sion, that, in the late unhappy war in
Paris, the French original thermometers were destroyed; and M. Tresca
requested that, if possible, some of the original thermometers made by
Mr Sheepshanks might be appropriated to the use of the International
Commission. I have therefore transferred to M. Tresca the three
thermometers A.6, S.1, S.2, with the documentary information relating
to them, which was found in Mr Sheepshanks's papers; retaining six
thermometers of the same class in the Royal Observatory.--The Sidereal
Standard Clock continues to give great satisfaction. I am considering
(with the aid of Mr Buckney, of the firm of E. Dent and Co.) an
arrangement for barometric correction, founded on the principle of
action on the pendulum by means of a magnet which can be raised or
lowered by the agency of a large barometer.--The Altazimuth has
received some important alterations. An examination of the results of
observations had made me dissatisfied with the bearings of the
horizontal pivots in their Y's. Mr Simms, at my request, changed the
bearings in Y's for bearing in segments of circles, a construction
which has worked admirably well in the pivots of the Transit Circle."
(And in various other respects the instrument appears to have received
a thorough overhauling. Ed.)--"With the consent of the Royal Society
and of the Kew Committee, the Kew Heliograph has been planted in the
new dome looking over the South Ground. It is not yet finally
adjusted.--Some magnetic observations in the Britannia and Conway
tubular bridges were made last autumn. For this purpose I detached an
Assistant (Mr Carpenter), who was aided by Capt. Tupman, R.M.A.; in
other respects the enterprise was private and at private expense.--The
rates of the first six chronometers (in the annual trials) are
published, in a form which appears most likely to lead to examination
of the causes that influence their merits or demerits. This report is
extensively distributed to British and Foreign horologists and
instrument-makers. All these artists appear to entertain the
conviction that the careful comparisons made at this Observatory, and
the orderly form of their publication, have contributed powerfully to
the improvement of chronometers.--Very lately, application has been
made to me, through the Board of Trade, for plans and other
information regarding time-signal-balls, to assist in guiding the
authorities of the German Empire in the establishment of time sig