ohn Lubbock, and that he more than once changed his conclusions as to
its true value.--In February I was engaged on the drawings and
preparations for my intended Lecture at Cockermouth on the probable
condition of the interior of the Earth. The Lecture was delivered in
April.--At different times in the autumn I was engaged on diagrams to
illustrate the passage of rays through eye-pieces and double-image
micrometers.--The miscellaneous scientific correspondence, which was
always going on, was in this year unusually varied and heavy."

Of private history: He was at Playford till Jan. 26th.--In April he
went to Cockermouth to deliver his Lecture above-mentioned: the
journey was by Birmingham, where he stayed for two days (probably with
his son Osmund, who resided there), to Tarn Bank (the residence of
Isaac Fletcher, M.P.): the lecture was delivered on the 22nd: he made
excursions to Thirlmere and Barrow, and to Edward I.'s Monument, and
returned to Greenwich on the 27th.--From June 17th to 28th he was at
Playford.--From Aug. 19th to Sept. 17th he was travelling in Scotland,
visiting the Tay Bridge, the Loch Katrine Waterworks, &c., and spent
the last fortnight of his trip at Portinscale, near Keswick. On
Dec. 23rd he went to Playford.

1879

"The manuscripts of every kind, which are accumulated in the ordinary
transactions of the Observatory, are preserved with the same care and
arranged on the same system as heretofore. The total number of bound
volumes exceeds 4000. Besides these there is the great mass of Transit
of Venus reductions and manuscripts, which when bound may be expected
to form about 200 volumes.--With regard to the numerous group of Minor
Planets, the Berlin authorities have most kindly given attention to my
representation, and we have now a most admirable and comprehensive
Ephemeris. But the extreme faintness of the majority of these bodies
places them practically beyond the reach of our meridian instrument,
and the difficulty of observation is in many cases further increased
by the large errors of the predicted places.--After a fine autumn, the
weather in the past winter and spring has been remarkably bad. More
than an entire lunation was lost with the Transit Circle, no
observation of the Moon on the meridian having been possible between
January 8 and March 1, a period of more than seven weeks. Neither Sun
nor stars were visible for eleven days, during which period t