KEW OBSERVATORY AND METEOROLOGY 225 



The history of the Kew Observatory is far too 

 complicated to be fully described here. It was first 

 instituted owing to the desire of many of the foremost 

 men in physical science, in the early days of the 

 British Association, to have access to a place where 

 physical experiments might be made, and new 

 instruments tested. The Observatory stands in the 

 Old Deer Park, Richmond, adjoining the Kew 

 Gardens. It was originally built for the amusement 

 of George in., while he was more or less insane, and 

 it was begged for by the philosophers and allotted 

 by Government to their use. Its maintenance was 

 defrayed by considerable grants annually voted by the 

 British Association, that mounted at one time to as 

 much as 600. This became far too onerous a 

 charge for their means, so various changes were made 

 in its government and maintenance. At length it 

 fell into the hands of the Royal Society, and was 

 managed by a committee appointed by that body 

 from among its members. It paid its way by charges 

 made for standardising instruments, supplemented by 

 occasional grants. Later on, the interest of a 

 handsome endowment of ; 10,000 made by Mr. J. P. 

 Gassiott, of whom more presently, placed it in a fairly 

 firm position. 



At the time when Sir Edward Sabine caused me 

 to become a member of the Managing Committee, the 

 Kew Observatory had obtained, through his exertions, 

 a high and wide reputation for the exactness of the 

 observations made there, and it had become the place 

 where the outfits of all magnetic observatories, English 

 and foreign, were standardised, and where intending 

 observers were instructed. It was, in fact, the Central 



