on Mar. 27th I slept at the Observatory for the first
time, and on Apr. 15th I came to reside there permanently, and gave up my
college rooms."

CHAPTER IV.

AT CAMBRIDGE OBSERVATORY. FROM HIS TAKING CHARGE OF THE CAMBRIDGE
OBSERVATORY TO HIS RESIDENCE AT GREENWICH OBSERVATORY AS
ASTRONOMER ROYAL.

FROM MARCH 15TH 1828 TO JAN. 1ST 1836.

1828

"I attended a meeting of the Board of Longitude on Apr. 3rd. And again
on June 4th; this was the last meeting: Sheepshanks had previously given
me private information of the certainty of its dissolution.—On Apr. 4th I
visited Mr Herschel at Slough, where one evening I saw Saturn with his 20-
foot telescope, the best view of it that I have ever had.—In June I attended
the Greenwich Observatory Visitation.—Before my election (as Plumian
Professor) there are various schemes on my quires for computation of
transit corrections, &c. After Apr. 15th there are corrections for deficient
wires, inequality of pivots, &c. And I began a book of proposed regulations
for observations. In this are plans for groups of stars for R.A. (the Transit
Instrument being the only one finished): order of preference of classes of
observations: no reductions to be made after dinner, or on Sunday: no loose
papers: observations to be stopped if reductions are two months in arrear:
stars selected for parallax.—The reduction of transits begins on Apr. 15th.
On May 15th Mr Pond sent me some moon-transits to aid in determining
my longitude.—Dr Young, in a letter to me of May 7th, enquires whether I
will accept a free admission to the Royal Society, which I declined. On May
9th I was elected to the Astronomical Society.—Towards the end of the year
I observed Encke's Comet: and determined the latitude of the Observatory
with Sheepshanks's repeating circle.—On my papers I find a sketch of an
Article on the Figure of the Earth for the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.

"As early as Feb. 23rd I had been in correspondence with T. Jones, the
instrument-maker, about pendulums for a repetition of the Dolcoath

Experiments. Invitations had been received, and everything was arranged
with Whewell. Sheepshanks, my brother, and Mr Jackson of Ipswich (Caius
Coll.) were to go, and we were subsequently joined by Sedgwick, and
Lodge (Magdalene Coll.). On July 3rd Sheepshanks and I started by
Salisbury, taking Sherborne on our way to look at the church, which had
alarmed the people by signs of a crack, and arrived at Camborne on July
8th. On the 14th we set up the pendulums, and at once commenced
observations, our plan being, to have no intermission in the pendulum
observations, so that as soon as the arc became too small a fresh series was
started. On July 29th we raised the instruments, and Sheepshanks, who
managed much of the upper operations, both astronomical and of
pendulums, mounted the pendulums together in his observatory. We went
on with our calculations, and on August 8th, on returning from a visit to
John Williams at Barncoose, we heard that there was a 'run' in Dolcoath,
that is a sinking of the whole mass of rock where it had been set free by the
mine excavations: probably only a few inches, but enough to break the rock
much and to stop the pumps. On Aug. 10th the calculations of our
observations shewed that there was something wrong, and on the 13th I
perceived an anomaly in the form of the knife edge of one pendulum, and of
its agate planes, and suggested cautions for repeating the observations. We
determined at once to repeat them: and as the water was rising in the mine
there was no time to be lost. We again sent the instruments down, and made
observations on the 16th, 17th and 18th. On the 19th I sent the instruments
up, for the water was near our station, and Sedgwick, Whewell, and I went
on a geological expedition to the Lizard. On our return we met Sheepshanks
and the others, and found the results of the last observations unsatisfactory.
The results of comparing the pendulums were discordant, and the knife
edge of the faulty pendulum had very sensibly altered. We now gave up
observations, with the feeling that our time had been totally lost, mainly
through the fault of the maker of the pendulum (T. Jones). On the 28th we

made an expedition to Penzance and other places, and arrived at Cambridge
on the 17th of September.

"In the course of the work at Dolcoath we made various expeditions as
opportunity offered. Thus we walked to Carn Brea and witnessed the
wrestling, the common game of the country. On another occasion
Sedgwick, Whewell, and I had a capital geological expedition to Trewavas
Head to examine granite veins. We visited at Pendarves and Trevince, and
made the expedition to the Lizard already referred to, and saw many of the
sights in the neighbourhood. After visiting Penzance on the conclusion of
our work we saw Cape Cornwall (where Whewell overturned me in a gig),
and returned homewards by way of Truro, Plymouth (where we saw the
watering-place and breakwater: also the Dockyard, and descended in one of
the working diving-bells), Exeter, Salisbury, and Portsmouth. In returning
from Camborne in 1826 I lost the principal of our papers. It was an odd
thing that, in going through Exeter on our way to Camborne in 1828, I
found them complete at Exeter, identified to the custodian by the dropping
out of a letter with my address.

"On my return to Cambridge I was immediately immersed in the work of
the Observatory. The only instrument then mounted at the Observatory was
the Transit. I had no Assistant whatever.—A Mr Galbraith of Edinburgh had
questioned something in one of my Papers about the Figure of the Earth. I
drew up a rather formal answer to it: Whewell saw my draft and drew up a
much more pithy one, which I adopted and sent to the Philosophical
Magazine.—For comparing our clocks at the upper and lower stations of
Dolcoath we had borrowed from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, six
good pocket chronometers: they were still in the care of Mr Sheepshanks. I
arranged with him that they should be sent backwards and forwards a few
times for determining the longitude of Cambridge Observatory. This was
done on Oct. 21st, 22nd, 23rd: the result was 23°54, and this has been used

to the present time (1853). It evinced an error in the Trigonometrical
Survey, the origin of which was found, I think, afterwards (Dr Pearson in a
letter of Dec. 17th spoke of the mistake of a may-pole for a signal-staff). I
drew up a Paper on this, and gave it to the Cambridge Philosophical Society
on Nov. 24th. (My only academical Paper this year.)—I had several letters
from Dr Young, partly supplying me with calculations that I wanted, partly
on reform or extension of the Nautical Almanac (which Dr Young resisted
as much as possible). He considered me very unfairly treated in the
dissolution of the Board of Longitude: Professor Lax wished me to join in
some effort for its restoration, but I declined.

"As my reduction of observations was kept quite close, I now began to
think of printing. In regard to the form I determined to adopt a plan totally
different from that of any other observations which I had seen. The results
were to be the important things: I was desirous of suppressing the separate
wires of transits. But upon consulting Herschel and other persons they
would not agree to it, and I assented to keeping them. I applied to the Press
Syndicate to print the work, and on Nov. 10th at the request of T. Musgrave
(afterwards Archbishop of York) I sent a specimen of my MS.: on Nov. 11th
they granted 250 copies, and the printing soon commenced."

1829

"During a winter holiday at Playford I wrote out some investigations
about the orbits of comets, and on Jan. 23rd 1829 I returned to Cambridge.
The Smith's Prize Examination soon followed, in which I set a Paper of
questions as usual. On Feb. 18th I made notes on Liesganig's geodetic work
at the British Museum.

"I was naturally anxious now about the settlement of my salary and of the
Observatory establishment. I do not know when the Syndicate made their

Report, but it must have been in the last term of 1828. It recommended that
the salary should be annually made up (by Grace) to £500: that an Assistant
should be appointed with the assent of the Vice-Chancellor and dismissable
by the Plumian Professor: and that a Visiting Syndicate should be
appointed, partly official and partly of persons to be named every year by
Grace. The Grace for adopting this Report was to be offered to the Senate
on Feb. 27th. The passing of the Grace was exposed to two considerable
perils. First, I found out (just in time) that a Senior Fellow of Trinity (G.A.
Browne) was determined to oppose the whole, on account of the
insignificant clause regarding dismissal of Assistants, which he regarded as
tyrannical. I at once undertook that that clause should be rejected. Secondly,
by the absurd constitution of the 'Caput' at Cambridge, a single M.A. had
the power of stopping any business whatever, and an M.A. actually came to
the Senate House with the intention of throwing out all the Graces on
various business that day presented to the Senate. Luckily he mistook the
hour, and came at 11 instead of 10, and found that all were dispatched. The
important parts of the Grace passed without any opposition: but I mustered
some friends who negatived that part which had alarmed G.A. Browne, and
it was corrected to his satisfaction by a new Grace on Mar. 18th. I was now
almost set at rest on one of the great objects of my life: but not quite. I did
not regard, and I determined not to regard, the addition to my salary as
absolutely certain until a payment had been actually made to me: and I
carefully abstained, for the present, from taking any steps based upon it. I
found for Assistant at the Observatory an old Lieutenant of the Royal Navy,
Mr Baldrey, who came on Mar. 16.

"On May 4th I began lectures: there were 32 names. The Lectures were
improving, especially in the optical part. I do not find note of the day of
termination.—I do not know the actual day of publication of my first small
volume of Cambridge Observations, 1828, and of circulation. The date of
the preface is Apr. 27th 1829. I have letters of approval of it from Davies

Gilbert, Rigaud, and Lax. The system which I endeavoured to introduce into
printed astronomical observations was partially introduced into this volume,
and was steadily improved in subsequent volumes. I think that I am
justified, by letters and other remarks, in believing that this introduction of
an orderly system of exhibition, not merely of observations but of the steps
for bringing them to a practical result—quite a novelty in astronomical
publications—had a markedly good effect on European astronomy in
general.—In Feb. and March I have letters from Young about the Nautical
Almanac: he was unwilling to make any great change, but glad to receive
any small assistance. South, who had been keeping up a series of attacks on
Young, wrote to me to enquire how I stood in engagements of assistance to
Young: I replied that I should assist Young whenever he asked me, and that
I disapproved of South's course.—The date of the first visitation of the
(Cambridge) Observatory must have been near May 11th: I invited South
and Baily to my house; South and I were very near quarrelling about the
treatment of Young.—In a few days after Dr Young died: I applied to Lord
Melville for the superintendence of the Nautical Almanac: Mr Croker
replied that it devolved legally upon the Astronomer Royal, and on May
30th Pond wrote to ask my assistance when I could give any. On June 6th I
was invited to the Greenwich Visitation, to which I believe I went on the
10th.

"I had long desired to see Switzerland, and I wished now to see some of
the Continental Observatories. I was therefore glad to arrange with Mr
Lodge, of Magdalene College (perhaps 10 years senior to myself), to make
a little tour. Capt. W.H. Smyth and others gave me introductions. I met
Lodge in London, and we started for Calais on July 27th 1829. We visited a
number of towns in Belgium (at Brussels I saw the beginning of the
Observatory with Quetelet), and passed by Cologne, Frankfort, Fribourg,
and Basle to Zurich. Thus far we had travelled by diligence or posting: we
now procured a guide, and travelled generally on foot. From the 13th to the

31st August we travelled diligently through the well-known mountainous
parts of Switzerland and arrived at Geneva on the 31st August. Here I saw
M. Gautier, M. Gambard, and the beginning of the Observatory. Mr Lodge
was now compelled to return to Cambridge, and I proceeded alone by
Chambéry to Turin, where I made the acquaintance of M. Plana and saw the
Observatory. I then made a tour through north Italy, looking over the
Observatories at Milan, Padua, Bologna, and Florence. At Leghorn I took a
passage for Marseille in a xebeque, but after sailing for three days the
weather proved very unfavourable, and I landed at Spezia and proceeded by
Genoa and the Cornici Road to Marseille. At Marseille I saw M. Gambart
and the Observatory, and passed by Avignon, Lyons, and Nevers to Orléans,
where I visited my old host M. Legarde. Thence by Paris, Beauvais, and
Calais to London and Cambridge, where I arrived on the 30th October. I
had started with more than £140 and returned with 2s. 6d. The expedition
was in many ways invaluable to me.

"On my return I found various letters from scientific men: some
approving of my method for the mass of the Moon: some approving highly
of my printed observations, especially D. Gilbert, who informed me that
they had produced good effect (I believe at Greenwich), and Herschel.—On
Nov. 13th I gave the Royal Astronomical Society a Paper about deducing
the mass of the Moon from observations of Venus: on Nov. 16th a Paper to
the Cambridge Philosophical Society on a correction to the length of a ball-
pendulum: and on Dec. 14th a Paper on certain conditions under which
perpetual motion is possible.—The engravings for my Figure of the Earth in
the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana were dispatched at the end of the year.
Some of the Paper (perhaps much) was written after my return from the
Continent.—I began, but never finished, a Paper on the form of the Earth
supposed to be projecting at middle latitudes. In this I refer to the printed
Paper which Nicollet gave me at Paris. I believe that the investigations for
my Paper in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana led me to think the

supposition unnecessary.—On Nov. 6th I was elected member of the
Geological Society.

"On Nov. 16th 1829 notice was given of a Grace to authorize payment to
me of £157. 9s. 1d., in conformity with the regulations adopted on Feb.
27th, and on Nov. 18th the Grace passed the Senate. On Nov. 19th the Vice-
Chancellor wrote me a note enclosing the cheque. On Nov. 23rd (practically
the first day on which I could go) I went to London and travelled to
Edensor, where I arrived on the 26th. Here I found Richarda Smith,
proposed to her, and was accepted. I stayed there a few days, and returned
to Cambridge."

1830

"On Jan. 25th 1830 the Smith's Prize Paper was prepared. I was (with my
Assistant, Mr Baldrey) vigorously working the Transit Instrument and its
reductions, and gradually forming a course of proceeding which has had a
good effect on European Astronomy. And I was preparing for my marriage.

"On Mar. 11th I started with my sister to London, and arrived at
Edensor on the afternoon of the 14th. On the 17th I started alone for
Manchester and Liverpool. Through Mr Mason, a cotton-spinner at
Calver, near Edensor, I had become acquainted with Mr John Kennedy of
Manchester, and I had since 1824 been acquainted with Dr Traill of
Liverpool. Amongst other things, I saw the works of the Manchester and
Liverpool Railway, then advancing and exciting great interest, and saw
George Stephenson and his son. On Mar. 24th I was married to Richarda
Smith by her father in Edensor. We stopped at Edensor till Apr. 1st,
and then started in chaises by way of Newark and Kettering (where we
were in danger of being stopped by the snow), and arrived at Cambridge
on Apr. 3rd.

"I was now busy in preparing for lectures, especially the part of the
optical lectures which related to the theory of interferences and polarization.
I think it was now that my wife drew some of my lecture pictures,
exhibiting interference phenomena. My lectures began on Apr. 26th and
finished on May 24th. The number of names was 50. They were considered
an excellent course of lectures.

"May 9th is the date of my Preface to the 1829 Observations: all was then
printed. Apparently I did not go to the Visitation of the Greenwich
Observatory this year.—I was at this time pressing Tulley, the optician,
about an object-glass for the Mural Circle.—A new edition of my 'Tracts'
was wanted, and I prepared to add a Tract on the Undulatory Theory of
Light in its utmost extent. The Syndicate of the University Press intimated
through Dr Turton that they could not assist me (regarding the book as a
second edition). On July 10th I have some negociation about it with
Deighton the bookseller.—On May 18th I have a note from Whewell about
a number of crystals of plagiedral quartz, in which he was to observe the
crystalline indication, and I the optical phenomena.—The Report of the
Syndicate for visiting the Observatory is dated June 18th: it is highly
laudatory.—The Proctor (Barnard of King's College) requested me to name
the Moderator for the next B.A. Examination: I named Mr Challis.

"On June 14th my wife and I went, in company with Professor and Mrs
Henslow, to London and Oxford; at Oxford we were received in
Christchurch College by Dr and Mrs Buckland. My wife and I then went to
Bedford to visit Capt. and Mrs Smyth, and returned to Cambridge on the
23rd. On July 5th we went on a visit to my mother and uncle at Playford.
While there I took a drive with my uncle into some parts near the valley of
the Gipping, in which I thought that the extent of the chalk was
inadequately exhibited on Greenough's map, and communicated my
remarks to Buckland.

"I find letters from Dr Robinson and Col. Colby about determining
longitudes of certain observatories by fire signals: I proposed chronometers
as preferable. Also from Herschel, approving of my second volume of
observations: and from F. Baily, disclaiming the origination of the attack on
the old Nautical Almanac (with which I suppose I had reproached him). On
July 30th I received a summons from South to a committee for improving
the Nautical Almanac; and subsequently a letter from Baily about
Schumacher's taking offence at a passage of mine in the Cambridge
Observations, on the comparative merits of Ephemerides, which I
afterwards explained to his satisfaction.

"On Aug. 24th my wife and I started for Edensor, and after a short stay
there proceeded by Manchester to Cumberland, where we made many
excursions. We returned by Edensor, and reached Cambridge on Oct. 6th,
bringing my wife's sister Susanna on a visit. My mother had determined, as
soon as my intention of marriage was known to her, to quit the house,
although always (even to her death) entertaining the most friendly feelings
and fondness for my wife. It was also judged best by us all that my sister
should not reside with us as a settled inhabitant of the house. They fixed
themselves therefore at Playford in the farm-house of the Luck's Farm, then
in the occupation of my uncle Arthur Biddell. On Oct. 21st I have a letter
from my sister saying that they were comfortably settled there.

"In this month of October (principally, I believe) I made some capital
Experiments on Quartz, which were treated mathematically in a Paper
communicated in the next year to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. In
some of these my wife assisted me, and also drew pictures.—On Nov. 15th
the Grace for paying me £198. 13s. 8d. to make my income up to £500
passed the Senate.—I made three journeys to London to attend committees,
one a committee on the Nautical Almanac, and one a Royal Society
Committee about two southern observatories.—On Dec. 31st I have a letter

from Maclear (medical practitioner and astronomer at Biggleswade) about
occultations.—In this December I had a quartz object-glass by Cauchaix
mounted by Dollond, and presented it to the Observatory.—In this
December occurred the alarm from agrarian fires. There was a very large
fire at Coton, about a mile from the Observatory. This created the most
extraordinary panic that I ever saw. I do not think it is possible, without
having witnessed it, to conceive the state of men's minds. The gownsmen
were all armed with bludgeons, and put under a rude discipline for a few
days."

1831

"On Jan. 4th I went with my wife, first to Miss Sheepshanks in London,
at 30, Woburn Place, and next to the house of my wife's old friend, the Rev.
John Courtney, at Sanderstead, near Croydon. I came to London on one day
to attend a meeting of the new Board of Visitors of the Greenwich
Observatory. Formerly the Board of Visitors consisted of the Council of the
Royal Society with persons invited by them (in which capacity I had often
attended). But a reforming party, of which South, Babbage, Baily and
Beaufort were prominent members, had induced the Admiralty to constitute
a new Board, of which the Plumian Professor was a member. Mr Pond, the
Astronomer Royal, was in a rather feeble state, and South seemed
determined to bear him down: Sheepshanks and I did our best to support
him. (I have various letters from Sheepshanks to this purpose.)—On Jan.
22nd we returned to Cambridge, and I set an Examination Paper for Smith's
Prizes as usual.—On Jan. 30th I have a letter from Herschel about
improving the arrangement of Pond's Observations. I believe that much of
this zeal arose from the example of the Cambridge Observations.

"On Feb. 21st my Paper 'On the nature of the light in the two rays of
Quartz' was communicated to the Philosophical Society: a capital piece of

deductive optics. On Mar. 2nd I went to London, I suppose to attend the
Board of Visitors (which met frequently, for the proposed reform of Pond's
Observations, &c.). As I returned on the outside of the coach there occurred
to me a very remarkable deduction from my ideas about the rays of Quartz,
which I soon tried with success, and it is printed as an Appendix to the
Paper above mentioned. On Mar. 6th my son George Richard was born."

Miscellaneous matters in the first half of this year are as follows:

"Faraday sends me a piece of glass for Amici (he had sent me a piece
before).—On Apr. 9th I dispatched the Preface of my 1830 Observations:
this implies that all was printed.—On Apr. 18th I began my Lectures and
finished on May 24th. There were 49 names. A very good series of lectures.
—I think it was immediately after this, at the Visitation of the Cambridge
Observatory, that F. Baily and Lieut. Stratford were present, and that
Sheepshanks went to Tharfield on the Royston Downs to fire powder
signals to be seen at Biggleswade (by Maclear) and at Bedford (by Capt.
Smyth) as well as by us at Cambridge.—On May 14th I received £100 for
my article on the Figure of the Earth from Baldwin the publisher of the
Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.—I attended the Greenwich Visitation on
June 3rd.—On June 30th the Observatory Syndicate made their report:
satisfactory.

"On July 6th 1831 I started with my wife and infant son for Edensor, and
went on alone to Liverpool. I left for Dublin on the day on which the loss of
the 'Rothsay Castle' was telegraphed, and had a bad voyage, which made
me ill during my whole absence. After a little stay in Dublin I went to
Armagh to visit Dr Robinson, and thence to Coleraine and the Giant's
Causeway, returning by Belfast and Dublin to Edensor. We returned to
Cambridge on Sept. 9th.

"Up to this time the Observatory was furnished with only one large
instrument, namely the 10-foot Transit. On Feb. 24th of this year I had
received from Thomas Jones (62, Charing Cross) a sketch of the stone pier
for mounting the Equatoreal which he was commissioned to make: and the
pier was prepared in the spring or summer. On Sept. 20th part of the
instrument was sent to the Observatory; other parts followed, and Jones
himself came to mount it. On Sept. 16th I received Simms's assurance that
he was hastening the Mural Circle.—In this autumn I seriously took up the
recalculation of my Long Inequality of Venus and the Earth, and worked
through it independently; thus correcting two errors. On Nov. 10th I went to
Slough, to put my Paper in the hands of Mr Herschel for communication to
the Royal Society. The Paper was read on Nov. 24th.—This was the year of
the first Meeting of the British Association at York. The next year's meeting
was to be at Oxford, and on Oct. 17th I received from the Rev. W. Vernon
Harcourt an invitation to supply a Report on Astronomy, which I undertook:
it employed me much of the winter, and the succeeding spring and summer.
—The second edition of my Tracts was ready in October. It contained,
besides what was in the first edition, the Planetary Theory, and the
Undulatory Theory of Light. The Profit was £80.—On Nov. 14th I
presented to the Cambridge Philosophical Society a Paper 'On a remarkable
modification of Newton's Rings': a pretty good Paper.—In November the
Copley Medal was awarded to me by the Royal Society for my advances in
Optics.—Amongst miscellaneous matters I was engaged in correspondence
with Col. Colby and Capt. Portlock about the Irish Triangulation and its
calculation. Also with the Admiralty on the form of publication of the
Greenwich and Cape Observations."

1832

"In January my Examination Paper for Smith's Prizes was prepared as
usual.—Two matters (in addition to the daily routine of Observatory work)
occupied me at the beginning of this year. One was the translation of
Encke's Paper in successive numbers of the Astronomische Nachrichten
concerning Encke's Comet; the University Press printed this gratuitously,
and I distributed copies, partly by the aid of Capt. Beaufort.—The other was
the Report on Astronomy for the British Association, which required much
labour. My reading for it was principally in the University Library (possibly
some in London), but I borrowed some books from F. Baily, and I wrote to
Capt. Beaufort about the possible repetition of Lacaille's Meridian Arc at
the Cape of Good Hope. The Report appears to have been finished on May
2nd.—At this time the Reform Bill was under discussion, and one letter
written by me (probably at Sheepshanks's request) addressed I think to Mr
Drummond, Lord Althorp's secretary, was read in the House of Commons.

"Optics were not neglected. I have some correspondence with Brewster
and Faraday. On Mar. 5th I gave the Cambridge Philosophical Society a
Paper 'On a new Analyzer,' and on Mar. 19th one 'On Newton's Rings
between two substances of different refractive powers,' both Papers
satisfactory to myself.—On the death of Mr F. Fallows, astronomer at the
Cape of Good Hope Observatory, the Admiralty appointed Mr Henderson,
an Edinburgh lawyer, who had done some little things in astronomical
calculation. On Jan. 10th I discussed with him observations to be made, and
drew up his Official Instructions which were sent on Jan. 10th.—On Feb.
16th Sir James South writes that Encke's Comet is seen: also that with his
12-inch achromatic, purchased at Paris, and which he was preparing to
mount equatoreally, he had seen the disk of Aldebaran apparently bisected
by the Moon's limb.—Capt. Beaufort and D. Gilbert write in March about
instructions to Dunlop, the astronomer at Paramatta. I sent a draft to Capt.
Beaufort on Apr. 27th.

"The Preface to my 1831 Observations is dated Mar. 20th. The
distribution of the book would be a few weeks later.—On May 7th I began
my Lectures: 51 names: I finished on May 29th.—The mounting of the
Equatoreal was finished some time before the Syndicate Visitation at the
end of May, but Jones's charge appeared to be exorbitant: I believe it was
paid at last, but it was considered unfair.—On June 2nd I went to London: I
presume to the Greenwich Visitation.—I went to Oxford to the meeting of
the British Association (lodging I think with Prof. Rigaud at the
Observatory) on June 16th, and read part of my Report on Astronomy in the
Theatre.

"On June 26th I started with my wife for the Highlands of Scotland. After
a short stay at Edensor, we went by Carlisle to Glasgow, and through the
Lake District to Inverness. Thence by Auchnanault to Balmacarra, where
we were received by Mr Lillingstone. After an expedition in Skye, we
returned to Balmacarra, and passed on to Invermoriston, where we were
received by Grant of Glenmoriston. We then went to Fort William and
Oban, and crossed over to Mull, where we were received by Maclean of
Loch Buy. We returned to Oban and on to Edinburgh, where we made a
short stay. Then to Melrose, where we were received by Sir D. Brewster,
and by Edensor to Cambridge, where we arrived on Sept. 17th.

