THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH 301 



Astronomical Society, by death, resignation, or otherwise, the same shall be 

 filled up by the President of the Society (being a Visitor) in whose list such 

 vacancy may have happened, from the Fellows of that Society, but if such 

 President be not a Visitor the appointment shall be made by the Council of 

 the Society of which he is President, from the Fellows thereof. And for so 

 doing this shall be your Warrant. 

 And so We bid you farewell. 



Given at Our Court at Saint James's, the Eleventh day of June 1910, 

 in the First Year of Our Reign. 

 To the President of the Royal Society, 



the President of the Royal Astrono- T> u - ,, . . , ~ 



* By His Majesty s Command, 



mical Society, and the other Persons 



herein appointed Visitors of Our 



WINSTON S. CHURCHILL. 



Royal Observatory of Greenwich. 



VI. KEW OBSERVATORY. 



This Observatory is situated in the Old Deer Park, Richmond. The 

 present building was erected by King George III in 1769 for the purpose of 

 observing the transit of Venus which occurred in that year. It was maintained 

 by Government until the year 1842 when it passed into the hands of the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science, which continued to manage 

 it through a committee until 1871, when the Chairman of the Committee 

 placed in the hands of the Royal Society as trustees an endowment of <^10,00(). 

 The Society then took over the control of the Observatory, and appointed 

 a Committee to administer the endowment and supervise the scientific work of 

 the Observatory. This arrangement continued until 1899 when the Observa- 

 tory was incorporated with the National Physical Laboratory (see pp. 179, 289), 

 and the Kew Observatory Committee as a scientific body was dissolved. A com- 

 mittee, however (known as the Gassiot Committee), whose members were also 

 members of the Executive Committee of the Laboratory, continued to watch 

 over the Gassiot Fund, and to pay the proceeds thereof to the National Physi- 

 cal Laboratory. 



In course of time it was found that some alteration of this organization was 

 required. Accordingly a new scheme for the Management of Kew Observatory, 

 with other Observatories, was framed, which came into operation on July 1, 

 1910. Under this scheme the Gassiot Committee, appointed by the Royal 

 Society to administer the Gassiot Trust Fund, was reconstituted as a Scientific 

 Committee for the purpose of recommending observations and researches in 

 magnetism, seismology, meteorology, and geophysics to be carried out at Kew, 

 Eskdalemuir, and Valencia Observatories, which were now placed under the 

 general direction of the Meteorological Committee (see p. 302). The proceeds 

 of the Gassiot Trust Fund, and the grant in aid made by the Treasury to the 

 Royal Society for Eskdalemuir Observatory, are used in such manner as the 



