June, of about a week, to Coniston, with one of his
daughters.--And there was a trip to Weymouth, &c., for about 10 days,
with one of his daughters, in the beginning of August--On his return
from the last-mentioned trip, Airy found a letter from the Secretary
of the Swedish Legation, enclosing the Warrant under the Royal Sign
Manual of His Majesty (Oscar), the King of Sweden and Norway, by which
he was nominated as a First Class Commander of the Order of the North
Star, and accompanying the Decorations of that Order.

1874

"In this year Mr Glaisher resigned his appointment: I placed his
Department (Magnetical and Meteorological) under Mr Ellis.--A balance
of peculiar construction has been made by Mr Oertling, from my
instructions, and fixed near the public barometer at the Entrance
Gate. This instrument enables the public to test any ordinary pound
weight, shewing on a scale the number of grains by which it is too
heavy or too light.--Fresh counterpoises have been attached to the
Great Equatoreal to balance the additional weight of the new
Spectroscope, which was finally received from Mr Browning's hands on
May 2nd of the present year. The Spectroscope is specifically adapted
to sweeping round the Sun's limb, with a view to mapping out the
prominences, and is also available for work on Stars and Nebulae, the
dispersive power being very readily varied. An induction-coil, capable
of giving a six-inch spark, has been made for this instrument by Mr
Browning.--Some new classes of reductions of the meteorological
observations from 1848 to 1868 have been undertaken and completed in
the past year. The general state of this work is as follows: The
diurnal changes of the dry-bulb thermometer, as depending on the
month, on the temperature waves, on the barometric waves, on the
overcast and cloudless states of the sky, and on the direction of the
wind, have been computed and examined for the whole period; and the
exhibition of the results is ready for press. The similar reductions
for the wet-bulb thermometer are rapidly approaching completion.
--Regarding the preparations for the Transit of Venus Expeditions.
Originally five stations were selected and fully equipped
with equatoreals, transits, altazimuths, photoheliographs, and clocks;
but I have since thought it desirable to supplement these by two
branch stations in the Sandwich Islands and one in Kerguelen's Island;
and the additional instr