594 



NATURE 



{Oct. 20, 1 88 1 



Our history commences in the year 1875, when the Royal 

 Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of 

 Science made their eighth and final Report, strongly recommend- 

 ing the e.>talilishment, by the State, of an Observatory for Solar 

 Physics. They say that their opinion is confirmed by the action 

 which has been taken by foreign countries in this matter, obser- 

 vatories for astronomical physics having been already established 

 in various parts of Italy, while their immediate erection had been 

 determined on at Berlin and in Paris. The Royal Commission 

 further hoped that similar institutions might be established in 

 various parts of the British Empire, and they particularly called 

 attention to the great advantages that India, at certain high-level 

 stations, affords for continuous observations, which are so im- 

 portant in this matter. In 1876 a very large and influential 

 deputation from the British Association had an interview with 

 the then Lord President of the Council, the Dulie of Richmond 

 and Gordon, with the view of urging on the Government the 

 necessity of taking action on this and other recommendations of 

 the Royal Commission. In replying to that deputation the 

 Duke of Richmond pointed out that in a certain small way he 

 had already done something in the matter, for Mr. Lockyer had 

 been transferred from the War Office to the Science and Art 

 Department, and facilities were being afforded him for carrying 

 forward that portion of the researches upon this subject which 

 he had been engaged on for several years. 



The representation by the Council of the British Association 

 was followed by a memorial from a number of eminent men of 

 science. I need only mention, among others, the names of Adams, 

 Andrews, Broun, Joule, Clerk Maxwell, Roscoe, and William 

 Thomson, to show you how influential a memorial it was. They 

 based their appeal for the formation of an observatory for astro- 

 nomical physics on the fact that in the opinion of a considerable 

 number of scientific men there was a more or less intimate con- 

 nection between the state of the sun's surface and the meteorology 

 of the earth, and they called attention to the fact that recent 

 investigations on the part of several independent men had led 

 them to the conclusion that there was a similarity between the 

 sun spot period, periods of famine in India, and cyclones in the 

 Indian Ocean. They conclude by saying, "We remind your 

 Lordships that this important and practical scientific question 

 cannot be set definitely at rest without the aid of some such in- 

 stitution as that the e-tablishment of which we now urge." It 

 was under those circumstances that the Lords of the Committee 

 of the Council of Education referred the question to Prof. 

 Stokes, Prof. Balfour Stewart, and General Strachey for their 

 opinion as to whether a start could not be made, and most of 

 what is required by the memorialists in the way of daily accurate 

 observation be accomplished by utilising the advantages offered 

 by the chemical and physical laboralories at South Kensington, 

 with the aid of the detachment of Royal Engineers stationed 

 there. I need not trouble you w ith the terms of the reference. 

 They are given in Lord Sandon's letter of August 13, 1877, 

 which is printed in a Parliamentary paper as a return to an 

 address of the House of Commons moved by Lord Lind-.iy on 

 March 20, 1879. I may, however, quote one sentence from it : 

 " Although we are not at jjresent in a position to consider the 

 establishment of an official observatory on a comprehensive 

 scale, we believe that some advantage can be gained if a new- 

 class of observations can be made with the means at command ; 

