Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy Part 11

GEORGE INN, YORK, _1845, Dec. 30_.

I wrote yesterday from Mr Hudson's in time for the late post, and hope that my letter might be posted by the servant to whom it was given. Our affairs yesterday were simple: we reached Euston Station properly, found Watson there, found a carriage reserved for us, eat pork-pie at Wolverton (not so good as formerly), dined at Derby, and arrived in York at 5.20. On the way Watson informed me that the Government have awarded us _500_ each. Sir F. Smith had talked over the matter with us, and I laid it down as a principle that we considered the business as an important one and one of very great responsibility, and that we wished either that the Government should treat us handsomely or should consider us as servants of the State acting gratuitously, to which they a.s.sented. I think the Government have done very well. Mr Hudson, as I have said, met us on the platform and pressed us to dine with him (though I had dined twice). Then we found the rival parties quarrelling, and had to arrange between them. This prevented me from writing for the early post. (I forgot to mention that Saunders, the Great Western Secretary, rode with us all the way). At Hudson's we had really a very pleasant dinner: I sat between Vernon Harcourt and Mrs Malcolm (his sister Georgiana) and near to Mr Hudson. This morning we were prepared at 9 at the Station for some runs. Brunel and other people had arrived in the night. And we have been to Darlington and back, with a large party in our experimental train. George Arthur Biddell rode on the engine as representing me. But the side wind was so dreadfully heavy that, as regards the wants of the case, this day is quite thrown away. We have since been to lunch with Vernon Harcourt (Mrs Harcourt not at home) and then went with him to look at the Cathedral. The Chapter-house, which was a little injured, has been pretty well restored: all other things in good order. The Cathedral looks smaller and lower than French cathedrals. Now that we have come in, the Lord Mayor of York has just called to invite us to dinner to-morrow.--I propose to George Arthur Biddell that he go to Newcastle this evening, in order to see gla.s.s works and other things there to-morrow, and to return when he can.

I think that I can persuade Barlow to stop to see the experiments out, and if so I shall endeavour to return as soon as possible. The earliest day would be the day after to-morrow.

The following extract is from a letter written to Mr Murray for insertion in his Handbook of France, relating to the Breakwater at Cherbourg, which Airy had visited during his journey in France in the autumn of this year.

ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH, _1845, Oct. 8th_.

My opinion on the construction I need not say ought not to be quoted: but you are quite welcome to found any general statement on it; or perhaps it may guide you in further enquiries. To make it clear, I must speak rather generally upon the subject. There are three ways in which a breakwater may be constructed. 1. By building a strong wall with perpendicular face from the bottom of the sea. 2. By making a bank with nothing but slopes towards the sea. 3. By making a sloping bank to a certain height and then building a perpendicular wall upon it.--Now if the 1st of these constructions could be arranged, I have no doubt that it would be the best of all, because a sea does not _break_ against a perpendicular face, but recoils in an unbroken swell, merely making a slow quiet push at the wall, and not making a violent impact. But practically it is nearly impossible. The 2nd construction makes the sea to break tremendously, but if the sloping surface be made of square stone put together with reasonable care there is not the smallest tendency to unseat these stones. This is the principle of construction of Plymouth Breakwater. In the 3rd construction, the slope makes the sea to break tremendously, and then it strikes the perpendicular face with the force of a battering ram: and therefore in my opinion this is the worst construction of all. A few face-stones may easily be dislodged, and then the sea entering with this enormous force will speedily destroy the whole. This is the form of the Cherbourg Digue.

From this you will gather that I have a full belief that Plymouth Breakwater will last very long, and that the Digue of Cherbourg, at least its upper wall, will not last long. The great bank will last a good while, gradually suffering degradation, but still protecting the Road pretty well.

I was a.s.sured by the officers residing on the Digue that the sea which on breaking is thrown vertically upwards and then falls down upon the pavement does sometimes push the stones about which are lying there and which weigh three or four tons.

