olution 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 _L500_. 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