hancellor of the Exchequer (Sir G. Cornewall Lewis) on Decimal
Coinage."

Of private history: "I was at Playford for a large part of
January.--On Mar, 26th I went to Reading, to visit Mr Sheepshanks, and
afterwards to Silchester and Hereford.--On June 21st I went with my
wife and two eldest sons to Edinburgh and other places in Scotland,
but residing principally at Oban, where I hired a house. Amongst other
expeditions, I and my son Wilfrid went with the 'Pharos' (Northern
Lights Steamer) to the Skerry Vohr Lighthouse, &c. I also visited
Newcastle, &c., and returned to Greenwich on Aug. 2nd.--From Oct. 12th
to 17th I was at Cambridge.--On Dec. 24th I went to Playford."

CHAPTER VII.

AT GREENWICH OBSERVATORY--1856 TO 1866.

1856

"In the Report to the Visitors there is an interesting account of the
difficulties experienced with the Reflex Zenith Tube in consequence of
the tremors of the quicksilver transmitted through the ground.
Attempts were made to reduce the tremor by supporting the
quicksilver trough on a stage founded at a depth of 10 feet below the
surface, but it was not in the smallest degree diminished, and the
Report states that 'The experience of this investigation justifies me
in believing that no practicable depth of trench prevents the
propagation of tremor when the soil is like that of Greenwich Hill, a
gravel, in all places very hard, and in some, cemented to the
consistency of rock.'--With respect to the regulation of the Post
Office clocks, 'One of the galvanic clocks in the Post Office
Department, Lombard Street, is already placed in connection with the
Royal Observatory, and is regulated at noon every day ... other clocks
at the General Post Office are nearly prepared for the same
regulation, and I expect that the complete system will soon be in
action.'--Under the head of General Remarks a careful summary is given
of the work of the Observatory, and the paragraph concludes as
follows: 'Lastly there are employments which connect the scientific
Observatory with the practical world; the distribution of accurate
time, the improvement of marine time-keepers, the observations and
communications which tend to the advantage of Geography and
Navigation, and the study, in a practical sense, of the modifications
of Magnetism; a careful attention to these is likely to prove useful
to the world, and conducive to the materia