I saw some preparations for the foundations of the fort at the eastern extremity of the Digue. One artificial stone of concrete measured 12'9" 6'7" 5'7", and was estimated to weigh 25000 kilogrammes.

CHAPTER VI.

AT GREENWICH OBSERVATORY--1846 TO 1856.

1846

"On Nov. 7th I proposed a change in the form of Estimates for the Observatory. The original astronomical part was provided by the Admiralty, and the new magnetical and meteorological part was provided by the Treasury: and the whole Estimates and Accounts of the Observatory never appeared in one public paper. I proposed that the whole should be placed on the Navy Estimates, but the Admiralty refused. I repeated this in subsequent years, with no success.

Meantime I always sent to the Admiralty a duplicate of my Treasury Estimate with the proper Admiralty Estimate.--Stephenson's Railway through the lower part of the Park, in tunnel about 850 feet from the Observatory, was again brought forward. On Feb. 20th it was put before me by the Government, and on March 9th I made experiments at Kensal Green, specially on the effect of a tunnel: which I found to be considerable in suppressing the tremors. On May 6th I made my Report, generally favourable, supposing the railway to be in tunnel. On May 13th I, with Mr Stephenson, had an interview at the Admiralty with Lord Ellenborough and Sir George c.o.c.kburn. The Earl appeared willing to relax in his scruples about allowing a railway through the Park, when Sir George c.o.c.kburn made a most solemn protest against it, on the ground of danger to an inst.i.tution of such importance as the Observatory. I have no doubt that this protest of Sir George c.o.c.kburn's really determined the Government. On June 10th I was informed that the Government refused their consent. After this the South Eastern Railway Company adopted the line through Tranquil Vale.--In consequence of the defective state of Paramatta Observatory I had written to Sir Robert Peel on April 16th raising the question of a General Superintending Board for Colonial Observatories: and on June 27th I saw Mr Gladstone at the Colonial Office to enquire about the possibility of establishing local Boards. On June 29th a general plan was settled, but it never came to anything.--Forty volumes of the Observatory MSS. were bound--an important beginning.--Deep-sunk thermometers were prepared by Prof. Forbes.--On June 22nd Sir Robert Inglis procured an Order of the House of Commons for printing a paper of Sir James South's, ostensibly on the effects of a railway pa.s.sing through Greenwich Park, but really attacking almost everything that I did in the Observatory. I replied to this on July 21st by a letter in the Athenaeum addressed to Sir Robert Inglis, in terms so strong and so well supported that Sir James South was effectually silenced." The following extract from a letter of Airy's to the Earl of Rosse, dated Dec. 15th 1846, will shew how p.r.o.nounced the quarrel between Airy and South had become in consequence of the above-mentioned attack and previous differences: "After the public exposure which his conduct in the last summer compelled me to make, I certainly cannot meet him on equal terms, and desire not to meet him at all." (Ed.).--"In the Mag. and Met. Department, I was constantly engaged with Mr Charles Brooke in the preparation and mounting of the self-registering instruments, and the chemical arrangements for their use, to the end of the year. With Mr Ronalds I was similarly engaged: but I had the greatest difficulty in transacting business with him, from his unpractical habits.--The equipment of the Liverpool Observatory, under me, was still going on: I introduced the use of Siemens's Chronometric Governor for giving horary motion to an Equatoreal there. I have since introduced the same principle in the Chronograph Barrel and the Great Equatoreal at Greenwich: I consider it important.--On Feb. 13th I received the Astronomical Society's Medal for the Planetary Reductions.--In the University of London: At this time seriously began the discussion whether there should be a compulsory examination in matters bearing on religious subjects. After this there was no peace.--For discovery of Comets three medals were awarded by Schumacher and me: one to Peters, two to De Vico. A comet was seen by Hind, and by no other observer: after correspondence, princ.i.p.ally in 1848, the medal was refused to him.--With respect to the Railway Gauge Commission: On Jan. 1st, in our experiments near York, the engine ran off the rails. On Jan. 29th the Commissioners signed the Report, and the business was concluded by the end of April. Our recommendation was that the narrow gauge should be carried throughout. This was opposed most violently by partisans of the broad gauge, and they had sufficient influence in Parliament to prevent our recommendation from being carried into effect. But the policy, even of the Great Western Railway (in which the broad gauge originated), has supported our views: the narrow gauge has been gradually subst.i.tuted for the broad: and the broad now (1872) scarcely exists.--On June 20th Lord Canning enquired of me about makers for the clock in the Clock Tower of Westminster Palace. I suggested Vulliamy, Dent, Whitehurst; and made other suggestions: I had some correspondence with E. B. Denison, about clocks.--I had much correspondence with Stephenson about the Tubular Bridge over the Menai Straits. Stephenson afterwards spoke of my a.s.sistance as having much supported him in this anxious work: on Dec. 11th I was requested to make a Report, and to charge a fee as a Civil Engineer; but I declined to do so. In January I went, with George Arthur Biddell, to Portsmouth, to examine Lord Dundonald's rotary engine as mounted in the 'Ja.n.u.s,' and made a Report on the same to the Admiralty: and I made several subsequent Reports on the same matter. The scheme was abandoned in the course of next year; the real cause of failure, as I believe, was in the bad mounting in the ship.

