CHAPTER XVI 



KEW OBSERVATORY AND METEOROLOGY 



General Sir E. Sabine Sextants and watches Now merged into 

 National Physical Laboratory Meteorological Committee, sub- 

 sequently Council of the Board of Trade Self-recording instru- 

 ments, reduction of their tracings Henry Smith 



AN early friendship that exercised great influence 

 in shaping my future scientific life was that of 

 General, afterwards Sir Edward, Sabine, R.A., and 

 President of the Royal Society. At the time of 

 which I am speaking he was its Treasurer ; he also 

 held two offices, in both of which I was his successor 

 after some years. They were the Chairmanship of 

 the Kew Observatory and the Secretaryship of the 

 British Association, as already mentioned. General 

 Sabine (i 788-1 883) devoted himself to the study of 

 magnetism, to its geographical distribution and its 

 periodic and irregular variations. He had joined an 

 Arctic Expedition for the express purpose of making 

 exact magnetical observations in high latitudes, and 

 he had inspired zealous and capable men, at various 

 stations about the globe, to establish a system of 

 continuous and comparable observations. This in- 

 volved careful examinations of the refined instruments 

 about to be employed, and of instruction in their use. 

 Means for doing all this were established by him at 



Kew. 



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