 since the be.-t method of conducting a physical laboratory may 

 thus be worked out e.xperimentiilly, and an outlay eventually 

 avoided which, w ithout such cvperience, might have been con- 

 sidered neces-ary." I .should also mention that Lord Sandon in 

 his letter suggested that the Astronomer-Royal should be con- 

 sulted on the subject, and he stated that "We propose to ask 

 General Strachey to act with you especially with a view to advis- 

 ing us as to how far any arrangements made at South Kensington 

 may be worked with, or form part of the system of observations 

 which, we are informed, are in contemplation for India." Just 

 at that particular time the Indian Government had made 

 arrangements for having daily photographs taken of the sun's 

 disk at Dehra-Doon m the North-West Provinces, by Mr. Meins, 

 who, while he was a sapper in the Royal Engineers, had 

 been trained by Mr. Lockyer. The Committee to which I 

 have already referred reported at the end of 1877, and they state 

 what in their opinion may be done at once and without entailing 

 any serious cost. This report is also given in the Parliamentary 

 paper to which I have alluded. Nothing however was done at 

 that time, and in November, 1878, the Duke of Devonshire, as 

 Chairman of the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and 



the Advancement of Science, wrote again calling attention to the 

 subject, and strongly urging that the Report of this Committee 

 should be acted upon. In 1879 a small sum, 500/., was taken 

 in the estimales for the expenses of the Committee on Solar 

 Physics. And this has been continued ever since. As soon as 

 that vote h.ad been put into the estimates w ith the sanction of 

 tlie Treasury, a Committee was formed consi^ting of the gentle- 

 men whom I have already mentioned, namely : Prof. Stokes, 

 Prof. Balfour Stewart, and General Strachey, to whom were 

 added Mr. Norman Lcckyer, Capt. Abney, an! myself. The 

 object of this Committee i; to make trial of methods of observa- 

 tion, to collect observed results, to find out w hat is being done in 

 foreign countries, and so far as possible to collect and bring 

 together all information on this subject, and finally to reduce 

 the Indian observations which have been made since the time 

 that Mr. Meins was sent to India. The Committee made a pre- 

 liminary report last year, which was presented to both HoUcCs 

 of Parliament, and has been published. I therefore need not 

 trouble you with any of the information contained in it. You 

 will there see what the Committee has been doing, and what 

 arrangements have been made for carrying on the Indian obser- 

 vations since Mr. Meins' death. 



While the Committee has been thus acting in its corporate 

 capacity, certain of its members have been carrying on indepen- 

 dent researches of their own on different branches of the subject. 

 The results of those researches have been published in the 

 rroceaUngs of the Royal Society, but from the necessarily frag- 

 mentary manner of publication, it has no doubt been very 

 difficult, even for men of science, to follow what was being done. 

 Acting, therefore, on a suggestion made by the President of the 

 Royal Society, the Lords of the Council asked the Members of 

 the Committee to give a course of lectures which should bring 

 in a more or less popular manner the results of their researches 

 before the public. It is to that suggestion that this course of 

 lectures is due. So much for the Committee. But I trust 

 you will excuse me if I touch upon one other subject. It is 

 now just within ten days of eighty years since Dr. William 

 Herschel read a paper before the Royal Society which was 

 headed "Observations tending to Investigate the Nature of the 

 Sun in order to find the Causes or Symptoms of its Varying 

 Emission of Light and Heat," and so on. But for the lime I 

 have already occupied, I should like to have read to you .some 

 portions of this paper, which are very striking even at the 

 present moment. I w ill however only say now that he followed 

 this paper by another one on May 14, iSoi, on "Additional 

 Observations tending to Investigate the Nature of the Sun 

 in order to find the Causes or Symptoms .... and a Few 

 Remarks to remove Objections that might be made against 

 some of the Arguments contained in the former Paper." In 

 those papers Dr., or, as he was afterwards. Sir William, Herschel 

 very strongly and forcibly urges the importance of a continued 

 observation of the sun's surface and of the sun-spots. He in- 

 vestigates the connection of sun-spots as far as the periods were 

 then known, with cyclores, with the prices of wheat, and other 

 terrestrial phenomena, and he points out of what great advantage 

 continuous observations upon this subject were likely to be. My 

 colleagues can tell you befer than I can, and no doubt will in 

 their lecture", what has been done in this matter since the days 

 of .Sir William Herschel. I am afraid it is not very mnch — I 

 mean of course in the w^ay of continuous observations — and yet 

 during the interval a step has been made in the instruments of 

 research almost, if not altogether, as great as that made in as- 

 tronomy by the discovery of the telescope. I refer to the use of 

 the spectroscope. Now, the use of this instrument, the spectro- 

 scope, so far as solar and stellar chemistry is concerned, is no doubt 

 due to a magnificent research by Kirchhoff publihed in 1S59. 

 But I think I may be allowed to call your attention to a statement 

 made by Sir William Thomson in his address to the British 

 Association in 1871. He there says that some time prior to the 

 summer of 1852 he had been taught by a certain distinguished 

 professor at Cambridge the fundamental principles upon which 

 this process of investigation proceeded. I need scarcely, I hope, 

 tell you that I am not endeavouring to introduce pai'ochialism 

 into what should be the cosmopolitan regions of science ; still 

 less am I claiming priority for one who I am sure would be the 

 first to repudiate such a claim. But I think you will agree with 

 me that it i- rather a striking example of the fitness of things 

 that it is the distinguished physicist to whom Sir William 

 Thomson referred who will give the intrcductory lecture of 

 this course. 