"The engrossing subject of this year was the discovery of Neptune. As I have said (1845) I obtained no answer from Adams to a letter of enquiry. Beginning with June 26th of 1846 I had correspondence of a satisfactory character with Le Verrier, who had taken up the subject of the disturbance of Ura.n.u.s, and arrived at conclusions not very different from those of Adams. I wrote from Ely on July 9th to Challis, begging him, as in possession of the largest telescope in England, to sweep for the planet, and suggesting a plan. I received information of its recognition by Galle, when I was visiting Hansen at Gotha. For further official history, see my communications to the Royal Astronomical Society, and for private history see the papers in the Royal Observatory. I was abused most savagely both by English and French."

The Report to the Visitors contains an interesting account of the Great Lunar Reductions, from which the following pa.s.sage is extracted: "Of the Third Section, containing the comparison of Observed Places with Tabular Places, three sheets are printed, from 1750 to 1756. This comparison, it is to be observed, does not contain a simple comparison of places, but contains also the coefficients of the various changes in the moon's place depending on changes in the elements.... The process for the correction of the elements by means of these comparisons is now going on: and the extent of this work, even after so much has been prepared, almost exceeds belief. For the longitude, ten columns are added in groups, formed in thirteen different ways, each different way having on the average about nine hundred groups. For the ecliptic polar distance, five columns are added in groups, formed in seven different ways, each different way having on the average about nine hundred groups. Thus it will appear that there are not fewer than 150,000 additions of columns of figures. This part of the work is not only completed but is verified, so that the books of comparison of Observed and Tabular Places are, as regards this work, completely cleared out. The next step is to take the means of these groups, a process which is now in hand: it will be followed by the formation and solution of the equations on which the corrections of the elements depend."

The following remarks, extracted from the Report to the Visitors, with respect to the instrumental equipment of the Observatory, embody the views of the Astronomer Royal at this time: "The utmost change, which I contemplate as likely to occur in many years, in regard to our meridional instruments, is the subst.i.tution of instruments of the same cla.s.s carrying telescopes of larger aperture. The only instrument which, as I think, may possibly be called for by the demands of the astronomer or the astronomical public, is a telescope of the largest size, for the observation of faint nebulae and minute double stars. Whether the addition of such an instrument to our apparatus would be an advantage, is, in my opinion, not free from doubt. The line of conduct for the Observatory is sufficiently well traced; there can be no doubt that our primary objects ought to be the accurate determination of places of the fundamental Stars, the Sun, the Planets, and, above all, the Moon. Any addition whatever to our powers or our instrumental luxuries, which should tend to withdraw our energies from these objects, would be a misfortune to the Observatory."

Of private history: "In March I visited Prof. Sedgwick at Norwich.--On Mar. 28th the 'Sir Henry Pottinger' was launched from Fairbairn's Yard on the Isle of Dogs, where I was thrown down and dislocated my right thumb.--From Apr. 10th to 15th I was at Playford.--On June 10th Prof.