"I received (at Edinburgh I believe) a letter from Arago, writing for the
plans of our observing-room shutters.—Mr Vernon Harcourt wrote
deprecating the tone of my Report on Astronomy as related to English
Astronomers, but I refused to alter a word.—Sheepshanks wrote in
September in great anxiety about the Cambridge Circle, for which he
thought the pier ought to be raised: I would have no such thing, and
arranged it much more conveniently by means of a pit. On Oct. 9th Simms
says that he will come with the circle immediately, and Jones on Sept. 29th
says that he will make some alteration in the equatoreal: thus there was at

last a prospect of furnishing the Observatory properly.—On Oct. 9th, I have
Encke's thanks for the translation of the Comet Paper.—One of the
desiderata which I had pointed out in my Report on Astronomy was the
determination of the mass of Jupiter by elongations of the 4th satellite: and
as the Equatoreal of the Cambridge Observatory was on the point of coming
into use, I determined to employ it for this purpose. It was necessary for the
reduction of the observations that I should prepare Tables of the motion of
Jupiter's 4th Satellite in a form applicable to computations of differences of
right-ascension. The date of my Tables is Oct. 3rd, 1832.—In October the
Observatory Syndicate made their Report: quite satisfactory.

"On Oct. 20th Sheepshanks wrote asking my assistance in the Penny
Cyclopaedia: I did afterwards write 'Gravitation' and 'Greenwich.' —Capt.
Beaufort wrote in November to ask my opinion on the Preface to an edition
of Groombridge's Catalogue which had been prepared by H. Taylor:
Sheepshanks also wrote; he had objected to it. This was the beginning of an
affair which afterwards gave me great labour.—Vernon Harcourt writes,
much offended at some terms which I had used in reference to an office in
the British Association.

"The Equatoreal mounting which Troughton and Simms had been
preparing for Sir James South's large telescope had not entirely succeeded. I
have various letters at this time from Sheepshanks and Simms, relating to
the disposition which Sir James South shewed to resist every claim till
compelled by law to pay it.—A general election of Members of Parliament
was now coming on: Mr Lubbock was candidate for the University. On
Nov. 27th I had a letter from Sedgwick requesting me to write a letter in the
newspapers in favour of Lubbock; which I did. On Dec. 7th I have notice of
the County voting at Newmarket on Dec. 18th and 19th: I walked there to
vote for Townley; he lost the election by two or three votes in several
thousands.

"The Mural Circle was now nearly ready in all respects, and it was
known that another Assistant would be required. Mr Richardson (one of the
Assistants of Greenwich Observatory) and Mr Simms recommended to me
Mr Glaisher, who was soon after appointed, and subsequently became an
Assistant at Greenwich.—On Dec. 24th I have a letter from Bessel (the first
I believe). I think that I had written to him about a general reduction of the
Greenwich Planetary Observations, using his Tabulae Regiomontanae as
basis, and that this was his reply approving of it."

1833

"On Jan. 4th 1833 my daughter Elizabeth was born.—I prepared an
examination paper for Smith's Prizes as usual.—On Jan. 5th I received
notice from Simms that he had received payment (£1050) for the Mural
Circle from the Vice-Chancellor. About this time the Circle was completely
made serviceable, and I (with Mr Glaisher as Assistant) immediately began
its use. A puzzling apparent defect in the circle (exhibiting itself by the
discordance of zenith points obtained by reflection observations on opposite
sides of the zenith) shewed itself very early. On Feb. 4th I have letters about
it from Sheepshanks and Simms.—On Jan. 17th I received notice from F.
Baily that the Astronomical Society had awarded me their Medal for my
long inequality of Venus and the Earth: on Feb. 7th I went to London, I
suppose to receive the Medal.—I also inspected Sir J. South's telescope,
then becoming a matter of litigation, and visited Mr Herschel at Slough: on
Feb. 12th I wrote to Sir J. South about the support of the instrument, hoping
to remove one of the difficulties in the litigation; but it produced no effect.
—Herschel wrote to me, from Poisson, that Pontécoulant had verified my
Long Inequality.

"Mar. 12th is the date of the Preface to my 1832 volume of Observations:
it was of course distributed a few weeks later.—In my Report on Astronomy

I had indicated the Mass of Jupiter as a subject requiring fresh investigation.
During the last winter I had well employed the Equatoreal in observing
elongations in R.A. of the 4th Satellite. To make these available it was
necessary to work up the theory carefully, in which I discovered some
remarkable errors of Laplace. Some of these, for verification, I submitted to
Mr Lubbock, who entirely agreed with me. The date of my first calculations
of the Mass of Jupiter is Mar. 1st: and shortly after that I gave an oral
account of them to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. The date of my
Paper for the Astronomical Society is April 12th. The result of my
investigations (which was subsequently confirmed by Bessel) entirely
removed the difficulty among Astronomers; and the mass which I obtained
has ever since been received as the true one.

"On Apr. 9th my wife's two sisters, Elizabeth and Georgiana Smith, came
to stay with me.—On Apr. 22nd I began lectures, and finished on May 21st:
there were 54 names. During the course of the lectures I communicated a
Paper to the Philosophical Society 'On the calculation of Newton's
experiments on Diffraction.'—I went to London on the Visitation of the
Greenwich Observatory: the dinner had been much restricted, but was now
made more open.—It had been arranged that the meeting of the British
Association was to be held this year at Cambridge. I invited Sir David
Brewster and Mr Herschel to lodge at the Observatory. The meeting lasted
from June 24th to 30th. We gave one dinner, but had a breakfast party every
day. I did not enter much into the scientific business of the meeting, except
that I brought before the Committee the expediency of reducing the
Greenwich Planetary Observations from 1750. They agreed to represent it
to the Government, and a deputation was appointed (I among them) who
were received by Lord Althorp on July 25th. On Aug. 3rd Herschel
announced to me that £500 was granted.

"On Aug. 7th I started with my wife for Edensor. At Leicester we met
Sedgwick and Whewell: my wife went on to Edensor, and I joined
Sedgwick and Whewell in a geological expedition to Mount Sorrel and
various parts of Charnwood Forest. We were received by Mr Allsop of
Woodlands, who proved an estimable acquaintance. This lasted four or five
days, and we then went on to Edensor.—On Aug. 15th Herschel wrote to
me, communicating an offer of the Duke of Northumberland to present to
the Cambridge Observatory an object-glass of about 12 inches aperture by
Cauchaix. I wrote therefore to the Duke, accepting generally. The Duke
wrote to me from Buxton on Aug. 23rd (his letter, such was the wretched
arrangement of postage, reaching Bakewell and Edensor on the 25th) and
on the 26th I drove before breakfast to Buxton and had an interview with
him. On Sept. 1st the Duke wrote, authorizing me to mount the telescope
entirely, and he subsequently approved of Cauchaix's terms: there was much
correspondence, but on Dec. 28th I instructed Cauchaix how to send the
telescope.—On our return we paid a visit to Dr Davy, Master of Caius
College, at Heacham, and reached Cambridge on Oct. 8th.

"Groombridge's Catalogue, of which the editing was formally entrusted
to Mr Henry Taylor (son of Taylor the first-assistant of the Greenwich
Observatory), had been in some measure referred to Sheepshanks: and he,
in investigating the work, found reason for thinking the whole discreditable.
About May he first wrote to me on his rising quarrel with H. Taylor, but on
Sept. 7th he found things coming to a crisis, and denounced the whole.
Capt. Beaufort the Hydrographer (in whose office this matter rested)
begged me with Baily to decide upon it. We did not at first quite agree upon
the terms of investigation &c., but after a time all was settled, and on Oct.
4th the Admiralty formally applied, and I formally accepted. Little or
nothing had been done by Mr Baily and myself, when my work was
interrupted by illness.

"Sheepshanks had thought that something might be done to advance the
interests of myself or the Observatory by the favour of Lord Brougham
(then Lord Chancellor), and had urged me to write an article in the Penny
Cyclopaedia, in which Lord Brougham took great interest. I chose the
subject 'Gravitation,' and as I think wrote a good deal of it in this Autumn:
when it was interrupted by my illness.

"On Dec. 9th 1833, having at first intended to attend the meeting of the
Philosophical Society and then having changed my mind, I was engaged in
the evening on the formulae for effects of small errors on the computation
of the Solar Eclipse of 1833. A dizziness in my head came on. I left off
work, became worse, and went to bed, and in the night was in high fever
with a fierce attack of scarlet fever. My wife was also attacked but very
slightly. The first day of quitting my bedroom was Dec. 31st. Somewhere
about the time of my illness my wife's sister, Susanna Smith, who was
much reduced in the summer, died of consumption.

"Miscellaneous notes in 1833 are as follows: Henderson (at the Cape)
could not endure it much longer, and on Oct. 14th Stratford writes that
Maclear had just sailed to take his place: Henderson is candidate for the
Edinburgh Observatory.—Stratford writes on Dec. 2nd that the Madras
observations have come to England, the first whose arrangement imitates
mine.—On Nov. 3rd Herschel, just going to the Cape, entrusted to me the
revisal of some proof sheets, if necessary: however it was never needed.—
In November I sat for my portrait to a painter named Purdon (I think): he
came to the house and made a good likeness. A pencil portrait was taken for
a print-seller (Mason) in Cambridge: it was begun before my illness and
finished after it.—I applied through Sheepshanks for a copy of Maskelyne's
Observations, to be used in the Reduction of the Planetary Observations:
and on Dec. 24th (from my bedroom) I applied through Prof. Rigaud to the
Delegates of the Clarendon Press for a copy of Bradley's Observations for

the same. The latter request was refused. In October I applied to the Syndics
of the University Press for printed forms for these Reductions: the Syndics
agreed to grant me 12,000 copies."

1834

"On Jan. 11th 1834 I went with my wife to London for the recruiting of
my strength. We stayed at the house of our friend Miss Sheepshanks, and
returned on Feb. 13th.—I drew up a Paper of Questions for Smith's Prizes,
but left the whole trouble of examination and adjudication to Professor
Miller, who at my request acted for me.—While I was in London I began to
look at the papers relating to Groombridge's Catalogue: and I believe that it
was while in London that I agreed with Mr Baily on a Report condemnatory
of H. Taylor's edition, and sent the Report to the Admiralty. The Admiralty
asked for further advice, and on Feb. 28th I replied, undertaking to put the
Catalogue in order. On Mar. 17th Capt. Beaufort sent me all the papers.
Some time however elapsed before I could proceed with it.

"There was in this spring a furious discussion about the admission of
Dissenters into the University: I took the Liberal side. On Apr. 30th there
was a letter of mine in the Cambridge newspaper.—On Apr. 14th I began
lectures, and finished on May 20th: there were 87 names.—My 'Gravitation'
was either finished or so nearly finished that on Jan. 24th I had some
conversation with Knight the publisher about printing it. It was printed in
the spring, and on Apr. 27th Sheepshanks sent a copy of it to Lord
Brougham. I received from Knight £83. 17s. 1d. for this Paper.—On May
10th I went to London, I believe to attend one of the Soirées which the
Duke of Sussex gave as President of the Royal Society. The Duke invited
me to breakfast privately with him the next morning. He then spoke to me,
on the part of the Government, about my taking the office of Astronomer

Royal. On May 19th I wrote him a semi-official letter, to which reference
was made in subsequent correspondence on that subject.

"On May 12th my son Arthur was born.—In June the Observatory
Syndicate made a satisfied Report.—On June 7th I went to the Greenwich
Visitation, and again on June 14th I went to London, I believe for the
purpose of trying the mounting of South's telescope, as it had been
strengthened by Mr Simms by Sheepshanks's suggestions. I was
subsequently in correspondence with Sheepshanks on the subject of the
Arbitration on South's telescope, and my giving evidence on it. On July
29th, as I was shortly going away, I wrote him a Report on the Telescope, to
be used in case of my absence. The award, which was given in December,
was entirely in favour of Simms.—On July 23rd I went out, I think to my
brother's marriage at Ixworth in Suffolk.—On Aug. 1st I started for Edensor
and Cumberland, with my wife, sister, and three children: Georgiana Smith
joined us at Edensor. We went by Otley, Harrogate, Ripon, and Stanmoor to
Keswick, from whence we made many excursions. On Aug. 11th I went
with Whewell to the clouds on Skiddaw, to try hygrometers. Mr Baily
called on his way to the British Association at Edinburgh. On Sept. 10th we
transferred our quarters to Ambleside, and after various excursions we
returned to Edensor by Skipton and Bolton. On Sept. 19th I went to
Doncaster and Finningley Park to see Mr Beaumont's Observatory. On Sept.
25th we posted in one day from Edensor to Cambridge.

"On Aug. 25th Mr Spring Rice (Lord Monteagle) wrote to me to enquire
whether I would accept the office of Astronomer Royal if it were vacant. I
replied (from Keswick) on Aug. 30th, expressing my general willingness,
stipulating for my freedom of vote, &c., and referring to my letter to the
Duke of Sussex. On Oct. 8th Lord Auckland, First Lord of the Admiralty,
wrote: and on Oct. 10th I provisionally accepted the office. On Oct. 30th I
wrote to ask for leave to give a course of lectures at Cambridge in case that

my successor at Cambridge should find difficulty in doing it in the first
year: and to this Lord Auckland assented on Oct. 31st. All this arrangement
was for a time upset by the change of Ministry which shortly followed.

"Amongst miscellaneous matters, in March I had some correspondence
with the Duke of Northumberland about the Cauchaix Telescope. In August
I had to announce to him that the flint-lens had been a little shattered in
Cauchaix's shop and required regrinding: finally on Dec. 17th I announced
its arrival at Cambridge.—In the Planetary Reductions, I find that I
employed one computer (Glaisher) for 34 weeks.—In November the
Lalande Medal was awarded to me by the French Institut, and Mr Pentland
conveyed it to me in December.—On March 14th I gave the Cambridge
Philosophical Society a Paper, 'Continuation of researches into the value of
Jupiter's Mass.' On Apr. 14th, 'On the Latitude of Cambridge Observatory.'
On June 13th, 'On the position of the Ecliptic,' and 'On the Solar Eclipse of
1833,' to the Royal Astronomical Society. On Nov. 24th, 'On Computing the
Diffraction of an Object Glass,' to the Cambridge Society. And on Dec. 3rd,
'On the Calculation of Perturbations,' to the Nautical Almanac: this Paper
was written at Keswick between Aug. 22nd and 29th.—I also furnished Mr
Sheepshanks with investigations regarding the form of the pivots of the
Cape Circle."

1835

"On Jan. 9th 1835 I was elected correspondent of the French Academy;
and on Jan. 26th Mr Pentland sent me £12. 6s., the balance of the proceeds
of the Lalande Medal Fund.—I prepared my Paper for Smith's Prizes, and
joined in the Examination as usual.

"There had been a very sudden change of Administration, and Sir R. Peel
was now Prime Minister as First Lord of the Treasury, and Lord Lyndhurst

was Lord Chancellor. On Jan. 19th I wrote to Lord Lyndhurst, asking him
for a Suffolk living for my brother William, which he declined to give,
though he remembered my application some years later. Whether my
application led to the favour which I shortly received from the Government,
I do not know. But, in dining with the Duke of Sussex in the last year, I had
been introduced to Sir R. Peel, and he had conversed with me a long time,
and appeared to have heard favourably of me. On Feb. 17th he wrote to me
an autograph letter offering a pension of £300 per annum, with no terms of
any kind, and allowing it to be settled if I should think fit on my wife. I
wrote on Feb. 18th accepting it for my wife. In a few days the matter went
through the formal steps, and Mr Whewell and Mr Sheepshanks were
nominated trustees for my wife. The subject came before Parliament, by the
Whig Party vindicating their own propriety in having offered me the office
of Astronomer Royal in the preceding year; and Spring Rice's letter then
written to me was published in the Times, &c."

*****

The correspondence relating to the pension above-mentioned is given
below, and appears to be of interest, both as conveying in very felicitous
terms the opinion of a very eminent statesman on the general subject of
such pensions, and as a most convincing proof of the lofty position in
Science which the subject of this Memoir had then attained.

W
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,
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.
1
7
1
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3
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.

SIR,

You probably are aware that in a Resolution voted by the House of
Commons in the last Session of Parliament, an opinion was expressed, that
Pensions on the Civil List, ought not thereafter to be granted by the Crown
excepting for the satisfaction of certain public claims, among which those
resting on Scientific or Literary Eminence were especially mentioned.

I trust that no such Resolution would have been necessary to induce me
as Minister of the Crown fully to recognize the justice of such claims, but I
refer to the Resolution, as removing every impediment to a Communication
of the nature of that which I am about to make to you.

In acting upon the Principle of the Resolution in so far as the Claims of
Science are concerned, my first address is made to you, and made directly,
and without previous communication with any other person, because it is
dictated exclusively by public considerations, and because there can be no
advantage in or any motive for indirect communication.

I consider you to have the first claim on the Royal Favour which
Eminence in those high Pursuits to which your life is devoted, can give, and
I fear that the Emoluments attached to your appointment in the University
of Cambridge are hardly sufficient to relieve you from anxiety as to the
Future on account of those in whose welfare you are deeply interested.

The state of the Civil List would enable me to advise the King to grant a
pension of three hundred pounds per annum, and if the offer be acceptable
to you the Pension shall be granted either to Mrs Airy or yourself as you
may prefer.

I beg you distinctly to understand that your acquiescence in this Proposal,
will impose upon you no obligation personal or political in the slightest
degree. I make it solely upon public grounds, and I ask you, by the
acceptance of it, to permit the King to give some slight encouragement to
Science, by proving to those who may be disposed to follow your bright
Example, that Devotion to the highest Branches of Mathematical and
Astronomical Knowledge shall not necessarily involve them in constant
solicitude as to the future condition of those, for whom the application of
the same Talents to more lucrative Pursuits would have ensured an ample
Provision.

I have the honor to be, Sir,
With true Respect and Esteem,
Your faithful Servant,
ROBERT PEEL.

Mr Professor Airy,
&c., &c.,
Cambridge.

OBSERVATORY, CAMBRIDGE,
1835, Feb. 18.

SIR,

I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 17th acquainting me
with your intention of advising the King to grant a pension of £300 per
annum from the Civil List to me or Mrs Airy.

I trust you will believe that I am sensible of the flattering terms in which
this offer is made, and deeply grateful for the considerate manner in which
the principal arrangement is left to my choice, as well as for the freedom
from engagement in which your offer leaves me. I beg to state that I most
willingly accept the offer. I should prefer that the pension be settled on Mrs
Airy (by which I understand that in case of her surviving me the pension
would be continued to her during her life, or in the contrary event would
cease with her life).

I wish that I may have the good fortune to prove to the world that I do not
accept this offer without an implied engagement on my part. I beg leave
again to thank you for your attention, and to assure you that the form in
which it is conveyed makes it doubly acceptable.

With sincere respect I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your very faithful Servant,
G.B. AIRY.

The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart.,
First Lord of the Treasury, &c., &c.

WHITEHALL,
Feb. 19th 1835.

SIR,

I will give immediate directions for the preparation of the Warrant
settling the Pension on Mrs Airy—the effect of which will be, as you
suppose, to grant the Pension to her for her life. I assure you I never gave an
official order, which was accompanied with more satisfaction to myself
than this.

I have the honor to be, Sir.
Your faithful Servant,
ROBERT PEEL.

Mr Professor Airy,
&c., &c.,
Cambridge.

*****

"On March 18th 1835 I started (meeting Sheepshanks at Kingstown) for
Ireland. We visited Dublin Observatory, and then went direct to Markree
near Sligo, to see Mr Cooper's telescope (our principal object). We passed
on our return by Enniskillen and Ballyjamesduff, where my former pupil P.

Morton was living, and returned on Apr. 3rd.—On Apr. 20th I was elected
to the Royal Society, Edinburgh.—Apr. 22nd my wife wrote me from
Edensor that her sister Florence was very ill: she died shortly after.—On
May 4th I began lectures and finished on May 29th: there were 58 names.—
My former pupil Guest asks my interest for the Recordership of
Birmingham.—In June was circulated the Syndicate Report on the
Observatory.—The date of the Preface to the 1834 Observations is June
16th.

"The Ministry had been again changed in the spring, and the Whigs were
again in power. On June 11th Lord Auckland, who was again First Lord of
the Admiralty (as last year), again wrote to me to offer me the office of
Astronomer Royal, or to request my suggestions on the filling up of the
office. On June 15th I wrote my first reply, and on June 17th wrote to
accept it. On June 18th Lord Auckland acknowledges, and on June 22nd the
King approved. Lord Auckland appointed to see me on Friday, June 23rd,
but I was unwell. I had various correspondence with Lord Auckland,
principally about buildings, and had an appointment with him for August
13th. As Lord Auckland was just quitting office, to go to India, I was
introduced to Mr Charles Wood, the Secretary of the Admiralty, with whom
principally the subsequent business was transacted. At this meeting Lord
Auckland and Mr Wood expressed their feeling, that the Observatory had
fallen into such a state of disrepute that the whole establishment ought to be
cleared out. I represented that I could make it efficient with a good First
Assistant; and the other Assistants were kept. But the establishment was in a
queer state. The Royal Warrant under the Sign Manual was sent on August
11th. It was understood that my occupation of office would commence on
October 1st, but repairs and alterations of buildings would make it
impossible for me to reside at Greenwich before the end of the year. On
Oct. 1st I went to the Observatory, and entered formally upon the office

(though not residing for some time). Oct 7th is the date of my Official
Instructions.

"I had made it a condition of accepting the office that the then First
Assistant should be removed, and accordingly I had the charge of seeking
another. I determined to have a man who had taken a respectable
Cambridge degree. I made enquiry first of Mr Bowstead (brother to the
bishop) and Mr Steventon: at length, consulting Mr Hopkins (a well-known
private tutor at Cambridge), he recommended to me Mr Robert Main, of
Queens' College, with whom I corresponded in the month (principally) of
August, and whom on August 30th I nominated to the Admiralty. On Oct.
21st F.W. Simms, one of the Assistants (who apparently had hoped for the
office of First Assistant, for which he was quite incompetent) resigned; and
on Dec. 4th I appointed in his place Mr James Glaisher, who had been at
Cambridge from the beginning of 1833, and on Dec. 10th the Admiralty
approved.

"During this quarter of a year I was residing at Cambridge Observatory,
visiting Greenwich once a week (at least for some time), the immediate
superintendence of the Observatory being placed with Mr Main. I was
however engaged in reforming the system of the Greenwich Observatory,
and prepared and printed 30 skeleton forms for reductions of observations
and other business. On Dec. 14th I resigned my Professorship to the Vice-
Chancellor. But I continued the reduction of the observations, so that not a
single figure was left to my successor: the last observations were those of
Halley's Comet. The Preface to my 1835 Cambridge Observations is dated
Aug. 22nd, 1836.

"In regard to the Northumberland Telescope, I had for some time been
speculating on plans of mounting and enclosing the instrument, and had
corresponded with Simms, A. Biddell, Cubitt, and others on the subject. On
Apr. 24th Tulley the younger was endeavouring to adjust the object-glass.
On May 31st I plainly asked the Duke of Northumberland whether he

would defray the expense of the mounting and building. On June 4th he
assented, and money was placed at a banker's to my order. I then proceeded
in earnest: in the autumn the building was erected, and the dome was
covered before the depth of winter. I continued in 1836 to superintend the
mounting of the instrument.

"In regard to the Planetary Reductions: to July 11th J. Glaisher had been
employed 27 weeks, and from July 11th to Jan. 16th, 1836, 25 weeks. Mr
Spring Rice, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, had promised money, but
no official minute had been made, and no money had been granted. On Aug.
21st I applied to Mr Baring (Secretary of the Treasury). After another letter
he answered on Oct. 15th that he found no official minute. After writing to
Vernon Harcourt and to Spring Rice, the matter was arranged: my outlay
was refunded, and another sum granted.—In regard to Groombridge's
Observations, I find that on Dec. 16th certain trial reductions had been
made under my direction by J. Glaisher.—I had attempted some optical
experiments in the summer, especially on the polarization of sky-light; but
had been too busy with the Observatory to continue them.

"In August my wife was in a critical state of health.—In December I
received information regarding merchant ships' chronometers, for which I
had applied to Mr Charles Parker of Liverpool.—On Dec. 8th Mr Spring
Rice and Lord John Russell offered me knighthood, but I declined it.—On
July 23rd I went into Suffolk with my wife's sisters Elizabeth and
Georgiana, and returned on August 3rd: this was all the holiday that I got in
this year.—On the 14th of August I saw Mr Taylor, the Admiralty Civil
Architect in London, and the extension of buildings at Greenwich
Observatory was arranged.—I made various journeys to Greenwich, and on
Dec. 17th, having sent off our furniture, we all quitted the Cambridge
Observatory, and stayed for some days at the house of Miss Sheepshanks.

"Thus ended a busy and anxious year."

*****

With reference to the offer of knighthood above-mentioned, Airy's reply
is characteristic, and the short correspondence relating to it is therefore
inserted.—The offer itself is an additional proof of the high estimation in
which he stood at this time.

D
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MY DEAR SIR,

I have been in communication with my colleague Lord John Russell
which has made me feel rather anxious to have the pleasure of seeing you,
but on second thoughts it has occurred to me that the subject of my
communication would render it more satisfactory to you to receive a letter
than to pay a visit.

In testimony of the respect which is felt for your character and
acquirements, there would be every disposition to recommend you to His
Majesty to receive the distinction of Knighthood. I am quite aware that to
you individually this may be a matter of small concern, but to the scientific
world in general it will not be indifferent, and to foreign countries it will
mark the consideration felt for you personally as well as for the position
which you occupy among your learned contemporaries.

From a knowledge of the respect and esteem which I feel for you Lord
John Russell has wished that the communication should be made through
me rather than through any person who had not the pleasure of your
acquaintance.

Pray let me hear from you and believe me my dear Sir, with compliments
to Mrs Airy,

Very truly yours,
T. SPRING RICE.

P.S.—It may be right to add that when a title of honor is conferred on
grounds like those which apply to your case, no fees or charges of any kind
would be payable.

O
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MY DEAR SIR,

I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 8th, which I have received at this
place, conveying to me an intimation of the wish of His Majesty's Ministers
to recommend me to the King for the honor of Knighthood.

