January 7, 1892] 



NATURE 



233 



of the Cambridge Philosophical Society an important 

 paper on " The Inequality of Long Period in the Motions 

 of the Earth and Venus." He wrote for the British 

 Association in 1832 a most useful " Report on the Recent 

 Progress of Astronomy," and in 1833 prepared valuable 

 papers on " The Mass of Jupiter." 



When Mr. Pond, the sixth Astronomer- Royal, resigned 

 his office in 1835, Lord Auckland, the First Lord of the 

 Admiralty, appointed Prof. Airy to be his successor ; 

 and on January i, 1836, the new Astronomer- Royal 

 entered upon his duties. This was a position which 

 accorded in all respects with Prof. Airy's wishes, and in 

 the course of the long period during which he held it he 

 not only maintained, but greatly increased, the fame of 

 the Royal Observatory at Greenwich as one of the most 

 important centres of astronomical investigation. To 

 him the Royal Observatory owed its equipment with a 

 series of new instruments, all of which were made from 

 his designs, while some were of his own invention. The 

 first of these instruments — the altazimuth — was set up in 

 1847, the object of the instrument being to secure that 

 observations out of the meridian should be as accurate 

 as observations in the meridian. The erection of this 

 instrument led to results of much importance and interest 

 in the observation of the moon. Other instruments 

 erected were a new meridian-circle, the reflex-zenith- 

 tube (put in the place of the Troughton zenith-sector), a 

 new equatorial, an instrument planned to decide the 

 question of the dependence of the measurable amount of 

 sidereal aberration upon the thickness of the glass or 

 other transparent material in the telescope, a double- 

 image micrometer, and an orbit-sweeper, designed for 

 the detection of comets approaching perihelion passage, 

 the time of which cannot be exactly fixed. 



The observations were made at Greenwich with perfect 

 regularity, reduced most carefully, printed, and placed at 

 the disposal of all who were capable of using them. We 

 need scarcely say that they are of enormous value to 

 astronomers. 



The reduction of the Greenwich lunar and planetary 

 observations from 1750 had been proposed to astronomers 

 by Bessel as a task well worthy of serious effort. It was 

 undertaken by Airy in 1833, and completed in 1848 ; and, 

 as we have stated in our previous article, the reductions 

 thus effected serve as the basis of the greater part of our 

 present tables of the motions of the moon and the 

 planets. He reduced various other series of observa- 

 tions, and by his untiring activity stimulated competent 

 students, both in England and elsewhere, to undertake 

 kindred work. He also gladly undertook labours which 

 were in other ways fitted to advance astronomical 

 science. In 1842 he went to Turin to observe the total 

 solar eclipse, and he went for a similar purpose to 

 Gothenburg, in Sweden, in 1851. The eclipse expedition 

 to Spain in i860 was organized by him, and to his care 

 was intrusted the equipment of the British expedition for 

 observing the transit of Venus in 1874. 



Soon after his appointment to the position of Astro- 

 nomer-Royal, Airy proposed to the Government that 

 magnetical and meteorological observations should be 

 made at Greenwich ; and in 1838 his scheme was adopted, 

 the result being that a vast number of data have since 

 been accumulated. We need only refer to such work as 

 his useful experiments on the deviation of the compass in 

 iron ships ; his researches on the density of the earth 

 by observations in the Harton Colliery ; and his in- 

 vestigations in connection with the standards, the fixing 

 of the breadth of railways, and the introduction of a new 

 system for the sale of gas. 



His scientific eminence secured for him the position of 

 President of the Royal Society, which he held from 1871 

 to 1873. He became a C.B. in 1871, and a K.C.B. in 

 1872. He was medallist of the French Institute, of the 

 Royal Society (twice), of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 NO. I 158, VOL. 45] 



(twice), and of the Institution of Civil Engineers. The 

 Paris Academy of Sciences made him one of its eight 

 " Associds Strangers," and he was an honorary member 

 of many scientific Societies both at home and abroad. 



Among the works of Sir George Airy is a little book 

 entitled " Popular Astronomy," which has passed through 

 many editions. He was also the author of " Treatise on 

 Errors of Observation," " Treatise on Sound," " Treatise 

 on Magnetism " ; and of contributions to the " Penny 

 Cycloprrdia" and the " Encyclopcedia Metropolitana," 

 on such subjects as " Gravitation," " Trigonometry," 

 " Figure of the Earth," and " Tides and Waves." 



NOTES. 



Men of science were much pleased to learn on New Year's 

 Day that a peerage of the United Kingdom had been conferred 

 on Sir William Thomson. This is the second time Lord Salisbury 

 has done honour to a President of the Royal Society, and on 

 both occasions the wisdom of his action has been very generally 

 appreciated. The work of men like Sir George Stokes and Sir 

 William Thomson brings with it, of course, its own reward ; but 

 it is good for the nation that the value of their services should be 

 officially and adequately recognized. 



The following will be the Presidents of Sections at the Edin- 

 burgh meeting of the British Association : — Mathematics and 

 Physical Science, Prof. Arthur Schuster ; Chemistry and 

 Mineralogy, Prof. Herbert McLeod ; Geology, Prof. Charles 

 Lapworth ; Geography, Prof, James Geikie ; Economic Science 

 and Statistics, the Hon. Sir C. H. Freemantle ; Mechanical 

 Science, Prof. W, C. Unwin ; Biology, Prof. W. Rutherford ; 

 Anthropology, Prof. Alexander Macalister. 



The Institution of Electrical Engineers will hold the first of 

 its meetings during the current year on Thursday, the 14th inst., 

 when the President, Prof. W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S.,^ wiU deliver 

 his inaugural address. 



At a Congregation held at Cambridge on Monday, the Duke 

 of Devonshire was elected to the Chancellorship of the Univer- 

 sity, without opposition, in succession to his father. The formal 

 installation will take place in the Easter term. 



The general meeting of the Association for the Improvement 

 of Geometrical Teaching is to be held at University College, 

 Gower Street, on Saturday, January 16. At the morning 

 sitting (11 a.m.), the reports of the Council and the Committees 

 will be read, and the new officers will be elected. After an 

 adjournment at i p.m., members will reassemble for the after- 

 noon sitting (2 p.m.), at which the following papers will be 

 read : — On Laguerre's dictum concerning direction, by Prof. 

 R. W. Genese ; on the geometrical interpretation of fallacy in 

 elimination, by Prof. R. W^ Genese ; on the use of Horner's 

 method in schools, by Mr. E. M. Langley. All interested in 

 the objects of the Association are invited to attend. 



Dr. Richard Pfeiffer, the son-in-law and assistant of 

 Prof. Koch, and head of the Scientific Department of the new 

 Royal Institute for Infectious Diseases, has, it is stated, dis- 

 covered the influenza bacillus. Full particulars are to be pub- 

 lished shortly. Meanwhile, according to a Reuter's telegram, 

 it is already known that " six attempts at transplantation of the 

 microbe have been made, and have been attended with complete 

 success, thus proving the genuine character of the discovery." 



The International Sanitary Conference met at Venice on 

 Tuesday. This is the sixth occasion on which the Conference has 

 assembled. Its first meeting was held at Paris in 1851. This 

 was followed by gatherings at Constantinople in i860, at Vienna 

 in 1874, at Washington in 1881, and at Rome in 1885. 