Hansen arrived, and stayed with me to July 4th.--From July 6th to 10th I was visiting Dean Peac.o.c.k at Ely.--From July 23rd to 29th I was at Playford, where for the first time I lodged in my own cottage. I had bought it some time before, and my sister had superintended alterations and the addition of a room. I was much pleased thus to be connected with the happy scenes of my youth.--From Aug. 10th to Oct.

11th I was with my wife and her sister Elizabeth Smith on the Continent. We stayed for some time at Wiesbaden, as my nerves were shaken by the work on the Railway Gauge Commission, and I wanted the Wiesbaden waters. We visited various places in Germany, and made a 10-days' excursion among the Swiss Mountains. At Gotha we lodged with Prof. Hansen for three days; and it was while staying here that I heard from Prof. Encke (on Sept. 29th) that Galle had discovered the expected planet. We visited Gauss at Gottingen and Miss Caroline Herschel at Hannover. We had a very bad pa.s.sage from Hamburgh to London, lasting five days: a crank-pin broke and had to be repaired: after four days our sea-sickness had gone off, during the gale--a valuable discovery for me, as I never afterwards feared sea-sickness.--On Dec. 22nd I attended the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Trinity College."

The following extracts relating to the engines of the "Ja.n.u.s" are taken from letters to his wife dated from Portsmouth, Jan. 6th and 7th, 1846:

As soon as possible we repaired to the Dock Yard and presented ourselves to the Admiral Superintendant--Admiral Hyde Parker (not Sir Hyde Parker). Found that the "Ja.n.u.s" had not arrived: the Admiral Superintendant (who does not spare a hard word) expressing himself curiously thereon. But he had got the proper orders from the Admiralty relating to me: so he immediately sent for Mr Taplin, the superintendant of machinery: and we went off to see the small engine of Lord D--d's construction which is working some pumps and other machinery in the yard. It was kept at work a little longer than usual for us to see it. And I have no hesitation in saying that it was working extremely well. It had not been opened in any way for half a year, and not for repair or packing for a much longer time.... This morning we went to the Dock Yard, and on entering the engine house there was Shirreff, and Lord D--d soon appeared. The "Ja.n.u.s" had come to anchor at Spithead late last night, and had entered the harbour this morning. Blowing weather on Sat.u.r.day night. We had the engine pretty well pulled to pieces, and sat contemplating her a long time. Before this Denison had come to us. We then went on board the "Ja.n.u.s" with Shirreff but not with Lord D--d. The engines were still hot, and so they were turned backwards a little for my edification.

(This was convenient because, the vessel being moored by her head, she could thus strain backwards without doing mischief.) The vacuum not good. Then, after a luncheon on board, it was agreed to run out a little way. But the engines absolutely stuck fast, and would not stir a bit. This I considered a perfect G.o.dsend. So the paddle-wheels (at my desire) were lashed fast, and we are to see her opened to-morrow morning.

This morning (Jan. 7th) we all went off to the "Ja.n.u.s," where we expected to find the end of the cylinder (where we believe yesterday's block to have taken place) withdrawn. But it was not near it. After a great many bolts were drawn, it was discovered that one bolt could not be drawn, and in order to get room for working at it, it was necessary to take off the end of the other cylinder. And such a job! Three pulley hooks were broken in my sight, and I believe some out of my sight. However this auxiliary end was at last got off: and the people began to act on the refractory bolt. But by this time it was getting dark and the men were leaving the dockyard, so I left, arranging that what they could do in preparation for me might be done in good time to-morrow morning.

