XXxiv REPORT 1861. 



have been furnished during this last year, under the superintendence of the 

 Committee, and it has hitherto been deemed advisable for the interests of 

 science that no charge should be made for their verification. As this, how- 

 ever, is an operation involving labour and a large expenditure of time, an 

 application was made to the Royal Society for the sum of £90 from the 

 Donation Fund, in order to cover the expense of verifying these three sets 

 of instruments, while it was arranged that in future a charge of £30 for 

 verification should be added to the cost of each set. This sum was at once 

 granted by the Council of the Royal Society, and it will be found among 

 the receipts in the financial statement appended to this Report. 



In addition to the instruments already mentioned, the following have also 

 been verified at Kew Observatory : — 



For the Havana Observatory, a set of differential magnetic instruments, 

 also a Unifilar, Dip Circle, and an altitude and azimuth instrument for abso- 

 lute determinations of the magnetic elements. 



For Dr. Smallwood, Montreal, a Unifilar, Dip Circle, and Differential 

 Declinometer. 



For the Astronomer Royal, Greenwich, a 9-inch Unifilar. 



For the Rev. W. Scott, Sydney, a Unifilar and Dip Circle. 



For Dr. Livingstone, Africa, a Unifilar, Dip Circle, and Azimuth Compass. 



For Mr. Jackson, Bach, of Science, Ceylon, a Unifilar and Dip Circle. 



Mr. Jackson and M. Capello, of the Lisbon Observatory, have also received 

 instruction at Kew in the use of instruments. 



The meteorological work of the Observatory continues to be performed in 

 a satisfactory manner by Mr. George Whipple ; and here the Committee de- 

 sire to mention that, both from the report of the Superintendent and from 

 their own observation, each member of the staff at present attached to the 

 establishment seems to interest himself in the duties he is called upon to 

 discharge. 



During the past year, 150 Barometers, 660 Thermometers, and 8 Hydro- 

 meters have been verified at the Observatory. 



Seven Standard Thermometers have also been constructed and disposed 

 of. Dr. Bergsma and Dr. Buys Ballot were each presented with one of 

 these instruments. 



For some time telegraphic reports of the meteorological elements were 

 daily sent to Admiral FitzRoy's office, the expense being defrayed by the 

 Board of Trade ; but these despatches were ultimately discontinued, on 

 account of the Board of Trade having only a limited sum disposable for 

 meteorological telegraphy, and Kew being too near London to prove a use- 

 ful station. 



At the last Meeting at Oxford it was announced that the Kew Heliograph 

 was about to be transported to Spain for the purpose of photographing, if 

 possible, the so-called red flames visible on the occasion of a total solar 

 eclipse. That the mission had most successfully accomplished the object 

 contemplated was known in England on the morning of the 19th of July, 

 1860 (the day after the eclipse), by the publication in the • Times' news- 

 paper of a telegram sent by Mr. Warren De la Rue from Rivabellosa, near 

 Miranda, where the Kew party were stationed. 



It will be remembered that, at the suggestion of the Astronomer Royal, 

 the Admiralty had placed at the disposal of the expedition of astronomers 

 H.M. Ship ' Himalaya,' and that the Government Grant Committee of the 

 Royal Society had voted the sum of £150 for the purpose of defraying the 

 expenses of transporting the Kew Heliograph with a staff of assistants to 

 Spain. 