I beg to assure you that I am most sensible to the liberality which I have
experienced from the Government in other as well as in pecuniary matters,
and that I am very highly gratified by the consideration (undeserved by me,
I fear) which they have displayed in the present instance. And if I now
request permission to decline the honor offered to me, I trust I may make it
fully understood that it is not because I value it lightly or because I am not
anxious to receive honors from such a source.

The unalterable custom of this country has attached a certain degree of
light consideration to titles of honor which are not supported by
considerable fortune; or at least, it calls for the display of such an
establishment as may not be conveniently supported by even a comfortable
income. The provision attached to my official situation, and the liberality of
the King towards one of the members of my family, have placed me in a
position of great comfort. These circumstances however have bound me to

consider myself as the devoted servant of the country, and to debar myself
from efforts to increase my fortune which might otherwise have been open
to me. I do not look forward therefore to any material increase of income,
and that which I enjoy at present is hardly sufficient, in my opinion, to
support respectably the honor which you and Lord John Russell have
proposed to confer upon me. For this reason only I beg leave most
respectfully to decline the honor of Knighthood at the present time.

I have only to add that my services will always be at the command of the
Government in any scientific subject in which I can be of the smallest use.

I am, my dear Sir,
Your very faithful Servant,
G.B. AIRY.

The Right Honorable T. Spring Rice.

*****

"In brief revision of the years from 1827 to 1835 I may confine myself to
the two principal subjects—my Professorial Lectures, and my Conduct of
the Cambridge Observatory.

"The Lectures as begun in 1827 included ordinary Mechanics, ordinary
Hydrostatics and Pneumatics (I think that I did not touch, or touched very
lightly, on the subjects connected with the Hydraulic Ram), and ordinary
Optics (with a very few words on Polarization and Depolarization). In 1828
the two first were generally improved, and for the third (Optics) I
introduced a few words on Circular Polarization. I believe that it was in
1829 that I made an addition to the Syllabus with a small engraving,
shewing the interference of light in the best practical experiment (that of the
flat prism); and I went thoroughly into the main points of the Undulatory

Theory, interference, diffraction, &c. In 1830 I believe I went (in addition to
what is mentioned above) into Polarization and Depolarization of all kinds.
My best lecture diagrams were drawn and painted by my wife. The Lectures
were universally pronounced to be valuable. The subjects underwent no
material change in 1831, 2, 3, 4, 5; and I believe it was a matter of sincere
regret to many persons that my removal to Greenwich terminated the series.
Each lecture nominally occupied an hour. But I always encouraged students
to stop and talk with me; and this supplement was usually considered a
valuable part of the lecture. Practically the lecture, on most days, occupied
two hours. I enjoyed the Lectures much: yet I felt that the labour (in
addition to other work) made an impression on my strength, and I became
at length desirous of terminating them.

"The Observatory, when I took charge of it, had only one instrument—
the Transit-Instrument The principles however which I laid down for my
own direction were adapted to the expected complete equipment, Planets
(totally neglected at Greenwich) were to be observed. Observations were to
be reduced completely, and the reductions were to be exhibited in an
orderly way: this was a novelty in Astronomy. I considered it so important
that I actually proposed to omit in my publication the original observations,
but was dissuaded by Herschel and others. I sometimes suspended,
observations for a short time, in order to obtain leisure for; the reductions. I
had at first no intention of correcting the places of the fundamental stars as
settled at Greenwich. But I found myself compelled to do so, because they
were not sufficiently accurate; and then I took the course of observing and
reducing as an independent observer, without reference to any other
observatory. I introduced the principle of not correcting instrumental errors,
but measuring them and applying numerical corrections. I determined my
longitude by chronometers, and my latitude by a repeating circle borrowed
from Mr Sheepshanks, which I used so well that the result; was only half a
second in error. The form of my reductions in the published volume for

1828 is rather irregular, but the matter is good: it soon attracted attention. In
1829 the process was much the same: I had an assistant, Mr Baldrey. In
1830 still the same, with the additions:—that I formally gave the
corrections of relative right-ascension of fundamental stars (without
alteration of equinox, which I had not the means of obtaining) to be used in
the year 1831; and that I reduced completely the observed occultations
(with a small error, subsequently corrected). In 1831 the system of
correction of broken transits was improved: the errors of assumed R.A. of
Fundamental Stars were exhibited: Mean Solar Time was obtained from
Sidereal Time by time of Transit of [Symbol: Aries] (computed by myself):
the method of computing occultations was improved. In 1832 the small
Equatoreal was erected, and was soon employed in observations of the
elongation of the 4th Satellite of Jupiter for determining the mass of Jupiter.
The Mural Circle was erected at the end of the year, but not used. The
calculation of R.A. of Fundamental Stars was made homogeneously with
the others: separate results of all were included in ledgers: a star-catalogue
was formed: all as to the present time (1871). With the Equatoreal the
difference of N.P.D. of Mars and stars was observed.

"With the beginning of 1833 the Mural Circle was established at work, a
second assistant (Mr Glaisher) was appointed, and the Observatory might
be considered complete. I made experiments on the graduations of the
Circle. I detected and was annoyed by the R—D. I determined the latitude. I
exhibited the separate results for N.P.D. of stars in ledger, and their means
in Catalogue. I investigated from my observations the place of equinox and
the obliquity of the ecliptic. I made another series of observations of
Jupiter's 4th Satellite, for the mass of Jupiter. I observed the solar eclipse
with the Equatoreal, by a method then first introduced, which I have since
used several times at Cambridge and Greenwich with excellent effect. The
Moon and the Planets were usually observed till near two in the morning.
Correction for defective illumination applied when necessary. The volume

is very complete, the only deficiency being in the observation of Moon and
Planets through the severe morning hours. In 1834 the only novelties are—
examination of the graduations of the declination circle of the Equatoreal
(excessively bad): observations of a spot on Jupiter for rotation, and of
Mars and stars. In 1835 (including January 1836) there is a more complete
examination of the Equatoreal graduations: parallax and refraction for
Equatoreal observations: a spot on Jupiter: a series of observations on
Jupiter's 4th Satellite for the mass of Jupiter: Mars and stars: Halley's
Comet (the best series of observations which could be made in the season):
and a short series of meteorological observations, on a plan suggested by
Sir John Herschel then at the Cape of Good Hope.

"I cannot tell precisely in which year I introduced the following useful
custom. Towards the end of each year I procured a pocket-book for the
following year with a space for every day, and carefully examining all the
sources of elements of observations, and determining the observations to be
made every day, I inserted them in the pocket-book. This system gave
wonderful steadiness to the plan of observations for the next year. The
system has been maintained in great perfection at the Observatory of
Greenwich. (The first of these pocket-books which Prof. Adams has found
is that for 1833.) Printed skeleton forms were introduced for all calculations
from 1828. In the Greenwich Observatory Library there is a collection, I
believe complete, of printed papers commencing with my manifesto, and
containing all Syndicate Reports except for 1833 (when perhaps there was
none). It seems from these that my first written Report on Observations,
&c., was on May 30th, 1834. The first Syndicate Report is on May 25th,
1829."

*****

A few remarks on Airy's private life and friends during his residence at
Cambridge Observatory may be here appropriately inserted.

Amid the laborious occupations recorded in the foregoing pages, his
social life and surroundings appear to have been most pleasant and
congenial. At that period there were in residence in Cambridge, and
particularly at Trinity, a large number of very brilliant men. Airy was
essentially a Cambridge man. He had come up poor and friendless: he had
gained friends and fame at the University, and his whole work had been
done there. From the frequent references in after times both by him and his
wife to their life at Cambridge, it is clear that they had a very pleasant
recollection of it, and that the social gatherings there were remarkably
attractive. He has himself recorded that with Whewell and Sedgwick, and
his accomplished sisters-in-law, who were frequently on long visits at the
Observatory, they formed pretty nearly one family.

His friendship with Whewell was very close. Although Whewell was at
times hasty, and rough-mannered, and even extremely rude, yet he was
generous and large-minded, and thoroughly upright. [Footnote: The
following passage occurs in a letter from Airy to his wife, dated 1845, Sept.
17th: "I am sorry that —— speaks in such terms of the 'Grand Master,' as
she used to be so proud of him: it is only those who have well gone through
the ordeal of quarrels with him and almost insults from him, like
Sheepshanks and me, that thoroughly appreciate the good that is in him: I
am sure he will never want a good word from me."] In power of mind, in
pursuits, and interests, Airy had more in common with Whewell than with
any other of his friends. It was with Whewell that he undertook the
experiments at Dolcoath: it was to Whewell that he first communicated the
result of his remarkable investigation of the Long Inequality of Venus and
the Earth; and some of his Optical researches were conducted jointly with
Whewell. Whewell took his degree in 1816, seven years before Airy, and

his reputation, both for mathematical and all-round knowledge, was
extremely and deservedly great, but he was always most generous in his
recognition of Airy's powers. Thus in a letter of Mar. 16th, 1823 (Life of
William Whewell by Mrs Stair Douglas), he says, "Airy is certainly a most
extraordinary man, and deserves everything that can be said of him"; and
again in the autumn of 1826 he writes to his aunt, "You mentioned a
difficulty which had occurred to you in one of your late letters; how Airy
should be made Professor while I was here, who, being your nephew, must
of course, on that account, deserve it better than he could. Now it is a thing
which you will think odd, but it is nevertheless true, that Airy is a better
mathematician than your nephew, and has moreover been much more
employed of late in such studies…. Seriously speaking, Airy is by very
much the best person they could have chosen for the situation, and few
things have given me so much pleasure as his election." How much
Whewell depended upon his friends at the Observatory may be gathered
from a letter which he wrote to his sister on Dec. 21st, 1833. "We have
lately been in alarm here on the subject of illness. Two very near friends of
mine, Prof. and Mrs Airy, have had the scarlet fever at the same time; she
more slightly, he very severely. They are now, I am thankful to say, doing
well and recovering rapidly. You will recollect that I was staying with them
at her father's in Derbyshire in the summer. They are, I think, two of the
most admirable and delightful persons that the world contains." And again
on Dec. 20th, 1835, he wrote to his sister Ann, "My friends—I may almost
say my dearest friends —Professor Airy and his family have left
Cambridge, he being appointed Astronomer Royal at Greenwich—to me an
irreparable loss; but I shall probably go and see how they look in their new
abode." Their close intercourse was naturally interrupted by Airy's removal
to Greenwich, but their friendly feelings and mutual respect continued
without material break till Whewell's death. There was frequent
correspondence between them, especially on matters connected with the

conduct and teaching of the University, in which they both took a keen
interest, and a warm welcome at Trinity Lodge always awaited Mr and Mrs
Airy when they visited Cambridge. In a letter written to Mrs Stair Douglas
on Feb. 11th, 1882, enclosing some of Whewell's letters, there occurs the
following passage: "After the decease of Mrs Whewell, Whewell wrote to
my wife a mournful letter, telling her of his melancholy state, and asking
her to visit him at the Lodge for a few days. And she did go, and did the
honours of the house for several days. You will gather from this the relation
in which the families stood." Whewell died on Mar. 6th, 1866, from the
effects of a fall from his horse, and the following extract is from a letter
written by Airy to Whewell's niece, Mrs Sumner Gibson, on hearing of the
death of his old friend:

"The Master was, I believe, my oldest surviving friend (beyond my own
family), and, after an acquaintance of 46 years, I must have been one of his
oldest friends. We have during that time been connected privately and
officially: we travelled together and experimented together: and as
opportunity served (but I need not say in very different degrees) we both
laboured for our College and University. A terrible blank is left on my
mind."

Sedgwick was probably 15 years older than Airy: he took his degree in
1808. But the astonishing buoyancy of spirits and bonhomie of Sedgwick
fitted him for all ages alike. He was undoubtedly the most popular man in
Cambridge in modern times. His ability, his brightness and wit, his fearless
honesty and uprightness, his plain-speaking and good humour, rendered
him a universal favourite. His close alliance with Airy was much more
social than scientific. It is true that they made some geological excursions
together, but, at any rate with Airy, it was far more by way of recreation
than of serious study, and Sedgwick's science was entirely geological. Their

friendship continued till Sedgwick's death, though it was once or twice
imperilled by Sedgwick's impulsive and hasty nature.

Peacock took his degree in 1813 (Herschel's year), and was therefore
probably 10 years older than Airy. He was the earliest and staunchest friend
of Airy in his undergraduate years, encouraged him in every possible way,
lent him books, assisted him in his studies, helped him with wise advice on
many occasions, and took the greatest interest in his success. He was a good
and advanced mathematician, and with a great deal of shrewdness and
common-sense he united a singular kindness and gentleness of manner. It is
therefore not to be wondered at that he was regarded by Airy with the
greatest esteem and affection, and though they were afterwards separated,
by Peacock becoming Dean of Ely and Airy Astronomer Royal, yet their
warm friendship was never broken. The following letter, written by Airy to
Mrs Peacock on receiving the news of the death of the Dean, well expresses
his feelings towards his old friend:

T
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MY DEAR MADAM,

I have desired for some time to express to you my sympathies on
occasion of the sad bereavement which has come upon me perhaps as
strongly as upon any one not connected by family ties with my late friend.
But I can scarcely give you an idea how every disposable moment of my
time has been occupied. I am now called to Cambridge on business, and I
seize the first free time to write to you.

My late friend was the first person whom I knew in College (I had an
introduction to him when I went up as freshman). From the first, he desired
me to consider the introduction not as entitling me to a mere formal
recognition from him, but as authorizing me at all times to call on him for
any assistance which I might require. And this was fully carried out: I
referred to him in every difficulty: I had the entire command of his rooms
and library (a very important aid in following the new course of
mathematics which he had been so instrumental in introducing into the
University) in his occasional absences: and in all respects I looked to him as
to a parent. All my debts to other friends in the University added together
are not comparable to what I owe to the late Dean.

Latterly I need not say that I owed much to him and that I owe much to
you for your kind notice of my two sons, even since the sad event which
has put it out of his power to do more.

In the past summer, looking to my custom of making a visit to
Cambridge in some part of the October Term, I had determined that a visit
to Ely this year should not depend on the chance of being free to leave
Cambridge, but that, if it should be found convenient to yourself and the
Dean, the first journey should be made to Ely. I wish that I had formed the
same resolution one or two years ago.

With many thanks for your kindness, and with deep sympathy on this
occasion,

I am,
My dear Madam,
Yours very faithfully,
G.B. AIRY.

Sheepshanks was a Fellow of Trinity, in orders: he was probably seven
years older than Airy (he took his degree in 1816). He was not one of Airy's
earliest friends, but he had a great taste and liking for astronomy, and the
friendship between them when once established became very close. He was
a very staunch and fearless friend, an able and incisive writer, and
remarkably energetic and diligent in astronomical investigations. He, or his
sister, Miss Sheepshanks, had a house in London, and Sheepshanks was
very much in London, and busied himself extremely with the work of the
Royal Observatory, that of the Board of Longitude, and miscellaneous
astronomical matters. He was most hospitable to his friends, and while Airy
resided at Cambridge his house was always open to receive him on his
frequent visits to town. In the various polemical discussions on scientific
matters in which Airy was engaged, Sheepshanks was an invaluable ally,
and after Airy's removal to Greenwich had more or less separated him from
his Cambridge friends, Sheepshanks was still associated with him and took
a keen interest in his Greenwich work. And this continued till
Sheepshanks's death. The warmest friendship always subsisted between the
family at the Observatory and Mr and Miss Sheepshanks.

There were many other friends, able and talented men, but these four
were the chief, and it is curious to note that they were all much older than
Airy. It would seem as if Airy's knowledge had matured in so remarkable a
manner, and the original work that he produced was so brilliant and
copious, that by common consent he ranked with men who were much his
seniors: and the natural gravity and decorum of his manners when quite a
young man well supported the idea of an age considerably greater than was
actually the case.

CHAPTER V.

AT GREENWICH OBSERVATORY—1836 TO 1846.

1836

"Through the last quarter of 1835 I had kept everything going on at the
Greenwich Observatory in the same manner in which Mr Pond had carried
it on. With the beginning of 1836 my new system began. I had already
prepared 30 printed skeleton forms (a system totally unknown to Mr Pond)
which were now brought into use. And, having seen the utility of the
Copying Press in merchants' offices, I procured one. From this time my
correspondence, public and private, is exceedingly perfect.

"At this time the dwelling house was still unconnected with the
Observatory. It had no staircase to the Octagon Room. Four new rooms had
been built for me on the western side of the dwelling house, but they were
not yet habitable. The North-east Dome ground floor was still a passage
room. The North Terrace was the official passage to the North-west Dome,
where there was a miserable Equatoreal, and to the 25-foot Zenith Tube (in
a square tower like a steeple, which connected the N.W. Dome with
Flamsteed's house). The southern boundary of the garden ran down a
hollow which divides the peninsula from the site of the present Magnetic
Observatory, in such a manner that the principal part of the garden was fully
exposed to the public. The Computing Room was a most pitiful little room.
There was so little room for me that I transported the principal table to a
room in my house, where I conducted much of my own official business. A
large useless reflecting telescope (Ramage's), on the plan and nearly of the
size of Sir W. Herschel's principal telescope, encumbered the centre of the
Front Court.

"On Jan. 11th I addressed Mr Buck, agent of the Princess Sophia of
Gloucester, Ranger of Greenwich Park, for leave to enclose a portion of the

ground overlooking my garden. This was soon granted, and I was partially
delivered from the inconvenience of the public gaze. The liberation was not
complete till the Magnetic ground was enclosed in 1837.

"In the inferior departments of the Admiralty, especially in the
Hydrographic Office (then represented by Captain Beaufort) with which I
was principally connected, the Observatory was considered rather as a place
for managing Government chronometers than as a place of science. The
preceding First Assistant (Taylor) had kept a book of letter references, and I
found that out of 840 letters, 820 related to Government chronometers only.
On Jan. 17th I mentally sketched my regulations for my own share in
chronometer business. I had some correspondence with Captain Beaufort,
but we could not agree, and the matter was referred to the Admiralty.
Finally arrangements were made which put the chronometer business in
proper subordination to the scientific charge of the Observatory.

"In my first negociations with the Admiralty referring to acceptance of
the office of Astronomer Royal, in 1834, Lord Auckland being then First
Lord of the Admiralty, I had stipulated that, as my successor at Cambridge
would be unprepared to carry on my Lectures, I should have permission to
give a final course of Lectures there. At the end of 1835 Lord Auckland was
succeeded by Lord Minto: I claimed the permission from him and he
refused it. When this was known in Cambridge a petition was presented by
many Cambridge residents, and Lord Minto yielded. On April 18th I went
to Cambridge with my wife, residing at the Bull Inn, and began Lectures on
April 21st: they continued (apparently) to May 27th. My lecture-room was
crowded (the number of names was 110) and the lectures gave great
satisfaction. I offered to the Admiralty to put all the profits in their hands,
and transmitted a cheque to the Accountant General of the Navy: but the
Admiralty declined to receive them.

"On June 4th the Annual Visitation of the Observatory was held, Mr F.
Baily in the Chair. I presented a written Report on the Observatory (a
custom which I had introduced at Cambridge) in which I did not suppress
the expression of my feelings about chronometer business. The
Hydrographer, Captain Beaufort, who was one of the Official Visitors, was
irritated: and by his influence the Report was not printed. I kept it and
succeeding Reports safe for three years, and then the Board of Visitors
agreed to print them; and four Reports were printed together, and bound
with the Greenwich Observations of 1838.

"In the course of this year I completed the volume of Observations made
at Cambridge Observatory in 1835 and on Nov. 10th the printed copies
were distributed. About the end of 1835 the Dome for the Northumberland
Telescope was erected: but apparently the polar frame was not erected."

The following account of an accident which occurred during the
construction of the dome is extracted from a letter by Airy to his wife dated
1836 Jan. 31st. "The workmen's account of the dome blowing off is very
curious: it must have been a strange gust. It started suddenly when the men
were all inside and Beaumont was looking up at it: the cannon balls were
thrown in with great violence (one of them going between the spokes of
Ransomes' large casting), and instantly after the dome had started, the
boards of the outside scaffolding which had been tossed up by the same
gust dropped down into the gap which the dome had left. It is a wonder that
none of the men were hurt and that the iron was not broken. The dome is
quite covered and I think does not look so well as when the hooping was
visible."

"Previous to 1836 I had begun to contemplate the attachment of
Magnetic Observations to the Observatory, and had corresponded with Prof.
Christie, Prof. Lloyd, Prof. J. D. Forbes, and Mr Gauss on the subject. On

Jan. 12th 1836 I addressed a formal letter to the Admiralty, and on Jan. 18th
received their answer that they had referred it to the Board of Visitors. On
March 25th I received authority for the expenditure of £30, and I believe
that I then ordered Merz's 2-foot magnet. The Visitors met on Feb. 26th and
after some discussion the site was chosen and the extent of ground
generally defined, and on Dec. 22nd Mr Spring Rice (Lord Monteagle) as
Chancellor of the Exchequer virtually effected the transfer of the ground.
But no further steps were taken in 1836. A letter on a systematic course of
magnetic observations in various parts of the world was addressed by Baron
Alexander Humboldt to the Duke of Sussex, President of the Royal Society;
and was referred to Prof. Christie and me. We reported on it on June 9th
1836, strongly recommending the adoption of the scheme.

"A plan had been proposed by the Promoters of the London and
Gravesend Railway (Col. Landman, Engineer) for carrying a railway at
high level across the bottom of the Park. On Jan. 9th I received orders from
the Admiralty to examine into its possible effect in producing vibrations in
the Observatory. After much correspondence, examination of ground, &c., I
fixed upon a part of the Greenwich Railway (not yet opened for traffic) near
the place where the Croydon trunk line now joins it, as the place for trains
to run upon, while I made observations with a telescope viewing a
collimator by reflection in mercury at the distance of 500 feet. The
experiments were made on Jan. 25th, and I reported on Feb. 4th. It was
shewn that there would be some danger to the Observatory. On Nov. 2nd
Mr James Walker, Engineer, brought a model of a railway to pass by tunnel
under the lower part of the Park: apparently this scheme was not pressed.

"In addition to the routine work of the Observatory, a special set of
observations were made to determine the mass of Jupiter.—Also the Solar
Eclipse of May 15th was observed at Greenwich in the manner which I had
introduced at Cambridge.—The Ordnance Zenith Sector, and the

instruments for the St Helena Observatory were brought for examination.—
Much attention was given to chronometers, and various steps were taken for
their improvement.—I had some important correspondence with Mr (Sir
John) Lubbock, upon the Lunar Theory generally and his proposed
empirical lunar tables. This was the first germ of the great reduction of
Lunar Observations which I subsequently carried out.—In October I was
nominated on the Council of the Royal Society, having been admitted a
Fellow on Feb. 18th 1836. I was President of the Astronomical Society
during this and the preceding year (1836 and 1835).

"My connection with Groombridge's Catalogue of Stars began in 1832,
and the examination, in concert with Mr Baily, of the edition printed by Mr
Henry Taylor, resulted in its condemnation. In 1834 I volunteered to the
Admiralty to prepare a new edition, and received their thanks and their
authority for proceeding. It required a great deal of examination of details,
and much time was spent on it in 1836: but it was not brought to the state of
readiness for press.

"My predecessor, Mr Pond, died on Sept. 7th 1836, and was interred in
Halley's tomb in Lee churchyard."

*****

The following letter was written by Airy in support of the application for
a pension to Mrs Pond, who had been left in great distress:

To HENRY WARBURTON, ESQ.

"The points upon which in my opinion Mr Pond's claims to the gratitude
of Astronomers are founded, are principally the following. First and chief,
the accuracy which he introduced into all the principal observations. This is

a thing which from its nature it is extremely difficult to estimate now, so
long after the change has been made, and I can only say that so far as I can
ascertain from books the change is one of very great extent: for certainty
and accuracy, Astronomy is quite a different thing from what it was, and
this is mainly due to Mr Pond. The most striking exemplification of this is
in his laborious working out of every conceivable cause or indication of
error in the Circle and the two Circles: but very great praise is also due for
the new system which he introduced in working the Transit. In comparing
Mr Pond's systems of observation with Dr Maskelyne's, no one can avoid
being impressed with the inferiority of Dr Maskelyne's. It is very important
to notice that the continental observatories which have since attracted so
much attention did not at that time exist or did not exist in vigour. Secondly,
the attention bestowed by Mr Pond on those points (chiefly of sidereal
astronomy) which he regarded as fundamental: to which such masses of
observations were directed as entirely to remove the doubts from probable
error of individual observations or chance circumstances which have
injured many other determinations. Thirdly, the regularity of observation.
The effect of all these has been that, since the commencement of Mr Pond's
residence at Greenwich, Astronomy considered as an accurate
representation of the state of the heavens in the most material points has
acquired a certainty and an extent which it never had before. There is no
period in the history of the science so clean. On some matters (in regard to
the choice of observations) I might say that my own judgment would have
differed in some degree from Mr Pond's, but one thing could have been
gained only by giving up another, and upon the general accuracy no
improvement could have been made. Mr Pond understood nothing of
physical astronomy; but neither did anybody else, in England.

"The supposed decrease of general efficiency in the last few years is to be
ascribed to the following causes:

1. Mr Pond's ill health.

2. The inefficiency of his first assistant.

3. The oppression of business connected with chronometers.

"The last of these, as I have reason to think, operated very far. Business
of this nature which (necessarily) is daily and peremptory will always
prevail over that which is general and confidential. I will not trouble you
with an account of the various ways in which the chronometer business
teazed the Astronomer Royal (several alterations having been made at my
representation), but shall merely remark that much of the business had no
connection whatever with astronomy.

"I beg to submit these remarks to your perusal, requesting you to point
out to me what part of them should be laid before any of the King's
Ministers, at what time, in what shape, and to whom addressed. I am quite
sure that Mrs Pond's claims require nothing to ensure favourable
consideration but the impression of such a feeling of Mr Pond's
astronomical merits as must be entertained by any reasonable astronomer;
and I am most anxious to assist in conveying this impression.