1847

"On Nov. 13th I circulated an Address, proposing to discontinue the use of the Zenith Tube, because it had been found by a long course of comparative trials that the Zenith Tube was not more accurate than the Mural Circle. The Address stated that 'This want of superior efficiency of the Zenith Tube (which, considered in reference to the expectations that had been formed of its accuracy, must be estimated as a positive failure) is probably due to two circ.u.mstances. One is, the use of a plumb-line; which appears to be affected with various ill-understood causes of unsteadiness. The other is, the insuperable difficulty of ventilating the room in which the instrument is mounted.'--On December 20th I circulated an Address, proposing a Transit Circle, with telescope of 8 inches aperture. The Address states as follows: 'The clear aperture of the Object-Gla.s.s of our Transit Instrument is very nearly 5 inches, that of our Mural Circle is very nearly 4 inches.'--I had been requested by the Master-General of Ordnance (I think) to examine Candidates for a Mastership in Woolwich Academy, and I was employed on it in February and March, in conjunction with Prof. Christie.--In January I applied to Lord Auckland for money-a.s.sistance to make an astronomical journey on the Continent, but he refused.--On Mar. 19th Sir James South addressed to the Admiralty a formal complaint against me for not observing with the astronomical instruments: on Mar. 31st I was triumphantly acquitted by the Admiralty.--In June I was requested by the Commissioners of Railways to act as President of a Commission on Iron Bridges (suggested by the fall of the bridge at Chester). Lord Auckland objected to it, and I was not sorry to be spared the trouble of it.--In December I was requested, and undertook to prepare the Astronomical part of the Scientific Manual for Naval Officers.--On Sept. 24th occurred a very remarkable Magnetic Storm, to which there had been nothing comparable before. Mr Glaisher had it observed by eye extremely well, and I printed and circulated a paper concerning it.--Hansen, stimulated by the Lunar Reductions, discovered two long inequalities in the motion of the Moon, produced by the action of Venus. In the Report to the Visitors this matter is thus referred to: 'In the last summer I had the pleasure of visiting Prof. Hansen at Gotha, and I was so fortunate as to exhibit to him the corrections of the elements from these Reductions, and strongly to call his attention to their certainty, the peculiarity of their fluctuations, and the necessity of seeking for some physical explanation. I have much pleasure in indulging in the thought, that it was mainly owing to this representation that Prof. Hansen undertook that quest, which has terminated in the discovery of his two new lunar inequalities, the most remarkable discovery, I think, in Physical Astronomy.'--In discussing points relating to the discovery of Neptune, I made an unfortunate blunder. In a paper hastily sent to the Athenaeum (Feb. 18th) I said that Arago's conduct had been indelicate. I perceived instantly that I had used a wrong expression, and by the very next post I sent an altered expression. This altered expression was not received in time, and the original expression was printed, to my great sorrow. I could not then apologize. But at what appeared to be the first opportunity, in December, I did apologize; and my apology was accepted. But I think that Arago was never again so cordial as before.--On July 4th Hebe was discovered. After this Iris and Flora. Now commenced that train of discoveries which has added more than 100 planets to the Solar System.--On Oct. 8th was an Annular Eclipse of the Sun, of which the limit of annularity pa.s.sed near to Greenwich. To determine the exact place, I equipped observatories at Hayes, Lewisham South End, Lewisham Village, Blackwall, Stratford, Walthamstow, and Chingford. The weather was bad and no observation was obtained.--In the Royal Astronomical Society: In 1846, the dispute between the partisans of Adams and Le Verrier was so violent that no medal could be awarded to either. In 1847 I (with other Fellows of the Society) promoted a special Meeting for considering such a modification of the bye-laws that for this occasion only it might be permissible to give two medals. After two days' stormy discussion, it was rejected.--In the University of London: At a meeting in July, where the religious question was discussed, it was proposed to receive some testimonial from affiliated bodies, or to consider that or some other plan for introducing religious literature. As the propriety of this was doubtful, there was a general feeling for taking legal advice: and it was set aside solely on purpose to raise the question about legal consultation. _That_ was negatived by vote: and I then claimed the consideration of the question which we had put aside for it. By the influence of H. Warburton, M.P., this was denied. I wrote a letter to be laid before the Meeting on July 28th, when I was necessarily absent, urging my claim: my letter was put aside. I determined never to sit with Warburton again: on Aug. 2nd I intimated to Lord Burlington my wish to retire, and on Aug. 29th he transmitted to the Home Secretary my resignation. He (Lord Burlington) fully expressed his opinion that my claim ought to have been allowed.--On June 9th, on the occasion of Prince Albert's state visit to Cambridge, knighthood was offered to me through his Secretary, Prof. Sedgwick, but I declined it.--In September, the Russian Order of St Stanislas was offered to me, Mr De Berg, the Secretary of Emba.s.sy, coming to Greenwich personally to announce it: but I was compelled by our Government Rules to decline it.--I invited Le Verrier to England, and escorted him to the Meeting of the British a.s.sociation at Oxford in June.--As regards the Westminster Clock on the Parliamentary Building: in May I examined and reported on Dent's and Whitehurst's clock factories. Vulliamy was excessively angry with me. On May 31st a great Parliamentary Paper was prepared in return to an Order of the House of Lords for correspondence relating to the Clock.--With respect to the Saw Mills for Ship Timber: work was going on under the direction of Sylvester to Mar. 18th. It was, I believe, at that time, that the fire occurred in Chatham Dock Yard which burnt the whole of the saw-machinery. I was tired of my machinery: and, from the extending use of iron ships, the probable value of it was much diminished; and I made no effort to restore it."

