
ON THE KEW OBSERVATORY. 87 
I trust that other gentlemen, visitors to Kew, have derived some little 
pleasure, and even profit, from the results of their inquiries here, and that 
my limited correspondence on electric and other subjects with several gentle- 
men of scientific eminence has not been wholly profitless to all parties. 
I have usually set down under this head a Jité/le list of proposals for new 
experiments, or the continuation of old ones; but the number of such-like 
propositions has accumulated so much faster than the means and time re- 
quired for their execution, that the catalogue arrives at an almost despairing 
magnitude. However it shall follow here, because it will at least serve to 
show that plenty of work could be done at Kew if we had plentiful means. 
1. Experiments to determine various points as to the construction of the 
declination and horizontal-force magnetograph, and particularly Dr. Lloyd's 
propositions concerning attached lenses. 
2. Idem, as to the vertical-force (balance) magnetograph. 
8. Idem, as to the completion of a self-corrective system for the barome- 
trograph. 
4. Idem, as to the dest mode of constructing the thermometrograph. 
5. Comparison of long and short magnets, and their effects on the regi- 
stration compared particularly. 
6. Experiments in pursuance of some which were commenced here in 
1845 on the important subject of “ frequency” of atmospheric electricity ; a 
subject which has been most unaccountably neglected since the observations of 
Becearia at Turin in about 1750, and one which seems to me to grow in 
importance with the growth of our chemical and magnetic information. 
7. Experiments in pursuance of some which were made at Kew on insu- 
lation, and particularly on the insulation of air charged with a known 
amount of humidity, and at different temperatures, &c., a matter recommended 
_ for examination by Coulomb. ‘ 
8. Experiments in pursuance of the same course, but having especial 
reference to the measures of atmospheric tensional electricity, as indicated 
by Henley’s and other electrometers, used in attempting to estimate properly 
high tensions. 
_ 9. Experiments on apparatus for observing shooting stars. 
10. Experiments on the best mode of pursuing observations on terrestrial 
temperature, as recommended by Professor Forbes. 
11. Experiments on kites at known and constant elevations, in pursuance 
of one made at Kew in the year 1847, with a view to their real utility in 
meteorology. 
12. Experiments on the comparative advantages of plate and cylindrical 
surfaces in reference to their use in self-registering instruments, the former 
on William Nicholson’s construction; and also experiments on a mode of 
reading off the ordinates on such cylinders. 