"Of private history: I went to Suffolk for a week on Mar. 25th. On Sept.
19th my son Wilfrid (my fourth child) was born. In October I made an
excursion for a week round the coast of Kent. In November I went to my
brother's house at Keysoe in Bedfordshire: I was much exposed to cold on
the return-journey, which probably aggravated the illness that soon
followed. From Nov. 27th I was ill; made the last journal entry of the year
on Dec. 6th; the next was on Jan. 14th, 1837. I find that in this year I had
introduced Arthur Biddell to the Tithe Commutation Office, where he was
soon favourably received, and from which connection he obtained very
profitable employment as a valuer."

1837

"My connection with Cambridge Observatory was not yet finished. I had
determined that I would not leave a figure to be computed by my successor.
In October I had (at my private expense) set Mr Glaisher to work on
reducing the observations of Sun, Moon, and Planets made in 1833, 1834,
1835; and subsequently had the calculations examined by Mr Hartnup. This
employed me at times through 1837. I state here, once for all, that every
calculation or other work in reference to the Cambridge Observatory, in this
and subsequent years, was done at my private expense. The work of the
Northumberland Telescope was going on through the year: from Nov. 24th
to 29th I was at Cambridge on these works.

"An object-glass of 6-3/4 inches aperture (a most unusual size at this
time, when it was difficult to find a 4-inch or 5-inch glass) had been
presented to the Greenwich Observatory by my friend Mr Sheepshanks, and
on Mar. 29th I received from the Admiralty authority for mounting it
equatoreally in the empty South Dome, which had been intended for a copy
of the Palermo Circle.—In the month of July the Admiralty wished for my
political assistance in a Greenwich election, but I refused to give any.—On
Jan. 3rd I gave notice to the Admiralty that I had finished the computations
of Groombridge's Catalogue, and was ready to print. The printing was
authorized and proceeded (the introduction was finished on Nov. 22nd), but
the book was not quite ready till the beginning of 1838.—In connection
with the Cavendish experiment: on June 10th I wrote to Spring Rice
(Chancellor of the Exchequer) for £500, which was soon granted: and from
this time there is a great deal of correspondence (mainly with Mr Baily)
upon the details of the experiment and the theory of the calculation.—On
July 24th I saw the descent of the parachute by which Mr Cocking was
killed. I attended the coroner's inquest and gave evidence a few days later.

"The Planetary Reductions from 1750 to 1830 had been going on: the
computers (Glaisher, Hartnup, and Thomas) worked in the Octagon Room,
and considerable advance was made.—In consequence of the agitation of
the proposal by Mr Lubbock to form empirical tables of the Moon, for
which I proposed to substitute complete reduction of the observations of the
Moon from 1750, the British Association at York (Oct. 23rd, 1837)
appointed a deputation (including myself) to place the matter before the
Government. I wrote on the matter to Mr Wood (Lord Halifax) stating that
it would be proper to raise the First Assistant's salary, and to give me more
indefinite power about employing computers. In all these things I received
cordial assistance from Mr Wood. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr
Spring Rice) received us on Dec. 20th: statements were furnished by me,
and the business was sanctioned immediately.—During this year I was very
much engaged in correspondence with Lubbock and others on
improvements of the Lunar Theory.

"In the operations of 1836 and 1837 a great quantity of papers had been
accumulated. I had kept them in reasonably good order, tied up in bundles:
but this method began to fail in convenience, as the number increased. The
great lines of classification were however now well understood. I believe it
was in the latter part of the year 1837 that I finally settled on the principle
of arranging papers in packets and subordinate packets, every paper being
flat, by the use of four punched holes in every paper. I have never seen any
principle of arrangement comparable to this. It has been adopted with the
greatest ease by every assistant, and is used to the present time (1871)
without alteration.

"On Jan. 3rd I was informed unofficially by Mr Wood (Admiralty
Secretary) that the addition of the Magnetic Ground was sanctioned. On
Feb. 16th Mr Rhodes (an officer of the Department of Woods and Works)
came to put me formally in possession of the ground. Between Apr. 26th

and May 13th the ground was enclosed, and my garden was completely
protected from the public. The plan of the building was settled, and
numerous experiments were made on various kinds of concrete: at last it
was decided to build with wood.

"After a dinner given by Lord Burlington, Chancellor, the first meeting of
the London University was held on Mar. 4th, and others followed. On Apr.
18th I handed to the Chancellor a written protest against a vote of a salary
of £1000 to the Registrar: which salary, in fact, the Government refused to
sanction. Dissensions on the question of religious examination were already
beginning, but I took little part in them.

"In 1833 Mr Henderson had resigned the superintendance of the Cape of
Good Hope Observatory, and Mr Maclear was appointed. I recommended
the same Official Instructions for him (they had included an allusion to La
Caille's Arc of Meridian) with an addition on the probability of
Trigonometrical Survey, on Aug. 8th, 1837. On Feb. 24th, 1837, I wrote to
Beaufort suggesting that Bradley's Sector should be used for verifying the
astronomical determinations, and subsequently received the approval of the
Admiralty. In June Sir J. Herschel and I had an interview with Mr Wood on
the Cape equipment generally. The Sector was erected with its new
mounting, careful drawings were made of every part, instructions were
prepared for its use, and on Aug. 10th it was sent to Woolwich Dockyard
and shipped for the Cape.

"Of private history: On Aug. 23rd I started with my wife for an excursion
in South Wales, &c. On Sept. 9th I gave a lecture in the Town Hall of
Neath. While at Swansea we received news of the death of my wife's father,
the Rev. Richard Smith, and returned at once.—In this year Arthur Biddell
bought the little Eye estate for me."

1838

"Cambridge Observatory:—On Dec. 29th, 1837, I had set Mr Glaisher to
work in collecting the annual results for star-places from the Cambridge
Observations, to form one catalogue: I examined the calculations and the
deduced catalogue, and on Dec. 14, 1838, presented it to the Royal
Astronomical Society, under the title of 'The First Cambridge Catalogue.'—
For the Northumberland telescope I was engaged with Simms about the
clockwork from time to time up to Apr. 30th, and went to Cambridge about
it. The instrument was brought to a useable state, but some small parts were
still wanting.

"At Greenwich:—In April I drew up a little history of the Observatory for
the Penny Cyclopaedia.—On June 30th the Lords of the Admiralty paid a
short visit to the Observatory: on this occasion Mr Wood suggested a
passage connecting the Observatory with the dwelling-house, and I
subsequently prepared sketches for it; it was made in the next year.—In the
course of the year the Sheepshanks Equatoreal was mounted, and Encke's
Comet was observed with it from Oct. 26th to Nov. 13th.—On Mar. 31st,
&c. I reported to the Admiralty on the selection of chronometers for
purchase, from a long list: this was an important beginning of a new system.
—The Magnetic Observatory was built, in the form originally planned for it
(a four-armed cross with equal arms, one axis being in the magnetic
meridian) in the beginning of this year. (No alteration has since been made
in form up to the present time, 1871, except that the north arm has been
lengthened 8 feet a few years ago.) On May 21st a magnet was suspended
for the first time, Mr Baily and Lieut. (afterwards Sir William) Denison
being present.—Groombridge's Catalogue was finished, and on Mar. 3rd I
arranged for sending out copies.—The Planetary Reductions were carried
on vigorously. On May 31st, 1838, the Treasury assented to the undertaking
of the Lunar Reductions and allotted £2,000 for it: preparations were made,

and in the autumn 7 computers were employed upon it. It will easily be seen
that this undertaking added much to my labours and cares.—The geodetic
affairs of the Cape of Good Hope began to be actively pressed, and in
February Beaufort wrote to me in consequence of an application from
Maclear, asking about a standard of length for Maclear (as foundation for a
geodetic survey). I made enquiries, and on Mar. 13th wrote to Mr Wood,
alluding also generally to the want of a National English standard after the
destruction of the Houses of Parliament. On Apr. 24th the Admiralty
sanctioned my procuring proper Standard Bars.—In connection with the
Cavendish Experiment, I have an immense quantity of correspondence with
Mr Baily, and all the mathematics were furnished by me: the experiment
was not finished at the end of the year.—The Perturbations of Uranus were
now attracting attention. I had had some correspondence on this subject
with Dr Hussey in 1834, and in 1837 with Eugène Bouvard. On Feb. 24th,
of 1838, I wrote to Schumacher regarding the error in the tabular radius-
vector of Uranus, which my mode of reducing the observations enabled me
to see.

"The National Standards of Length and Weight had been destroyed in the
fire of the Houses of Parliament. On May 11th I received a letter from Mr
Spring Rice, requesting me to act (as chairman) with a committee
consisting of F. Baily, J.E. Drinkwater Bethune, Davies Gilbert, J.G.S.
Lefevre, J.W. Lubbock, G. Peacock, and R. Sheepshanks, to report on the
steps now to be taken. I accepted the charge, and the first meeting was held
at the Observatory on May 22nd; all subsequent meetings in London,
usually in the apartments of the Royal Astronomical Society. I acted both as
chairman and as working secretary. Our enquiries went into a very wide
field, and I had much correspondence.

"On Jan. 4th Mr Wood wrote to me, mentioning that Capt. Johnson had
made some observations on the magnetism of iron ships, and asking

whether they ought to be continued; a steamer being offered at £50 per
week. I applied to Beaufort for a copy of Johnson's Observations, and on
Jan. 7th replied very fully, discouraging such observations; but
recommending a train of observations expressly directed to theoretical
points. On Feb. 17th I reported that I had examined the Deptford Basin, and
found that it would do fairly well for experiments. On July 14th, 1838,
Capt. Beaufort wrote to me that the Admiralty wished for experiments on
the ship, the 'Rainbow,' then in the river, and enquired whether I would
undertake them and what assistance I desired, as for instance that of
Christie or Barlow. I replied that one person should undertake it, either
Christie, Barlow, or myself, and that a basin was desirable. On July 16th
and 17th I looked at the basins of Woolwich and Deptford, approving the
latter. On July 21st the Admiralty gave me full powers. From July 23rd I
was almost entirely employed on preparations. The course of operations is
described in my printed Paper: the original maps, curves, and graphical
projections, are in the bound MSS.: 'Correction of Compass in Iron Ships
—"Rainbow,"' at the Greenwich Observatory. The angular disturbances
were found on July 26th and 30th, requiring some further work on a raft, so
that they were finally worked out on Aug. 11th. I struggled hard with the
numbers, but should not have succeeded if it had not occurred to me to
examine the horizontal magnetic intensities. This was done on Aug. 14th,
and the explanation of the whole was suggested at once: graphical
projections were made on Aug. 16th and 17th for comparison of my
explanation with observations, and the business was complete. On Aug.
17th and 18th I measured the intensity of some magnets, to be used in the
ship for correction. It is to be remarked that, besides the effect of polar
magnetism, there was no doubt of the existence of an effect of induced
magnetism requiring correction by other induced magnetism: and
experiments for this were made in the Magnetic Observatory. All was ready
for trial: and on Aug. 20th I carried my magnets and iron correctors to

Deptford, mounted them in the proper places, tried the ship, and the
compass, which had been disturbed 50 degrees to the right and 50 degrees
to the left, was now sensibly correct. On Aug. 21st I reported this to the
Admiralty, and on Aug. 24th I tried the ship to Gravesend. On Aug. 30th I
had the loan of her for an expedition with a party of friends to Sheerness,
and on Sept. 9th I accompanied her to Gravesend, on her first voyage to
Antwerp.—On Oct. 5th application was made to me by the owner of the
'Ironsides' to correct her compasses. In consequence of this I went to
Liverpool on Oct. 25th, and on this occasion made a very important
improvement in the practical mode of performing the correction.—On Nov.
16th I reported to the Admiralty in considerable detail. On Dec. 4th I had an
interview with Lord Minto (First Lord of the Admiralty) and Mr Wood.
They refused to sanction any reward to me.—The following is a copy of the
report of the Captain of the 'Rainbow' after her voyage to Antwerp: 'Having
had the command of the Rainbow steamer the two voyages between
London and Antwerp, I have the pleasure to inform you that I am perfectly
satisfied as to the correctness of the compasses, and feel quite certain they
will continue so. I took particular notice from land to land from our
departure and found the bearings by compass to be exact.'"—The following
extracts from letters to his wife refer to the "Ironsides": on Oct. 28th 1838
he writes, "I worked up the observations so much as to see that the compass
disturbance is not so great as in the 'Rainbow' (35° instead of 50°), but quite
enough to make the vessel worthless; and that it is quite different in
direction from that in the 'Rainbow'—so that if they had stolen one of the
'Rainbow' correctors and put it into this ship it would have been much
worse than before." And on Nov. 1st he writes, "On Wednesday I again
went to the ship and tried small alterations in the correctors: I am confident
now that the thing is very near, but we were most abominably baffled by the
sluggishness of the compass."

"The University of London:—On Jan. 6th I attended a sub-committee
meeting on the minimum of acquirements for B.A. degree, and various
meetings of the Senate. On July 14th I intimated to Mr Spring Rice my wish
to resign. I had various correspondence, especially with Mr Lubbock, and
on Dec. 13th I wrote to him on the necessity of stipends to Members of
Senate. The dissensions on religious examination became very strong. I
took a middle course, demanding examination in the languages and books,
but absolutely refusing to claim any religious assent. I expressed this to Dr
Jerrard, the principal representative on the religious side, by calling on him
to substitute the words 'Recognition of Christian Literature' for 'Recognition
of Christian Religion': I addressed a printed letter to Lord Burlington
(Chancellor) and the Members of the Senate, on this subject.

"Of private history: In January I made a short excursion in Norfolk and
Suffolk, and visited Prof. Sedgwick at Norwich. In April I paid a short visit
to Mr Courtney at Sanderstead, with my wife. On June 14th my son Hubert
was born. In September I went with my sister by Cambridge, &c., to
Luddington, where I made much enquiry concerning my father and the
family of Airy who had long been settled there. We then visited various
places in Yorkshire, and arrived at Brampton, near Chesterfield, where Mrs
Smith, my wife's mother, now resided. And returned by Rugby. I had much
correspondence with my brother and for him about private pupils and a
better church living. I complained to the Bishop of Norwich about the
mutilation of a celebrated monument in Playford Church by the incumbent
and curate."

The following extracts are from letters to his wife relating to the above-
mentioned journeys:

CLOSE, NORWICH.
1838, Jan. 21.

I do not know what degree of cold you may have had last night, but here
it was (I believe) colder than before—thermometer close to the house at 3°.
I have not suffered at all. However I do not intend to go to Lowestoft.

B
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We began to think that we had seen enough of Scarborough, so we took a
chaise in the afternoon to Pickering, a small agricultural town, and lodged
in a comfortable inn there. On Wednesday morning at 8 we started by the
railroad for Whitby, in a huge carriage denominated the Lady Hilda capable
of containing 40 persons or more drawn by one horse, or in the steep parts
of the railway by two horses. The road goes through a set of defiles of the
eastern moorlands of Yorkshire which are extremely pretty: at first woody
and rich, then gradually poorer, and at last opening on a black moor with
higher moors in sight: descending in one part by a long crooked inclined
plane, the carriage drawing up another load by its weight: through a little
tunnel: and then along a valley to Whitby. The rate of travelling was about
10 miles an hour. Betsy declares that it was the most agreeable travelling
that she ever had.

Yesterday (Saturday) Caroline drove Betsy and Miss Barnes drove me to
Clay Cross to see the works at the great railroad tunnel there. Coming from
the north, the railroad passes up the Chesterfield valley close by the town
and continues up the same valley, till it is necessary for it to enter the valley
which runs the opposite way towards Buttersley: the tunnel passes under the
high ground between these two vallies: so that it is in reality at the water-
shed: it is to be I think more than a mile long, and when finished 27 feet
clear in height, so it is a grand place. We saw the preparations for a blast,
and heard it fired: the ladies stopping their ears in due form.

1839

"Cambridge Observatory:—On Mar. 7th I went to Cambridge on the
business of the Northumberland Telescope: I was subsequently engaged on
the accounts, and on Aug. 16th I finally resigned it to Prof. Challis, who
accepted it on Aug. 19th. On Sept. 11th I communicated its completion and

the settlement of accounts to the Duke of Northumberland. The total
expense was £1938. 9s. 2d. + 15000 francs for the object-glass.

"At Greenwich Observatory:—On Jan. 3rd I received the last revise of
the 1837 Observations, and on Jan. 8th the first sheet for 1838.—In July I
report on selection from a long list of chronometers which had been on trial,
and on Sept. 2nd I pointed out to Capt. Beaufort that the system of offering
only one price would be ruinous to the manufacture of chronometers, and to
the character of those supplied to the Admiralty: and that I would undertake
any trouble of classifying the chronometers tried. This letter introduced the
system still in use (1871), which has been most beneficial to the
manufacture. On Sept. 11th I proposed that all trials begin in the first week
of January: this also has been in use as an established system to the present
time.—It was pointed out to me that a certain chronometer was affected by
external magnetic power. I remedied this by placing under it a free compass
magnet: a stand was specially prepared for it. I have never found another
chronometer sensibly affected by magnetism.—In November and December
I tried my new double-image micrometer.—Between May 16th and Oct.
13th a fireproof room was constructed in the southern part of the quadrant
room; and in November a small shed was erected over the entrance to the
North Terrace.—The position of the free Meridional Magnet (now mounted
in the Magnetic Observatory) was observed at every 5 m. through 24 hours
on Feb. 22nd and 23rd, May 24th and 25th, Aug. 30th and 31st, and Nov.
29th and 30th. This was done in cooperation with the system of the
Magnetic Union established by Gauss in Germany.—The Reduction of the
Greenwich Planetary and Lunar Observations, 1750 to 1830, went on
steadily. I had six and sometimes seven computers constantly at work, in
the Octagon Room.—As in 1838 I had a great amount of correspondence
with Mr Baily on the Cavendish Experiment.—I attended as regularly as I
could to the business of the University of London. The religious question
did not rise very prominently. I took a very active part, and have a great

deal of correspondence, on the nature of the intended examinations in
Hydrography and Civil Engineering.—On the Standards Commission the
chief work was in external enquiries.—On June 6th I had enquiries from
John Quincey Adams (U.S.A.) on the expense, &c., of observatories: an
observatory was contemplated in America.—I had correspondence about
the proposed establishment of observatories at Durham, Glasgow, and
Liverpool.

"I had in this year a great deal of troublesome and on the whole
unpleasant correspondence with the Admiralty about the correction of the
compass in iron ships. I naturally expected some acknowledgment of an
important service rendered to Navigation: but the Admiralty peremptorily
refused it. My account of the Experiments &c. for the Royal Society is
dated April 9th. The general success of the undertaking soon became
notorious, and (as I understood) led immediately to extensive building of
iron ships: and it led also to applications to me for correction of compasses.
On Jan. 9th I was addressed in reference to the Royal Sovereign and Royal
George at Liverpool; July 18th the Orwell; May 11th two Russian ships
built on the Thames; Sept. 4th the ships of the Lancaster Company.

"I had much work in connection with the Cape of Good Hope
Observatory, chiefly relating to the instrumental equipment and to the
geodetical work. As it was considered advisable that any base measured in
the Cape Colony should be measured with compensation bars, I applied to
Major Jervis for the loan of those belonging to the East Indian Survey, but
he positively refused to lend them. On Jan. 20th I applied to Col. Colby for
the compensation bars of the British Survey, and he immediately assented
to lending them. Col. Colby had suggested to the Ordnance Department that
Capt. Henderson and several sappers should be sent to use the measuring
bars, and it was so arranged. It still appeared desirable to have the command

of some soldiers from the Garrison of Cape Town, and this matter was soon
arranged with the military authorities by the Admiralty.

"The following are the principal points of my private history: it was a
very sad year. On Jan. 24th I went with my wife to Norwich, on a visit to
Prof. Sedgwick, and in June I visited Sir J. Herschel at Slough. On June
13th my dear boy Arthur was taken ill: his malady soon proved to be scarlet
fever, of which he died on June 24th at 7 in the morning. It was arranged
that he should be buried in Playford churchyard on the 28th, and on that day
I proceeded to Playford with my wife and my eldest son George Richard. At
Chelmsford my son was attacked with slight sickness, and being a little
unwell did not attend his brother's funeral. On July 1st at 4h.15m. in the
morning he also died: he had some time before suffered severely from an
attack of measles, and it seemed probable that his brain had suffered. On
July 5th he was buried by the side of his brother Arthur in Playford
churchyard.—On July 23rd I went to Colchester on my way to Walton-on-
the-Naze, with my wife and all my family; all my children had been
touched, though very lightly, with the scarlet fever.—It was near the end of
this year that my mother quitted the house (Luck's) at Playford, and came to
live with me at Greenwich Observatory, where she lived till her death;
having her own attendant, and living in perfect confidence with my wife
and myself, and being I trust as happy as her years and widowhood
permitted. My sister also lived with me at the Observatory."

1840

"In the latter part of 1839, and through 1840, I had much correspondence
with the Admiralty, in which I obtained a complete account of the transfer
of the Observatory from the Ordnance Department to the Admiralty, and the
transfer of the Visitation of the Observatory from the Royal Society to the
present Board of Visitors. In 1840 I found that the papers of the Board of

Longitude were divided between the Royal Society and the Admiralty: I
obtained the consent of both to bring them to the Observatory.

"In this year I began to arrange about an annual dinner to be held at the
Visitation.—My double-image micrometer was much used for observations
of circumpolar double stars.—In Magnetism and Meteorology, certain
quarterly observations were kept up; but in November the system of
incessant eye-observations was commenced. I refused to commence this
until I had secured a 'Watchman's Clock' for mechanical verification of the
regular attendance of the Assistants.—With regard to chronometers: In this
year, for the first time, I took the very important step of publishing the rates
obtained by comparisons at the Observatory. I confined myself on this
occasion to the chronometers purchased by the Admiralty. In March a
pigeon-house was made for exposure of chronometers to cold.—The Lunar
and Planetary Reductions were going on steadily.—I was consulted about
an Observatory at Oxford, where I supported the introduction of the
Heliometer.—The stipend of the Bakerian Lecture was paid to me for my
explanation of Brewster's new prismatic fringes.—The business of the Cape
Observatory and Survey occupied much of my time.—In 1838 the Rev. H.
J. Rose (Editor of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana) had proposed my
writing a Paper on Tides, &c.; In Oct. 1840 I gave him notice that I must
connect Tides with Waves, and in that way I will take up the subject. Much
correspondence on Tides, &c., with Whewell and others followed.

"With regard to the Magnetical and Meteorological Establishment. On
June 18th Mr Lubbock reported from the Committee of Physics of the
Royal Society to the Council in favour of a Magnetic and Meteorological
Observatory near London. After correspondence with Sheepshanks, Lord
Northampton, and Herschel, I wrote to the Council on July 9th, pointing out
what the Admiralty had done at Greenwich, and offering to cooperate. In a
letter to Lord Minto I stated that my estimate was £550, including £100 to

the First Assistant: Lubbock's was £3,000. On Aug. 11th the Treasury
assented, limiting it to the duration of Ross's voyage. On Aug. 17th
Wheatstone looked at our buildings and was satisfied. My estimate was sent
to the Admiralty, viz. £150 outfit, £520 annual expense; and Glaisher to be
Superintendent. I believe this was allowed for the present; for the following
year it was placed on the Estimates. Most of the contemplated observations
were begun before the end of 1840: as much as possible in conformity with
the Royal Society's plan. Mr Hind (subsequently the Superintendent of the
Nautical Almanac) and Mr Paul were the first extra assistants.

"Of private history. On Feb. 29th I went to Cambridge with my Paper on
the Going Fusee. On Mar. 27th I went to visit Mrs Smith, my wife's mother,
at Brampton near Chesterfield. I made a short visit to Playford in April and
a short expedition to Winchester, Portsmouth, &c., in June. From Sept. 5th
to Oct. 3rd I was travelling in the North of England and South of Scotland."
[This was an extremely active and interesting journey, in the course of
which a great number of places were visited by Airy, especially places on
the Border mentioned in Scott's Poems, which always had a great attraction
for him. He also attended a Meeting of the British Association at Glasgow
and made a statement regarding the Planetary and Lunar Reductions: and
looked at a site for the Glasgow Observatory.] "In November I went for a
short time to Cambridge and to Keysoe (my brother's residence). On Dec.
26th my daughter Hilda was born (subsequently married to E.J. Routh). In
this year I had a loss of £350 by a fire on my Eye estate."

*****

The following extracts are from letters to his wife. Some of them relate to
matters of general interest. They are all of them characteristic, and serve to
shew the keen interest which he took in matters around him, and especially

in architecture and scenery. The first letter relates to his journey from
Chesterfield on the previous day.

F
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8
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p
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2
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I was obliged to put up with an outside place to Derby yesterday, much
against my will, for I was apprehensive that the cold would bring on the
pain in my face. Of that I had not much; but I have caught something of
sore throat and catarrh. The coach came up at about 22 minutes past 8. It
arrived in Derby at 20 minutes or less past 11 (same guard and coachman
who brought us), and drew up in the street opposite the inn at which we got
no dinner, abreast of an omnibus. I had to go to a coach office opposite the
inn to pay and be booked for London, and was duly set down in a way-bill
with name; and then entered the omnibus: was transferred to the Railway
Station, and then received the Railway Ticket by shouting out my name. If
you should come the same way, you would find it convenient to book your
place at Chesterfield to London by your name (paying for the whole,
namely, coach fare, omnibus fare -/6, and railway fare £1. 15s. 0d. first
class). Then you will only have to step out of the coach into the omnibus,
and to scream out once or twice to the guard to make sure that you are
entered in the way-bill and that your luggage is put on the omnibus.

*****

F
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S
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5
.

I forgot to tell you that at Lord Northampton's I saw some specimens of
the Daguerrotype, pictures made by the Camera Obscura, and they surpass
in beauty of execution anything that I could have imagined. Baily who has
two or three has promised to lend them for your inspection when you

return. Also I saw some post-office stamps and stamped envelopes: I do not
much admire the latter.

