166 RESEARCH 



for foreign or colonial observatories have their 

 constants determined. 



* In the meteorological department, all the 

 barometers, thermometers, and hydrometers required 

 by the Board of Trade and the Admiralty have 

 their corrections determined ; besides which, similar 

 instruments are verified for opticians. Standard 

 thermometers also are graduated, and daily meteoro- 

 logical observations are made, an abstract of which 

 is published in the Illustrated London News. 



' Instruction is also given in the use of instruments 

 to officers in the army or navy, or other scientific 

 men who obtain permission from the Committee.' 



LATER PERIOD OF THE ASSOCIATION'S CONTROL 



This is not the place to attempt even a summary 

 of the many pieces of individual research which were 

 undertaken at Kew under the Association : reports 

 upon them, and upon the work of the observatory 

 generally, were communicated from time to time 

 at the annual meetings of the Association and are 

 printed in the annual volumes. It may be remarked, 

 however, that the report of 1864-65 shows that Kew 

 is the first public institution which has taken up the 

 subject of sunspots,' and this statement leads to the 

 announcement that Hofrat S. H. Schwabe of Dessau 

 had ' placed his valuable and extensive series of sun- 

 pictures at the disposal of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society for the immediate use of the Observatory.' 

 Reference is also due to the relations between the 

 Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, 

 the Superintending Meteorological Committee nomin- 

 ated by the Council of the Royal Society in 1866, 

 and the observatory. The secretary of the Committee 