Of private history: "In February I went to Derby to see Whitehurst's clock factory; and went on with my wife to Brampton near Chesterfield, where her mother was living.--From Apr. 1st to 5th I was at Playford.--On Holy Thursday, I walked the Parish Bounds (of Greenwich) with the Parish officers and others. From Apr. 19th to 24th I was at Birmingham (on a visit to Guest, my former pupil, and afterwards Master of Caius College) and its neighbourhood, with George Arthur Biddell.--From June 23rd to 28th I was at Oxford and Malvern: my sister was at Malvern, for water-cure: the meeting of the British a.s.sociation was at Oxford and I escorted Le Verrier thither.--July 28th to 30th I was at Brampton.--From August 10th to September 18th I was engaged on an expedition to St Petersburg, chiefly with the object of inspecting the Pulkowa Observatory. I went by Hamburg to Altona, where I met Struve, and started with him in an open waggon for Lubeck, where we arrived on Aug. 14th. We proceeded by steamer to Cronstadt and Petersburg, and so to Pulkowa, where I lodged with O. Struve. I was here engaged till Sept. 4th, in the Observatory, in expeditions in the neighbourhood and at St Petersburg, and at dinner-parties, &c. I met Count Colloredo, Count Ouvaroff, Count Stroganoff, Lord Bloomfield (British Amba.s.sador), and others. On Sept. 4th I went in a small steamer to Cronstadt, and then in the Vladimir to Swinemunde: we were then towed in a pa.s.sage boat to Stettin, and I proceeded by railway to Berlin. On Sept. 9th I found Galle and saw the Observatory. On Sept. 10th I went to Potzdam and saw Humboldt. On the 12th I went to Hamburg and lodged with Schumacher: I here visited Repsold and Rumker. On Sept. 14th I embarked in the John Bull for London, and arrived there on the evening of the 18th: on the 16th it was blowing 'a whole gale,' reported to be the heaviest gale known for so many hours; 4 bullocks and 24 sheep were thrown overboard.--From Dec. 3rd to 8th I was at Cambridge, and from the 22nd to 31st at Playford."

Here is a letter to his wife written from Birmingham, containing a note of the progress of the ironwork for the Menai Bridge:

EDGBASTON, BIRMINGHAM, _1847, Apr. 22_.