*****

The following relates to the fire on his Eye farm, referred to above:

P
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On Wednesday (yesterday) went with my uncle to the Eye Estate, to see
the effects of the fire. The farming buildings of every kind are as
completely cleared away as if they had been mown down: not a bit of
anything but one or two short brick walls and the brick foundations of the
barns and stacks. The aspect of the place is much changed, because in
approaching the house you do not see it upon a back-ground of barns, &c.,
but standing alone. The house is in particularly neat and good order. I did
not think it at all worth while to make troublesome enquiries of the people
who reside there, but took Mr Case's account. There seems no doubt that the
fire was caused by the maid-servant throwing cinders into a sort of muck-
place into which they had been commonly thrown. I suppose there was after
all this dry weather straw or muck drier than usual, and the cinders were
hotter than usual. The whole was on fire in an exceedingly short time; and
everything was down in less than an hour. Two engines came from Eye, and
all the population of the town (as the fire began shortly after two o'clock in
the afternoon). It is entirely owing to these that my house, and the farm
(Sewell's) on the opposite side of the road, were not burned down. At the
beginning of the fire the wind was N.E. which blew directly towards the
opposite farm (Sewell's): although the nearest part of it (tiled dwelling
house) was 100 yards off or near it, and the great barn (thatched roof)
considerably further, yet both were set on fire several times. All this while,
the tail of my house was growing very hot: and shortly after the buildings
fell in burning ruins, the wind changed to N.W., blowing directly to my
house. If this change had happened while the buildings were standing and
burning, there would have been no possibility of saving the house. As it
was, the solder is melted from the window next the farm-yard, and the roof
was set on fire in three or four places. One engine was kept working on my
house and one on the opposite farm. A large pond was pretty nearly
emptied. Mr Case's horses and bullocks were got out, not without great
difficulty, as the progress of the fire was fearfully rapid. A sow and nine

pigs were burnt, and a large hog ran out burnt so much that the people killed
it immediately.

*****

G
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J
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1
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At Winchester we established ourselves at the George and then without
delay proceeded to St Cross. I did not know before the nature of its hospital
establishment, but I find that it is a veritable set of alms-houses. The church
is a most curious specimen of the latest Norman. I never saw one so well
marked before—Norman ornaments on pointed arches, pilasters detached
with cushion capitals, and various signs: and it is clearly an instance of that
state of the style when people had been forced by the difficulties and
inelegancies of the round arch in groining to adopt pointed arches for
groining but had not learnt to use them for windows…….This morning
after breakfast went to the Cathedral (looking by the way at a curious old
cross in the street). I thought that its inside was wholly Norman, and was
most agreeably surprised by finding the whole inside groined in every part
with excellent late decorated or perpendicular work. Yet there are several
signs about it which lead me to think that the whole inside has been
Norman, and even that the pilasters now worked up into the perpendicular
are Norman. The transepts are most massive old Norman, with side-aisles
running round their ends (which I never saw before). The groining of the
side aisles of the nave very effective from the strength of the cross ribs. The
clerestory windows of the quire very large. The organ is on one side. But
the best thing about the quire is the wooden stall-work, of early decorated,
very beautiful. A superb Lady Chapel, of early English.

*****

P
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3
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We left Winchester by evening train to the Dolphin, Southampton, and
slept there. At nine in the morning we went by steamboat down the river to
Ryde in the Isle of Wight: our steamer was going on to Portsmouth, but we
thought it better to land at Ryde and take a boat for ourselves. We then
sailed out (rather a blowing day) to the vessel attending Col. Pasley's
operations, and after a good deal of going from one boat to another (the sea
being so rough that our boat could not be got up to the ships) and a good

deal of waiting, we got on board the barge or lump in which Col. Pasley
was. Here we had the satisfaction of seeing the barrel of gunpowder
lowered (there was more than a ton of gunpowder), and seeing the divers go
down to fix it, dressed in their diving helmets and supplied with air from the
great air-pump above. When all was ready and the divers had ascended
again, the barge in which we were was warped away, and by a galvanic
battery in another barge (which we had seen carried there, and whose
connection with the barrel we had seen), upon signal given by sound of
trumpet, the gunpowder was fired. The effect was most wonderful. The
firing followed the signal instantaneously. We were at between 100 and 200
yards from the place (as I judge), and the effects were as follows. As soon
as the signal was given, there was a report, louder than a musket but not so
loud as a small cannon, and a severe shock was felt at our feet, just as if our
barge had struck on a rock. Almost immediately, a very slight swell was
perceived over the place of the explosion, and the water looked rather
foamy: then in about a second it began to rise, and there was the most
enormous outbreak of spray that you can conceive. It rose in one column of
60 or 70 feet high, and broad at the base, resembling a stumpy sheaf with
jagged masses of spray spreading out at the sides, and seemed to grow
outwards till I almost feared that it was coming to us. It sunk, I suppose, in
separate parts, for it did not make any grand squash down, and then there
were seen logs of wood rising, and a dense mass of black mud, which
spread gradually round till it occupied a very large space. Fish were stunned
by it: our boatmen picked up some. It was said by all present that this was
the best explosion which had been seen: it was truly wonderful. Then we
sailed to Portsmouth…….The explosion was a thing worth going many
miles to see. There were many yachts and sailing boats out to see it (I
counted 26 before they were at the fullest), so that the scene was very gay.

*****

Here are some notes on York Cathedral after the fire:

R
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.
7
.

My first letter was closed after service at York Cathedral. As soon as I
had posted it, I walked sedately twice round the cathedral, and then I found
the sexton at the door, who commiserating me of my former vain
applications, and having the hope of lucre before his eyes, let me in. I saw
the burnt part, which looks not melancholy but unfinished. Every bit of
wood is carried away clean, with scarcely a smoke-daub to mark where it
has been: the building looks as if the walls were just prepared for a roof, but
there are some deep dints in the pavement, shewing where large masses
have fallen. The lower parts of some of the columns (to the height of 8 or
10 feet) are much scaled and cracked. The windows are scarcely touched. I
also refreshed my memory of the chapter-house, which is most beautiful,
and which has much of its old gilding reasonably bright, and some of its old
paint quite conspicuous. And I looked again at the old crypt with its late
Norman work, and at the still older crypt of the pre-existing church.

*****

1841

"The routine work of the Observatory in its several departments was
carried on steadily during this year.—The Camera Obscura was removed
from the N.W. Turret of the Great Room, to make way for the Anemometer.
—In Magnetism and Meteorology the most important thing was the great
magnetic storm of Sept. 29th, which revealed a new class of magnetic
phenomena. It was very well observed by Mr Glaisher, and I immediately
printed and circulated an account of it.—In April I reported that the
Planetary Reductions were completed, and furnished estimates for the

printing.—In August I applied for 18,000 copies of the great skeleton form
for computing Lunar Tabular Places, which were granted.—I reported, as
usual, on various Papers for the Royal Society, and was still engaged on the
Cavendish Experiment.—In the University of London I attended the
meeting of Dec. 8th, on the reduction of Examiners' salaries, which were
extravagant.—I furnished Col. Colby with a plan of a new Sector, still used
in the British Survey.—I appealed to Colby about the injury to the cistern
on the Great Gable in Cumberland, by the pile raised for the Survey Signal.
—On Jan. 3rd occurred a most remarkable tidal disturbance: the tide in the
Thames was 5 feet too low. I endeavoured to trace it on the coasts, and had
a vast amount of correspondence: but it elicited little.

"Of private history: I was a short time in Suffolk in March.—On Mar.
31st I started with my wife (whose health had suffered much) for a trip to
Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, &c. While at Swansea we received news on
Apr. 24th of the deadly illness of my dear mother. We travelled by Neath
and Cardiff to Bath, where I solicited a rest for my wife from my kind
friend Miss Sutcliffe, and returned alone to Greenwich. My dear mother had
died on the morning of the 24th. The funeral took place at Little
Whelnetham (near Bury) on May 1st, where my mother was buried by the
side of my father. We went to Cambridge, where my wife consulted Dr
Haviland to her great advantage, and returned to Greenwich on May 7th.—
On May 14th to 16th I was at Sanderstead (Rev. J. Courtney) with Whewell
as one sponsor, at the christening of my daughter Hilda.—In September I
went for a trip with my sister to Yorkshire and Cumberland, in the course of
which we visited Dent (Sedgwick's birthplace), and paid visits to Mr
Wordsworth, Miss Southey, and Miss Bristow, returning to Greenwich on
the 30th Sept.—From June 15th to 19th I visited my brother at Keysoe."

The following extracts are from letters written to his wife while on the
above trip in Yorkshire and Cumberland:

RED LION INN, REDCAR,
1841, Sept. 11.

We stopped at York: went to the Tavern Hotel. In the morning (Friday)
went into the Cathedral. I think that it improves on acquaintance. The nave
is now almost filled with scaffolding for the repair of the roof, so that it has
not the bare unfinished appearance that it had when I was there last year.
The tower in which the fire began seems to be a good deal repaired: there
are new mullions in its windows, &c. We stopped to hear part of the service,
which was not very effective.

*****

Here are notes of his visit to Dentdale in Yorkshire, the birthplace of his
friend Sedgwick:

KING'S HEAD, KENDAL,
1841, Sept. 15.

The day was quite fine, and the hills quite clear. The ascent out of Hawes
is dull; the little branch dale is simple and monotonous, and so are the hills
about the great dale which are in sight. The only thing which interested us
was the sort of bird's-eye view of Hardraw dell, which appeared a most
petty and insignificant opening in the great hill side. But when we got to the
top of the pass there was a magnificent view of Ingleborough. The dale
which was most nearly in front of us is that which goes down to Ingleton,
past the side of Ingleborough. The mountain was about nine miles distant.
We turned to the right and immediately descended Dent-dale. The three
dales (to Hawes, to Ingleton, and to Dent) lay their heads together in a most
amicable way, so that, when at the top, it is equally easy to descend down
either of them. We found very soon that Dent-dale is much more beautiful

than that by which we had ascended. The sides of the hills are steeper, and
perhaps higher: the bottom is richer. The road is also better. The river is a
continued succession of very pretty falls, almost all of which have scooped
out the lower strata of the rock, so that the water shoots clear over. For
several miles (perhaps 10) it runs upon bare limestone without a particle of
earth. From the head of the dale to the village of Dent is eight miles. At
about half-way is a new chapel, very neat, with a transept at its west end.
The village of Dent is one of the strangest places that I ever saw. Narrow
street, up and down, with no possibility of two carriages bigger than
children's carts passing each other. We stopped at the head inn and enquired
about the Geolog: but he is not in the country. We then called on his brother,
who was much surprised and pleased to see us. His wife came in soon after
(his daughter having gone with a party to see some waterfall) and they
urged us to stop and dine with them. So we walked about and saw every
place about the house, church, and school, connected with the history of the
Geolog: and then dined. I promised that you should call there some time
when we are in the north together and spend a day or two with them. Mr
Sedgwick says it is reported that Whewell will take Sedbergh living (which
is now vacant: Trinity College is patron). Then we had our chaise and went
to Sedbergh. The very mouth of Dent-dale is more contracted than its
higher parts. Sedbergh is embosomed among lumping hills. Then we had
another carriage to drive to Kendal.

*****

Here is a recollection of Wordsworth:

S
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We then got our dinner at Lowwood, and walked straight to Ambleside,
changed our shoes, and walked on to Rydal to catch Wordsworth at tea.
Miss Wordsworth was being drawn about in a chair just as she was seven
years ago. I do not recollect her appearance then so as to say whether she is
much altered, but I think not. Mr Wordsworth is as full of good talk as ever,
and seems quite strong and well. Mrs Wordsworth looks older. Their son
William was at tea, but he had come over only for the day or evening. There
was also a little girl, who I think is Mrs Wordsworth's niece.

1842

"In this year I commenced a troublesome work, the Description of the
Northumberland Telescope. On Sept. 9th I wrote to the Duke of
Northumberland suggesting this, sending him a list of Plates, and
submitting an estimate of expense £120. On Sept. 19th I received the
Duke's assent. I applied to Prof. Challis (at the Cambridge Observatory)
requesting him to receive the draughtsman, Sly, in his house, which he
kindly consented to do.

"With regard to Estimates. I now began to point out to the Admiralty the
inconvenience of furnishing separate estimates, viz. to the Admiralty for the
Astronomical Establishment, and to the Treasury for the Magnetical and
Meteorological Establishment.—The great work of the Lunar Reductions
proceeded steadily: 14 computers were employed on them.—With regard to
the Magnetical and Meteorological Establishment: I suppose that James
Ross's expedition had returned: and with this, according to the terms of the
original grant, the Magnetical and Meteorological Establishments expired.
There was much correspondence with the Royal Society and the Treasury,
and ultimately Sir R. Peel consented to the continuation of the
establishments to the end of 1845.—In this year began my correspondence
with Mr Mitchell about the Cincinnati Observatory. On Aug. 25 Mr

Mitchell settled himself at Greenwich, and worked for a long time in the
Computing Room.—And in this year Mr Aiken of Liverpool first wrote to
me about the Liverpool Observatory, and a great deal of correspondence
followed: the plans were in fact entirely entrusted to me.—July 7th was the
day of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, which I observed with my wife at the
Superga, near Turin. I wrote an account of my observations for the Royal
Astronomical Society.—On Jan. 10th I notified to Mr Goulburn that our
Report on the Restoration of the Standards was ready, and on Jan. 12th I
presented it. After this followed a great deal of correspondence, principally
concerning the collection of authenticated copies of the Old Standards from
all sides.—In some discussions with Capt. Shirreff, then Captain
Superintendent of the Chatham Dockyard, I suggested that machinery might
be made which would saw ship-timbers to their proper form, and I sent him
some plans on Nov. 8th. This was the beginning of a correspondence which
lasted long, but which led to nothing, as will appear hereafter.—On Dec.
15th, being on a visit to Dean Peacock at Ely, I examined the Drainage
Scoop Wheel at Prickwillow, and made a Report to him by letter, which
obtained circulation and was well known.—On May 26th the manuscript of
my article, 'Tides and Waves,' for the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana was sent
to the printer. I had extensive correspondence, principally on local tides,
with Whewell and others. Tides were observed for me by Colby's officers at
Southampton, by myself at Christchurch and Poole, at Ipswich by
Ransome's man; and a great series of observations of Irish Tides were made
on my plan under Colby's direction in June, July and August.—On Sept.
15th Mr Goulburn, Chancellor of the Exchequer, asked my opinion on the
utility of Babbage's calculating machine, and the propriety of expending
further sums of money on it. I replied, entering fully into the matter, and
giving my opinion that it was worthless.—I was elected an Honorary
Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London.

"The reduction and printing of the astronomical observations had been
getting into arrear: the last revise of the 1840 observations went to press on
May 18th, 1842. On Aug. 18th came into operation a new organization of
Assistants' hours of attendance, &c., required for bringing up reductions. I
worked hard myself and my example had good effect." His reference to this
subject in his Report to the Visitors is as follows: "I have in one of the
preceding articles alluded to the backwardness of our reductions. In those
which follow it I trust that I have sufficiently explained it. To say nothing of
the loss, from ill health, of the services of most efficient assistants, I am
certain that the quantity of current work will amply explain any
backwardness. Perhaps I may particularly mention that in the observations
of 1840 there was an unusual quantity of equatoreal observations, and the
reductions attending these occupied a very great time. But, as regards
myself, there has been another cause. The reduction of the Ancient Lunar
and Planetary Observations, the attention to chronometer constructions, the
proposed management of the printing of papers relating to important
operations at the Cape of Good Hope; these and similar operations have
taken up much of my time. I trust that I am doing well in rendering
Greenwich, even more distinctly than it has been heretofore, the place of
reference to all the world for the important observations, and results of
observations, on which the system of the universe is founded. As regards
myself, I have been accustomed, in these matters, to lay aside private
considerations; to consider that I am not a mere Superintendent of current
observations, but a Trustee for the honour of Greenwich Observatory
generally, and for its utility generally to the world; nay, to consider myself
not as mere Director of Greenwich Observatory, but (however unworthy
personally) as British Astronomer, required sometimes by my office to
interfere (when no personal offence is given) in the concerns of other
establishments of the State. If the Board supports me in this view there can
be little doubt that the present delay of computations, relating to current

observations, will be considered by them as a very small sacrifice to the
important advantage that may be gained by proper attention to the
observations of other times and other places."

"Of private history: In February I went for a week to Playford and
Norwich, visiting Prof. Sedgwick at the latter place. On Mar. 1st my third
daughter Christabel was born. In March I paid a short visit to Sir John
Herschel at Hawkhurst. From June 12th to Aug. 11th I was travelling with
my wife on the Continent, being partly occupied with the observation of the
Total Eclipse of the Sun on July 7th. The journey was in Switzerland and
North Italy. In December I went to Cambridge and Ely, visiting Dr Peacock
at the latter place."

From Feb. 23rd to 28th Airy was engaged on Observations of Tides at
Southampton, Christchurch, Poole, and Weymouth. During this expedition
he wrote frequently (as he always did) to his wife on the incidents of his
journey, and the following letters appear characteristic:

K
I
N
G
'
S
A
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M
S
,
C
H

R
I
S
T
C
H
U
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C
H
,
O
R
X
C
H
U
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C
H
,
1
8
4
2
,
F
e
b
.

2
4
.

The lower of the above descriptions of my present place of abode is the
correct one, as I fearlessly assert on the authority of divers direction-posts
on the roads leading to it (by the bye this supports my doctrine that x in
Latin was not pronounced eks but khi, because the latter is the first letter of
Christ, for which x is here traditionally put). Finding this morning that
Yolland (who called on me as soon as I had closed the letter to you) was
perfectly inclined to go on with the tide observations at Southampton, and
that his corporals of sappers were conducting them in the most exemplary
manner, I determined on starting at once. However we first went to look at
the New Docks (mud up to the knees) and truly it is a very great work.
There is to be enclosed a good number of acres of water 22 feet deep: one
dock locked in, the other a tidal dock or basin with that depth at low water.
They are surrounded by brick walls eight feet thick at top, 10 or more at
bottom; and all the parts that ever can be exposed are faced with granite.
The people reckon that this work when finished will attract a good deal of
the London commerce, and I should not be surprised at it. For it is very
much easier for ships to get into Southampton than into London, and the
railway carriage will make them almost one. A very large steamer is lying in
Southampton Water: the Oriental, which goes to Alexandria. The Lady
Mary Wood, a large steamer for Lisbon and Gibraltar, was lying at the pier.
The said pier is a very pleasant place of promenade, the water and banks are
so pretty, and there is so much liveliness of ships about it. Well I started in a
gig, in a swashing rain, which continued off and on for a good while. Of the
21 miles, I should think that 15 were across the New Forest. I do not much
admire it. As for Norman William's destruction of houses and churches to
make it hunting ground, that is utter nonsense which never could have been
written by anybody that ever saw it: but as to hunting, except his horses

wore something like mud-pattens or snow-shoes, it is difficult to conceive
it. Almost the whole Forest is like a great sponge, water standing in every
part. In the part nearer to Xchurch forest trees, especially beeches, seem to
grow well. We stopped to bait at Lyndhurst, a small place high up in the
Forest: a good view, such as it is, from the churchyard. The hills of the Isle
of Wight occasionally in sight. On approaching Xchurch the chalk cliffs of
the west end of the Isle of Wight (leading to the Needles) were partly
visible; and, as the sun was shining on them, they fairly blazed. Xchurch is
a small place with a magnificent-looking church (with lofty clerestory,
double transept, &c., but with much irregularity) which I propose to visit to-
morrow. Also a ruin which looks like an abbey, but the people call it a
castle. There is a good deal of low land about it, and the part between the
town and the sea reminded me a good deal of the estuary above Cardigan,
flat ill-looking bogs (generally islands) among the water. I walked to the
mouth of the river (more than two miles) passing a nice little place called
Sandford, with a hotel and a lot of lodgings for summer sea-people. At the
entrance of the river is a coastguard station, and this I find is the place to
which I must go in the morning to observe the tide. I had some talk with the
coastguard people, and they assure me that the tide is really double as
reported. As I came away the great full moon was rising, and I could read in
her unusually broad face (indicating her nearness to the earth) that there
will be a powerful tide. I came in and have had dinner and tea, and am now
going to bed, endeavouring to negociate for a breakfast at six o'clock to-
morrow morning. It is raining cats and dogs.

*****

L
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This morning when I got up I found that it was blowing fresh from S.W.
and the sea was bursting over the wall of the eastern extremity of the
Esplanade very magnanimously. So (the swell not being favourable for tide-
observations) I gave them up and determined to go to see the surf on the
Chesil Bank. I started with my great-coat on, more for defence against the
wind than against rain; but in a short time it began to rain, and just when I
was approaching the bridge which connects the mainland with the point
where the Chesil Bank ends at Portland (there being an arm of the sea
behind the Chesil Bank) it rained and blew most dreadfully. However I kept
on and mounted the bank and descended a little way towards the sea, and
there was the surf in all its glory. I cannot give you an idea of its majestic
appearance. It was evidently very high, but that was not the most striking
part of it, for there was no such thing as going within a considerable
distance of it (the occasional outbreaks of the water advancing so far) so
that its magnitude could not be well seen. My impression is that the height
of the surf was from 10 to 20 feet. But the striking part was the clouds of
solid spray which formed immediately and which completely concealed all
the other operations of the water. They rose a good deal higher than the top
of the surf, so the state of things was this. A great swell is seen coming,
growing steeper and steeper; then it all turns over and you see a face just
like the pictures of falls of Niagara; but in a little more than one second this
is totally lost and there is nothing before you but an enormous impenetrable
cloud of white spray. In about another second there comes from the bottom
of this cloud the foaming current of water up the bank, and it returns grating
the pebbles together till their jar penetrates the very brain. I stood in the
face of the wind and rain watching this a good while, and should have stood
longer but that I was so miserably wet. It appeared to me that the surf was
higher farther along the bank, but the air was so thickened by the rain and
the spray that I could not tell. When I returned the bad weather abated. I
have now borrowed somebody else's trowsers while mine are drying

(having got little wet in other parts, thanks to my great-coat, which
successfully brought home a hundredweight of water), and do not intend to
stir out again except perhaps to post this letter.

*****

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5
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Yesterday after posting the letter for you I went per steamboat to
Hungerford. I then found Mr Vignoles, and we trundled off together, with
another engineer named Smith, picking up Stratford by the way, to
Wormwood Scrubs. There was a party to see the Atmospheric Railway in
action: including (among others) Sir John Burgoyne, whom I met in Ireland
several years ago, and Mr Pym, the Engineer of the Dublin and Kingstown
Railway, whom I have seen several times, and who is very sanguine about
this construction; and Mr Clegg, the proposer of the scheme (the man that
invented gas in its present arrangements), and Messrs Samuda, two Jews
who are the owners of the experiment now going on; and Sir James South!
With the latter hero and mechanician we did not come in contact.
Unfortunately the stationary engine (for working the air-pump which draws
the air out of the pipes and thus sucks the carriages along) broke down
during the experiment, but not till we had seen the carriage have one right
good run. And to be sure it is very funny to see a carriage running all alone
"as if the Devil drove it" without any visible cause whatever. The
mechanical arrangements we were able to examine as well after the engine
had broken down as at any time. And they are very simple and apparently
very satisfactory, and there is no doubt of the mechanical practicability of
the thing even in places where locomotives can hardly be used: whether it
will pay or not is doubtful. I dare say that the Commissioners' Report has
taken a very good line of discrimination.

*****

1843

"In March I wrote to Dr Wynter (Vice-Chancellor) at Oxford, requesting
permission to see Bradley's and Bliss's manuscript Observations, with the
view of taking a copy of them. This was granted, and the books of Transits
were subsequently copied under Mr Breen's superintendence. —The
following paragraph is extracted from the Report to the Visitors: 'In the
Report of last year, I stated that our reductions had dropped considerably in
arrear. I have the satisfaction now of stating that this arrear and very much
more have been completely recovered, and that the reductions are now in as
forward a state as at any time since my connection with the Observatory.' In
fact the observations of 1842 were sent to press on Mar. 1st, 1843.—About
this year the Annual Dinner at the Visitation began to be more important,
principally under the management of Capt. W.H. Smyth, R.N.—In
November I was enquiring about an 8-inch object-glass. I had already in
mind the furnishing of our meridional instruments with greater optical
powers.—On July 14th the Admiralty referred to me a Memorial of Mr J.G.
Ulrich, a chronometer maker, claiming a reward for improvements in
chronometers. I took a great deal of trouble in the investigation of this
matter, by books, witnesses, &c., and finally reported on Nov. 4th that there
was no ground for claim.—In April I received the first application of the
Royal Exchange Committee, for assistance in the construction of the Clock:
this led to a great deal of correspondence, especially with Dent.—The
Lunar Reductions were going on in full vigour.—I had much work in
connection with the Cape Observatory: partly about an equatoreal required
for the Observatory, but chiefly in getting Maclear's work through the press.
—In this year I began to think seriously of determining the longitude of
Valencia in Ireland, as a most important basis for the scale of longitude in
these latitudes, by the transmission of chronometers; and in August I went
to Valencia and examined the localities. In September I submitted a plan to
the Admiralty, but it was deferred.—The new Commission for restoring the
Standards was appointed on June 20th, I being Chairman. The work of

collecting standards and arranging plans was going on; Mr Baily attending
to Standards of Length, and Prof. W.H. Miller to Standards of Weight. We
held two meetings.—A small assistance was rendered to me by Mr Charles
May (of the firm of Ransomes and May), which has contributed much to
the good order of papers in the Observatory. Mr Robert Ransome had
remarked my method of punching holes in the paper by a hand-punch, the
places of the holes being guided by holes in a piece of card, and said that
they could furnish me with something better. Accordingly, on Aug. 28th Mr
May sent me the punching machine, the prototype of all now used in the
Observatory.

