er 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 res