Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy - George Biddell Airy (best novel books to read TXT) 📗

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 went to London, I suppose to receive the Medal.--I also inspected Sir J. South's telescope, then becoming a matter of litigation, and visited Mr Herschel at Slough: on Feb. 12th I wrote to Sir J. South about the support of the instrument, hoping to remove one of the difficulties in the litigation; but it produced no effect.--Herschel wrote to me, from Poisson, that Pontecoulant had verified my Long Inequality.

"Mar. 12th is the date of the Preface to my 1832 volume of Observations: it was of course distributed a few weeks later.--In my Report on Astronomy I had indicated the Mass of Jupiter as a subject requiring fresh investigation. During the last winter I had well employed the Equatoreal in observing elongations in R.A. of the 4th Satellite. To make these available it was necessary to work up the theory carefully, in which I discovered some remarkable errors of Laplace. Some of these, for verification, I submitted to Mr Lubbock, who entirely agreed with me. The date of my first calculations of the Mass of Jupiter is Mar. 1st: and shortly after that I gave an oral account of them to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. The date of my Paper for the Astronomical Society is April 12th. The result of my investigations (which was subsequently confirmed by Bessel) entirely removed the difficulty among Astronomers; and the mass which I obtained has ever since been received as the true one.

"On Apr. 9th my wife's two sisters, Elizabeth and Georgiana Smith, came to stay with me.--On Apr. 22nd I began lectures, and finished on May 21st: there were 54 names. During the course of the lectures I communicated a Paper to the Philosophical Society 'On the calculation of Newton's experiments on Diffraction.'--I went to London on the Visitation of the Greenwich Observatory: the dinner had been much restricted, but was now made more open.--It had been arranged that the meeting of the British Association was to be held this year at Cambridge. I invited Sir David Brewster and Mr Herschel to lodge at the Observatory. The meeting lasted from June 24th to 30th. We gave one dinner, but had a breakfast party every day. I did not enter much into the scientific business of the meeting, except that I brought before the Committee the expediency of reducing the Greenwich Planetary Observations from 1750. They agreed to represent it to the Government, and a deputation was appointed (I among them) who were received by Lord Althorp on July 25th. On Aug. 3rd Herschel announced to me that L500 was granted.

"On Aug. 7th I started with my wife for Edensor. At Leicester we met Sedgwick and Whewell: my wife went on to Edensor, and I joined Sedgwick and Whewell in a geological expedition to Mount Sorrel and various parts of Charnwood Forest. We were received by Mr Allsop of Woodlands, who proved an estimable acquaintance. This lasted four or five days, and we then went on to Edensor.--On Aug. 15th Herschel wrote to me, communicating an offer of the Duke of Northumberland to present to the Cambridge Observatory an object-glass of about 12 inches aperture by Cauchaix. I wrote therefore to the Duke, accepting generally. The Duke wrote to me from Buxton on Aug. 23rd (his letter, such was the wretched arrangement of postage, reaching Bakewell and Edensor on the 25th) and on the 26th I drove before breakfast to Buxton and had an interview with him. On Sept. 1st the Duke wrote, authorizing me to mount the telescope entirely, and he subsequently approved of Cauchaix's terms: there was much correspondence, but on Dec. 28th I instructed Cauchaix how to send the telescope.--On our return we paid a visit to Dr Davy, Master of Caius College, at Heacham, and reached Cambridge on Oct. 8th.

"Groombridge's Catalogue, of which the editing was formally entrusted to Mr Henry Taylor (son of Taylor the first-assistant of the Greenwich Observatory), had been in some measure referred to Sheepshanks: and he, in investigating the work, found reason for thinking the whole discreditable. About May he first wrote to me on his rising quarrel with H. Taylor, but on Sept. 7th he found things coming to a crisis, and denounced the whole. Capt. Beaufort the Hydrographer (in whose office this matter rested) begged me with Baily to decide upon it. We did not at first quite agree upon the terms of investigation &c., but after a time all was settled, and on Oct. 4th the Admiralty formally applied, and I formally accepted. Little or nothing had been done by Mr Baily and myself, when my work was interrupted by illness.

"Sheepshanks had thought that something might be done to advance the interests of myself or the Observatory by the favour of Lord Brougham (then Lord Chancellor), and had urged me to write an article in the Penny Cyclopaedia, in which Lord Brougham took great interest. I chose the subject 'Gravitation,' and as I think wrote a good deal of it in this Autumn: when it was interrupted by my illness.

"On Dec. 9th 1833, having at first intended to attend the meeting of the Philosophical Society and then having changed my mind, I was engaged in the evening on the formulae for effects of small errors on the computation of the Solar Eclipse of 1833. A dizziness in my head came on. I left off work, became worse, and went to bed, and in the night was in high fever with a fierce attack of scarlet fever. My wife was also attacked but very slightly. The first day of quitting my bedroom was Dec. 31st. Somewhere about the time of my illness my wife's sister, Susanna Smith, who was much reduced in the summer, died of consumption.