Yesterday morning we started between 10 and 11 for Stourbridge, first to see some clay which is celebrated all over the world as the only clay which is fit to make pots for melting gla.s.s, &c. You know that in all these fiery regions, fire-clay is a thing of very great importance, as no furnace will stand if made of any ordinary bricks (and even with the fire-clay, the small furnaces are examined every week), but this Stourbridge clay is as superior to fire-clay as fire-clay is to common brick-earth. Then we went to Fosters' puddling and rolling works near Stourbridge. These are on a very large scale: of course much that we saw was a repet.i.tion of what we had seen before, but there were slitting mills, machines for rolling the puddled blooms instead of hammering them, &c., and we had the satisfaction of handling the puddling irons ourselves. Then we went to another work of the Fosters not far from Dudley, where part of the work of the Tube Bridge for the Menai is going on. The Fosters are, I believe, the largest iron masters in the country, and the two princ.i.p.al partners, the elder Mr Foster and his Nephew, accompanied us in all our inspections and steppings from one set of works to another.

The length of Tube Bridge which they have in hand here is only 120 feet, about 1/4 of the whole length: and at present they are only busy on the bottom part of it: but it is a prodigious thing. I shall be anxious about it. Then we went to other works of the Fosters' at King's Wynford, where they have blast furnaces: and here after seeing all other usual things we saw the furnaces tapped. In this district the Fosters work the 10-yard coal in a way different from any body else: they work out the upper half of its thickness and then leave the ground to fall in: after a year or two this ground becomes so hard as to make a good safe roof, and then they work away the other half: thus they avoid much of the danger and difficulty of working the thick bed all at once. The ventilation of these mines scarcely ever requires fires, and then only what they call "lamps," those little fire-places which are used for giving light at night. (In the Northumberland and Durham pits, they constantly have immense roaring fires to make a draught.) Then we came home through Dudley.

During his stay in Russia, there was a great desire manifested by the astronomers and scientific men of Russia that he should be presented to the Emperor. This would no doubt have taken place had not the movements of the Court and his own want of time prevented it. The following letter to the British Amba.s.sador, Lord Bloomfield, relates to this matter:

PULKOWA, _1847, August 25th_.

_Wednesday evening_.

MY LORD,

I had the honour yesterday to receive your Lordship's note of Sunday last, which by some irregularity in the communications with this place reached me, I believe, later than it ought. From this circ.u.mstance, and also from my being made acquainted only this afternoon with some official arrangements, I am compelled to trouble you at a time which I fear is less convenient than I could have desired.

The object of my present communication is, to ask whether (if the movements of the Court permit it) it would be agreeable to your Lordship to present me to the Emperor. In explanation of this enquiry, I beg leave to state that this is an honour to which, personally, I could not think of aspiring. My presence however at Pulkowa at this time is in an official character. As Astronomer Royal of England, I have thought it my duty to make myself perfectly acquainted with the Observatory of Pulkowa, and this is the sole object of my journey to Russia. It is understood that the Emperor takes great interest in the reputation of the Observatory, and I am confident that the remarks upon it which I am able to make would be agreeable to him.

I place these reasons before you, awaiting entirely Your Lordship's decision on the propriety of the step to which I have alluded. I am to leave St Petersburg on Sat.u.r.day the 4th of September.

I have the honor to be My Lord, Your Lordship's very faithful servant, G. B. AIRY.

_Lord Bloomfield, &c., &c._

It was probably in acknowledgment of this letter that in due time he received the following letter with the offer of the Russian Order of St Stanislas:

MONSIEUR L'ASTRONOME ROYAL,

Sa Majeste l'Empereur en appreciant les travaux a.s.sidus qui vous ont donne une place distinguee au rang des plus ill.u.s.tres Astronomes de l'Europe, et la cooperation bienveillante, que vous n'avez cesse de temoigner aux Astronomes Russes dans les expeditions, dont ils etaient charges, et en dernier lieu par votre visite a l'Observatoire central de Poulkova, a daigne sur mon rapport, vous nommer Chevalier de la seconde cla.s.se de l'Ordre Imperial et Royal de St Stanislas. Je ne manquerai pas de vous faire parvenir par l'entremise de Lord Bloomfield les insignes et la patente de l'ordre.

Veuillez en attendant, Monsieur, recevoir mes sinceres felicitations et l'a.s.surance de ma parfaite consideration.

Le Ministre de l'instruction publique, CTE OUVAROFF.