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 deg.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