"On Sept. 25th was made my proposal for an Altazimuth Instrument for
making observations of the Moon's place more frequently and through parts
of her orbit where she could never be observed with meridional
instruments; the most important addition to the Observatory since its
foundation. The Board of Visitors recommended it to the Admiralty, and the
Admiralty sanctioned the construction of the instrument and the building to
contain it." The following passage is quoted from the Address of the
Astronomer Royal to the Board of Visitors at the Special Meeting of Nov.
10th, 1843: "The most important object in the institution and maintenance
of the Royal Observatory has always been the Observations of the Moon. In
this term I include the determination of the places of fixed stars which are
necessary for ascertaining the instrumental errors applicable to the
instrumental observations of the Moon. These, as regards the objects of the
institution, were merely auxiliaries: the history of the circumstances which
led the Government of the day to supply the funds for the construction of
the Observatory shews that, but for the demands of accurate Lunar
Determinations as aids to navigation, the erection of a National Observatory
would never have been thought of. And this object has been steadily kept in
view when others (necessary as fundamental auxiliaries) were passed by.
Thus, during the latter part of Bradley's time, and Bliss's time (which two

periods are the least efficient in the modern history of the Observatory), and
during the latter part of Maskelyne's presidency (when, for years together,
there is scarcely a single observation of the declination of a star), the
Observations of the Moon were kept up with the utmost regularity. And the
effect of this regularity, as regards its peculiar object, has been most
honourable to the institution. The existing Theories and Tables of the Moon
are founded entirely upon the Greenwich Observations; the Observatory of
Greenwich has been looked to as that from which alone adequate
observations can be expected, and from which they will not be expected in
vain: and it is not perhaps venturing too much to predict that, unless some
gross dereliction of duty by the managers of the Observatory should occur,
the Lunar Tables will always be founded on Greenwich Observations. With
this impression it has long been to me a matter of consideration whether
means should not be taken for rendering the series of Observations of the
Moon more complete than it can be made by the means at present
recognized in our observatories."—In illustration of the foregoing remarks,
the original inscription still remaining on the outside of the wall of the
Octagon Room of the Observatory may be quoted. It runs thus: 'Carolus II's
Rex Optimus Astronomiae et Nauticae Artis Patronus Maximus Speculam
hanc in utriusque commodum fecit Anno D'ni MDCLXXVI Regni sui
XXVIII curante Iona Moore milite RTSG.'

"The Ashburton Treaty had been settled with the United States, for the
boundary between Canada and the State of Maine, and one of its conditions
was, that a straight line about 65 miles in length should be drawn through
dense woods, connecting definite points. It soon appeared that this could
scarcely be done except by astronomical operations. Lord Canning, Under
Secretary of the Foreign Office, requested me to nominate two astronomers
to undertake the work. I strongly recommended that Military Officers
should carry out the work, and Capt. Robinson and Lieut. Pipon were
detached for this service. On Mar. 1st they took lodgings at Greenwich, and

worked at the Observatory every day and night through the month. My
detailed astronomical instructions to them were drawn out on Mar. 29th. I
prepared all the necessary skeleton forms, &c., and looked to their scientific
equipment in every way. The result will be given in 1844.

"Of private history: In January I went to Dover with my wife to see the
blasting of a cliff there: we also visited Sir J. Herschel at Hawkhurst. In
April I was at Playford, on a visit to Arthur Biddell. On Apr. 9th my
daughter Annot was born. From July 22nd to August 25th I was travelling
in the South of Ireland, chiefly to see Valencia and consider the question of
determining its longitude: during this journey I visited Lord Rosse at Birr
Castle, and returned to Weymouth, where my family were staying at the
time. In October I visited Cambridge, and in December I was again at
Playford."

The journey to Cambridge (Oct. 24th to 27th) was apparently in order to
be present on the occasion of the Queen's visit there on the 25th: the
following letter relating to it was written to his wife:

SEDGWICK'S ROOMS,
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
1843, Oct. 26, Thursday.

I have this morning received your letter: I had no time to write yesterday.
There are more things to tell of than I can possibly remember. The Dean of
Ely yesterday was in a most ludicrous state of misery because his servant
had sent his portmanteau (containing his scarlet academicals as well as
everything else) to London, and it went to Watford before it was recovered:
but he got it in time to shew himself to-day. Yesterday morning I came early
to breakfast with Sedgwick. Then I walked about the streets to look at the
flags. Cambridge never had such an appearance before. In looking along

Trinity Street or Trumpington Street there were arches and flags as close as
they could stand, and a cord stretched from King's Entrance to Mr Deck's or
the next house with flags on all its length: a flag on St Mary's, and a huge
royal standard ready to hoist on Trinity Gateway: laurels without end. I
applied at the Registrar's office for a ticket which was to admit me to
Trinity Court, the Senate House, &c., and received from Peacock one for
King's Chapel. Then there was an infinity of standing about, and very much
I was fatigued, till I got some luncheon at Blakesley's rooms at 1 o'clock.
This was necessary because there was to be no dinner in hall on account of
the Address presentation. The Queen was expected at 2, and arrived about
10 minutes after 2. When she drove up to Trinity Gate, the Vice-Chancellor,
masters, and beadles went to meet her, and the beadles laid down their
staves, which she desired them to take again. Then she came towards the
Lodge as far as the Sundial, where Whewell as master took the college keys
(a bundle of rusty keys tied together by a particularly greasy strap) from the
bursar Martin, and handed them to the Queen, who returned them. Then she
drove round by the turret-corner of the court to the Lodge door. Almost
every member of the University was in the court, and there was a great
hurraing except when the ceremonies were going forward. Presently the
Queen appeared at a window and bowed, and was loudly cheered. Then
notice was given that the Queen and Prince would receive the Addresses of
the University in Trinity hall, and a procession was formed, in which I had a
good place, as I claimed rank with the Professors. A throne and canopy
were erected at the top of the hall, but the Queen did not sit, which was her
own determination, because if she had sat it would have been proper that
everybody should back out before presenting the Address to the Prince:
which operation would have suffocated at least 100 people. The Queen
wore a blue gown and a brown shawl with an immense quantity of gold
embroidery, and a bonnet. Then it was known that the Queen was going to
service at King's Chapel at half past three: so everybody went there. I saw

the Queen walk up the antechapel and she looked at nothing but the roof. I
was not able to see her in chapel or to see the throne erected for her with its
back to the Table, which has given great offence to many people. (I should
have said that before the Queen came I called on Dr Haviland, also on
Scholefield, also on the Master of Christ's.) After this she returned to
Trinity, and took into her head to look at the chapel. The cloth laid on the
pavement was not long enough and the undergraduates laid down their
gowns. Several of the undergraduate noblemen carried candles to illuminate
Newton's statue. After this the Prince went by torchlight to the library. Then
I suppose came dinner, and then it was made known that at half-past nine
the Queen would receive some Members of the University. So I rigged
myself up and went to the levée at the Lodge and was presented in my turn;
by the Vice-Chancellor as "Ex-Professor Airy, your Majesty's Astronomer
Royal." The Queen and the Prince stood together, and a bow was made to
and received from each. The Prince recognised me and said "I am glad to
see you," or something like that. Next to him stood Goulburn, and next
Lord Lyndhurst, who to my great surprise spoke very civilly to me (as I will
tell you afterwards). The Queen had her head bare and a sort of French
white gown and looked very well. She had the ribbon of the Garter on her
breast; but like a ninny I forgot to look whether she had the Garter upon her
arm. The Prince wore his Garter. I went to bed dead tired and got up with a
headache.—About the degree to the Prince and the other movements I will
write again.

*****

Here is a note from Cubitt relating to the blasting of the Round Down
Cliff at Dover referred to above:

GREAT GEORGE STREET,
Jan. 20th, 1843.

MY DEAR SIR,

Thursday next the 26th at 12 is the time fixed for the attempt to blow out
the foot of the "Round Down" Cliff near Dover.

The Galvanic apparatus has been repeatedly tried in place—that is by
exploding cartridges in the very chambers of the rock prepared for the
powder—with the batteries at 1200 feet distance they are in full form and
act admirably so that I see but little fear of failure on that head.

They have been rehearsing the explosions on the plan I most strongly
recommended, that is—to fire each chamber by an independent battery and
circuit and to discharge the three batteries simultaneously by signal or word
of command which answers well and "no mistake."

I shall write to Sir John Herschel to-day, and remain

My dear Sir,
Very truly yours,
W. CUBITT.

G.B. Airy, Esq.

*****

The following extracts are from letters to his wife written in Ireland when
on his journey to consider the determination of the longitude of Valencia.

S
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By the bye, to shew the quiet of Ireland now, I saw in a newspaper at
Cork this account. At some place through which a repeal-association was to
pass (I forget its name) the repealers of the place set up a triumphal arch.
The police pulled it down, and were pelted by the repealers, and one of the
policemen was much bruised. O'Connell has denounced this place as a
disgrace to the cause of repeal, and has moved in the full meeting that the
inhabitants of this place be struck off the repeal list, with no exception but
that of the parish priest who was proved to be absent. And O'Connell
declares that he will not pass through this place. Now for my journey. It is a
sort of half-mountain country all the way, with some bogs to refresh my
eyes.

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It seems that my coming here has caused infinite alarm. The common
people do not know what to conjecture, but have some notion that the
"sappers and miners" are to build a bridge to admit the charge of cavalry

into the island. An attendant of Mrs Fitzgerald expressed how strange it was
that a man looking so mild and gentle could meditate such things "but never
fear, Maam, those that look so mild are always the worst": then she narrated
how that her husband was building some stables, but that she was
demanding of him "Pat, you broth of a boy, what is the use of your building
stables when these people are coming to destroy everything." I suspect that
the people who saw me walking up through the storm yesterday must have
thought me the prince of the powers of the air at least.

H
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I sailed from Valencia to Cahersiveen town in a sail-boat up the water
(not crossing at the ferry). I had accommodated my time to the wish of the
boatman, who desired to be there in time for prayers: so that I had a long
waiting at Cahersiveen for the mail car. In walking through the little town, I
passed the chapel (a convent chapel) to which the people were going: and
really the scene was very curious. The chapel appeared to be overflowing
full, and the court in front of it was full of people, some sitting on the
ground, some kneeling, and some prostrate. There were also people in the
street, kneeling with their faces towards the gate pillars, &c. It seemed to
me that the priest and the chapel were of less use here than even in the
continental churches, and I do not see why both parties should not have
stopped at home. When the chapel broke up, it seemed as if the streets were
crammed with people. The turnout that even a small village in Ireland
produces is perfectly amazing.

1844

"In the course of 1843 I had put in hand the engraving of the drawings of
the Northumberland Telescope at Cambridge Observatory, and wrote the
description for letterpress. In the course of 1844 the work was completed,
and the books were bound and distributed.

"The building to receive the Altazimuth Instrument was erected in the
course of the year; during the construction a foreman fell into the
foundation pit and broke his leg, of which accident he died. This is the only
accident that I have known at the Observatory.—The Electrometer Mast and
sliding frame were erected near the Magnetic Observatory.—The six-year
Catalogue of 1439 stars was finished; this work had been in progress during
the last few years.—In May I went to Woolwich to correct the compasses of
the 'Dover,' a small iron steamer carrying mails between Dover and Ostend:
this I believe was the first iron ship possessed by the Admiralty.—The
Lunar Reductions were making good progress; 16 computers were
employed upon them. I made application for printing them and the required
sum (£1000) was granted by the Treasury.—In this year commenced that
remarkable movement which led to the discovery of Neptune. On Feb. 13th
Prof. Challis introduced Mr Adams to me by letter. On Feb. 15th I sent my
observed places of Uranus, which were wanted. On June 19th I also sent
places to Mr E. Bouvard.—As regards the National Standards, Mr Baily
(who undertook the comparisons relating to standards of length) died soon,
and Mr Sheepshanks then undertook the work.—I attended the meeting of
the British Association held at York (principally in compliment to the
President, Dr Peacock), and gave an oral account of my work on Irish
Tides.—At the Oxford Commemoration in June, the honorary degree of
D.C.L. was conferred on M. Struve and on me, and then a demand was
made on each of us for £6. 6s. for fees. We were much disgusted and

refused to pay it, and I wrote angrily to Dr Wynter, the Vice-Chancellor.
The fees were ultimately paid out of the University Chest.

"In this year the longitude of Altona was determined by M. Struve for the
Russian Government. For this purpose it was essential that facilities should
be given for landing chronometers at Greenwich. But the consent of the
customhouse authorities had first to be obtained, and this required a good
deal of negotiation. Ultimately the determination was completed in the most
satisfactory manner. The chronometers, forty-two in number, crossed the
German Sea sixteen times. The transit observers were twice interchanged,
in order to eliminate not only their Personal Equation, but also the gradual
change of Personal Equation. On Sept. 30th Otto Struve formally wrote his
thanks for assistance rendered.

"For the determination of the longitude of Valencia, which was carried
out in this year, various methods were discussed, but the plan of sending
chronometers by mail conveyance was finally approved. From London to
Liverpool the chronometers were conveyed by the railways, from Liverpool
to Kingstown by steamer, from Dublin to Tralee by the Mail Coaches, from
Tralee to Cahersiveen by car, from Cahersiveen to Knightstown by boat,
and from Knightstown to the station on the hill the box was carried like a
sedan-chair. There were numerous other arrangements, and all succeeded
perfectly without a failure of any kind. Thirty pocket chronometers
traversed the line between Greenwich and Kingstown about twenty-two
times, and that between Kingstown and Valencia twenty times. The
chronometrical longitudes of Liverpool Observatory, Kingstown Station,
and Valencia Station are 12m 0.05s, 24m 31.17s, 41m 23.25s; the geodetic
longitudes, computed from elements which I published long ago in the
Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, are 12m 0.34s, 24m 31.47s, 41m 23.06s. It
appears from this that the elements to which I have alluded represent the

form of the Earth here as nearly as is possible. On the whole, I think it
probable that this is the best arc of parallel that has ever been measured.

"With regard to the Maine Boundary: on May 7th Col. Estcourt, the
British Commissioner, wrote to me describing the perfect success of
following out my plan: the line of 64 miles was cut by directions laid out at
the two ends, and the cuttings met within 341 feet. The country through
which this line was to pass is described as surpassing in its difficulties the
conception of any European. It consists of impervious forests, steep ravines,
and dismal swamps. A survey for the line was impossible, and a tentative
process would have broken the spirit of the best men. I therefore arranged a
plan of operations founded on a determination of the absolute latitudes and
the difference of longitudes of the two extremities. The difference of
longitudes was determined by the transfer of chronometers by the very
circuitous route from one extremity to the other; and it was necessary to
divide the whole arc into four parts, and to add a small part by measure and
bearing. When this was finished, the azimuths of the line for the two ends
were computed, and marks were laid off for starting with the line from both
ends. One party, after cutting more than forty-two miles through the woods,
were agreeably surprised, on the brow of a hill, at seeing directly before
them a gap in the woods on the next line of hill; it opened gradually, and
proved to be the line of the opposite party. On continuing the lines till they
passed abreast of each other, their distance was found to be 341 feet. To
form an estimate of the magnitude of this error, it is to be observed that it
implies an error of only a quarter of a second of time in the difference of
longitudes; and that it is only one-third (or nearly so) of the error which
would have been committed if the spheroidal form of the Earth had been
neglected. I must point out the extraordinary merit of the officers who
effected this operation. Transits were observed and chronometers were
interchanged when the temperature was lower than 19° below zero: and
when the native assistants, though paid highly, deserted on account of the

severity of the weather, the British officers still continued the observations
upon whose delicacy everything depended.

"Of private history: From July 3rd to Aug. 13th I was in Ireland with my
wife. This was partly a business journey in connection with the
determination of the longitude of Valencia. On Jan. 4th I asked Lord
Lyndhurst (Lord Chancellor) to present my brother to the living of
Helmingham, which he declined to do: but on Dec. 12th he offered
Binbrooke, which I accepted for my brother."

1845

"A map of the Buildings and Grounds of the Observatory was
commenced in 1844, and was still in progress.—On Mar. 19th I was
employed on a matter which had for some time occupied my thoughts, viz.,
the re-arrangement of current manuscripts. I had prepared a sloping box
(still in use) to hold 24 portfolios: and at this time I arranged papers A, and
went on with B, C, &c. Very little change has been made in these.—In
reference to the time given to the weekly report on Meteorology to the
Registrar General, the Report to the Board of Visitors contains the
following paragraph: 'The devotion of some of my assistants' time and
labour to the preparation of the Meteorological Report attached to the
weekly report of the Registrar General, is, in my opinion, justified by the
bearing of the meteorological facts upon the medical facts, and by the
attention which I understand that Report to have excited.'—On Dec. 13th
the sleep of Astronomy was broken by the announcement that a new planet,
Astraea, was discovered by Mr Hencke. I immediately circulated notices.—
But in this year began a more remarkable planetary discussion. On Sept.
22nd Challis wrote to me to say that Mr Adams would leave with me his
results on the explanation of the irregularities of Uranus by the action of an
exterior planet. In October Adams called, in my absence. On Nov. 5th I

wrote to him, enquiring whether his theory explained the irregularity of
radius-vector (as well as that of longitude). I waited for an answer, but
received none. (See the Papers printed in the Royal Astronomical Society's
Memoirs and Monthly Notices).—In the Royal Society, the Royal Medal
was awarded to me for my Paper on the Irish Tides.—In the Royal
Astronomical Society I was President; and, with a speech, delivered the
Medal to Capt. Smyth for the Bedford Catalogue of Double Stars.—On Jan.
21st I was appointed (with Schumacher) one of the Referees for the King of
Denmark's Comet Medal: I have the King's Warrant under his sign manual.
—The Tidal Harbour Commission commenced on Apr. 5th: on July 21st my
Report on Wexford Harbour (in which I think I introduced important
principles) was communicated. One Report was made this year to the
Government.—In the matter of Saw Mills (which had begun in 1842), I had
prepared a second set of plans in 1844, and in this year Mr Nasmyth made a
very favourable report on my plan. A machinist of the Chatham Dock Yard,
Sylvester, was set to work (but not under my immediate command) to make
a model: and this produced so much delay as ultimately to ruin the design.
—On Jan. 1st I was engaged on my Paper 'On the flexure of a uniform bar,
supported by equal pressures at equidistant points.'" (This was probably in
connection with the support of Standards of Length, for the Commission.
Ed.).—In June I attended the Meeting of the British Association at
Cambridge, and on the 20th I gave a Lecture on Magnetism in the Senate
House. The following quotation relating to this Lecture is taken from a
letter by Whewell to his wife (see Life of William Whewell by Mrs Stair
Douglas): "I did not go to the Senate House yesterday evening. Airy was the
performer, and appears to have outdone himself in his art of giving
clearness and simplicity to the hardest and most complex subjects. He kept
the attention of his audience quite enchained for above two hours, talking
about terrestrial magnetism."—On Nov. 29th I gave evidence before a
Committee of the House of Commons on Dover Harbour Pier.

"With respect to the Magnetical and Meteorological Establishment, the
transactions in this year were most important. It had been understood that
the Government establishments had been sanctioned twice for three-year
periods, of which the second would expire at the end of 1845: and it was a
question with the scientific public whether they should be continued. My
own opinion was in favour of stopping the observations and carefully
discussing them. And I am convinced that this would have been best, except
for the subsequent introduction of self-registering systems, in which I had
so large a share. There was much discussion and correspondence, and on
June 7th the Board of Visitors resolved that 'In the opinion of the Visitors it
is of the utmost importance that these observations should continue to be
made on the most extensive scale which the interests of those sciences may
require.' The meeting of the British Association was held at Cambridge in
June: and one of the most important matters there was the Congress of
Magnetic Philosophers, many of them foreigners. It was resolved that the
Magnetic Observatory at Greenwich be continued permanently. At this
meeting I proposed a resolution which has proved to be exceedingly
important. I had remarked the distress which the continuous two-hourly
observations through the night produced to my Assistants, and determined if
possible to remove it. I therefore proposed 'That it is highly desirable to
encourage by specific pecuniary reward the improvement of self-recording
magnetical and meteorological apparatus: and that the President of the
British Association and the President of the Royal Society be requested to
solicit the favourable consideration of Her Majesty's Government to this
subject,' which was adopted. In October the Admiralty expressed their
willingness to grant a reward up to £500. Mr Charles Brooke had written to
me proposing a plan on Sept. 23rd, and he sent me his first register on Nov.
24th. On Nov. 1st the Treasury informed the Admiralty that the Magnetic
Observatories will be continued for a further period.

"The Railway Gauge Commission in this year was an important
employment. The Railways, which had begun with the Manchester and
Liverpool Railway (followed by the London and Birmingham) had
advanced over the country with some variation in their breadth of gauge.
The gauge of the Colchester Railway had been altered to suit that of the
Cambridge Railway. And finally there remained but two gauges: the broad
gauge (principally in the system allied with the Great Western Railway);
and the narrow gauge (through the rest of England). These came in contact
at Gloucester, and were likely to come in contact at many other points—to
the enormous inconvenience of the public. The Government determined to
interfere, beginning with a Commission. On July 3rd Mr Laing (then on the
Board of Trade) rode to Greenwich, bearing a letter of introduction from Sir
John Lefevre and a request from Lord Dalhousie (President of the Board of
Trade) that I would act as second of a Royal Commission (Col. Sir
Frederick Smith, Airy, Prof. Barlow). I assented to this: and very soon
began a vigorous course of business. On July 23rd and 24th I went with
Prof. Barlow and our Secretary to Bristol, Gloucester, and Birmingham: on
Dec. 17th I went on railway experiments to Didcot: and on Dec. 29th to Jan.
2nd I went to York, with Prof. Barlow and George Arthur Biddell, for
railway experiments. On Nov. 21st I finished a draft Report of the Railway
Gauge Commission, which served in great measure as a basis for that
adopted next year.

"Of private history: I wrote to Lord Lyndhurst on Feb. 20th, requesting
an exchange of the living to which he had presented my brother in Dec.
1844 for that of Swineshead: to which he consented.—On Jan. 29th I went
with my wife on a visit to my uncle George Biddell, at Bradfield St George,
near Bury.—On June 9th I went into the mining district of Cornwall with
George Arthur Biddell.—From Aug. 25th to Sept. 26th I was travelling in
France with my sister and my wife's sister, Georgiana Smith. I was well

introduced, and the journey was interesting.—On Oct. 29th my son Osmund
was born.—Mr F. Baily bequeathed to me £500, which realized £450."

Here are some extracts from letters written to his wife relating to the visit
to the Cornish mines, &c.—

PEARCE'S HOTEL, FALMOUTH,
1845, June 12th, Thursday.

Then we walked to the United Mines in Gwennap. The day was very fine
and now it was perfectly broiling: and the hills here are long and steep. At
the United Mines we found the Captain, and he invited us to join in a rough
dinner, to which he and the other captains were going to sit down. Then we
examined one of the great pumping engines, which is considered the best in
the country: and some other engines. Between 3 and 4 there was to be a
setting out of some work to the men by a sort of Dutch Auction (the usual
way of setting out the work here): some refuse ores were to be broken up
and made marketable, and the subject of competition was, for how little in
the pound on the gross produce the men would work them up. While we
were here a man was brought up who was hurt in blasting: a piece of rock
had fallen on him. At this mine besides the ladder ways, they have buckets
sliding in guides by which the men are brought up: and they are just
preparing for work another apparatus which they say is tried successfully at
another mine (Tresavean): there are two wooden rods A and B reaching
from the top to the bottom, moved by cranks from the same wheel, so that
one goes up when the other goes down, and vice versâ: each of these rods
has small stages, at such a distance that when the rod A is down and the rod
B is up, the first stage of A is level with the first stage of B: but when the
rod A is up and the rod B is down, the second stage of A is level with the
first stage of B: so a man who wants to descend steps on the first stage of A
and waits till it goes down: then he steps sideways on the first stage of B

and waits till it goes down: then he steps sideways to the second stage of A
and waits till it goes down, and so on: or if a man is coming up he does just
the same. While we were here Mr R. Taylor came. We walked home (a long
step, perhaps seven miles) in a very hot sun. Went to tea to Mr Alfred Fox,
who has a house in a beautiful position looking to the outside of Falmouth
Harbour.

*****

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Yesterday morning we breakfasted early at Falmouth, and before 9
started towards Gwennap. I had ascertained on Thursday that John Williams
(the senior of a very wealthy and influential family in this country) was
probably returned from London. So we drove first to his house Burntcoose
or Barncoose, and found him and his wife at home. (They are Quakers, the
rest of the family are not.) Sedgwick, and Whewell, and I, or some of our
party including me, had slept once at their house. They received George and
me most cordially, and pressed us to come and dine with them after our visit
to Tresavean mine, of which intention I spoke in my last letter: so I named 4
o'clock as hour for dinner. After a little stay we drove to Tresavean, where I
found the Captain of the mine prepared to send an Underground Captain
and a Pit-man to descend with us. So we changed our clothes and
descended by the ladders in the pumpshaft. Pretty work to descend with the
huge pump-rods (garnished with large iron bolts) working violently, making
strokes of 12 feet, close to our elbows; and with a nearly bottomless pit at
the foot of every ladder, where we had to turn round the foot of the ladder
walking on only a narrow board. However we got down to the bottom of the
mine with great safety and credit, seeing all the mighty machinery on the
way, to a greater depth than I ever reached before, namely 1900 feet. From
the bottom of the pump we went aside a short distance into the lowest
workings where two men nearly naked were driving a level towards the
lode or vein of ore. Here I felt a most intolerable heat: and upon moving to

get out of the place, I had a dreadful feeling of feebleness and fainting, such
as I never had in my life before. The men urged me to climb the ladders to a
level where the air was better, but they might as well have urged me to lift
up the rock. I could do nothing but sit down and lean fainting against the
rocks. This arose entirely from the badness of the air. After a time I felt a
trifle better, and then I climbed one short ladder, and sat down very faint
again. When I recovered, two men tied a rope round me, and went up the
ladder before me, supporting a part of my weight, and in this way I
ascended four or five ladders (with long rests between) till we came to a
level, 260 fathoms below the adit or nearly 300 fathoms below the surface,
where there was a tolerable current of pretty good air. Here I speedily
recovered, though I was a little weak for a short time afterwards. George
also felt the bad air a good deal, but not so much as I. He descended to
some workings equally low in another place (towards which the party that I
spoke of were directing their works), but said that the air there was by no
means so bad. We all met at the bottom of the man-engine 260 fathoms
below the adit. We sat still a little while, and I acquired sufficient strength
and nerve, so that I did not feel the slightest alarm in the operation of
ascending by the man-engine. This is the funniest operation that I ever saw:
it is the only absolute novelty that I have seen since I was in the country
before: it has been introduced 2-1/2 years in Tresavean, and one day in the
United Mines. In my last letter I described the principle. In the actual use
there is no other motion to be made by the person who is ascending or
descending than that of stepping sideways each time (there being proper
hand-holds) with no exertion at all, except that of stepping exactly at the
proper instant: and not the shadow of unpleasant feeling in the motion. Any
woman may go with the most perfect comfort, if she will but attend to the
rules of stepping, and forget that there is an open pit down to the very
bottom of the mine. In this way we were pumped up to the surface, and
came up as cool as cucumbers, instead of being drenched with perspiration.

