Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy by George Biddell Airy (e ink epub reader .TXT) 📖

that much of this zeal arose from the example of the Cambridge Observations.

"On Feb. 21st my Paper 'On the nature of the light in the two rays of Quartz' was communicated to the Philosophical Society: a capital piece of deductive optics. On Mar. 2nd I went to London, I suppose to attend the Board of Visitors (which met frequently, for the proposed reform of Pond's Observations, &c.). As I returned on the outside of the coach there occurred to me a very remarkable deduction from my ideas about the rays of Quartz, which I soon tried with success, and it is printed as an Appendix to the Paper above mentioned. On Mar. 6th my son George Richard was born."

Miscellaneous matters in the first half of this year are as follows:

"Faraday sends me a piece of glass for Amici (he had sent me a piece before).--On Apr. 9th I dispatched the Preface of my 1830 Observations: this implies that all was printed.--On Apr. 18th I began my Lectures and finished on May 24th. There were 49 names. A very good series of lectures.--I think it was immediately after this, at the Visitation of the Cambridge Observatory, that F. Baily and Lieut. Stratford were present, and that Sheepshanks went to Tharfield on the Royston Downs to fire powder signals to be seen at Biggleswade (by Maclear) and at Bedford (by Capt. Smyth) as well as by us at Cambridge.--On May 14th I received _L100_ for my article on the Figure of the Earth from Baldwin the publisher of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.--I attended the Greenwich Visitation on June 3rd.--On June 30th the Observatory Syndicate made their report: satisfactory.

"On July 6th 1831 I started with my wife and infant son for Edensor, and went on alone to Liverpool. I left for Dublin on the day on which the loss of the 'Rothsay Castle' was telegraphed, and had a bad voyage, which made me ill during my whole absence. After a little stay in Dublin I went to Armagh to visit Dr Robinson, and thence to Coleraine and the Giant's Causeway, returning by Belfast and Dublin to Edensor. We returned to Cambridge on Sept. 9th.

"Up to this time the Observatory was furnished with only one large instrument, namely the 10-foot Transit. On Feb. 24th of this year I had received from Thomas Jones (62, Charing Cross) a sketch of the stone pier for mounting the Equatoreal which he was commissioned to make: and the pier was prepared in the spring or summer. On Sept. 20th part of the instrument was sent to the Observatory; other parts followed, and Jones himself came to mount it. On Sept. 16th I received Simms's assurance that he was hastening the Mural Circle.--In this autumn I seriously took up the recalculation of my Long Inequality of Venus and the Earth, and worked through it independently; thus correcting two errors. On Nov. 10th I went to Slough, to put my Paper in the hands of Mr Herschel for communication to the Royal Society. The Paper was read on Nov. 24th.--This was the year of the first Meeting of the British Association at York. The next year's meeting was to be at Oxford, and on Oct. 17th I received from the Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt an invitation to supply a Report on Astronomy, which I undertook: it employed me much of the winter, and the succeeding spring and summer.--The second edition of my Tracts was ready in October. It contained, besides what was in the first edition, the Planetary Theory, and the Undulatory Theory of Light. The Profit was _L80_.--On Nov. 14th I presented to the Cambridge Philosophical Society a Paper 'On a remarkable modification of Newton's Rings': a pretty good Paper.--In November the Copley Medal was awarded to me by the Royal Society for my advances in Optics.--Amongst miscellaneous matters I was engaged in correspondence with Col. Colby and Capt. Portlock about the Irish Triangulation and its calculation. Also with the Admiralty on the form of publication of the Greenwich and Cape Observations."


1832

"In January my Examination Paper for Smith's Prizes was prepared as usual.--Two matters (in addition to the daily routine of Observatory work) occupied me at the beginning of this year. One was the translation of Encke's Paper in successive numbers of the Astronomische Nachrichten concerning Encke's Comet; the University Press printed this gratuitously, and I distributed copies, partly by the aid of Capt. Beaufort.--The other was the Report on Astronomy for the British Association, which required much labour. My reading for it was principally in the University Library (possibly some in London), but I borrowed some books from F. Baily, and I wrote to Capt. Beaufort about the possible repetition of Lacaille's Meridian Arc at the Cape of Good Hope. The Report appears to have been finished on May 2nd.--At this time the Reform Bill was under discussion, and one letter written by me (probably at Sheepshanks's request) addressed I think to Mr Drummond, Lord Althorp's secretary, was read in the House of Commons.

"Optics were not neglected. I have some correspondence with Brewster and Faraday. On Mar. 5th I gave the Cambridge Philosophical Society a Paper 'On a new Analyzer,' and on Mar. 19th one 'On Newton's Rings between two substances of different refractive powers,' both Papers satisfactory to myself.--On the death of Mr F. Fallows, astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope Observatory, the Admiralty appointed Mr Henderson, an Edinburgh lawyer, who had done some little things in astronomical calculation. On Jan. 10th I discussed with him observations to be made, and drew up his Official Instructions which were sent on Jan. 10th.--On Feb. 16th Sir James South writes that Encke's Comet is seen: also that with his 12-inch achromatic, purchased at Paris, and which he was preparing to mount equatoreally, he had seen the disk of Aldebaran apparently bisected by the Moon's limb.--Capt. Beaufort and D. Gilbert write in March about instructions to Dunlop, the astronomer at Paramatta. I sent a draft to Capt. Beaufort on Apr. 27th.

