Chapter VI: At Greenwich Observatory--1846 to 1856 (1)

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."

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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:

PULKOWA,
_1847, August 25th_.
_Wednesday evening_.

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:

DOWNING STREET,
_October 19, 1847_.

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."

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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."

THE CASTLE, PARSONSTOWN,
_1848, Aug. 29_.

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.

THE CASTLE, PARSONSTOWN,
_1848, Aug. 30_.

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.

THE CASTLE, PARSONSTOWN,
_1848, Aug. 31_.

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.

THE CASTLE, PARSONSTOWN,
_1848, Sept. 1_.

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