In my description in last letter I forgot to mention that between the stages
on the moving rods which I have there described there are intermediate
stages on the moving rods (for which there is ample room, inasmuch as the
interval between the stages on each rod used by one person is 24 feet), and
these intermediate stages are used by persons descending: so that there are
persons ascending and persons descending at the same time, who never
interfere with each other and never step on the same stages, but merely see
each other passing on the other rods—It is a most valuable invention. We
then changed our clothes and washed, and drove to Barncoose, arriving in
good time for the dinner. I found myself much restored by some superb
Sauterne with water. When we were proposing to go on to Camborne, Mr
and Mrs Williams pressed us so affectionately to stop that we at length
decided on stopping for the night, only bargaining for an early breakfast this
morning. This morning after breakfast, we started for Redruth and
Camborne. The population between them has increased immensely since I
was here before. &c. &c.

*****

Here is a letter written to his wife while he was engaged on the business
of the Railway Gauge Commission. It contains reminiscences of some
people who made a great figure in the railway world at that time, and was
preceded by a letter which was playfully addressed "From the Palace of
King Hudson, York."

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I wrote yesterday from Mr Hudson's in time for the late post, and hope
that my letter might be posted by the servant to whom it was given. Our
affairs yesterday were simple: we reached Euston Station properly, found
Watson there, found a carriage reserved for us, eat pork-pie at Wolverton
(not so good as formerly), dined at Derby, and arrived in York at 5.20. On
the way Watson informed me that the Government have awarded us £500
each. Sir F. Smith had talked over the matter with us, and I laid it down as a
principle that we considered the business as an important one and one of
very great responsibility, and that we wished either that the Government

should treat us handsomely or should consider us as servants of the State
acting gratuitously, to which they assented. I think the Government have
done very well. Mr Hudson, as I have said, met us on the platform and
pressed us to dine with him (though I had dined twice). Then we found the
rival parties quarrelling, and had to arrange between them. This prevented
me from writing for the early post. (I forgot to mention that Saunders, the
Great Western Secretary, rode with us all the way). At Hudson's we had
really a very pleasant dinner: I sat between Vernon Harcourt and Mrs
Malcolm (his sister Georgiana) and near to Mr Hudson. This morning we
were prepared at 9 at the Station for some runs. Brunel and other people had
arrived in the night. And we have been to Darlington and back, with a large
party in our experimental train. George Arthur Biddell rode on the engine as
representing me. But the side wind was so dreadfully heavy that, as regards
the wants of the case, this day is quite thrown away. We have since been to
lunch with Vernon Harcourt (Mrs Harcourt not at home) and then went with
him to look at the Cathedral. The Chapter-house, which was a little injured,
has been pretty well restored: all other things in good order. The Cathedral
looks smaller and lower than French cathedrals. Now that we have come in,
the Lord Mayor of York has just called to invite us to dinner to-morrow.—I
propose to George Arthur Biddell that he go to Newcastle this evening, in
order to see glass works and other things there to-morrow, and to return
when he can.

I think that I can persuade Barlow to stop to see the experiments out, and
if so I shall endeavour to return as soon as possible. The earliest day would
be the day after to-morrow.

*****

The following extract is from a letter written to Mr Murray for insertion
in his Handbook of France, relating to the Breakwater at Cherbourg, which

Airy had visited during his journey in France in the autumn of this year.

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My opinion on the construction I need not say ought not to be quoted: but
you are quite welcome to found any general statement on it; or perhaps it
may guide you in further enquiries. To make it clear, I must speak rather
generally upon the subject. There are three ways in which a breakwater may
be constructed. 1. By building a strong wall with perpendicular face from
the bottom of the sea. 2. By making a bank with nothing but slopes towards
the sea. 3. By making a sloping bank to a certain height and then building a
perpendicular wall upon it.—Now if the 1st of these constructions could be
arranged, I have no doubt that it would be the best of all, because a sea does
not break against a perpendicular face, but recoils in an unbroken swell,
merely making a slow quiet push at the wall, and not making a violent
impact. But practically it is nearly impossible. The 2nd construction makes
the sea to break tremendously, but if the sloping surface be made of square
stone put together with reasonable care there is not the smallest tendency to
unseat these stones. This is the principle of construction of Plymouth
Breakwater. In the 3rd construction, the slope makes the sea to break
tremendously, and then it strikes the perpendicular face with the force of a
battering ram: and therefore in my opinion this is the worst construction of

all. A few face-stones may easily be dislodged, and then the sea entering
with this enormous force will speedily destroy the whole. This is the form
of the Cherbourg Digue.

From this you will gather that I have a full belief that Plymouth
Breakwater will last very long, and that the Digue of Cherbourg, at least its
upper wall, will not last long. The great bank will last a good while,
gradually suffering degradation, but still protecting the Road pretty well.

I was assured by the officers residing on the Digue that the sea which on
breaking is thrown vertically upwards and then falls down upon the
pavement does sometimes push the stones about which are lying there and
which weigh three or four tons.

I saw some preparations for the foundations of the fort at the eastern
extremity of the Digue. One artificial stone of concrete measured 12'9" ×
6'7" × 5'7", and was estimated to weigh 25000 kilogrammes.

CHAPTER VI.
AT GREENWICH OBSERVATORY—1846 TO 1856.

1846

"On Nov. 7th I proposed a change in the form of Estimates for the
Observatory. The original astronomical part was provided by the Admiralty,
and the new magnetical and meteorological part was provided by the
Treasury: and the whole Estimates and Accounts of the Observatory never
appeared in one public paper. I proposed that the whole should be placed on
the Navy Estimates, but the Admiralty refused. I repeated this in subsequent

years, with no success. Meantime I always sent to the Admiralty a duplicate
of my Treasury Estimate with the proper Admiralty Estimate.—
Stephenson's Railway through the lower part of the Park, in tunnel about
850 feet from the Observatory, was again brought forward. On Feb. 20th it
was put before me by the Government, and on March 9th I made
experiments at Kensal Green, specially on the effect of a tunnel: which I
found to be considerable in suppressing the tremors. On May 6th I made my
Report, generally favourable, supposing the railway to be in tunnel. On
May 13th I, with Mr Stephenson, had an interview at the Admiralty with
Lord Ellenborough and Sir George Cockburn. The Earl appeared willing to
relax in his scruples about allowing a railway through the Park, when Sir
George Cockburn made a most solemn protest against it, on the ground of
danger to an institution of such importance as the Observatory. I have no
doubt that this protest of Sir George Cockburn's really determined the
Government. On June 10th I was informed that the Government refused
their consent. After this the South Eastern Railway Company adopted the
line through Tranquil Vale.—In consequence of the defective state of
Paramatta Observatory I had written to Sir Robert Peel on April 16th raising
the question of a General Superintending Board for Colonial Observatories:
and on June 27th I saw Mr Gladstone at the Colonial Office to enquire
about the possibility of establishing local Boards. On June 29th a general
plan was settled, but it never came to anything.—Forty volumes of the
Observatory MSS. were bound—an important beginning.—Deep-sunk
thermometers were prepared by Prof. Forbes.—On June 22nd Sir Robert
Inglis procured an Order of the House of Commons for printing a paper of
Sir James South's, ostensibly on the effects of a railway passing through
Greenwich Park, but really attacking almost everything that I did in the
Observatory. I replied to this on July 21st by a letter in the Athenaeum
addressed to Sir Robert Inglis, in terms so strong and so well supported that
Sir James South was effectually silenced." The following extract from a

letter of Airy's to the Earl of Rosse, dated Dec. 15th 1846, will shew how
pronounced the quarrel between Airy and South had become in
consequence of the above-mentioned attack and previous differences:
"After the public exposure which his conduct in the last summer compelled
me to make, I certainly cannot meet him on equal terms, and desire not to
meet him at all." (Ed.).—"In the Mag. and Met. Department, I was
constantly engaged with Mr Charles Brooke in the preparation and
mounting of the self-registering instruments, and the chemical arrangements
for their use, to the end of the year. With Mr Ronalds I was similarly
engaged: but I had the greatest difficulty in transacting business with him,
from his unpractical habits.—The equipment of the Liverpool Observatory,
under me, was still going on: I introduced the use of Siemens's
Chronometric Governor for giving horary motion to an Equatoreal there. I
have since introduced the same principle in the Chronograph Barrel and the
Great Equatoreal at Greenwich: I consider it important.—On Feb. 13th I
received the Astronomical Society's Medal for the Planetary Reductions.—
In the University of London: At this time seriously began the discussion
whether there should be a compulsory examination in matters bearing on
religious subjects. After this there was no peace.—For discovery of Comets
three medals were awarded by Schumacher and me: one to Peters, two to
De Vico. A comet was seen by Hind, and by no other observer: after
correspondence, principally in 1848, the medal was refused to him.—With
respect to the Railway Gauge Commission: On Jan. 1st, in our experiments
near York, the engine ran off the rails. On Jan. 29th the Commissioners
signed the Report, and the business was concluded by the end of April. Our
recommendation was that the narrow gauge should be carried throughout.
This was opposed most violently by partisans of the broad gauge, and they
had sufficient influence in Parliament to prevent our recommendation from
being carried into effect. But the policy, even of the Great Western Railway
(in which the broad gauge originated), has supported our views: the narrow

gauge has been gradually substituted for the broad: and the broad now
(1872) scarcely exists.—On June 20th Lord Canning enquired of me about
makers for the clock in the Clock Tower of Westminster Palace. I suggested
Vulliamy, Dent, Whitehurst; and made other suggestions: I had some
correspondence with E. B. Denison, about clocks.—I had much
correspondence with Stephenson about the Tubular Bridge over the Menai
Straits. Stephenson afterwards spoke of my assistance as having much
supported him in this anxious work: on Dec. 11th I was requested to make a
Report, and to charge a fee as a Civil Engineer; but I declined to do so. In
January I went, with George Arthur Biddell, to Portsmouth, to examine
Lord Dundonald's rotary engine as mounted in the 'Janus,' and made a
Report on the same to the Admiralty: and I made several subsequent
Reports on the same matter. The scheme was abandoned in the course of
next year; the real cause of failure, as I believe, was in the bad mounting in
the ship.

"The engrossing subject of this year was the discovery of Neptune. As I
have said (1845) I obtained no answer from Adams to a letter of enquiry.
Beginning with June 26th of 1846 I had correspondence of a satisfactory
character with Le Verrier, who had taken up the subject of the disturbance
of Uranus, and arrived at conclusions not very different from those of
Adams. I wrote from Ely on July 9th to Challis, begging him, as in
possession of the largest telescope in England, to sweep for the planet, and
suggesting a plan. I received information of its recognition by Galle, when I
was visiting Hansen at Gotha. For further official history, see my
communications to the Royal Astronomical Society, and for private history
see the papers in the Royal Observatory. I was abused most savagely both
by English and French."

The Report to the Visitors contains an interesting account of the Great
Lunar Reductions, from which the following passage is extracted: "Of the

Third Section, containing the comparison of Observed Places with Tabular
Places, three sheets are printed, from 1750 to 1756. This comparison, it is to
be observed, does not contain a simple comparison of places, but contains
also the coefficients of the various changes in the moon's place depending
on changes in the elements…. The process for the correction of the
elements by means of these comparisons is now going on: and the extent of
this work, even after so much has been prepared, almost exceeds belief. For
the longitude, ten columns are added in groups, formed in thirteen different
ways, each different way having on the average about nine hundred groups.
For the ecliptic polar distance, five columns are added in groups, formed in
seven different ways, each different way having on the average about nine
hundred groups. Thus it will appear that there are not fewer than 150,000
additions of columns of figures. This part of the work is not only completed
but is verified, so that the books of comparison of Observed and Tabular
Places are, as regards this work, completely cleared out. The next step is to
take the means of these groups, a process which is now in hand: it will be
followed by the formation and solution of the equations on which the
corrections of the elements depend."

The following remarks, extracted from the Report to the Visitors, with
respect to the instrumental equipment of the Observatory, embody the views
of the Astronomer Royal at this time: "The utmost change, which I
contemplate as likely to occur in many years, in regard to our meridional
instruments, is the substitution of instruments of the same class carrying
telescopes of larger aperture. The only instrument which, as I think, may
possibly be called for by the demands of the astronomer or the astronomical
public, is a telescope of the largest size, for the observation of faint nebulae
and minute double stars. Whether the addition of such an instrument to our
apparatus would be an advantage, is, in my opinion, not free from doubt.
The line of conduct for the Observatory is sufficiently well traced; there can
be no doubt that our primary objects ought to be the accurate determination

of places of the fundamental Stars, the Sun, the Planets, and, above all, the
Moon. Any addition whatever to our powers or our instrumental luxuries,
which should tend to withdraw our energies from these objects, would be a
misfortune to the Observatory."

Of private history: "In March I visited Prof. Sedgwick at Norwich.—On
Mar. 28th the 'Sir Henry Pottinger' was launched from Fairbairn's Yard on
the Isle of Dogs, where I was thrown down and dislocated my right thumb.
—From Apr. 10th to 15th I was at Playford.—On June 10th Prof. Hansen
arrived, and stayed with me to July 4th.—From July 6th to 10th I was
visiting Dean Peacock at Ely.—From July 23rd to 29th I was at Playford,
where for the first time I lodged in my own cottage. I had bought it some
time before, and my sister had superintended alterations and the addition of
a room. I was much pleased thus to be connected with the happy scenes of
my youth.—From Aug. 10th to Oct. 11th I was with my wife and her sister
Elizabeth Smith on the Continent. We stayed for some time at Wiesbaden,
as my nerves were shaken by the work on the Railway Gauge Commission,
and I wanted the Wiesbaden waters. We visited various places in Germany,
and made a 10-days' excursion among the Swiss Mountains. At Gotha we
lodged with Prof. Hansen for three days; and it was while staying here that I
heard from Prof. Encke (on Sept. 29th) that Galle had discovered the
expected planet. We visited Gauss at Göttingen and Miss Caroline Herschel
at Hannover. We had a very bad passage from Hamburgh to London, lasting
five days: a crank-pin broke and had to be repaired: after four days our sea-
sickness had gone off, during the gale—a valuable discovery for me, as I
never afterwards feared sea-sickness.—On Dec. 22nd I attended the
celebration of the 300th anniversary of Trinity College."

*****

The following extracts relating to the engines of the "Janus" are taken
from letters to his wife dated from Portsmouth, Jan. 6th and 7th, 1846:

As soon as possible we repaired to the Dock Yard and presented
ourselves to the Admiral Superintendant—Admiral Hyde Parker (not Sir
Hyde Parker). Found that the "Janus" had not arrived: the Admiral
Superintendant (who does not spare a hard word) expressing himself
curiously thereon. But he had got the proper orders from the Admiralty
relating to me: so he immediately sent for Mr Taplin, the superintendant of
machinery: and we went off to see the small engine of Lord D—d's
construction which is working some pumps and other machinery in the
yard. It was kept at work a little longer than usual for us to see it. And I
have no hesitation in saying that it was working extremely well. It had not
been opened in any way for half a year, and not for repair or packing for a
much longer time…. This morning we went to the Dock Yard, and on
entering the engine house there was Shirreff, and Lord D—d soon appeared.
The "Janus" had come to anchor at Spithead late last night, and had entered
the harbour this morning. Blowing weather on Saturday night. We had the
engine pretty well pulled to pieces, and sat contemplating her a long time.
Before this Denison had come to us. We then went on board the "Janus"
with Shirreff but not with Lord D—d. The engines were still hot, and so
they were turned backwards a little for my edification. (This was
convenient because, the vessel being moored by her head, she could thus
strain backwards without doing mischief.) The vacuum not good. Then,
after a luncheon on board, it was agreed to run out a little way. But the
engines absolutely stuck fast, and would not stir a bit. This I considered a
perfect Godsend. So the paddle-wheels (at my desire) were lashed fast, and
we are to see her opened to-morrow morning.

This morning (Jan. 7th) we all went off to the "Janus," where we
expected to find the end of the cylinder (where we believe yesterday's block

to have taken place) withdrawn. But it was not near it. After a great many
bolts were drawn, it was discovered that one bolt could not be drawn, and in
order to get room for working at it, it was necessary to take off the end of
the other cylinder. And such a job! Three pulley hooks were broken in my
sight, and I believe some out of my sight. However this auxiliary end was at
last got off: and the people began to act on the refractory bolt. But by this
time it was getting dark and the men were leaving the dockyard, so I left,
arranging that what they could do in preparation for me might be done in
good time to-morrow morning.

1847

"On Nov. 13th I circulated an Address, proposing to discontinue the use
of the Zenith Tube, because it had been found by a long course of
comparative trials that the Zenith Tube was not more accurate than the
Mural Circle. The Address stated that 'This want of superior efficiency of
the Zenith Tube (which, considered in reference to the expectations that had
been formed of its accuracy, must be estimated as a positive failure) is
probably due to two circumstances. One is, the use of a plumb-line; which
appears to be affected with various ill-understood causes of unsteadiness.
The other is, the insuperable difficulty of ventilating the room in which the
instrument is mounted.'—On December 20th I circulated an Address,
proposing a Transit Circle, with telescope of 8 inches aperture. The Address
states as follows: 'The clear aperture of the Object-Glass of our Transit
Instrument is very nearly 5 inches, that of our Mural Circle is very nearly 4
inches.'—I had been requested by the Master-General of Ordnance (I think)
to examine Candidates for a Mastership in Woolwich Academy, and I was
employed on it in February and March, in conjunction with Prof. Christie.
—In January I applied to Lord Auckland for money-assistance to make an
astronomical journey on the Continent, but he refused.—On Mar. 19th Sir

James South addressed to the Admiralty a formal complaint against me for
not observing with the astronomical instruments: on Mar. 31st I was
triumphantly acquitted by the Admiralty.—In June I was requested by the
Commissioners of Railways to act as President of a Commission on Iron
Bridges (suggested by the fall of the bridge at Chester). Lord Auckland
objected to it, and I was not sorry to be spared the trouble of it.—In
December I was requested, and undertook to prepare the Astronomical part
of the Scientific Manual for Naval Officers.—On Sept. 24th occurred a very
remarkable Magnetic Storm, to which there had been nothing comparable
before. Mr Glaisher had it observed by eye extremely well, and I printed
and circulated a paper concerning it.—Hansen, stimulated by the Lunar
Reductions, discovered two long inequalities in the motion of the Moon,
produced by the action of Venus. In the Report to the Visitors this matter is
thus referred to: 'In the last summer I had the pleasure of visiting Prof.
Hansen at Gotha, and I was so fortunate as to exhibit to him the corrections
of the elements from these Reductions, and strongly to call his attention to
their certainty, the peculiarity of their fluctuations, and the necessity of
seeking for some physical explanation. I have much pleasure in indulging in
the thought, that it was mainly owing to this representation that Prof.
Hansen undertook that quest, which has terminated in the discovery of his
two new lunar inequalities, the most remarkable discovery, I think, in
Physical Astronomy.'—In discussing points relating to the discovery of
Neptune, I made an unfortunate blunder. In a paper hastily sent to the
Athenaeum (Feb. 18th) I said that Arago's conduct had been indelicate. I
perceived instantly that I had used a wrong expression, and by the very next
post I sent an altered expression. This altered expression was not received
in time, and the original expression was printed, to my great sorrow. I could
not then apologize. But at what appeared to be the first opportunity, in
December, I did apologize; and my apology was accepted. But I think that
Arago was never again so cordial as before.—On July 4th Hebe was

discovered. After this Iris and Flora. Now commenced that train of
discoveries which has added more than 100 planets to the Solar System.—
On Oct. 8th was an Annular Eclipse of the Sun, of which the limit of
annularity passed near to Greenwich. To determine the exact place, I
equipped observatories at Hayes, Lewisham South End, Lewisham Village,
Blackwall, Stratford, Walthamstow, and Chingford. The weather was bad
and no observation was obtained.—In the Royal Astronomical Society: In
1846, the dispute between the partisans of Adams and Le Verrier was so
violent that no medal could be awarded to either. In 1847 I (with other
Fellows of the Society) promoted a special Meeting for considering such a
modification of the bye-laws that for this occasion only it might be
permissible to give two medals. After two days' stormy discussion, it was
rejected.—In the University of London: At a meeting in July, where the
religious question was discussed, it was proposed to receive some
testimonial from affiliated bodies, or to consider that or some other plan for
introducing religious literature. As the propriety of this was doubtful, there
was a general feeling for taking legal advice: and it was set aside solely on
purpose to raise the question about legal consultation. That was negatived
by vote: and I then claimed the consideration of the question which we had
put aside for it. By the influence of H. Warburton, M.P., this was denied. I
wrote a letter to be laid before the Meeting on July 28th, when I was
necessarily absent, urging my claim: my letter was put aside. I determined
never to sit with Warburton again: on Aug. 2nd I intimated to Lord
Burlington my wish to retire, and on Aug. 29th he transmitted to the Home
Secretary my resignation. He (Lord Burlington) fully expressed his opinion
that my claim ought to have been allowed.—On June 9th, on the occasion
of Prince Albert's state visit to Cambridge, knighthood was offered to me
through his Secretary, Prof. Sedgwick, but I declined it.—In September, the
Russian Order of St Stanislas was offered to me, Mr De Berg, the Secretary
of Embassy, coming to Greenwich personally to announce it: but I was

compelled by our Government Rules to decline it.—I invited Le Verrier to
England, and escorted him to the Meeting of the British Association at
Oxford in June.—As regards the Westminster Clock on the Parliamentary
Building: in May I examined and reported on Dent's and Whitehurst's clock
factories. Vulliamy was excessively angry with me. On May 31st a great
Parliamentary Paper was prepared in return to an Order of the House of
Lords for correspondence relating to the Clock.—With respect to the Saw
Mills for Ship Timber: work was going on under the direction of Sylvester
to Mar. 18th. It was, I believe, at that time, that the fire occurred in
Chatham Dock Yard which burnt the whole of the saw-machinery. I was
tired of my machinery: and, from the extending use of iron ships, the
probable value of it was much diminished; and I made no effort to restore
it."

Of private history: "In February I went to Derby to see Whitehurst's clock
factory; and went on with my wife to Brampton near Chesterfield, where
her mother was living.—From Apr. 1st to 5th I was at Playford.—On Holy
Thursday, I walked the Parish Bounds (of Greenwich) with the Parish
officers and others. From Apr. 19th to 24th I was at Birmingham (on a visit
to Guest, my former pupil, and afterwards Master of Caius College) and its
neighbourhood, with George Arthur Biddell.—From June 23rd to 28th I
was at Oxford and Malvern: my sister was at Malvern, for water-cure: the
meeting of the British Association was at Oxford and I escorted Le Verrier
thither.—July 28th to 30th I was at Brampton.—From August 10th to
September 18th I was engaged on an expedition to St Petersburg, chiefly
with the object of inspecting the Pulkowa Observatory. I went by Hamburg
to Altona, where I met Struve, and started with him in an open waggon for
Lübeck, where we arrived on Aug. 14th. We proceeded by steamer to
Cronstadt and Petersburg, and so to Pulkowa, where I lodged with O.
Struve. I was here engaged till Sept. 4th, in the Observatory, in expeditions
in the neighbourhood and at St Petersburg, and at dinner-parties, &c. I met

Count Colloredo, Count Ouvaroff, Count Stroganoff, Lord Bloomfield
(British Ambassador), and others. On Sept. 4th I went in a small steamer to
Cronstadt, and then in the Vladimir to Swinemünde: we were then towed in
a passage boat to Stettin, and I proceeded by railway to Berlin. On Sept. 9th
I found Galle and saw the Observatory. On Sept. 10th I went to Potzdam
and saw Humboldt. On the 12th I went to Hamburg and lodged with
Schumacher: I here visited Repsold and Rümker. On Sept. 14th I embarked
in the John Bull for London, and arrived there on the evening of the 18th:
on the 16th it was blowing 'a whole gale,' reported to be the heaviest gale
known for so many hours; 4 bullocks and 24 sheep were thrown overboard.
—From Dec. 3rd to 8th I was at Cambridge, and from the 22nd to 31st at
Playford."

*****

Here is a letter to his wife written from Birmingham, containing a note of
the progress of the ironwork for the Menai Bridge:

EDGBASTON, BIRMINGHAM,
1847, Apr. 22.