"The Preface to my 1831 Observations is dated Mar. 20th. The distribution of the book would be a few weeks later.--On May 7th I began my Lectures: 51 names: I finished on May 29th.--The mounting of the Equatoreal was finished some time before the Syndicate Visitation at the end of May, but Jones's charge appeared to be exorbitant: I believe it was paid at last, but it was considered unfair.--On June 2nd I went to London: I presume to the Greenwich Visitation.--I went to Oxford to the meeting of the British Association (lodging I think with Prof. Rigaud at the Observatory) on June 16th, and read part of my Report on Astronomy in the Theatre.

"On June 26th I started with my wife for the Highlands of Scotland. After a short stay at Edensor, we went by Carlisle to Glasgow, and through the Lake District to Inverness. Thence by Auchnanault to Balmacarra, where we were received by Mr Lillingstone. After an expedition in Skye, we returned to Balmacarra, and passed on to Invermoriston, where we were received by Grant of Glenmoriston. We then went to Fort William and Oban, and crossed over to Mull, where we were received by Maclean of Loch Buy. We returned to Oban and on to Edinburgh, where we made a short stay. Then to Melrose, where we were received by Sir D. Brewster, and by Edensor to Cambridge, where we arrived on Sept. 17th.

"I received (at Edinburgh I believe) a letter from Arago, writing for the plans of our observing-room shutters.--Mr Vernon Harcourt wrote deprecating the tone of my Report on Astronomy as related to English Astronomers, but I refused to alter a word.--Sheepshanks wrote in September in great anxiety about the Cambridge Circle, for which he thought the pier ought to be raised: I would have no such thing, and arranged it much more conveniently by means of a pit. On Oct. 9th Simms says that he will come with the circle immediately, and Jones on Sept. 29th says that he will make some alteration in the equatoreal: thus there was at last a prospect of furnishing the Observatory properly.--On Oct. 9th, I have Encke's thanks for the translation of the Comet Paper.--One of the desiderata which I had pointed out in my Report on Astronomy was the determination of the mass of Jupiter by elongations of the 4th satellite: and as the Equatoreal of the Cambridge Observatory was on the point of coming into use, I determined to employ it for this purpose. It was necessary for the reduction of the observations that I should prepare Tables of the motion of Jupiter's 4th Satellite in a form applicable to computations of differences of right-ascension. The date of my Tables is Oct. 3rd, 1832.--In October the Observatory Syndicate made their Report: quite satisfactory.

"On Oct. 20th Sheepshanks wrote asking my assistance in the Penny Cyclopaedia: I did afterwards write 'Gravitation' and 'Greenwich.' --Capt. Beaufort wrote in November to ask my opinion on the Preface to an edition of Groombridge's Catalogue which had been prepared by H. Taylor: Sheepshanks also wrote; he had objected to it. This was the beginning of an affair which afterwards gave me great labour.--Vernon Harcourt writes, much offended at some terms which I had used in reference to an office in the British Association.

"The Equatoreal mounting which Troughton and Simms had been preparing for Sir James South's large telescope had not entirely succeeded. I have various letters at this time from Sheepshanks and Simms, relating to the disposition which Sir James South shewed to resist every claim till compelled by law to pay it.--A general election of Members of Parliament was now coming on: Mr Lubbock was candidate for the University. On Nov. 27th I had a letter from Sedgwick requesting me to write a letter in the newspapers in favour of Lubbock; which I did. On Dec. 7th I have notice of the County voting at Newmarket on Dec. 18th and 19th: I walked there to vote for Townley; he lost the election by two or three votes in several thousands.

"The Mural Circle was now nearly ready in all respects, and it was known that another Assistant would be required. Mr Richardson (one of the Assistants of Greenwich Observatory) and Mr Simms recommended to me Mr Glaisher, who was soon after appointed, and subsequently became an Assistant at Greenwich.--On Dec. 24th I have a letter from Bessel (the first I believe). I think that I had written to him about a general reduction of the Greenwich Planetary Observations, using his Tabulae Regiomontanae as basis, and that this was his reply approving of it."


1833

"On Jan. 4th 1833 my daughter Elizabeth was born.--I prepared an examination paper for Smith's Prizes as usual.--On Jan. 5th I received notice from Simms that he had received payment (_L1050_) for the Mural Circle from the Vice-Chancellor. About this time the Circle was completely made serviceable, and I (with Mr Glaisher as Assistant) immediately began its use. A puzzling apparent defect in the circle (exhibiting itself by the discordance of zenith points obtained by reflection observations on opposite sides of the zenith) shewed itself very early. On Feb. 4th I have letters about it from Sheepshanks and Simms.--On Jan. 17th I received notice from F. Baily that the Astronomical Society had awarded me their Medal for my long inequality of Venus and the Earth: on Feb. 7th I