470 



Report of the Kew Committee. 



Two additional Mean Time Clocks have been obtained, one of them, 

 a Transit of Venus Expedition Clock, Dent 2011, has been lent to 

 the Committee by the Astronomer Royal ; the other has been pur- 

 chased. Mr. T. Mercer, watch manufacturer, of Coventry, having 

 obligingly placed a number of watches at the disposal of the Super- 

 intendent, two dozen were obtained on loan from him, and were 

 daily compared, tested, and rated by the assistants for three months. 

 This enabled them to become familiarized with the work of rating 

 before watches were received from the public. 



The Superintendent, after communicating with the Directors of 

 the Geneva and the Yale Observatories, prepared a circular specifying 

 the conditions watches must fulfil in order to obtain certificates of 

 the various classes, A, B, and C, which are issued, and the nature 

 of the test to which they will be subjected. This circular, together 

 with the forms of certificates, <fec., after revision and approval by the 

 Committee, was printed, and copies forwarded to all the leading 

 watch manufacturers of this country, as well as to the principal 

 journals, many of which very favourably noticed the scheme. 



Rating commenced on May 13, and up to the present 42 watches 

 have been tried, of which 22 were submitted by the owners, and 20 

 by the manufacturers, or by dealers. 



Certificates have been awarded to 17 of these watches, 7 are now 

 on trial. 



The following table will indicate the nature of the trials to which 

 the certificates refer : 



VII. MISCELLANEOUS. 



Photographic Paper, fyc. This has been supplied to the Observa- 

 tories at Batavia, Coimbra, Colaba, Mauritius, Stonyhnrst, and 

 St. Petersburg, and to the Meteorological Office. 