Yesterday morning we started between 10 and 11 for Stourbridge, first to
see some clay which is celebrated all over the world as the only clay which
is fit to make pots for melting glass, &c. You know that in all these fiery
regions, fire-clay is a thing of very great importance, as no furnace will
stand if made of any ordinary bricks (and even with the fire-clay, the small
furnaces are examined every week), but this Stourbridge clay is as superior
to fire-clay as fire-clay is to common brick-earth. Then we went to Fosters'
puddling and rolling works near Stourbridge. These are on a very large
scale: of course much that we saw was a repetition of what we had seen
before, but there were slitting mills, machines for rolling the puddled

blooms instead of hammering them, &c., and we had the satisfaction of
handling the puddling irons ourselves. Then we went to another work of the
Fosters not far from Dudley, where part of the work of the Tube Bridge for
the Menai is going on. The Fosters are, I believe, the largest iron masters in
the country, and the two principal partners, the elder Mr Foster and his
Nephew, accompanied us in all our inspections and steppings from one set
of works to another. The length of Tube Bridge which they have in hand
here is only 120 feet, about 1/4 of the whole length: and at present they are
only busy on the bottom part of it: but it is a prodigious thing. I shall be
anxious about it. Then we went to other works of the Fosters' at King's
Wynford, where they have blast furnaces: and here after seeing all other
usual things we saw the furnaces tapped. In this district the Fosters work the
10-yard coal in a way different from any body else: they work out the upper
half of its thickness and then leave the ground to fall in: after a year or two
this ground becomes so hard as to make a good safe roof, and then they
work away the other half: thus they avoid much of the danger and difficulty
of working the thick bed all at once. The ventilation of these mines scarcely
ever requires fires, and then only what they call "lamps," those little fire-
places which are used for giving light at night. (In the Northumberland and
Durham pits, they constantly have immense roaring fires to make a
draught.) Then we came home through Dudley.

*****

During his stay in Russia, there was a great desire manifested by the
astronomers and scientific men of Russia that he should be presented to the
Emperor. This would no doubt have taken place had not the movements of
the Court and his own want of time prevented it. The following letter to the
British Ambassador, Lord Bloomfield, relates to this matter:

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MY LORD,

I had the honour yesterday to receive your Lordship's note of Sunday last,
which by some irregularity in the communications with this place reached
me, I believe, later than it ought. From this circumstance, and also from my
being made acquainted only this afternoon with some official arrangements,
I am compelled to trouble you at a time which I fear is less convenient than
I could have desired.

The object of my present communication is, to ask whether (if the
movements of the Court permit it) it would be agreeable to your Lordship to
present me to the Emperor. In explanation of this enquiry, I beg leave to
state that this is an honour to which, personally, I could not think of
aspiring. My presence however at Pulkowa at this time is in an official
character. As Astronomer Royal of England, I have thought it my duty to
make myself perfectly acquainted with the Observatory of Pulkowa, and
this is the sole object of my journey to Russia. It is understood that the
Emperor takes great interest in the reputation of the Observatory, and I am

confident that the remarks upon it which I am able to make would be
agreeable to him.

I place these reasons before you, awaiting entirely Your Lordship's
decision on the propriety of the step to which I have alluded. I am to leave
St Petersburg on Saturday the 4th of September.

I have the honor to be
My Lord,
Your Lordship's very faithful servant,
G. B. AIRY.

Lord Bloomfield, &c., &c.

*****

It was probably in acknowledgment of this letter that in due time he
received the following letter with the offer of the Russian Order of St
Stanislas:

MONSIEUR L'ASTRONOME ROYAL,

Sa Majesté l'Empereur en appréciant les travaux assidus qui vous ont
donné une place distinguée au rang des plus illustres Astronomes de
l'Europe, et la coopération bienveillante, que vous n'avez cessé de
témoigner aux Astronomes Russes dans les expéditions, dont ils étaient
chargés, et en dernier lieu par votre visite à l'Observatoire central de
Poulkova, a daigné sur mon rapport, vous nommer Chevalier de la seconde
classe de l'Ordre Impérial et Royal de St Stanislas. Je ne manquerai pas de
vous faire parvenir par l'entremise de Lord Bloomfield les insignes et la
patente de l'ordre.

Veuillez en attendant, Monsieur, recevoir mes sincères félicitations et
l'assurance de ma parfaite considération.

Le Ministre de l'instruction publique,
CTE OUVAROFF.

ST PÉTERSBOURG,

ce 24 Août, 1847
—————
5 Septbr.
à Mr G. B. Airy, Esq.,
Astronome Royal de S. M. Britannique à
Greenwich.

*****

Airy provisionally accepted the Order, but wrote at once to Lord John
Russell the following letter of enquiry:

ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH,
1847, Oct. 15.

MY LORD,

In respect of the office of Astronomer Royal, I refer to the first Lord of
the Treasury as Official Patron. In virtue of this relation I have the honour
to lay before your Lordship the following statement, and to solicit your
instructions thereon.

For conducting with efficiency and with credit to the nation the
institution which is entrusted to me, I have judged it proper to cultivate
intimate relations with the principal Observatories of Europe, and in

particular with the great Observatory founded by the Emperor of Russia at
Pulkowa near St Petersburg. I have several times received Mr Struve, the
Director of that Observatory, at Greenwich: and in the past summer I made
a journey to St Petersburg for the purpose of seeing the Observatory of
Pulkowa.

Since my return from Russia, I have received a communication from
Count Ouvaroff, Minister of Public Instruction in the Russian Empire,
informing me that the Emperor of Russia desires to confer on me the
decoration of Knight Commander in the second rank of the Order of St
Stanislas.

And I have the honour now to enquire of your Lordship whether it is
permitted to me to accept from the Emperor of Russia this decoration.

I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's very obedient servant,
G.B. AIRY.

The Rt Honble Lord John Russell,
&c. &c. &c.
First Lord of the Treasury.

*****

The answer was as follows:

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SIR,

I am desired by Lord John Russell to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter, of the 14th inst. and to transmit to you the enclosed paper respecting

Foreign Orders by which you will perceive that it would be contrary to the
regulations to grant you the permission you desire.

I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
C.A. GREY.

G. B. Airy, Esq.

*****

The passage in the Regulations referred to above is quoted in the
following letter to Count Ouvaroff:

ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH,
1847, Oct. 22.

SIR,

Referring to your Excellency's letter of the 24 August/5 September, and
to my answer of the 25th September, in which I expressed my sense of the
high honor conferred on me by His Majesty the Emperor of Russia in
offering me, through your Excellency, the Order of St Stanislas, and my
pride in accepting it:—I beg leave further to acquaint you that I have
thought it necessary to make enquiry of Lord John Russell, First Lord of
Her Majesty's Treasury, as to my competency to accept this decoration from
His Majesty the Emperor of Russia: and that his Lordship in reply has
referred me to the following Regulation of the British Court;

"5th. That no Subject of Her Majesty could be allowed to accept the
Insignia of a Foreign Order from any Sovereign of a Foreign State, except
they shall be so conferred in consequence of active and distinguished

services before the Enemy, either at Sea, or in the Field; or unless he shall
have been actually employed in the Service of the Foreign Sovereign."

In consequence of the stringency of this Regulation, it is my duty now to
state to your Excellency that I am unable to accept the decoration which His
Majesty the Emperor of Russia was pleased, through your Excellency, to
offer to me.

I beg leave to repeat the expression of my profound reverence to His
Majesty and of my deep sense of the honor which he has done me.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your Excellency's very faithful
and obedient servant,
G.B. AIRY.

To His Excellency
Count Ouvaroff,
&c. &c.

In the course of the following year a very handsome gold medal,
specially struck, was transmitted by Count Ouvaroff on the part of the
Emperor of Russia, to Mr Airy.

1848

"In April I received authority to purchase of Simms an 8-inch object-
glass for the new Transit Circle for £300. The glass was tested and found
satisfactory. While at Playford in January I drew the first plans of the
Transit Circle: and C. May sketched some parts. Definite plans were soon
sent to Ransomes and May, and to Simms in March. The instrument and the

building were proceeded with during the year. The New Transit Circle was
to be erected in the Circle Room, and considerable arrangement was
necessary for continuing the Circle Observations with the existing
instruments, whilst the new instrument was under erection. When the new
Transit is completely mounted, the old Transit Instrument may be removed,
and the Transit Room will be free for any other purpose. I propose to take it
as Private Room for the Astronomer Royal.—On May 12th I made my first
proposal of the Reflex Zenith Tube. The principle of it is as follows: Let the
micrometer be placed close to the object-glass, the frame of the micrometer
being firmly connected with the object-glass cell, and a reflecting eye-piece
being used with no material tube passing over the object-glass: and let a
basin of quicksilver be placed below the object-glass, but in no mechanical
connection with it, at a distance equal to half the focal length of the object-
glass. Such an instrument would at least be free from all uncertainties of
twist of plumb-line, viscosity of water, attachment of upper plumb-line
microscope, attachment of lower plumb-line microscope, and the
observations connected with them: and might be expected, as a result of this
extreme simplicity, to give accurate results.—A considerable error was
discovered in the graduation of Troughton's Circle, amounting in one part to
six seconds, which is referred to as follows: 'This instance has strongly
confirmed me in an opinion which I have long held—that no independent
division is comparable in general accuracy to engine-division,—where the
fundamental divisions of the engine have been made by Troughton's
method, and where in any case the determination by the astronomer of
errors of a few divisions will suffice, in consequence of the uniformity of
law of error, to give the errors of the intermediate divisions.'—The method
of observing with the Altazimuth is carefully described, and the effect of it,
in increasing the number of observations of the Moon, is thus given for the
thirteen lunations between 1847, May 15, and 1848, May 30. 'Number of
days of complete observations with the Meridional Instruments, 111;

number of days of complete observations with Altitude and Azimuth
Instrument, 203. The results of the observations appear very good; perhaps
a little, and but a little, inferior to those of the Meridional Instruments. I
consider that the object for which this instrument was erected is
successfully attained.'—Being satisfied with the general efficiency of the
system arranged by Mr Brooke for our photographic records (of magnetical
observations) I wrote to the Admiralty in his favour, and on Aug. 25th the
Admiralty ordered the payment of £500 to him. A Committee of the Royal
Society also recommended a reward of £250 to Mr Ronalds, which I believe
was paid to him.—On May 1st the last revise of the Lunar Reductions was
passed, and on May 5th, 500 copies were sent for binding.—In this year
Schumacher and I refused a medal to Miss Mitchell for a Comet discovered,
because the rules of correspondence had not been strictly followed: the
King of Denmark gave one by special favour.—In this year occurred the
discovery of Saturn's 8th Satellite by Mr Lassell: upon which I have various
correspondence.—On the 18th of December the degree of LL.D. was
conferred upon me by the University of Edinburgh.—The Ipswich Lectures:
A wish had been expressed that I would give a series of Astronomical
Lectures to the people of Ipswich. I therefore arranged with great care the
necessary apparatus, and lectured six evenings in a room (I forget its name
—it might be Temperance Hall—high above St Matthew's Street), from
Mar. 13th to the end of the week. A shorthand writer took them down: and
these formed the 'Ipswich Lectures,' which were afterwards published by
the Ipswich Museum (for whose benefit the lectures were given) and by
myself, in several editions, and afterwards by Messrs Macmillan in repeated
editions under the title of 'Airy's Popular Astronomy.'—It had been found
necessary to include under one body all the unconnected Commissions of
Sewers for the Metropolis, and Lord Morpeth requested me to be a member.
Its operations began on Oct. 28th. In constitution it was the most foolish

that I ever knew: consisting of, I think, some 200 persons, who could not
possibly attend to it. It came to an end in the next year."

Of private history: "I was at Playford from Jan. 1st to 11th, and again
from Jan. 17th to 25th: also at Playford from June 21st to July 12th.—From
Aug. 23rd to Sept. 12th I was in Ireland on a visit to Lord Rosse at
Parsonstown, chiefly engaged on trials of his large telescope. I returned by
Liverpool, where I inspected the Liverpool Equatoreal and Clockwork, and
examined Mr Lassell's telescopes and grinding apparatus.—From Dec. 6th
to 20th I was at Edinburgh with my wife, on a visit to Prof. J. D. Forbes. We
made various excursions, and I attended lectures by Prof. Wilson and Sir W.
Hamilton: on the 18th I gave a lecture in Prof. Forbes's room. I received the
Honorary Degree of LL.D., and made a statement on the Telescopes of Lord
Rosse and Mr Lassell to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Returned to
Greenwich by Brampton."

*****

Here is a reminiscence of the "Ipswich Lectures," in a letter to his wife,
dated Playford, 1848 Mar. 14, "At the proper time I went to the hall: found
a chairman installed (Mr Western): was presented to him, and by him
presented to the audience: made my bow and commenced. The room was
quite full: I have rarely seen such a sea of faces; about 700 I believe.
Everything went off extremely well, except that the rollers of the moving
piece of sky would squeak: but people did not mind it: and when first a star
passed the meridian, then Jupiter, then some stars, and then Saturn, he was
much applauded. Before beginning I gave notice that I should wait to
answer questions: and as soon as the lecture was finished the Chairman
repeated this and begged people to ask. So several people did ask very
pertinent questions (from the benches) shewing that they had attended well.
Others came up and asked questions."

*****

The following extracts are from letters written to his wife while on his
visit to Lord Rosse at Parsonstown in Ireland. On the way he stopped at
Bangor and looked at the Tubular Bridge Works, which are thus referred to:
"Stopped at Bangor, settled pro tem. at the Castle, and then walked past the
Suspension Bridge towards the Tube Works, which are about 1-1/2 mile
south-west of the Suspension Bridge. The way was by a path through fields
near the water side: and from one or two points in this, the appearance of
the Suspension Bridge was most majestic. The Tube Bridge consists of four
spans, two over water and two over sloping land. The parts for the double
tube over the water spans (four lengths of tube) are building on a platform
as at Conway, to be floated by barges as there: the parts over the sloping
banks are to be built in their place, on an immense scaffolding. I suspect
that, in regard to these parts, Stephenson is sacrificing a great deal of money
to uniformity of plan: and that it would have been much cheaper to build
out stone arches to the piers touching the water…. The Tube Works are
evidently the grand promenade of the idlers about Bangor: I saw many
scores of ladies and gentlemen walking that way with their baskets of
provision, evidently going to gipsy in the fields close by."

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After tea it was voted that the night was likely to be fine, so we all turned
out. The night was uncertain: sometimes entirely clouded, sometimes
partially, but objects were pretty well seen when the sky was clear: the latter
part was much steadier. From the interruption by clouds, the slowness of
finding with and managing a large instrument (especially as their finding

apparatus is not perfectly arranged) and the desire of looking well at an
object when we had got it, we did not look at many objects. The principal
were, Saturn and the Annular Nebula of Lyra with the 3-feet; Saturn, a
remarkable cluster of stars, and a remarkable planetary nebula, with the 6-
feet. With the large telescope, the evidence of the quantity of light is
prodigious. And the light of an object is seen in the field without any colour
or any spreading of stray light: and it is easy to see that the vision with a
reflecting telescope may be much more perfect than with a refractor. With
these large apertures, the rings round the stars are insensible. The planetary
nebula looked a mass of living and intensely brilliant light: this is an object
which I do not suppose can be seen at all in our ordinary telescopes. The
definition of the stars near the zenith is extremely good: with a high power
(as 800) they are points or very nearly so—indeed I believe quite so—so
that it is clear that the whole light from the great 6-feet mirror is collected
into a space not bigger than the point of a needle. But in other positions of
the telescope the definition is not good: and we must look to-day to see
what is the cause of this fault. It is not a fault in the telescope, properly so-
called, but it is either a tilt of the mirror, or an edge-pressure upon the
mirror when the telescope points lower down which distorts its figure, or
something of that kind. So I could not see Saturn at all well, for which I was
sorry, as I could so well have compared his appearance with what I have
seen before. I shall be very much pleased if we can make out what is the
fault of adjustment, and so correct it as to get good images everywhere. It is
evident that the figuring of the mirror, the polishing, and the general
arrangement, are perfectly managed.

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Yesterday we were employed entirely about the Great Telescope,
beginning rather late. The principal objects had relation to the fault of
definition when the telescope is pointed low (which I had remarked on the
preceding night), and were, to make ourselves acquainted with the
mechanism of the mirror's mounting generally, and to measure in various
ways whether the mirror actually does shift its place when the telescope is
set to different angles of elevation. For the latter we found that the mirror
actually does tilt 1/4 of an inch when the tube points low. This of itself will
not account for the fault but it indicates that the lower part is held fast in a
way that may cause a strain which would produce the fault. These
operations and reasonings took a good deal of time. Lord Rosse is disposed
to make an alteration in the mounting for the purpose of correcting this
possible strain.

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The weather here is still vexatious: but not absolutely repulsive.
Yesterday morning Lord Rosse arranged a new method of suspending the
great mirror, so as to take its edgewise pressure in a manner that allowed the
springy supports of its flat back to act. This employed his workmen all day,
so that the proposed finish of polishing the new mirror could not go on. I
took one Camera Lucida sketch of the instrument in the morning, dodging
the heavy showers as well as I could; then, as the afternoon was extremely
fine, I took another, with my head almost roasted by the sun. This last view
is extremely pretty and characteristic, embracing parts of the mounting not
shewn well in the others, and also shewing the Castle, the Observatory, and
the 3-feet telescope. The night promised exceedingly well: but when we got
actually to the telescope it began to cloud and at length became hopeless.

However I saw that the fault which I had remarked on the two preceding
nights was gone. There is now a slight exhibition of another fault to a much
smaller extent. We shall probably be looking at the telescope to-day in
reference to it.

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Yesterday we made some alterations in the mounting of the great mirror.
We found that sundry levers were loose which ought to be firm, and we
conjectured with great probability the cause of this, for correction of which
a change in other parts was necessary. The mirror was then found to
preserve its position much more fixedly than before…. At night, upon
trying the telescope, we found it very faulty for stars near the zenith, where
it had been free from fault before. The screws which we had driven hard
were then loosened, and immediately it was made very good. Then we tried
with some lower objects, and it was good, almost equally good, there. For
Saturn it was very greatly superior to what it had been before. Still it is not
satisfactory to us, and at this time a strong chain is in preparation, to
support the mirror edgeways instead of the posts that there were at first or
the iron hoop which we had on it yesterday.

Nobody would have conceived that an edgewise gripe of such a mass of
metal could derange its form in this way.

Last night was the finest night we have had as regards clouds, though
perhaps not the best for definition of objects.

THE CASTLE, PARSONSTOWN,
1848, Sept. 2.

I cannot learn that the fault in the mirror had been noticed before, but I
fancy that the observations had been very much confined to the Zenith and
its neighbourhood.

1849

"In July the new constant-service water-pipes to the Observatory were
laid from Blackheath. Before this time the supply of water to the
Observatory had been made by a pipe leading up from the lower part of the
Park, and was not constant.—In May the new staircase from my dwelling-
house to the Octagon Room was commenced.—In the Report to the Visitors
there is a curious account of Mr Breen's (one of the Assistants) personal
equation, which was found to be different in quantity for observations of the
Moon and observations of the Stars.—The most important set of
observations (of planets) was a series of measures of Saturn in four
directions, at the time when his ring had disappeared. They appear
completely to negative the idea that Saturn's form differs sensibly from an
ellipsoid.—Among the General Remarks of the Report the following
appears: 'Another change (in prospect) will depend on the use of galvanism;
and as a probable instance of the application of this agent, I may mention
that, although no positive step has hitherto been taken, I fully expect in no
long time to make the going of all the clocks in the Observatory depend on
one original regulator. The same means will probably be employed to
increase the general utility of the Observatory, by the extensive
dissemination throughout the kingdom of accurate time-signals, moved by
an original clock at the Royal Observatory; and I have already entered into
correspondence with the authorities of the South Eastern Railway (whose
line of galvanic communication will shortly pass within nine furlongs of the

Observatory) in reference to this subject.'—I agreed with Schumacher in
giving no medal to Mr G. P. Bond; his comet was found to be Petersen's.
Five medals were awarded for comets in 1847 (Hind, Colla, Mauvais,
Brorsen, Schweizer).—The Liverpool Observatory was finished this year:
and the thanks of the Town Council were presented to me.—Respecting
Fallows's Observations at the Cape of Good Hope: I had received the
Admiralty sanction for proceeding with calculations in 1846, and I
employed computers as was convenient. On July 20th of this year I was
ready with final results, and began to make enquiries about Fallows's
personal history, and the early history of the Cape Observatory. On Oct.
23rd I applied for sanction for printing, which was given, and the work was
soon finished off, in the Astronomical Society's Memoirs.—In the month of
March I had commenced correspondence with various persons on the
imperfect state of publication of the British Survey. Sheets of the Map were
issued by scores, but not one of them had an indication of latitude or
longitude engraved. I knew that great pains had been taken in giving to the
principal triangulation a degree of accuracy never before reached, and in
fixing the astronomical latitudes of many stations with unequalled
precision. Finally I prepared for the Council of the Royal Society a very
strong representation on these subjects, which was adopted and presented to
the Government. It was entirely successful, and the Maps were in future
furnished with latitude and longitude lines.—I was elected President of the
Royal Astronomical Society on Feb. 9th.—In June I went with Sheepshanks
to see some of the operation of measuring a Base on Salisbury Plain. The
following extract from a letter to his wife dated 1849, June 27th, relates to
this expedition: 'In the morning we started before eight in an open carriage
to the Plain: looking into Old Sarum on our way. The Base is measured on
what I should think a most unfavourable line, its north end (from which
they have begun now, in verification of the old measure) being the very
highest point in the whole plain, called Beacon Hill. The soldiers measure

only 252 feet in a day, so it will take them a good while to measure the
whole seven miles. While we were there Col. Hall (Colby's successor) and
Yolland and Cosset came.'"

Of private history: "I made short visits to Playford in January, April and
July. From July 28th to Sept. 12th I made an expedition with my wife to
Orkney and Shetland.—From Dec. 24th to 26th I was at Hawkhurst, on a
visit to Sir John Herschel."

1850

"The Report to the Board of Visitors opens with the following paragraph:
'In recording the proceedings at the Royal Observatory during the last year,
I have less of novelty to communicate to the Visitors than in the Reports of
several years past. Still I trust that the present Report will not be
uninteresting; as exhibiting, I hope, a steady and vigorous adherence to a
general plan long since matured, accompanied with a reasonable
watchfulness for the introduction of new instruments and new methods
when they may seem desirable.'—Since the introduction of the self-
registering instruments a good many experiments had been made to obtain
the most suitable light, and the Report states that 'No change whatever has
been made in these instruments, except by the introduction of the light of
coal-gas charged with the vapour of coal-naptha, for photographic self-
registration both of the magnetic and of the meteorological instruments….
The chemical treatment of the paper is now so well understood by the
Assistants that a failure is almost unknown. And, generally speaking, the
photographs are most beautiful, and give conceptions of the continual
disturbances in terrestrial magnetism which it would be impossible to
acquire from eye-observation.' —Amongst the General Remarks of the
Report it is stated that 'There are two points which have distinctly engaged
my attention. The first of these is, the introduction of the American method

of observing transits, by completing a galvanic circuit by means of a touch
of the finger at the instant of appulse of the transiting body to the wire of
the instrument, which circuit will then animate a magnet that will make an
impression upon a moving paper. After careful consideration of this
method, I am inclined to believe that, in Prof. Mitchell's form, it does
possess the advantages which have been ascribed to it, and that it may
possess peculiar advantages in this Observatory, where the time-connection
of transits made with two different instruments (the Transit and the
Altazimuth) is of the highest importance…. The second point is, the
connection of the Observatory with the galvanic telegraph of the South
Eastern Railway, and with other lines of galvanic wire with which that
telegraph communicates. I had formerly in mind only the connection of this
Observatory with different parts of the great British island: but I now think
it possible that our communications may be extended far beyond its shores.
The promoters of the submarine telegraph are very confident of the
practicability of completing a galvanic connection between England and
France: and I now begin to think it more than possible that, within a few
years, observations at Paris and Brussels may be registered on the recording
surfaces at Greenwich, and vice versa.'—Prof. Hansen was engaged in
forming Lunar Tables from his Lunar Theory, but was stopped for want of
money. On Mar. 7th I represented this privately to Mr Baring, First Lord of
the Admiralty; and on Mar. 30th I wrote officially to the Admiralty,
soliciting £150 with the prospect, if necessary, of making it £200. On Apr.
10th the Admiralty gave their assent. The existence of Hansen's Lunar
Tables is due to this grant.—The King of Denmark's Medal for Comets was
discontinued, owing to the difficulties produced by the hostility of Prussia.
—On Aug. 1st I gave to the Treasury my opinion on the first proposal for a
large reflector in Australia: it was not strongly favourable.—In August,
being (with my wife and Otto Struve) on a visit to Lady Breadalbane at
Taymouth Castle, I examined the mountain Schehallien.—As in other years,

I reported on several Papers for the Royal Society, and took part in various
business for them.—In the Royal Astronomical Society I had much official
business, as President.—In March I communicated to the Athenaeum my
views on the Exodus of the Israelites: this brought me into correspondence
with Miss Corbaux, Robert Stephenson, Capt. Vetch, and Prof. J.D. Forbes.
—In December I went to the London Custom House, to see Sir T.
Freemantle (Chairman of Customs), and to see how far decimal
subdivisions were used in the Custom House."

Of private history: "From Mar. 19th to 22nd I was on an expedition to
Folkestone, Dover, Dungeness, &c.—From Apr. 3rd to 8th at Playford, and
again for short periods in June and July.—From Aug. 1st to Sept. 5th I was
travelling in Scotland with my wife and Otto Struve (for part of the time).
At Edinburgh I attended the Meeting of the British Association, and spoke a
little in Section A. I was nominated President for 1851 at Ipswich. We
travelled to Cape Wrath and returned by Inverness and the Caledonian
Canal.—I was at Playford for a short time in October and December."

1851

"In this year the great shed was built (first erected on the Magnetic
Ground, and about the year 1868 transferred to the South Ground).—The
chronometers were taken from the old Chronometer Room (a room on the
upper story fronting the south, now, 1872, called Library 2) and were put in
the room above the Computing Room (where they remained for 10 or 12
years, I think): it had a chronometer-oven with gas-heat, erected in 1850.—
The following passage is quoted from the Report to the Visitors:—'As
regards Meridional Astronomy our equipment may now be considered
complete. As I have stated above, an improvement might yet be made in our
Transit Circle; nevertheless I do not hesitate to express my belief that no
other existing meridional instrument can be compared with it. This