AND THE STATE 229 



enable the Tidal Committee to make observations 

 and continue their calculations was rejected ; but the 

 Government of India agreed to defray the expense 

 of tidal observations in India, and of their reduction. 



1872-76. The General Committee referred to the 

 Council a request for support for the observatory 

 at Mauritius (the resolution was referred to the 

 Council as intended ' to enable an investigation of 

 the cyclones in the Pacific Ocean to be carried on ' 

 an oversight which the Council in its report gently 

 rectifies by omitting to specify the ocean involved). 

 The Government declined to help at first, but the 

 staff of the observatory was shortly afterwards 

 increased. 



The Indian Government, which had generally 

 shown much consideration towards the Association, 

 obtained at its instance a photoheliograph with the 

 view of assisting in the observation of the transit 

 of Venus in 1874. They also (1876) took measures 

 to act upon a proposal for the permanent establish- 

 ment of a solar observatory. 



The Council (1875) urged upon the Admiralty the 

 desirability of attaching naturalists to survey vessels, 

 more especially when engaged in the survey of un- 

 frequented seas : but from the acknowledgment 

 received it does not appear that the suggestion fired 

 the imagination of the naval authorities. 



The Association collaborated with the Royal 

 Geographical and other societies in securing the dis- 

 patch of the Arctic expedition of 1875 under Captain 

 George S. Nares, who was recalled from the Challenger 

 to take command. The expedition, approaching the 

 polar region by way of Baffin Bay and Smith Sound, 

 explored three hundred miles of unknown coast-line, 