"Miscellaneous notes in 1833 are as follows: Henderson (at the Cape) could not endure it much longer, and on Oct. 14th Stratford writes that Maclear had just sailed to take his place: Henderson is candidate for the Edinburgh Observatory.--Stratford writes on Dec. 2nd that the Madras observations have come to England, the first whose arrangement imitates mine.--On Nov. 3rd Herschel, just going to the Cape, entrusted to me the revisal of some proof sheets, if necessary: however it was never needed.--In November I sat for my portrait to a painter named Purdon (I think): he came to the house and made a good likeness. A pencil portrait was taken for a print-seller (Mason) in Cambridge: it was begun before my illness and finished after it.--I applied through Sheepshanks for a copy of Maskelyne's Observations, to be used in the Reduction of the Planetary Observations: and on Dec. 24th (from my bedroom) I applied through Prof. Rigaud to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for a copy of Bradley's Observations for the same. The latter request was refused. In October I applied to the Syndics of the University Press for printed forms for these Reductions: the Syndics agreed to grant me 12,000 copies."


1834

"On Jan. 11th 1834 I went with my wife to London for the recruiting of my strength. We stayed at the house of our friend Miss Sheepshanks, and returned on Feb. 13th.--I drew up a Paper of Questions for Smith's Prizes, but left the whole trouble of examination and adjudication to Professor Miller, who at my request acted for me.--While I was in London I began to look at the papers relating to Groombridge's Catalogue: and I believe that it was while in London that I agreed with Mr Baily on a Report condemnatory of H. Taylor's edition, and sent the Report to the Admiralty. The Admiralty asked for further advice, and on Feb. 28th I replied, undertaking to put the Catalogue in order. On Mar. 17th Capt. Beaufort sent me all the papers. Some time however elapsed before I could proceed with it.

"There was in this spring a furious discussion about the admission of Dissenters into the University: I took the Liberal side. On Apr. 30th there was a letter of mine in the Cambridge newspaper.--On Apr. 14th I began lectures, and finished on May 20th: there were 87 names.--My 'Gravitation' was either finished or so nearly finished that on Jan. 24th I had some conversation with Knight the publisher about printing it. It was printed in the spring, and on Apr. 27th Sheepshanks sent a copy of it to Lord Brougham. I received from Knight L83. 17s. 1d. for this Paper.--On May 10th I went to London, I believe to attend one of the Soirees which the Duke of Sussex gave as President of the Royal Society. The Duke invited me to breakfast privately with him the next morning. He then spoke to me, on the part of the Government, about my taking the office of Astronomer Royal. On May 19th I wrote him a semi-official letter, to which reference was made in subsequent correspondence on that subject.

"On May 12th my son Arthur was born.--In June the Observatory Syndicate made a satisfied Report.--On June 7th I went to the Greenwich Visitation, and again on June 14th I went to London, I believe for the purpose of trying the mounting of South's telescope, as it had been strengthened by Mr Simms by Sheepshanks's suggestions. I was subsequently in correspondence with Sheepshanks on the subject of the Arbitration on South's telescope, and my giving evidence on it. On July 29th, as I was shortly going away, I wrote him a Report on the Telescope, to be used in case of my absence. The award, which was given in December, was entirely in favour of Simms.--On July 23rd I went out, I think to my brother's marriage at Ixworth in Suffolk.--On Aug. 1st I started for Edensor and Cumberland, with my wife, sister, and three children: Georgiana Smith joined us at Edensor. We went by Otley, Harrogate, Ripon, and Stanmoor to Keswick, from whence we made many excursions. On Aug. 11th I went with Whewell to the clouds on Skiddaw, to try hygrometers. Mr Baily called on his way to the British Association at Edinburgh. On Sept. 10th we transferred our quarters to Ambleside, and after various excursions we returned to Edensor by Skipton and Bolton. On Sept. 19th I went to Doncaster and Finningley Park to see Mr Beaumont's Observatory. On Sept. 25th we posted in one day from Edensor to Cambridge.

"On Aug. 25th Mr Spring Rice (Lord Monteagle) wrote to me to enquire whether I would accept the office of Astronomer Royal if it were vacant. I replied (from Keswick) on Aug. 30th, expressing my general willingness, stipulating for my freedom of vote, &c., and referring to my letter to the Duke of Sussex. On Oct. 8th Lord Auckland, First Lord of the Admiralty, wrote: and on Oct. 10th I provisionally accepted the office. On Oct. 30th I wrote to ask for leave to give a course of lectures at Cambridge in case that my successor at Cambridge should find difficulty in doing it in the first year: and to this Lord Auckland assented on Oct. 31st. All this arrangement was for a time upset by the change of Ministry which shortly followed.

"Amongst miscellaneous matters, in March I had some correspondence with the Duke